NON WW & WW NEWBIES, OUR NEW LIFE, THE START OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL

mariechinander wrote: »

Hi All, I was drawn to this thread because I am a WWer and lost 48 pounds on it and then not doing much different (probably more exercise), I have been gaining for 6 months. My doctor wants to know how many calories I eating and I have no idea. I stopped counting cals when I joined WW. So he wants me to track cals and I don't know about giving up WW. I love/loved Connect on WW but since I am doing the program and gaining, I'm not comfy there anymore. So here I am and I I'm starting to like MFP and cals again. Amazing how counting cals opens up some of the foods I love but are higher in points than those of equals calories. Any words or wisdom or other WWers/former WWers that have had my experience would be so welcome. Dr can't find a reason I'm gaining other than maybe eating too few calories and I've killed my metabolism. Any thoughts?

I am still a WW but I find I did better when I counted calories on MFP. But that could be all mental because I feel kinda restricted on WW bc of the running out of points which got me kinda blah and I’m an emotional eater so that’s probably not the best as far as counting but I do enjoy going to the workshops. You could be I’ve tracked in both. When I did stay at or just above points I was under 1000 calories. It’s all in their formula.

@mariechinander Welcome to the group! If we had all the answers we would all be thin. lol I stopped WW right around the time that they started Connect. I became pre-diabetic and my doc wanted me to do low carb. (which doesn't work for me long term consistently) I've been at this experiment of losing weight for a while now. Long while. But I'm just starting to figure out myself. I know which "diets" work and which don't for me. I do well on a med to high carb plan called carb cycling. I have tweaked it to fit my lifestyle so I never feel deprived. I'm the kind of person who likes to have her cake and eat it too. Literally. Then see how little exercise I can get away with and still lose weight. But I was successful from Aug to January. February has been a struggle. So here we are in March. I would say the first thing is start tracking your food. I think that's the most important thing. Pre-tracking is better each morning or night before. If you are busy at lunch or dinner then take a pic of your plate so you remember what you had. Track all foods. Good and bad. If I don't know exactly which brand of food or I'm at a gathering or restaurant, I look up something similar in MFP and I choose the calories that are in the middle. Not high or low. I do think a person can eat too few calories and mess up their metabolism. Moderation and balance is the key. Plus I'm no longer pre-diabetic and my numbers are still falling. Well they were. February has been rough and I'm due up for a physical some time this month or April. Too bad my A1c will show the past 3 months. How about all the good work I did in Aug-January.

Green Day- Stayed OP 232/238 Exercise-rest day

March goals- Drink 3 glasses of water Decluttering

Good morning everyone! I'm feeling hopeful and positive today. It's a good day.

@mswatson0777 Hi! Bs do get degrees, keep telling yourself that dear! Hang in there!!! When are the dates?

@gemwolf110 Thanks! I like that we have options. Your pizza sounds yummy. My husband loves those Chobani Flips.

@mariechinander Hi and welcome! That's great you are working with your doctor on a plan. I'm at a point where I'm struggling hard so I just signed up for WW, so I'm afraid I don't have any wise words but I know everyone else will! Thanks for stopping by!

@theslightedgeforever Thanks! I hope I can. I've had some reasonable success on WW in the past. I see your point about the popcorn. But it's still better than eating a bag of chips, so there's that. But I understand, you wouldn't eat a bag of chips, you are trying to eat as healthy as possible.

@TeresaW1020 Good morning and I'm glad your trip went well. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

COMMITTED.
March goal: track 1 meal a day, go for a walk 1 time a week

theslightedgeforever wrote: »

@cbabie So next time you can't figure out what you want, grab an apple or whatever fruit you have in the house. You grabbed the popcorn cause it was easy to fix. So make the fruit easy to fix. Either keep some cantaloupe cut up or use one of those apple slicer/corer things so you get 8 wedges. That's easy.

@bevsargent66 Welcome to the group! Recently I lost about 24 lbs from August til end of January. Then had to take some prednisone and put on 7 lbs. Now I'm working on going back down again. I'm doing carb cycling (med-high carbs) and tracking all my foods everyday. While I consider myself OP if I stay within my carb range, I also really try and stay within my calorie range which is about 1450-1660 right now. Plus I was consistent. My exercise consists of walking about 30-45 min depending 5 times a week. Preplanning my meals in my tracker each morning is a must and then following that plan. Sometimes my hubby comes and changes my plan so I learned to change and pick foods that still fall within my numbers. It's all about the numbers for me. I am currently trying to eat more whole foods and still make my numbers work out.

@trooworld You can do this. Just keep tracking and staying within your points. Yes popcorn has alot of fiber but usually popcorn in a bag has trans fat which isn't healthy for us. Do I eat it at times? Yes. I was doing really well with my microwave silicone popcorn bowl where I just add popcorn. No oil needed. Then I would sprinkle seasoning and some salt on it. But then would think does the microwave and silicone give me cancer and I'm better off with the trans fat? Who knows. lol I was doing well for a while eating half a bag and putting the other half in a Ziplock or cookie tin for later. Lately it's been the whole bag and I track it.

@mswatson0777 Are you tracking and staying within your boundaries? Exciting the wedding plans are coming along. Yes B's get degrees. How competitive is your field

@gemwolf110 Is purple simply filling or freestyle? I'm learning that when I'm craving something and can't figure it out I really don't need food. I'm craving something else. What will fill that hole? Having a list of distractions is helpful. Usually then the craving passes and mealtime is just around the corner. Or I go have a hot cup of tea. So I'm stumped on MOH. I've got mother of husband, man of the hour, oh just figured it out. Maid of Honor. DUH! You can tell I eloped. lol I make a cheesy cauliflower rice bowl that I like now. I've made cauliflower tater tots. I've thought about making the cauliflower grilled cheese. Just haven't tried it yet. Now when recipes call for rice I just used riced cauliflower. Family doesn't seem to notice the difference if it's in a casserole type dish.

HI! It's freestyle, but the one that all fruit, veggies (including starchy ex. sweet potatoes), lean proteins, and whole grains are zero points and I get 17 points a day and 48 weeklies. I liked the riced cauliflower that my aunt served. I got a few different flavors of it.

mariechinander wrote: »

@theslightedgeforever I made it to day 12 of tracking on both. On WW I tracked every day for 2.75 years except maybe 3 or 4 days. That said, your words are wise because it is amazing how easy it is to overeat!
@gemwolf110 I've been eating for the last nearly 2 weeks about 12-14 points above my dailies (unheard of before for me on WW) and this morning was a weight loss. Not a maintain or gain (gain was more frequent) so just maybe my dr was correct to tell me to track calories. His guess was I wasn't eating enough for my exercise. But, why would I gain? That I don't have an answer. But a lower number on the scale was my happy dance morning.
@mswatson0777 Yes yes yes on the flexibility. Last night I told DH what I wanted for dinner "because I like it and I haven't had it in forever". I tracked every calorie and ended at 1500 cals. Right about where I needed to be.
So I cancelled my WW subscription and it will end in a week. I did collect my wellness wins in 3 pairs or gym socks and donated the rest to their in need food bank. Because I looked further at MFP and found you all, I won't miss Connect, the part of WW I still liked. I was doing WW online only so I won't miss my group.
For the popcorn discussion, I found some Winona's 0cal popcorn spray and Kernel Seasons flavor sprinkles. Is it yummy like theater popcorn? Nope but I do like my air popped corn much better than with Pam and Salt.
@mswatson0777 I have to agree with not going Keto. I know some that swear by it but based on my experiment with Atkins 25 years ago, there is no way I can ever try something similar again. I was in ketosis and while my DH lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks, nary an ounce left me. And I'm not a protein fan so I started to hate all protein and fat while I dreamed about carb foods. Nearly the same issue with WW but fat is a no-no and there were some carbs so it was a reasonable plan for me. Counting calories has been a winner in the past so I need to get to that and not any fad.

You were probably gaining because you weren’t eating enough to fuel your body so it went into starvation mode. If I didn’t attend WW meetings I’d probably cancel and just track here.

@teresaw1020 Glad you are all back safe and sound. As I'm typing out that sentence I was thinking what does it acutally mean to be "sound". lol If you are of sound mind that means you aren't crazy. Interesting how words and phrases we are taught when we are little are still used and before I never really thought about it. Unless I'm in a contemplative mood. Have a happy bday and I'm glad you got your weights.

@trooworld Oh I can eat a whole bag of Doritos. Now I wouldn't with Lays. Ruffles maybe if I had French Onion Dip. But I've stopped buying Doritos. For a while I would portion the bag into thirds and put each portion in a ziplock and then back into the original bag. So when I reached in, I could "finish the bag". But really I don't even need 1/3. It's nothing but processed food filled with salt and preservatives and won't do a thing for my health. Tastes really good though. So they have been added to my special list of I can eat them but probably won't unless it's a special time.

@mswatson0777 Hooray for you getting back on track right away. That's the key to not gaining weight. I'm carrying a bit of water too today. I was really bloated and rings were tight then I was happy because I could finally get them off and today back to being bloated. Such is the life of a perimenopausal woman I think. I'm learning to roll with it. I think you made the right decison regarding counting calories. At some point we know what works for us but we want to keep trying the things we think that will work faster. But then we can't/don't stick to it so it ends up not working for us in the long run. So now my motto is lose weight but consistently; even if it's slowly.

@gemwolf110 Thanks on the freestyle info. That was the one where everyone was happy they could return to eating eggs and corn for zero points. I don't know which one I would pick if I rejoined but probably green because I could see myself eating lots of the zero point foods. But also I'm a control freak. On the other hand, the zero point foods are probably more healthier for you. It's a toss up. Just the thought of 17 points daily messes with my mind. I know I could eat all of the other foods for free but...... good thing I'm doing carb cycling here on MFP. You got this.

@mariechinander I started tracking on both and didn't keep up. I got tired of double tracking. That's awesome you kept up with tracking for almost 3 years. It really has become a habit for me. As I was sitting down to dinner tonight my hubby kept trying to tell me a story and I was on MFP trying to see how much food I could eat. We have a phones down rule at dinner. He kept saying phones down phones down like a parrot. I was saying I'M TRYING TO SEE HOW MUCH OF THE MASHED POTATOES I CAN EAT. lol I usually preplan and so don't have this scenario but I didn't. So lesson learned for me. Preplanning is so much better. I was happy I could have 1/2 cup of potatoes but then that left me room for only 4 baby carrots. Your question of why would I gain....it made me think of a person who has diabetes. Sometimes when they try to control the amount of sugar and it's less than the body thinks they should have, the liver can dump some of the stored glucose into their bodies and then they wake up with a higher fasting glucose number. The body is trying to protect itself. It doesn't know the intention of the person who is trying to get of diabetes meds. So back to weight gain, the body thinks uh oh less calories, food must be scarce so it is hanging on to everything you eat in case food supplies continue to be low. It is protecting itself not realizing that the person is trying to lower calories to have better health. They know they can go to the grocery store and get more but the body doesn't. Now that's just my two cents. I'm neither a dr nor a scientist. But I have seen it in practice before. With myself and friends. I know my sweet spot is between 1450-1660. It was a bit higher but then when I kept losing I realized I need to drop my cals just a bit. So I did it by 50 on one day and then the next week I would choose a different day and do 50. I'll probably keep my 1660 (I get that two days a week on Thursday and Saturday for social reasons) Thanks on the popcorn spray info

@renaegry I totally agree with your hubby 80/20 Pareto principle March will be so much better than my February. Shoot it will be better than January too when I got sick. Do NOT want a repeat of that. If you work and work and still see yourself going over carbs maybe try boosting the carbs to 35 and lowering either your protein or fat by 5. Just seeing yourself be successful every day is motivating versus always watching yourself miss the mark on the carbs.

Red Day- 100/100 Exercise -did nothing. booooooo

March Goals- Drink 3 glasses of water Decluttering

@trooworld, wow!! So much good that you are doing right now! Good for you for tracking, drinking your water, getting questionable snacks out of your life, and for resisting the cookies!!

@theslightedgeforever, my sound mind is definitely questionable at times!

@renaegry, that is great about your husband weight loss! I hope you both have a great March motivating each other. And I agree that you need a few cheat meals to keep you from having a whole month of overeating.

Good morning! I am in a rush to get my day started so this is going to be quick. I have to go workout and then get ready to run mom around town on a bunch of errands and then be at the church by 4 pm for our big kids event/dinner on the grill night. I’m the official picture taker of the event which should keep me from nibbling on the food. The scale was down a little bit this morning and needs to keep on going down. Have a good day!

@mariechinander Thank you for sharing your experience with Atkins. I'm also not a big meat eater and I don't like a lot of fatty meats so I'm thinking it's a no go for me. Plus, if something makes you feel that foggy can it really be good for you? I'm glad you were able to switch and join us here!

@renaegry Driving a truck would be so challenging for weight loss, I'm impressed by your husband's willpower! And it sounds like you got a fantastic workout in, way to go!

@cbabie Congrats on the new job!!! I can't believe they gave you no lead up time for the training though, how frustrating!

@TeresaW1020 Congrats on the loss, I hope your busy day goes smoothly!

@trooworld I wasn't on here yet when you were keto so I'm glad you let me know! It just seems so unrealistic and something that I couldn't do long term. My partner LOVES it (he does it every once and awhile when his weight goes above his comfortable range). I might try to bump my carbs a little lower to see how I feel, but nothing keto low. Fruit is my favorite food group and we're almost to berry season!

Happy Wednesday! This week is feeling so much calmer for me. I turned in my final for one class (YAY!) and so now I'm just down to the other class for the rest of the term. Summer is going to amp up again but I appreciate getting a little bit of breathing room in the meantime.

My partner gave me the challenge to try low carb for one week to see how I feel at the end of the week so I might try it next week. I figure one week is a do-able test and it will show support for him and his efforts. And if it truly eliminates brain fog and hunger, then I may continue it, but I'm not placing any bets on that one! I live on carbs and fruit, but I've also been struggling with hunger levels so switching it up for a week isn't the worst idea.

@trooworld Look at all the things you deserve credit for today. you had it in you the whole time. So just concentrate on one day at a time.

@teresaw1020 I'm glad that your scale is going in the right direction. You'll figure out your new normal. Maybe you'll be too busy to snack But there's a danger in also being too busy to prepare healthy meals so you just grab whatever. Is mom going to do the cooking? That would be awesome. Unless it was my mom.....cooking wasn't her thing. lol God love her.

@cbabie The beginning of a new life.......how far of a commute do you have? So with some new routines heading your way add in to it eat more fruit or whatever little step you can take to counterattack the awful eating. Think about this...if you can say no to sweets, you can say no to anything. Was your eating so awful or are you having all or nothing thinking? All of our meals could be better in one form or another.

@mswatson0777 Isn't berry season the best? That's nice of you to try low-carb one week to show your support. I'm glad you are feeling a bit less stressed more rested.

@gemwolf110 I get you on the 17 point thing. It would throw me off too. How many points could you see yourself doing on a daily basis? If it was me, I'd be borrowing from my weeklies let's say 5 a day so at least that's 22. My mind would accept that. That would still give you a bit left over for weeklies. If it's the blue dot thing you are worried about then create your own blue dot system on a sheet of paper at home. Any program can be tweaked to fit you and your lifestyle. Looks like some good goals you have there. If MFP is a better fit for you then just track here.

Yellow Day Stayed OP 162/164 carbs Exercise- did not exercise.

I didn't plan well today. I forgot I we were doing a "picnic" for one of my friends who had a stroke. They allowed us to take her out of rehab place for 1 1/2 hour on her lunch hour. Best thing about it was we all had to watch what we brought because she's on a strict diet. I took chicken fajita meat with peppers and then sandwich thins for anyone who wanted a bit of bread. Her therapist was with us to oversee her diet. But didn't get in my exercise before and not afterwards either. I'm having a hard time getting back in my normal routine since I got sick and then recovered. I think I'm going to have to baby step this. But I did work on my habits.

March goals: Drink 3 glasses of water Decluttering

@gemwolf110 I like your goals for the week! They seem very actionable and doable without being too restrictive

@cbabie I'm sure the sodium will cycle out soon, I hate feeling bloated too. And I agree with your points on fear and the virus, a lot of it has been blown out of proportion and we need to look at what we can control.

@TeresaW1020 I'm not doing true keto cause I don't think I can realistically live under 20 grams, but I'll try under 50. And I may extend it to a few weeks to see how I feel. I made a grocery list and a meal plan which is making it seem more actionable. He's pretty excited because I'm a meal prepper so I'm making a bunch of new things that he definitely wants to try!

@theslightedgeforever That picnic sounds wonderful, I'm so glad you were able to support your friend. I hope you're able to find some time to get some movement in today.

@trooworld I love pre-planning and pre-tracking food, it makes things so much less stressful! And I'm intrigued to see how next week (and possibly the following week?) go. I'm hoping it helps with my hunger levels because right now they're too high for me to feel this is sustainable.

I'm so excited that it's Thursday! I handed in my final for one class, and then handed in my midterm for another, so I have the weekend to relax before I have to dive in again. This break is SO needed! I've got some college friends coming down to visit. We're going to have a movie day and spend the day relaxing, it will be fabulous! Then Sunday, I'm going to dive into my 1-2 week low carb challenge with my partner. It will be a good gauge on how my hunger levels are and what I need to adjust. I found some great recipes so I'm feeling pretty good about it. The goal is to find a balance with my hunger levels since they've been too high lately and I think it's sabotaging my long term success.

@trooworld, girl I had to scroll back to the post where you rejoined WW!! I am sorry that I missed it. I think it’s great that your DH talked you into the meetings. I’m going to see how much I can lose on my own and when I get closer to my goal I will for sure start going to meetings. Congrats on losing so well this week. I was the complete opposite this week. So, we are both GREEN girls and now we can motivate each other. Have fun at your 5K!

@mswatson0777, I’m happy to read that you are going to get a weekend to relax and have fun with your friends! I hope the low carb goes well for you. There is no shortage of recipes you can find for your meal prepping. https://www.dietdoctor.com/ is a great resource for all things low carb, and they have lots of great recipes that I made when I was doing the diet.

@cbabie, I hope you will love and thrive with your new work schedule. You are right about control. I say we control what we can and leave the rest in God’s hands. I’ve been playing the Mother May I game for too long and it’s time to take bigger steps. We got this!!

Good morning! Well, the scale was up 1.5 lbs this week. Not too surprising considering all I ate last weekend while traveling to get mom. Then there was my birthday dinner and the cake and ice cream and then the church BBQ. It is what it is, and I knew this week would be crazy. So, today I’m starting fresh with my WW plan. There are no other events happening this month, so I have no excuses! I will say that a very small amount of my weight gain could be water retention in my muscles. I used the new 15 lb. dumbbells that DH gave me and I literally can’t move my arms without my triceps screaming in pain.

@trooworld Congrats on the loss, that's fantastic! We have no idea what movies we're watching yet, I'm just excited to get together with everyone. And I think your idea of a weight reset is fantastic. It's a fresh start!

@cbabie Even 10 minutes is a great way to start the day, way to go! And I'm sorry about your DH. I had a great uncle like that who lived into his 90s, so some people are just blessed with great health even if they don't work at it! My partner has a lot of heart disease on his Dad's side of the family, and it is common for men to pass away in their young 60s on his side, so he has a lot of incentive to kick his health into high gear!

@TeresaW1020 Thank you so much for the resource! When you were going through it, how did you make it through the fog? What were the pros and cons while on it? And way to go on using those 15lb weights! I'm sure that gain is temporary and will be off in no time.

I feel very accomplished today. I planned out my menu for the events this weekend and for the next week (all low carb). My grocery bill will be atrocious, but once I have some basics in the house it will be better the following weeks. I'm planning lots of hydration, electrolytes, and vitamin supplements to hopefully help with the fog, but I know my athletic performance is going to tank...big time. I hear it comes back and you feel better than ever...but we'll see... I'm just interested to mix things up to see how I feel.

Sorry been MiA. Just finding life very busy I'm not getting time to sit down to read messages & respond. I am still tracking. I've had a couple of crazy weekends where I've sabotaged my good work- weight stayed the same so trying to be mindful this weekend & not mess up.

@theslightedgeforever Way to go on the loss, you've got this!!!

@trooworld Keep us posted on how the 5K goes! And I hope your favorite WW leader is there!

@joannadavison Good to hear from you! I hope life calms down for you a bit!

Happy Saturday! We had a bunch of friends over last night for drinks and it was a blast. I ate entirely low carb and it wasnt as challenging as I thought, which was a good sign. I didnt sleep enough last night so I'm hoping for a nap today before I get together with my college friends. I hope your all your weekends goes smoothly!