I need an appetite suppressant

Factual Questions
21

Heh. You get a metaphorical knock upside the head, that’s what you get for that! :smiley:

Here’s what I did - I signed up for the online Flex plan. There are two versions of WW: Flex and Core. Core, you don’t have to measure or weigh or count anything, but you are limited in the foods you can eat. You can eat as much of the “Core Foods” as you want (most fresh veggies, most fruits, stuff like that), but you can’t eat off the list (mostly, more on that in a minute). Flex lets you eat anything you want. ANYTHING. Yes, even Aunt Edna’s killer chocolate cake. You just can’t eat an unlimited amount of it. Flex does require you to measure what you eat, and to enter your food into a food log (I use the online version called the Points Tracker on the website.) I chose Flex because, for me, saying I can’t have X is a surefire way to make me crave X. I need the freedom to eat whatever I want to. I do not deal well with authority! :smiley:

WW has created a formula for food called “Points”. It’s an equation based on calories, fat and fiber. Basically, 50 calories are 1 point. 12 grams of fat are 1 point. 4 grams of fiber are almost -1 point. So if you have two foods with equal calories and one is high fat and the other high fiber, the high fiber one will have less points.

The Flex plan gives you a certain number of Points per day, based on your weight. I, at 245, get 30 points a day. My mother, down to 140, gets 20something. Everyone gets an extra 35 points per week. These can be used all at once (say you’ve got a dinner party to go to) or a little bit each day. The Core people, from what I understand, also get 35 Points a week, and this is what they can use to very occasionally indulge on non-Core foods.

So, the way I started was to not change a thing. The first week I simply measured out what I was already eating and tracked that. I figured this would give me a good concrete idea of how far I need to change my habits. So, for example, I’d make my regular lunch salad and enter every ingredient into my Points Tracker:
2 cups lettuce - 0 points…okay.
1/4 cup carrots - 0 points…sweet!
1/3 cup celery - 0 points…do dee do, this is pretty cool…
1/4 a bell pepper - 0 points…
1/3 cup cucumber - 0 points…
1/8 cup red onion - 0 points…easy peasy…
2 slices Kraft American cheese - 4.5 points…huh?
1 Tablespoon Honey French dressing - 2.5 points…ouch!
2 Tablespoons blue cheese dressing - 5 points…argh!

So there you have it: 12 points. More than 1/3 of my daily allotment, and all due to the dressing and cheese! I knew that dressing and cheese were the “bad” parts of a salad, but I had no idea they were THAT bad! Next day, I went out and got some reduced fat salad dressings and cheddar cheese shreds made with 2% milk. The same salad made with those two little substitutions is now 2.5 Points, and a frequent meal for me.

I did the same with the rest of my week - generally eating as normal, finding out where my biggest calorie suckages were and finding acceptable substitutes for them. The WW tracker and Points system made that soooooooo much easier than looking everything up and tracking it on my own.

You also keep track of your weight and your activity. *EDITED TO ADD: But activity is actually entirely optional. You don’t have to do it at all to lose, but you’ll lose faster if you do, of course. *You earn extra Points for activity - those have to be used the day you earn them. Activity Points don’t have to be “working out” in the traditional sense. Spend an hour at the park chasing the kid? Activity Points! Work up a good sweat mopping the floor? Activity Points! Mow the lawn? Activity Points! Basically, anything that gets you breathing heavy, you can claim as Activity, and enter the time you spent doing it, and it will figure out how many Points you can claim for it.

You can choose any day of the week to be your Weigh-In day. That’s also the day your weekly Points reset. I made my day Thursday, so I have a huge fresh batch of weekly Points going into the weekend, since that’s my usual go-out-and-eat or party time. My mom made hers on Tuesday, because she’s got a standing Wednesday night theater-and-dinner date with some friends.

There are some great recipes there (and some rather icky ones, to be honest). The Grilled Chicken and Tri-Color Peppers with Chimichurri Sauce is simply to die for. It’s so ridiculously easy, and so yummy and good for you. There’s a really good Veggie Strata, as well. Don’t bother with the Eggplant Parmesan. Yuck.

There are also message boards for moral support and practical advice. (There’s also a Weight Loss Thread here on the Dope with several folks doing WW and many who are not.)

What does it offer? A lot. Nothing you couldn’t do all on your own without paying for it, but it’s very convenient and I’m willing to pay for good software and the feeling of being on a team with other people all working towards a common goal. I’m always inspired all over again when I talk to someone and we compare Points and progress.

22

I’ll toss my hat in here to say that Weight Watchers has helped me tremendously. I lost 60 pounds, then regained 50 during pregnancy, then lost that and another 30. So, I’m down 90 pounds from my high weight, but have actually lost 140.

23

OK thanks all for your input. As long as I don’t have to buy the food from WW at inflated prices, I’m good.

24

wrong place

25

Nope. Although their ice cream sandwiches *are *quite tasty, but they’re comparably priced and available at the grocery store. Stay far, far away from their breakfast cereals, though! shudder

26

Hey Zeno, come join us at the SDMB Weight Loss club

27

I could send you a picture of my ex-wife.

28

Trust him. He’s really skinny.

29

Since WhyNot covered the Flex plan in her post, I’ll try & cover Core here a little, since it’s my plan of choice. If you know anything about Volumetrics, it’s the idea that Core is based on. Basically, you mostly eat food that is filling, but low in calories.

I obviously can’t give you the Core list here, but it’s basically ALL fresh fruits & veggies, plus canned & frozen without added sugar, lean meats & seafood, fat free dairy, whole grains, beans, condiments & spices and all that. People see “list” and they think there must be nothing to eat. There aren’t a lot of convenience foods on Core, though. The biggest ones I use are rotisserie chickens (with the skin removed) and there are a ton of canned soups, too.

And you CAN eat off the list. Just like on Flex, you get 35 points per week to use on absolutely anything that is not Core. If you choose wisely & think about what you want to use them on, it’s plenty.

There aren’t portion limits - the idea is to learn to eat until satisfied. Now, a lot of people say “well, if I could eat until satisfied, I wouldn’t have a weight problem!”. But that’s the point - you LEARN to do it. Just like you learn to count points.

I did Flex when I first started. Points have been Weight Watchers’ signature plan for awhile now, and I chose what I knew about. It worked, of course, but once I got down to where I was only allowed 20 points a day, I was HUNGRY. Yes, I got 35 weekly points too, but it’s still not that much, especially if I wanted to save my weekly points for a special event.

The rate of loss is about the same on both plans, so really if you do WW, just choose the plan you think fits your life better. You can always change later on if you want.

30

Heh, it’s true. To be fair, I’ve only tried one b/c they only have one Core cereal, but it’s not great.

They call it “vanilla puffed wheat”, but it’s really berry-vanilla. It’s way too sweet & fake tasting.

I like some of their ice creams, too. The giant fudge bars are good.

I do NOT like their cakes. They have little frosted ones that are roughly the size of my thumb (but look bigger on the box), and different muffin flavors, too. At least with these types of things, there are plenty of recipes that are much cheaper to make, and much tastier, for the same amount of points.

A lot of the recipes they have on their website are good too, for both plans.

31

This is just stupid all around. We take antibiotics when we have an infection. We take blood pressure medication when we have high blood pressure. Why the sudden rush to judge when it’s weight loss? My parents have gone on a carefully monitored program under the guidance of their doctor and have lost 100 pounds between them after a lifetime of misery and one failed weight loss campaign after another. So what qualifies you to make such ignorant judgements about someone else’s health? Are you a doctor or some kind of weight loss expert?

This is also dumb. First off, a prudent regimen of medication can help, with a doctor’s guidance. Second, whatever is between me and my doctor is none of “the children’s” business, just as my sex life is none of their business.

32

Out of curiosity, how does WW address beverages? Do you also enter how much juice, beer or straight-up whiskey you drank each day?

33

Yup, beverages, assuming they have calories, have points. Points are figured based on calories, fat & fiber. I don’t know about juices, but most regular beers are 3 points. Shots are 2, I think.

As far as Core goes, the only caloric drink that’s Core is skim milk, and anything else (juice, etc) you’d count just like on Flex.

34

First off, my comments are not stupid. I resent that. Most of the time, taking medication to treat weight loss doesn’t address the underlying causes of the weight (unless you have a chemical imbalance). It is better to find out what it is that causes it and fix it. Would your doctor give you antibiotics or blood pressure medication without asking you questions about why you have that condition? Perhaps there is mold in your house or you eat too much salt. If you don’t take care of the cause, then you will be back time and time again.

It would be irresponsible of a doctor to give a patient weight loss drugs without assessing why they need it. Why use medication when not necessary?

Besides being expensive, you also have to consider the side effects of the weight loss medication. For example, many of the over the counter weight loss drugs have high amounts of caffeine in them that can cause decreased bone density and a rapid heart beat. You will also have to keep taking these caffeine weight loss drugs for the rest of your life if you want to have any hope of keeping the weight off. However, your body develops a tolerance to the caffeine so it will become less effective with time.

Also, I have not seen an approved weight loss drug that could obtain a 100 lb weight loss unless you are morbidly obese. You also have a good chance of gaining a lot of weight back. For example, look at the efficacy of Orlistat. There will always be people who do loss a lot of weight when given some weight-loss medication but this is not the general effect. Changing your lifestyle is much more effective. Weight Watchers is definitely a much better choice than taking medication because they help you understand nutrition, provide support, and hopefully help you live a more active lifestyle.

As for the issue of setting an example for the children around you, you should ask yourself what these children will be like when they grow up and they see their parents/guardian eating junk food, eating giant proportions, sitting around all day and not getting enough exercise. You may lose weight with the weight loss medication but you will give the children around you a significantly higher chance of being obese due to the lifestyle they become accustomed to. Children grow up to be like those around them and I hope you want to set a good example.

I’m not a doctor, but I am an athlete who was pretty porky as a child because no one in my family exercised. I took it to myself to take up cycling as a teen and haven’t looked back since. Best decision of my life. I went through two years where I weighed myself and kept track of all I ate on a near daily basis to help me lose weight so I know what effort it takes.

35

Ew. I tried their Cinnamon Something one, and it was like eating a bowl of Red Hots in milk. Blech.

Good to know. I haven’t tried them, and now I won’t. I don’t know if it’s core, but sugar-free fat-free chocolate pudding made with skim milk is yummerific for like 2 points a serving or something ridiculously low. That’s my usual chocolate fix, although I still enjoy the occasional hazelnut chocolate bar - I just know I’ll be eating a salad for dinner as well as lunch that day.

If they have calories (from carbs or from alcohol) they count. Lite hard lemonade (my adult beverage of choice) is two points. Most of the time I drink water (the Points Tracker also has little check boxes so you can keep track of your water, servings of fruit & veg, multivitamin and a required daily dose of olive or vegetable oil) but I’ve also returned to my childhood fave - sugar free Kool-Aid. A whole 2 quarts is just a couple of points, and it helps to satisfy my sweet cravings. (It’s officially 0 points for a single serving, but eventually you can’t keep rounding down. I allot myself a couple of points a day for it.)

badbadrubberpiggy, is diet soda Core?

36

Yes, the pudding is Core! All the sf flavors are, if made with fat free milk. None of the pre-made cups are Core - there aren’t any that are both sugar AND fat free. When I eat it, I usually get the cook & serve. It only comes in vanilla & chocolate, though.

And so is diet soda. Some other diet drinks like Crystal Light & the Light v8 Splash are Core, too. Not really “juice”, but flavored drinks.

37

If you’re going to go off calling other people lazy, sorry, your resentment rings a little hollow.

No. And your doctor probably wouldn’t call you lazy or imply you’re a poor parent if you asked about alternative means.

You have no idea what the poster’s circumstances are, so what right do you have to make these kinds of generalizations? Get a clue.

This is obvious, no need to restate it.