I have a lot of issues with OA. I tried them a while ago, then went back to a few meetings to support a friend and have sat in on some online meetings since. Suffice it to say that, if it works for you, that’s great, but it doesn’t do it for me.
I would personally like there to be something between Weight Watchers and OA.
I could really use weekly meetings of similarly-minded people who are trying to lose weight as a support group but without the diet plan of WW (not that it’s not a good program, it is, I just already have a program that’s working) and without the religiousity of OA.
I think it would be really helpful.
Weight Watchers has evolved from a formal diet (so many servings of this, so many of that, can’t have this, can’t have that) to something that is so extremely flexible that no food is off limits and that all of the choices are mine to make, and that’s what I love about it. The meetings themselves are about making behavioral changes to achieve long-term weight loss, and the motivation to stick with it; they’re not about food. Personal reflection is encouraged, but the goal is to troubleshoot to find out what works and what doesn’t for me. If I gained weight last week, I know that I need to go back for that week and find out what I did and how I can improve. Emotionally, I just have to accept that I was the one who overate, and that I’m overcoming 40 years of lousy behavior. It doesn’t take a genius or a Fourth Step to figure that out.
Part of the reason I dislike OA is because to me, it’s less about taking the action to make positive changes that are sustainable in the long term, and more about making up hard-and-fast rules that define “abstinence”. “I won’t eat wheat, sugar, and alcohol.” “I won’t eat before 6 a.m. or after 8 p.m.” “I’ll exercise at for at least an hour every day.” If any of these rules are broken, the person is no longer “abstinent”. Instead of accepting that setbacks occur, losing “abstinence” is a failure that must be punished, not an opportunity for growth.
That said, I can accept that some people need structure. I’m one of those people, which is why I track and use the points system to guide my choices. At the same time, I refuse to assign labels to myself and make arbitrary rules that define what is success and what is failure.
So I joined WW a couple of weeks ago and so far i like it. I don’t attend meetings but I have been tracking points/activities. I lost 7lbs the first week which was a combination of “wow new toy, let’s see how many points I can avoid using and not die” and the time of day I originally weighed myself. Second week it’s looking like it’s going to be closer to 1 or 2 lbs. I’m going to have to step up my activity quite a but if I’m going to keep losing weight long term.
I totally agree with this and refuse to get sucked into any of that. It all seems like such a colossal waste of time and gets the focus off of the actual problem of overeating.
I firmly believe that eating when you’re hungry and not eating/stopping when you are not hungry is the best way to go.
You can get some of those heavy-duty weightlifting bands and loop it over a pull up bar to do assisted pull ups. You can get a 3 or 4 pack of bands for $70–100 (depending on the size of the bands included in the pack) or a single, if you know how much resistance you need, for about $20–30. Iron Woody is a good brand. Rogue Fitness sells their own brand of those too. Unless you’re really big, or really really weak, you probably don’t need the bigger bands, so you’d be okay with the cheaper pack.
You can also do body rows on a low playground bar, if you don’t want to buy anything. Fitness rings (like gymnastics rings, but not rated for the kind of strain real gymnasts put on apparatus) are also a good versatile purchase, if you want to buy some gear. Rings are also under $80 most places. Rogue Fitness sells metal or wood ones. I recently ordered a set of wood rings from Samson Rings. You can do all kinds of exercises with rings, from ring push ups to muscle ups, or get really ambitious and try static holds like front or back levers and iron crosses. Good for both beginners and advanced athletes.
I weighed myself this morning, and I’ve lost 9 pounds since June 6. Not too bad for a month with a birthday/4th of July/multiple trips to restaurants, but I still feel like if I weren’t expected to eat 6 servings of grains/starches a day, I’d be losing weight faster.
On the other hand, man oh man, is it good to have a sandwich again. I’ve missed good bread so much. I usually have only half a sandwich (or make it open-faced) with one piece of bread at a meal – like today, I’m having a piece of marathon bread (it’s got cranberries, pumpkin seeds, other…types of seeds or something…in a multi-grain dough) with a slice of havarti cheese, deli ham, and pea sprouts for breakfast.
No food is really off-limits for me; I just have to budget it into my serving quota. A 2" square brownie equals two starches and one fat, for example. I’m still not eating brownies, but it’s really mentally freeing to know that I could have one without “cheating”.
I mentioned the flaxseed thing on the last page, but let me just leave this here:
4 oz. plain Greek yogurt
1-2 TB sugar-free fruit preserves (I use Wegman’s sugar-free plum, raspberry, and strawberry spread)
Artificial sweetener of your choice (I use 1 packet of Splenda and 1 packet of Truvia)
1/3 cup blueberries
1 TB ground flaxseed meal
I swear it tastes like blueberry pie, and the flaxseed makes it feel filling. It’s 135 calories if you use 0% fat yogurt.
I went to my doctor on May 8th after I injured my knee and it was getting worse instead of better.
I went to my doctor again yesterday. Since May 8th, I’ve lost 14 pounds. I went on vacation from May 9th to the 14th–I know I gained at least 2-3 pounds while on vacation. So really I’ve lost that weight since the middle of May!
Go me!
Congratulations on joining Weight Watchers! I do have a nickel’s worth of free advice, though. (Well, a dime’s worth. Inflation, y’know.)
First, not eating all your points is bad juju. You don’t have to eat all of them if you’re not hungry at the end of the day, and if you’ve met your good health guidelines for fruits and vegetables, liquid, and so forth. However, you still need protein, carbohydrates, and fat in order to be healthy. This is what I’ve eaten so far today, and what I plan to eat for dinner:
Breakfast:
[ul]
[li]1/2 cup Egg Beaters[/li][li]2 oz. deli ham[/li][li]1/4 cup fat-free shredded cheddar cheese[/li][li]1 small onion[/li][li]1 low-cal English muffin[/li][li]1 small banana[/li][/ul]
Total points: 6
Lunch:
[ul]
[li]1 slice of potato bread[/li][li]2 slices of fat-free American cheese[/li][li]1-1/2 oz. ham[/li][li]1 small banana (the ones I get tend to be very small)[/li][li]1 6 ounce container of Chobani fat-free fruit-on-the-bottom peach Greek yogurt (1 or 2 more points, but totally worth it. Most fat-free and sugar-free yogurt is one step above pudding IMO.)[/li][/ul]
Total points: 7
Dinner:
[ul]
[li]1 haddock filet[/li][li]1 serving of broccoli[/li][li]1 cup of vinegar cole slaw[/li][li]1/2 cup sugar free ice cream[/li][/ul]
Total points: 7
Total points for the day: 20. As you can see, I’ve got some carbs at every meal, at least one serving of protein at every meal, and I watch my fat.
However, I know I’m having a late dinner, because I always have a late dinner on Friday nights. So I’m going to have another low-calorie English muffin with a serving of low-fat peanut butter as a snack. Total points: 3. I’m still shy 3 points, which is a lot better than being shy 6 points.
In terms of exercise, if you haven’t been doing it, start easy because you really don’t want to injure yourself, and you don’t want to burn out. Find something you like to do and make it easy to do. For example, I ride a bike first thing in the morning, after the sprog goes to camp for the day. I ride for transportation and for exercise, so it’s easy to do. And I love it, so I do it. Some people hook up and walk with friends. Some people do Zumba or whatever classes. Just find something you like to do so it’s something you want to do, and take it easy until you get used to it.
I’m not trying to be a wet blanket here. I’ve been in Weight Watchers for over a year and a half, and I’ve seen a lot of people come in with very high expectations of themselves and WW, and they’ve left soon thereafter because they can’t keep living up to those expectations. Successful weight loss isn’t about the number on the scale, and it’s especially not about how fast that number goes down. It’s about learning to make better choices so we don’t have to lose the weight again. All I’m saying is, keep your expectations reasonable, and treat every setback as a learning experience, because that’s what it is.
MsRobyn, Weight Watchers member since January, 2011.
Starting weight: 263.2 lbs. Current weight (as of Tuesday morning): 170.8 lbs. Overall weight loss: 92.4 lbs. Pounds to goal (as of Tuesday morning): 10.8.
I forgot to mention that we have some people who post to this thread who are WW members. If you have any questions, just ask.
Thanks! And thank you for your advice. Me and my wife are both doing WW so we’ll try to keep each other motivated and on track. She had done it before but it was harder for her because I do most of the cooking during the week and while it was a bit healthier food, it wasn’t by much. She’s told me already about not leaving too many points uneaten, that’s something I’ll have to work on. The thing is, I have sooo many points. I currently have 51 daily points . Breakfast (I recently switched to a larger breakfast to avoid mid-morning munchies) is 11 points, similar for lunch. That leaves me 29 points for dinner. Last night I cooked a recipe from WW (Teriyaki Chicken with Broccoli or somesuch) that made 4 serving for 7 points each. I ate 3 of them and still had points left over.
Yeah, I know it’s hard. I started with 39 points and had a hard time with that. I’m now down to 26. Some days are easy, others, not so much. Today is easy because it’s Friday and I tend to eat the same thing every Friday night because I go out with friends and I’d rather spend the time talking to them instead of agonizing over the menu.
I don’t have too much weight to lose (I’m at the cusp of being overweight, still barely at normal/average), but I do want to lose a little of the flab and rebuild my heart health.
I’m doing little ninja sessions on the elliptical throughout the day… burning about 100 calories at a time, every hour or so.
Congratulations to everyone here who has done such a fantastic job so far! I’m really hoping to get a nicer slimmed/toned body by halloween for some sort of a naughty costume, I guess 
Cutting out all the refined carbs and sweets is going to be the hardest part for me… but I’m gonna try my best to slowly limit them until they are gone. I’ve done low-carb diets in the past for months at a time and it really seems to help me lose the flab when I need to.
I don’t know about you guys but I’m a sucker for those stupid inspirational workout/eat healthy pictures you see all over Facebook and Pinterest. Stuff like “You’ve come too far to take orders from a cookie” and “Do not reward yourself with food, you are not a dog.”
It’s cheesy but stuff like that totally helps me keep going with workouts and avoid the wrong foods.
That being said, I’m off all week. Two trips, one last weekend and this weekend. Not exercising or eating right. I think it’s a fine time - haven’t lost any weight in a month after losing 50 lbs.
I’ll be rearin’ to go on Monday, tho!
Welp, after a 1,000 calorie/35 minute stint on the bike this morning, I finally(!) hit a 24.9 BMI, with 183.5 lbs. @ 6’ 00", and it’s also -60 in 3 years (-40 since April 2011). 
I lost another 3 lbs this week, which brings the total so far to 10. So far so good!
51 points! Holy cow! I don’t even think I could come up with a day’s worth of food that was that many. I think you may have to resort to drinking melted butter.
I am at 11lbs down sine June 18th. It’s a little too fast but I think there was a water weight thing going on. We’ll see how the next couple of weeks go.
My office mate said I looked like I was ‘melting.’ Doesn’t sound like much of a compliment but it’s keeping me motivated.
As an added bonus, the better food and exercise have already reduced some of my joint problems, helped with my anxiety and helped my digestive system. Weight loss is starting to become a secondary goal to how awesome I feel.
I respect the combined knowledge of SDMB members, and I’m hoping you can help me choose a weight loss program. There seem to be so many options now, that it’s hard to make an informed decision from hype and advertising. What has worked well for you over the long-haul?
I’ve dieted my whole life, I know tons (heh) about losing weight, so I need truly knowledgeable program consultants who I will respect, not airheads trained a week ago. I’m not a big eater, don’t eat junkfood, eat lots of fiber and salads, complex carbs, and probably not enough fat, don’t drink, and rarely eat at restaurants. But I do under-exercise.
- I need to lose 50 pounds for some pretty powerful health reasons, not just for attractiveness
- I do best when a program provides the meals. The boredom removes my appetite, in a good way, so that food is just sustenance and a routine
- I am always the slowest loser, and am really good about compliance
- If I have to look through recipe books and eat fake or real sweets as part of the diet, it only stimulates my appetite and makes me overly focus on food
- I’ve done HMR (for 7 months, but the shakes make me very sick with IBS)
- I’ve done Weight Watchers numerous times within the last 40 years, but the focus is too much on recipes and food preparation
- I need personal encouragement and exercise motivation
- Maintenance program, once weight is lost
A search on weight loss programs turned up options such as Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Chef’s Diet, and ediets, but I don’t know what kind of reputations they (or others) have or what kind of success rate for loss and maintenance.
Thank you in advance.
Or see a dietician 
I saw my dietician yesterday and she switched me to a lower-carb/higher-protein diet when I weighed in at only one pound less than I weighed 3 weeks ago by her scale. (Although my body fat had dropped by 1%, so that was good. Also, my clothes fit a lot better – I’m actually wearing my “skinny jeans” today and they’re perfectly comfortable – so I don’t feel bad about the scale.)
Now I’m at 4 servings of starches and 8 oz. of protein a day, and she said she might make further adjustments later on if necessary. No more stuffing myself with food I don’t want just to hit my quota! Today I have a whole English muffin for breakfast and split pea soup for lunch. Those are my starches for the day, done.
I love you!!! How can I never have thought of seeing a Registered Dietician before now? I have an appointment now for Monday!