Weight Watchers. "THIS is Living?"

So I joined a Weight Watchers group being formed at my office; we start meeting every Thursday for 12 weeks on either the 22nd or the 29th. Any tips, warnings, etc.?

I might add that I made out the $156 check 24 hours ago and have not yet lost an ounce.

(Oh, God, I hope the Pwincess Pwecious is not going to be in this gwoup . . .)

I’ve done the Weight Watchers program several times in the past, mostly successfully till I lost my motivation. My tip would be to follow the program to the letter, especially early on.

Incidentally, the main reason I lost my motivation in the past had to do with others in the meetings. Somehow I wound up in the groups with the cheaters who spent the meeting bemoaning their failures. I wanted to scream “Shut up and just follow the plan! Or save your money and go away!!”

Hope you have a great leader - that makes such a difference. Good luck to ya!

156 bucks! Does the program come with it’s own miniature personal trainer? I know they charge you to get access to the top secret “points” system, but holy crap.
Best of luck, Eve. But sure to update us occasionally.

You’ll no doubt be told this several times, but one big thing is to eat all your points. If you don’t eat enough your body will conserve resources (read: it won’t burn fat), so even though you’re eating less you’ll also be burning less fuel and probably also be more sluggish and tired, etc.

You can technically eat anything you want. The problem is that some of those things will be worth 2 points and some will be worth 15. No, I am not making this up. At first, tracking your points will be incredibly … well, can be incredibly … you might be slightly annoyed by … oh, how do I say this? It seemed to fizzy and me, when she was starting out, that she practically had to count each individual sip of water. Now she does it almost routinely (not the water, though).

fizzy has adopted the strategy of not eating for several hours (I think basically most of the day except a light breakfast) before WI (weigh-in). I’m not so sure how smart this is, but so far she hasn’t keeled over and fainted.

What is the “Program?”

I hope our Leader isn’t overly perky. I’ll have to kill and eat her.

Errr… BE sure to update us. Wow, where’s my coffee?

What is the difference between “points” and “calories?”

(Yeah, I know—$156.)

The Program is the word used (at least back in my day) to encompass the food plan, the exercise plan, and the water. I don’t think WW pays attention to calories except for the part they play in computing the points. It’ll all be explained to you in orientation.

I think it really is a straightforward approach. If I didn’t hate the meetings so much, I might join again. Then again, South Beach is working for me, so why mess with success?

The Program is the word used (at least back in my day) to encompass the food plan, the exercise plan, and the water. I don’t think WW pays attention to calories except for the part they play in computing the points. It’ll all be explained to you in orientation.

I think it really is a straightforward approach. If I didn’t hate the meetings so much, I might join again. Then again, South Beach is working for me, so why mess with success?

I’m a WW member - down 50 pounds since last May… so yeah, it does work as long as you stick reasonably well to it.

Points vs calories: well, they came up with this fancy algorithm that factors in calories, fiber and fat. A higher fiber food will have fewer points than a lower fiber food with the same number of calories; a higher fat food will have more points than a lower-fat food with the same number of calories. But ballpark estimate, figure a point is worth roughly 50 calories. And you have a points target for each day, that is based on your current body weight (you get 2 fewer points with every 25 pound loss). You’ve also got “flex points” that you can use up any time over the course of the week.

So, if you concentrate on low fat, high fiber stuff, you get to eat more. But as another poster said, you can eat anything as long as you count the points. And it does become somewhat automatic, and you do get used to it.

If you’re interested in something Atkins-y, presumably that could be done at the same time - i.e., they’re not completely incompatible. But since I loves my carbs, I’m a WW purist.

Lots of stuff seems to also list the WW points on their containers, even non-WW brand foods. Since I don’t follow WW, I can’t give you any advice, but I can wish you best of luck! I’ve heard it’s a good plan if you keep with it.

FairyChatMom, WeightWatchers offers an online program now, so you don’t have to go to meetings. That’s what I did, and I sucessfully lost 30 pounds and have kept it off for a year and a half now. You don’t get everything you get in meetings, but you have access to some very nice online tools and it costs less.

Eve, best of luck to you. WW works, and I am proof. If you don’t have a good leader or the other people in the group annoy you, try the online version.

This all sounds very complicated. I’m doing Atkins shakes and slimfast in the morning and afternoon, except for today, which was “Food Day” here. I ate two Krispie Kremes and a donut hole. I’m pretty depressed about it, but I haven’t gnawed on the corner of my desk all day.

I’m also doing moderate exercise (50 crunches, 20 dumbbell presses, 20 curls, 20 hammer curls, and 20 things I call “chicken wings” because I don’t know what else to call them). I haven’t lost much weight, but my clothes are fitting better. My little workout takes about 15 minutes, and I don’t have to go to the gym to do it, so it’s easier to psych up for it.

You’d better not. Do you have any idea how many points that would be?

[homer]Mmmm … “chicken wings” …[/homer]

“Points” is just calorie restriction for dummies. A point is roughly 50 calories.

It works, and I’m down 60 pounds since last spring. I’ve got a couple of pictures that show before and now. I still have a way to go. I want to fit into a size 10 - so another 30 lbs I think.

Before (NYDope 2003)
Now (Anita Vacation’s Dopefest 12/27/03)

I joined a ten week program at work a while back and lost about ten pounds, so I was pretty happy with that. The “program” itself it pretty easy to follow, just remember to stick to it. Don’t get dissapointed if you don’t lose as much in a week as you would like to. It will come off slowly, but stayed motivated, drink lots of water, and make sure you excercise. I was walking between one and two miles a day while on the program and it helped a lot. Good luck :slight_smile:

Hell, if I lose anything I’ll be merry as a grig.

Well, I had really bad chicken salad for lunch (and 1/2 bag animal crackers – so sue me). Maybe that will make up for the donuts I scarffed down this morning.

Well, cooked lean pork is 22points/lb making some questionable assumptions, a 125lb leader would be over 2000 points. Far too many.

You could barbecue her and then the group could have her for lunch and dinner for the 12 weeks of the plan.

Though I’m not sure that would lead to a “lifetime of healthy eating habits.” Overly perky WW leaders cannot always be found at your local supermarket.