Just for laughs - freestyle 0 points foods

kazminchu wrote: »

NovusDies wrote: »

I kind of think that if you are going to WW and you try and cheat the system by eating unlimited free point foods you were probably not ready to lose weight. Kind of like people here try and find the cheapest calorie db entry for the food they have eaten so they can eat more.

This is true, but if they're marketed as "free" foods you can eat as much as you like of them, then surely the point is you should be able to eat as much as you like? Someone who doesn't know better could very easily eat more than their calorie allowance in "free foods" without trying to cheat the system.

I am not going to try and defend them. I think they have made it more confusing and now newer people will require more support structure when they don't lose weight. I still think if you eat 2lbs of grilled chicken in a meal you are probably not really ready to lose weight. Any diet that requires individual responsibility also requires common sense and a true willingness to lose weight. That is why some people on MFP fail to lose weight too.

The zero point food list is really trying to guide people’s food choices towards healthier options. If a 100 calorie apple and a 100 calorie cookie are both 4 points, who would choose the apple? Most would probably choose the cookies. Making the apple “free” makes it easier pick since you have limited points. Of course if you really want to have the cookies you can.

zdyb23456 wrote: »

The zero point food list is really trying to guide people’s food choices towards healthier options. If a 100 calorie apple and a 100 calorie cookie are both 4 points, who would choose the apple? Most would probably choose the cookies. Making the apple “free” makes it easier pick since you have limited points. Of course if you really want to have the cookies you can.

Yep - my colleague rejoined WW a few weeks ago and has talked about it a little. (She knows I lost my weight by calorie counting, but she had success with WW in the past and wanted to try it again.) She said that the focus with this new system is on lean meats, fruits and veggies, to encourage healthier options, but that her group leader emphasized people are NOT supposed to stuff themselves silly with nothing but chicken breast or whatever! They expect members to have a little bit of common sense and choose a balanced diet for the majority of their days.

One thing she's very disappointed about is that potatoes used to be free when she last did a WW plan and now they cost points, so she can't eat as many as she'd like to! It does seem like this new plan is geared towards a high-protein, low-carb and lower-fat style of eating, which since she has PCOS might be good for her anyway but she seems to struggle to stick to it.

Well I log eggs and bananas daily and find they can vary a lot in cal count. On other hand, cherries, peas, carrots, black berries, blue berries, spinach I wonder why I even bother weighing them. I use the 21 day fix container plan to gauge my quantities, but I weigh everything because it turns out most meal plans disregard a lot of sneaky little buggers. So yeah I'd say go for it, but definitely continue do what you're doing with logging because there's a lot of sneaky food. Chicken is another one that can vary a lot weight.

Cbean08 wrote: »

Not too hard to do. For example - this adds up to just over 2000 calories

breakfast-
3 egg omelet with spinach and tomato - 250
1 cup non fat greek yogurt - 130
1 cup of strawberries - 60

snack -
1 banana - 100

lunch -
1 cup of beans - 220
1 cup of corn - 140
spinach, cucumber and tomato - 20
6 oz chicken -180
2 crumbled hard boiled eggs - 160
salsa - 20

snack-
1 cup non fat greek yogurt - 130
1 cup chopped mango - 100

dinner-
1 cup riced cauliflower - 50
1/2 cup peas - 70
1/2 cup of corn - 70
1 whole carrot - 10
chopped dried seaweed - 10
shallot
1/2 cup bean sprouts - 20
3 oz shrimp - 80
3 oz pork loin - 90
2 scrambled eggs - 160
soy sauce

Exactly - these are very reasonable-seeming portions of healthy foods - in fact many single chicken breasts on the bone are larger than this - and this would have me gaining half a pound a week while feeling deeply sad and deprived. Whereas my MFP calorie counting diet which keeps me healthy (just got my blood work back) and losing half a pound per week involves bacon, peanut butter, chocolate, steak, and French fries when I want them, as well as plenty of healthy veg and fruit, and me feeling satiated.

paperpudding wrote: »

Like all diet plans one has to use it as per the plan if it is to work.

Bit like calorie counting and then eating 20lb of pickles because the label says zero calorie

or, like many people I know, losing weight by just making their own commitment to cut right back on cake, chips, chocolate, soda, candy.

For some people that works, since they then bring their calories back to appropriate level.

if they committed to above but then ate equivalent replacement calories in potatoes, cheese, nuts, whatever, then it wouldnt.

Of course use a program as it is meant to be used if you want it to work - rather than deliberately misunderstanding it and then saying it wont work.

See, I don't think that's valid in this case. The whole point of this freestyle program is to take the thought out of weight loss - carefully counting portions of chicken and Greek yogurt is defeating the purpose. The example given above is a meal plan that a perfectly reasonable person would consider to be fine - it's not deliberately stuffing yourself on zero point foods, or misunderstanding anything. It's just eating a modest sized amount of the foods Weight Watchers says you don't need to bother to count because if you eat a modest portion of them you will lose weight. Their statement is untruthful.