Tracking?

[Lucy_B]

Wow! Well done!

 

[*sarah-lou*]

Thanks Cici...I can certainly tell you what I do...it has worked well for me Here are a few ideas that have helped me make it work..

1. Plan your meals in advance, I always know at least three or four days in advance what my meals are going to be. I have found that having meals planned gives me control of the points I am using.

2. Personally, I only eat 26 points per day, I never use my weekly points, and I never use my activity points. I know there is no need to do without anything on WW, but the whole point of WW for me was / is to feel healthy and lose weight. With that in mind I made the concious decision that I would not drink alcohol, eat takeaway food and would limit pasta and bread that I eat.

3. Exercise has really helped. My wife and I both dusted our bikes off and cycle five miles three times per week (even if it is windy and raining !!). I have also bought a running machine, and if I cant go out on the bike, go on the running machine. Distance was built up gradually...any exercise is good...even a brisk walk !!

4. Maximise your points. Fresh vegetables and fresh fruit are zero pointed, and can really prove a filling way of bolstering your meals. As an example, if I am in a hurry I can buy a Morrisons NuMe Roast Chicken dinner which is only 7PP...whack a pile of fresh vegetables on the side, and it is still only 7pp, but much more satisfying.

Breakfast I will always have either a 30g sachet of quakers oat porridge (nice with apple grated into it with cinamon), or two Weetabix biscuits. I use only skimmed milk, and use sweetener instead of sugar.

I also make a large pan of free soup early in the week, and that is my lunch sorted out with either a sandwich made with Hovis small malted bread, or a packet of 2pp crisps (Quavers, french fries, Velvet crunch, M&S Lentil and chili curls etc). I will use fruit lunchtimes also and always have one or two pieces.

Breakfast and dinner I KNOW will only be a total of 6pp, which gives me 20pp to use for my evening meal as I see fit. I will also have a hot drink (Highlights hot choc 1pp) with a biscuit (caxton pink and white mallow wafer 1pp) at about 9pm to tackle any sweet urges I may have had..it works for me !

4. I use a pro point calculator when I go food shopping and point everything...at the start it was like I had pointing OCD ! but you soon learn PP values and it doesn't take long to work out what you are eating point wise. I guarantee you will have some shocks at some of the PP's in food that you think are low !

5. Get a big black marker pen, and when you unpack your food shopping at home, take a few seconds to write the PP value on the food label. Speeds things up down the line.

6. Re arrange your shelves in the fridge so that all temptation is removed for impulse eating when you open it. Have your WW bits at eye level. Likewise, make a food cupboard which contains just your WW food items (I always have 2 or 3 boxes of different WW choc bars in my cupboard). I also taped a picture of a 'BIG' me and a picture of a 'SLIM' me onto the fridge door as a food temptation buffer !!

7. Always be sure that you have a WW bar or fruit on you if you are out of the house, that way you have food available if your get hungry - or if others try to tempt you !

8. I track all of my points, I know exactly how many I have used, and how many I have available. It doesn't matter how you track them...paper and pen will do, just know where you are with them.

9. I find meetings very useful, the thought of getting on the scales in front of my leader each week is a great incentive to me (and my wife), but also a useful source of information and advice from both leader and other members.

10. Reward yourself !! before you know it you will be dropping clothes sizes, there is no better feeling ! Each time I have dropped a size (and I have gone from a 38" waist to a 30" waist since September, and XL to Medium / Small tops), I have bagged up my old 'bigger sized' clothes and taken great joy in throwing them into the clothing bank. I have then enjoyed going to the shops and buying nice, smaller sized clothing. Never again will I keep large sized clothes in my wardrobe 'just in case' I need them again in the future. WW is a way of life, not a diet..I will never put my weight on again! Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels...

11. Be ready for workmates and family members to tell you 'you are going to far now'. You are not, they are just jealous that you are doing something that they have no control over. They find it hard to come to terms with you looking better and better, whilst they themselves tread water. It makes them realise that they have their own frailties. I always make a point of telling them that I know what my healthy BMI is, and I am well within it. I then point out that when I was carrying a lot of weight, not once did they come forward and tell me, so why now I am well within my healthy weight range do they feel the need to pass comment ? usually does the trick !

12. We all have bad weeks !! You may not have done anything different to a previous week when you had a good loss, but for whatever reason the weight hasn't shifted as you had planned. Don't worry about it..it is not a race ! If things one week haven't gone as you had hoped, you still need to go and face the music at your meeting. Missing a week is a slippery slope...chances are the following week you will have an even better weight loss !

Hmm..I have gone on a bit there haven't I !! My final tip is work out what works for you, and go with it. The above is what my wife and I have done since 1st September last year, and the pair of us have both had a 50lb plus weight loss each. The plan works, but planning is key !! If you are unsure of anything or have any questions about anything(no matter how silly they seem), please don't hesitate to message me. Chances are I have asked the same questions ! But most importantly..go for it...it is very very achievable

Wow howie! Amazing post!!!!

 

[Smurfette]

Wow now that is inspirational - I know the plan is there but it is in following it that will make it work! I am going to print out Howies post and challenge myself to add sthg from it each week (each day?) well change the approach and easy way I have been doing it ... My leader was speaking about the 49 PTs and challenged us to see if u treat urself after weigh in can u have all ur 49pts left to do that - I can't this week but I can certainly try and have some weeks where I don't use them - so want this - so its just follow through right?! X

 

[Lucy_B]

Wow now that is inspirational - I know the plan is there but it is in following it that will make it work! I am going to print out Howies post and challenge myself to add sthg from it each week (each day?) well change the approach and easy way I have been doing it ... My leader was speaking about the 49 PTs and challenged us to see if u treat urself after weigh in can u have all ur 49pts left to do that - I can't this week but I can certainly try and have some weeks where I don't use them - so want this - so its just follow through right?! X

It is! You definitely sound like you have the right mind set to follow through with it.
For years I have tried dieting and ww really has been the easiest way for me. On my third week this week and have lost 4lbs all together I was aiming for a lb a week as over a year it's 3.5 stone, which is what I am aiming for.

Howies post is fab! I think much more inspiration can be drawn from him then the celebrities on the tv advertising ww! Howies managed it in the real world in which you don't have a nutritionist or personal trainer to help, it's therefore is much more motivational.

I genuinely feel like this is it for me- a way to get slim and stay that way. My horoscope said that my look will be transformed this year (don't normally buy into these things but if it fits haha) x

 

[Howie]

Thanks all..glad you found the post helpful They are the main things that have helped me achieve (and go beyond !) my goal. I have attempted different diets over the years, and have always started with best intentions, but there has always been something that eventually pulled me off track...no matter what diet I was on, or how determined I was to succeed. This was my first attempt at WW, and I decided to fully embrace it, no matter how hard I found it. The reality however was vastly, and pleasantly different to what I was expecting, and I very quickly had an epiphany in where I had gone wrong so many times in the past.

Planning...

Often we can over complicate things, whilst looking for all manner of reasons (and excuses!) as to why something isn't working as planned. The reality is we over complicate them, and in doing so are prophets of our own demise.

This time around I decided that on the WW plan, I was going to be the one in control. Planning is key to success, I am convinced that it is this that is the secret (and simple) to success. Planning what you will be eating tomorrow today, making a shopping list of foods to buy from the supermarket so that you don't impulse buy whilst food shopping, making sure that you only shop after you have eaten. If temptation really is an issue whilst shopping, shopping on-line is a good option. Planning has given me control in the areas that have been pitfalls for me in the past.

Smurfette, a great idea making one change at a time. Bite sized chunks will no doubt help you take control of your plan. I think that all of us on these boards have decided that this time is the time for them to succeed - and it really is there for everybody to achieve. It is just a matter of seizing it !

 

[Lucy_B]

I have started planning a lot more thanks to your advice. For instance right now I am making couscous and roasted veg for my packed lunch in the morning and because it is a long day tomorrow I know I won't feel like cooking when I get home so I have a ww pizza

I think the forum helps so much. I only thought about joining a forum after I read an article about the psychology of dieting (I'm a psy grad so I enjoy reading these things) and it was about getting your head in the right place and your eating will follow. They suggested joining a diet forum because if you put your weight loss out there and make it accountable you are more likely to lose. I find the challenges on here really good because they spur me on.

Fair enough my eating hasn't been great today (made a Bakewell tart... ate the Bakewell tart) but I've learnt from here not to dwell and tomorrow's another day
xx

 

[Howie]

You are so right about the need for your head to be in the right place first Lucy...everything does follow once you have that. Well done on the planning tomorrow and it takes more than one bad day to ruin a plan..keep it going

 

[Lucy_B]

You are so right about the need for your head to be in the right place first Lucy...everything does follow once you have that. Well done on the planning tomorrow and it takes more than one bad day to ruin a plan..keep it going

Thank you

 

[Cici]

Glad to see this topic still going. Howie ive already started taking ur advice and im really starting to feel I have the control over my weight loss. I know exactly where I stand every day as my meals are planned in advance and I find I dont crave as much when im organised!! this is probably because im focused on my planned meals and I dont want to go off track!!

I hope to be even more in control once im paid on Friday as since ive started back on ww I have barely had enough money to get to my meeting each week! So once I get a big shop in ill point everything with my marker and make sure im well stocked so I cant go wrong! Ive been good so far, 6lbs in 2 weeks so heres to another great week

 

[sookie]

Great thread.. And great ideas thanks Howie

I already shop with my points calculator in my hand so I understand the OCD lol.

This week I have decide to cut out alcohol I'm just hoping I can keep it up. We normally went out 3 times a week..so far I have not missed it.

Going to start marking up points on the labels now.

Sian x