Thread: Making the switch

Greetings from Diet Land!

Some of you may remember my depressing thread about not losing any weight. Ech! So I kept with it, some days are better than others. I would lose a pound or two and then gain it back...So frustrating.

http://www.bhuz.com/forum/fitness-be...t-working.html
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/fitness-be...w-costume.html

I talked with a nutritionist about it and I got a lot of support. She discouraged me from joining Weight Watchers, and she told me that The Daily Plate was giving me more calories than it should. I'll post more about my convo with the nutritionist in a sec.

But I talked to my sister about it on Sunday and found out she's lost 21 pounds on WW and is very happy with it. We talked about how it was successful for me in the past and my boyfriend is supportive of me too.

I decided to switch from the Daily Plate to Weight Watchers. It is the same theory...counting and tracking to lose, but I am hoping I can see results from WW. I felt a little bad that I switched just so I can see fast results, but I need something that will keep me motivated. I mean what is the motivation of dieting, if you aren't seeing results?

So anyway, I am hoping that this will be a good turning point for me. I also need to come to terms with a lot of things in my life that cause the weight gain. That is harder...coming out of denial...and the fatigue...feels like an uphill battle, but I'll get there.

Things the nutritionist told me:

She said I should exercise for 1 hour a day instead of 30-45 minutes.

She said that birth control pills may not make me gain weight, but they make it harder to lose weight. They affect your fat cells.

She said there is a tipping point that you hit when gain weight, that all the sudden makes you gain weight faster.

She said was that the Daily Plate problem over estimates how many calories I burn when I exercise.

Other than that, she was just really positive and sweet. She said that I was doing the right things and that she was glad that I stopped the weight gain and I am maintaining my weight.

the "1-hour of exercise" thing is because, if you just exercise 35min, you burn the sugar that's in your blood system, it's only once all of that is burned that your body starts to burn up the 'stock' of energy that's in the fat cells. (for that reason, it's 1 hour non stop, not 30min morning and 30min evening.... defeats the point)

Good luck with your endeavor hun :) it's not easy but you can totally count on our support!! *hugs*

I have done weight watchers in the past with good results and have just recently rejoined. If you stick to your points limit, it will work for you. Also, when you exercise, make sure that you do some strength training as well, not just cardio (both are important for weight loss). Good luck!

It depends on the intensity with which to do your cardio. 1 hour of low intensity work may burn more total calories during the session than 30 high intensity training but the afterburn effect is much higher with high intensity training. The fallout is that you burn more calories for the next few hours after your workout. It's hard to train at high intensity for a full hour so if you break up your sessions into 2 30 min blocks your may get better results.

If it helps, I've found "theme weeks" to be very helpful as well.

One week 1 I cut out all of the sugar in my diet and went for a 1h power walk

Week 2 reduced my bad carb intake continued with my walking and added in strength training and weights

Weeks 3 I added in running up hills/stairs and upped my vegetable and protein intake (i'm a vegetarian)

I had really good impressive results and I find myself going back to this method anytime I start gaining

She said there is a tipping point that you hit when gain weight, that all the sudden makes you gain weight faster.

This is so true for me!

I wonder why she would counsel you against Weight Watchers? She may not be fully familiar with the program. A lot of people think it's 'a diet' with prepackaged foods and all that, but it's really just a convenient way to track calories, fat grams, fiber, etc. When I was in college classes on nutrition and weight management, I can remember constantly thinking 'Weight Watchers incorporates all this research into their plan, yet they keep it so simple to follow!'

I definitely think Daily Plate overestimates my calories burned! I've started manipulating the way I record things so I think it's more accurate.

I certainly had good results from Weight Watchers, though I never attended meetings or belonged to the online program. I just used tools and materials given to me by a friend who shall remain anonymous. :)

The biggest criticism I hear of WW is that "you can use all your points on a big-ass piece of chocolate cake and not eat anything else all day! That's not how to build healthy eating habits!" Well, true, you CAN. But the point of WW is that you DON'T. Instead, you learn how to get maximum satisfaction out of your daily points by eating foods that are lower in fat and higher in fiber, but you can still have a SMALL piece of chocolate cake once in a while, as a treat.

It might not be the best plan for everyone, but it did work well for me.

My sister-in-law has lost 40lbs (she needed to lose 80) in the past year that she has been on Weight Watchers. She always says that "it works if you work it". It's very true. She does attend meetings and enjoys them. She feels the weigh ins give her an accountability she needed. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Anahit_Karyan

The biggest criticism I hear of WW is that "you can use all your points on a big-ass piece of chocolate cake and not eat anything else all day! That's not how to build healthy eating habits!" Well, true, you CAN. But the point of WW is that you DON'T.

Exactly. You can do the very same thing if you're counting calories on Daily Plate or anywhere else. And of course, such a day once in a while isn't going to kill you. Actually, it teaches you to budget better in the future, because almost the instant the cake is gone, you're wishing you'd made smarter choices, and realizing you would have been just as happy with a turkey sandwich, bowl of tomatos, and a TINY piece of cake!

And you're not really on plan with WW if you do this, because you didn't eat your veggie/fruit allowance, for one thing.

Awareness is key. I know when my husband found out that one tiny buffalo wing was 3 points he just couldn't justify them anymore. They weren't THAT good.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I wonder why she would counsel you against Weight Watchers? She may not be fully familiar with the program. A lot of people think it's 'a diet' with prepackaged foods and all that, but it's really just a convenient way to track calories, fat grams, fiber, etc. When I was in college classes on nutrition and weight management, I can remember constantly thinking 'Weight Watchers incorporates all this research into their plan, yet they keep it so simple to follow!'

I definitely think Daily Plate overestimates my calories burned! I've started manipulating the way I record things so I think it's more accurate.

She said that people who come up with their own plans and system tend to do better and stay with it in the long run. She said that WW works because it has a plan and a support system, but that you can be just as successful with out it. I think she basically thinks, you can do it on your own without paying...

I found for me (a volume eater) that the easiest way to be able to eat a lot and still lose/maintain is the McDougall Plan. It's basically very low fat/low sodium pure vegan. McDougall Program & Dr. McDougall's Health and Medical Center

There are no restrictions on quantity, no measuring, no counting, no points. Eat as often as you want, until you are full. No more than 10% of daily calories as fat. You will lose weight faster if you restrict processed grains at first (no flour, bread, etc), but it is not necessary to lose weight easily. Most of what you eat is starchy veg, followed by grains and other veg along with legumes. I love that I can eat whenever I'm hungry, until I'm full. I allow myself to eat some off-plan things once in a while, but honestly once you eat very low fat for a while, eating excessive fat makes you sick as a dog. It's a very effective deterrent lol.

Originally Posted by Anahit_Karyan

I certainly had good results from Weight Watchers, though I never attended meetings or belonged to the online program. I just used tools and materials given to me by a friend who shall remain anonymous. :)

Ditto. Ever since my early teen years, I've had trouble with eating (yo-yo, anyone?) and WW gives me the structure I need to keep me from emotional bingeing and to keep an eye on my food intake. When I first started WW about five years ago, I lost 35 lbs in three months. My weight still fluctuates a bit and I still get the occasional binge, but it's easier to get back in control.
Never attended a single meeting either by the way!

I believe that information from certain magazines helps me to stay educated about weight and health issues. There are many of them out there that are basically fluff, but I've found over the years that OXYGEN magazine consistently has the most bang (facts) for your buck. Word of warning, though, to the faint of heart: This mag is not the "oh, it's not your fault, dear" kind of publication. Just the hard, basic "eat less - move more" type of information. Also, tons of healthy, tasty recipes and motivational pieces.

^^I like Health magazine a lot too.

Um, day two of WW and I just realized, I still have to use the Daily Plate. A lot of the foods I eat are not in the WW database, but are in the Daily Plate database. So I'll go to TDP to get info to insert into WW. Twice as much work! Ugh!