Newbie with questions :)

Mifford

Silver Member
Hi everyone

Having done every diet in the past with no success except for with Cambridge I discovered a while back that I have a thyroid problem. Now that it looks like it is under control I decided to give WW another try with the new system to see how I got on and re-started 2 weeks ago.

My first week I lost 3lbs according to my scales and I was over the moon but I didn't make my first weigh in because I picked up a chest infection and wasn't well. I was on antibiotics and was also sick as all hell so couldn't eat properly for days.

Having got back on food my weight has gone back up again this week and my first official weigh in tonight shows that I've lost 1.5lbs over the two weeks.

I was initially REALLY disappointed with it but I've been reminding myself that when I'm ill my thyroid doesn't work as well as it should plus having not eaten properly for a few days and then having to eat mainly carbs such as rice and crackers - even though I was within my points still I knew that would show on the scales initially.

So I'm trying to get myself back on track this week and started cooking meals again etc. The biggest problem I'm having is trying to eat enough to get up to my 34 daily points! I'm not depriving myself of food and I'm certainly not hungry so how does everyone else increase the points when they are low on a particular day?

As an example today I had a bowl of gluten free chocolate stars for breakfast with skimmed milk and a bowl of fruit salad. Then for lunch I was running around today so had ham "sandwiches" using gluten free crispbreads and low fat ham, along with a salad and some fruit to follow. Dinner was a HUGE stir fry with a whole pack of seafood selection, loads of veggies and a portion of egg noodles followed by a packet of fruit gums (weekly treat) and an apple.

According to my calculator so far today I've used 22 points only leaving me 12 short. But I'm really not hungry so what do I do?? I know that I've not been eating enough points wise in the past and my counsellor thinks this may be partly why I've struggled to lose weight so I need to increase my intake but I actually like things like fish and white meat, I can't eat bread and after years of having to eat low GI to try and counteract my thyroid before I was medicated I now rarely eat potatoes or heavy pasta.

Any hints as to how to deal with days like today and get my intake up will be greatly appreciated. In the meantime I'm off to make a hot chocolate - i don't really want it but I know it will bring my points total up easily.
 
Hi, I to sometimes stuggle to eat 29 pp, I have been having snacks in evening (scampi fries and a curly wurly) but I know thats not good even tho its within my points! So I to have had a rethink.. what about adding some dairy to your meals? like half fat cheese, or maybe up your protein amounts in your meal, or some houmos throughout day as a snack with veg sticks? maybe a yoghurt after each meal? you say you dont eat bread is this due to a gluten allergy or just through choice? if so what about wraps? i use wraps instead of bread (lower carbs) and make fab wraps or pitza :) I know you can get gluten free rolls from asda.. not sure how they would point ...good luck x
 
Hi miffford i too have an under active thyroid i have lost 3 in the last three 3 weeks i am on permanent medication and though it is supposed to be under control it is hard to lose are you also on medication and i was wondering why you do not eat bread pots and pasta is this because of thyroid problem x
 
hi everyone and thanks for the replies

Bread gives me hideous heartburn and makes my joints hurt. I've tested negative for coeliac but there seems to be some kind of link between wheat/gluten and other problems I have - I dont' want an endoscopy done to confirm it so I just avoid foods that cause me the problem. I have found that the weight watchers bread doesn't have the same effect though so I've got some of that today. I picked up some wraps while I was out as well thinking the same thing about how they might help and I saw a recipe for quesidillas which looks very tasty.

Pasta I have gluten free if I have it at all. That and potatoes I tend not to eat because having struggled with my weight and health for so many years before I was diagnosed I discovered that a low GI diet worked best for me and I guess I'm so used to eating that way that its ingrained in me now. I pretty much got used to eating a huge amount of veg with my meals and stick to mainly white meat and fish as my protein sources and I always feel bloated and heavy if I add in pasta or potatoes etc.

The last week I've been adding in more of these kinds of foods to get my points up to where they need to be and I regained 2lbs so it makes me wary of eating them - especially when I'm happy not to have them and I'm not hungry so don't need them to bulk out meals.

I'm also adding in things like curly wurlys to try and increase my intake but it seems insane that I am having to eat less healthy food to be able to stick to the diet lol I might try doing things like adding some light philadelphia when I do a seafood paella and things like that - it would make it tasty and increase my intake without bulking it out too much and I guess I'm just going to have to get smart working out stuff like that. The yoghurt idea is good too - I might get some little pots of ambrosia custard or rice as well and try adding those in as a pudding with fruit.

I still struggled this morning though - I really fancied a fruit salad and of course on the new system its 0 points. I added a pot of WW yoghurt to give it a bit more but even then my entire breakfast was 1 point and it was HUGE! I'm not a big fan of eating cereal as I always seem to get hungrier with that sort of stuff so I've always eaten a lot of fruit salads and things like fruit smoothies for breakfast. Couple that with salads for lunch, even if I have it with crispbreads, and as another example tonights dinner is pork stir fried with ratatouille and by the end of the day in points terms my intake is tiny but in terms of hunger and the amount of food I actually eat I'm stuffed!

I'm adding rice tonight to bring the points up but again it seems odd to reduce the vegetable part of the meal in order to add in something that I'm actually not worried about eating. I've also got some flaked almonds to add to the fruit salad to give me a healthy protein source and make it more balanced.

The crudites idea is a good one but I can't eat houmus because I have a problem with garlic - I love it but it doesn't love me unfortunately. But I might be able to find something else I can use - again maybe something like low fat soft cheese.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated! I honestly didn't think I'd be starting weight watchers and my biggest problem would be trying to eat enough to use up all my points lol
 
Hi, you can make houmos and not put garlic in, just use cooked chick peas and tahini paste (sessame seed paste) lemon juice ... Some virgin oil to bulk points :-D. Then either it like that or add extra flavour... Fresh corriander. Or roast red pepper, chilli.... In fact anything u like... And just blend it. Perfect :-D
And the way I look at it, why not eat curly wurly? Its nice and u can. Good idea to add nuts, and maybe some sunflower seeds on salad. You tend to eat like me with reduced carbs... I struggle weight wise if eat too many x
 
oooo I hadn't thought about adding some sesame or sunflower seeds. Maybe some toasted pine nuts as well. Nice healthy bit of extra points without making me eat more - I like :)
 
there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a hot chocolate, or a bag of crisps.

You definitely need to eat your points. What about some fruit juice? Its relatively high in points (as you have to point it by the packet) and you can get some nice ones that don't have too much added rubbish in them.

But honestly just graduate yourself up each day til your normal. It won't do you any serious long term damage if you deal with it now and keep working at increasing it. Its probably because you've been ill that you are struggling to eat a lot... but before long you'll be able to manage it okay x
 
don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with a packet of crisps and I certainly enjoyed the Walkers Lites I had at lunchtime :) It does seem a bit alien though to suddenly START eating crisps when I go on a "diet" lol

Today I've managed to use my points without any problem whatsoever - switching things like a wrap for the lower pointed crispbreads helps and I had turkey bacon and scrambled egg for breakfast instead of fruit salad and that clocked a few more up.

Fruit juice is a good idea as well - gets vitamins in me, uses up points and also counts as one of my 6-8 glasses of drink a day.

I did get my latest blood test results on my thyroid through yesterday and I've gone slightly hyper. It makes me as ill as when I'm hypo so I think that will explain my appetite being up and down and my weight being affected etc. Hopefully they'll get that settled soon and in the meantime I just need to stick to the diet and see what happens.
 
Aye I know what you mean. The ethics of weightwatchers is being able to treat yourself when you want a wee cheeky bag of crisps... but still promotes healthy eating. A lot of people come and go in my class and that seems to be a common feeling, people feel that they are eating too much. But it works!

Hope you get better very very very soon, sending you magical healing vibes :p xx
 
this week is the crucial one. My first week went really well then it went downhill because I wasn't well - I think that's my thyroid playing up though. This week is crucial as to whether I will lose or if it keeps going up.

I have said though that I'll give it 6 weeks for my body to adjust to it as I know I will go up and down a bit to begin with due to my meds being changed etc. I'm realistic about what I can achieve and I'd be happy with 1lb a week. Hell I'd be happy with 0.5lb a week as long as it keeps coming off! lol

Thanks for the advice everyone - it takes a bit of getting my head round but I think I can slowly introduce some higher point add-ins to get me up there and I'll let you know how it goes after the weigh in on Tuesday :)
 
I wish you all the best, I am underactive and know exactly what you mean. I am stable at the moment and I have lost over 32lbs on WW. I am not doing it as fast as others but this works for thryoid patients and not much else does! I know some weeks I will lose nothing but other weeks will be great like this one 4 3/4 lbs! Just keep chipping away. I can't eat bread or pasta either. I can eat the warburton wraps and occasional potatoes but I usually stick to protein and fruit and vegetables. Best of luck to you!
x
 
Hi Vicki - its really good to know that this works for hypos as not a lot does! lol

I thought I was stable hence starting the diet but just found out that I need to reduce my meds again. Over the last 2 years I haven't been on the same dose for longer than 3 months and I seem to be all over the place. If nothing else hopefully WW will keep my weight stable while the doctors play around with my levels but seeing how much you've lost gives me a lot of hope that it will actually work this time if I stick with it :)
 
so I went to be weighed in this evening knowing that based on my scales this morning I'd lost around 3.5lbs - so was gobsmacked when their scales showed 5lbs loss this week!!!

Well now I know that slowly increasing my intake to use up my points each day actually works better so now I've just got to work healthier increases into my diet and rely less on the snacky foods to do it.

I've found I can eat the weight watchers danish bread without getting hideous heartburn so I added in a couple of slices of that with my salad this evening as I had 18 points to use! Also added in a double amount of walnuts which actually isn't that many and I had a pot of custard in the fridge so used that rather than a yoghurt as even the low fat pot is significantly more at 4 points. I picked up some chocolate orange bars at my meeting tonight so I've treated myself to one of them this evening with a glass of milk and by the end of all that I'd managed to use my points up.

SO stoked with tonight's weigh in though that I'm determined to force myself to eat the full amount every day whether I want to or not.
 
Heya Milford just found this :) I also have an underactive thyroid which j am hoping is now stable. Started having problems 2.5 years ago after stopping smoking, got diagnosed with a very overactive thyroid which they prescribed tablets to push it under, am allergic to the tablets they prescribed and so had to see a specialist at the hospital. Been off my mess for 2 weeks now and have noticed I am getting short of breath again but gonna see how it goes, blood tests every 6 weeks for the next year should detect any problems.
I wish u luck with your journey and hope you soon find the balance with your thyroid.
 
funnily I'm slightly hyper at the moment as meds went too far and I'm struggling with a cough that won't go away after a chest infection a couple of weeks ago. I've described it as I feel like I'm breathing through dust all the time and its just irritating me to cough constantly and then I can't stop coughing once I start. Your comments about getting short of breath makes me wonder if that is my thyroid causing it - I didn't know hyper could have that effect.

Thanks Kellie - I'm seriously over the moon with it.

I had a long chat with a friend last night and had a bit of a breakthrough. I said about how I'm struggling to get my points up and she asked me why I'm still trying to hang on to how I used to eat before when it didn't work for me. I literally didn't have an answer and realised that it was exactly what I was doing - still eating low carb etc panicking that if I let that go I'll gain weight. She basically told me that its time I gave myself permission to eat normal food again and quit being so controlled.

So this week is a whole fresh start - instead of seafood and veg stir fry I'm going to turn it into a seafood paella and little changes like that. I can start off with small amounts of pasta or potato and carbs to get me used to it and stop me panicking too much and build up from there but I think my friend is right in that I have a totally screwed up relationship with food and I need to start trusting in the diet and then see what happens.
 
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