XP: Just joined WW (Weight Watchers)

MadHops21

So I signed up for a monthly pass for both online and in person meetings. I have gained over 50+ pounds in a year, especially during this winter (~30 pounds). Not happy with myself at all, even after doing gym courses and work outs. I thought early 20's were supposed to be your prime years  

Any advice for WW and how to make it really work? I'll be going to the meetings, doing weigh ins, and using the app for watching the food intake, but any other pointers? I tried MyFitnessPal, but it just didn't work out for me. I think I need accountability.

ETA: so you don't think I've joined the crazies, I meant WW as Weight Watchers

Emmy1493

I saw WW and automatically though Wedding Wire, and was like WHAT, you have to pay for that crap-show? Then I read more and was like, "Oh... Okay I get it lol."

MadHops21

Ohhh sorry! Completely forgot about that. I'll edit that. 

silver0319

I joined WW about a month ago, but am doing the online version only.  I like it so much better than MFP.  I lost about 3 lbs within the first week, just by tracking what I ate.  Use their recipe builder to track points for your favorite recipes.  

It's amazing how many points certain things contain. For example, I had bought BelVita Breakfast Biscuits.  I had heard that they were good and were filling, for a quick breakfast.  They are 6 points for a package!  For 6 points, I could have a Yoplait Greek Yogurt, a banana, and Thomas' English Muffin.  

labro

I lost 20 lbs on WW last year just doing the online-only subscription. I was really dedicated to tracking everything and the phone app helped immensely! I was extra good about sticking to my daily points (and using as little of the weekly points as possible) during weekdays and I let it slide a little bit on weekends. I haven't had as much success this year. I gained about 10 of those lbs back over the winter due mostly to overeating. I think they don't give you enough credit for physical activity honestly....but I think doing cardio plus some other sort of exercise on a regular basis made just as much if not more of an impact than diet alone did. On average, I was losing around 1 to 1.5 lbs a week and 2 lbs a week on really good weeks.

MadHops21

@Imhollister I plan on working out, doing cardio along with the WW. I am just awful about what I eat since I am the pickiest ever I know. 

I don't eat:

fruit, veggies, soups, salads, sandwiches, yogurts, most meat, sauces....

I'm hoping with the food I actually do it, I can diet. I'm hoping to introduce more food, but whenever I taste something new, it tastes awful. 

kaos16

MadHops21 said:

@Imhollister I plan on working out, doing cardio along with the WW. I am just awful about what I eat since I am the pickiest ever I know. 

I don't eat:

fruit, veggies, soups, salads, sandwiches, yogurts, most meat, sauces....

I'm hoping with the food I actually do it, I can diet. I'm hoping to introduce more food, but whenever I taste something new, it tastes awful. 

I mean this seriously. . . . and i'm not trying to be snarky at all.  If you don't like any of the foods you've mentioned above, what are you eating on a daily basis?

Emmy1493

MadHops21 said:

Ohhh sorry! Completely forgot about that. I'll edit that. 

Lol no worries, I just had to laugh at myself for that XD

GoldenPenguin

MadHops21 said:

@Imhollister I plan on working out, doing cardio along with the WW. I am just awful about what I eat since I am the pickiest ever I know. 

I don't eat:

fruit, veggies, soups, salads, sandwiches, yogurts, most meat, sauces....

I'm hoping with the food I actually do it, I can diet. I'm hoping to introduce more food, but whenever I taste something new, it tastes awful. 

Seriously. What do you eat? 

Swazzle

The first time I did WW was about 3 years ago and I used the online tools as well as attended the meetings. I lost 26lbs and I looked and felt amazing! It was such a learning experience for me because I had no idea what the proper serving size for anything was (hint: it's not nearly as big as you -- general 'you' -- think it is).

Right now I'm doing online only and I'm not having as much success as I was when I attended the meetings. I recently bought a FitBit, though, which can be synced to MFP so I'm going to cancel WW and try out that combo instead. 

I second (or third) the question: what do you eat? I feel like there's nothing left!

MadHops21

It's okay, I get it a lot. I really hate my food choices.

Normally, I eat PBJ for lunch, buttered noodles, mac and cheese (I will eat this usually 4 times a week), chicken...starting to get into caesar salads...cheese pizza, chocolate...my 4 year old niece and nephew eat better than I do. 

kaos16

holy carbs batman!!!  We need to find a way to get you to like fruits and veggies and whatnot.  Is it a taste thing or a texture thing??

MadHops21

@kaos16 it's more so taste. Texture hasn't really bothered me, but yeah, it's all carbs and I know it's so god awful. I've forced myself to like Caesar salad now, so I'm starting to eat just that for lunch or dinner sometimes, but it still has that little bit of cheese and dressing that is fattening. 

Is there some trick to like fruits or veggies? How do you get a kid to like it? I used to eat them as a kid, but the taste buds changed. 

KatWAG

What about making a fruit smoothie? They are my favorite summer time breakfast. Add whatever fruit you like, orange juice, ice, and protein powder. Yum.

KatWAG

I would be careful with Caeser salads. They oftem times have way more fat than you think (dressing, cheeses, croutons, etc)

kaos16

there are all sorts of tricky ways to get in veggies.  Smoothies as suggested by @katWAG is a great one. . . .I love green smoothies with spinach, avocado, berries. . . . YUM!!!

You can mash cauliflower to taste similar to mashed potatoes, or even do half and half.

DH makes insane zucchini fries which are basically just zucchini spears that are dipped in egg wash and seasoned panko, then baked in the oven. . . . unreal!!!

I saw a recipe on Skinnytaste.com just the other day for cauliflower fried rice.  You put cauliflower in the food processor until it breaks down into rice sized pieces, then use that as the base for fried rice.

Roasting veggies alters their taste dramatically in my opinion.  The same goes for grilling fruit.  Grilled peaches or pineapple.  Yum!!!!!

MadHops21

Fruit smoothie sounds like a good idea. I like flavored fruit things, just not the fruit itself. Maybe this can start changing that.

Swazzle

If you freeze a banana and then toss it in the food processor, it turns into "ice cream". You can add a little peanut butter or nutella to it if you'd like but that could be a good way to get in a fruit. 

MadHops21

@Swazzle I do freaking love ice cream. And peanut butter. I'll try that on my day off! 

thisismynickname2

For the things you DO eat, I'd investigate ways to make those as healthy as possible. Find fresher, more "natural" items than those loaded with preservatives and chemicals. 

Put veggies on your pizza!  Put less cheese, healthy and veggie-filled sauce, and a variety of veggies on your pizza and load on fun spices to taste.  I think if you do more cooking for what you like instead of using pre-packaged foods, that'll be a step in the right direction.  

Also, for veggies, try grilling them. I really don't like veggies much either, but boy, when they come off the grill, that extra charred taste makes them great.  Put veggies in soup along with noodles. 

I agree with the fruit smoothie attempt.  Put bananas in bread.  Use real, natural sugar and put just a little bit on other types of fruit--- I'd sacrifice the extra calorie or two in a wee bit of sugar for the nutritional value of eating more fruit.  We used to eat strawberries with sugar growing up but after I left home I realized that I liked strawberries without sugar, lol.  

Look, I'm not a very healthy eater either, but I hope tiny adjustments can help.

MadHops21

@thisismynickname Those are really good ideas. I haven't tried grilled veggies, but I've had meat grilled and that was delicious. Oh, corn was delicious grilled! 

Broccoli and corn are becoming my buddies, but I love butter. I've been good about that and really weaning off the butter. I wish I could start over my diet as a kid so I learned to enjoy all these foods  

KatWAG

MadHops21 said:

@thisismynickname Those are really good ideas. I haven't tried grilled veggies, but I've had meat grilled and that was delicious. Oh, corn was delicious grilled! 

Broccoli and corn are becoming my buddies, but I love butter. I've been good about that and really weaning off the butter. I wish I could start over my diet as a kid so I learned to enjoy all these foods  

I use lemon on my broccoli instead of butter.

AprilH81

@thisismynickname Those are really good ideas. I haven't tried grilled veggies, but I've had meat grilled and that was delicious. Oh, corn was delicious grilled! 

Broccoli and corn are becoming my buddies, but I love butter. I've been good about that and really weaning off the butter. I wish I could start over my diet as a kid so I learned to enjoy all these foods  

 

**Stuck in box**

 

Try the spray butter...  It gives you the butter taste but no calories.

Chipmunk415

I'm trying to get back into using my calorie tracker. I eat low carb, trying to cut soda again.

Few low carb recommendations-

Dreamfields pasta- it is a diabetic friendly, low digestable carb pasta. They have a variety (angel hair, spaghetti, elbow, lasagna style) available in most grocery stores, and online.

BioTrust Low Carb protein powder. Pricey, but tasty and filling. You'll need a blender to do it right. Only comes in chocolate and vanilla flavors. My mom and I each make shakes/smoothies with this stuff.

Fave recipe with it:

1 scoop powder

1/4 cup each of almond milk and fat free milk

2 table spoons dannon fat free vanilla yogurt

6-8 whole, frozen strawberries

4-5 slices of frozen peaches

 

I kid you not, it tastes exactly like strawberry ice cream. I'm trying out flavor combos, and debating sticking it in the freezer for 20 minutes so I can eat it with a spoon.

MadHops21

@Chipmunk415 that sounds freaking delicious. I don't have much trouble substituting pasta with grain, so I will look into that pasta. I loooooove pasta. It's so bad. 

Chipmunk415

@MadHops21- you're welcome! My Dad is a diabetic, and a huge pasta fan (not hard to acquire a taste when you're the only Irish kid in an Italian neighborhood in the 40s and 50s). After his diabetes diagnosis, he tried to fight my mom on what he could and couldn't eat. One day, she asked him if he liked the pasta with meatballs. When he said yes, she took the opportunity to inform him he'd been eating Dreamfields for 3 weeks, and hadn't noticed a difference in taste. Ha!

wandajune6

I've done WW a few times over the years. The key for me was always drinking lots of water.

My future stepson is a crazy picky eater. If there's vegetables, he whines like a baby. A few things that have worked:

-boil a cauliflower then mash it like potatoes (I prefer roasted but it has a stronger flavor). A little butter and milk make it even creamier.
-I'll grate raw cauliflower and use it to make faux fried rice.
-Broccoli cheese soup. I'll make a roux with butter and flour then add chicken stock instead of milk. I'll then throw in a couple of bags of frozen broccoli before puree-ing. Add cheese. You can have as much/little broccoli and cheese as you want, making it as healthy/unhealthy as you want.
-Shred zucchini as pasta (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Zucchini-Noodles). I prefer it with garlic and olive oil but kiddo prefers the jarred alfredo sauce (I think it's disgusting). Find the topping that works for you.
-Eggplant chili. Use your regular chili recipe but use equal parts finely chopped eggplant and lean ground beef. If you get the seasoning right, you can't tell the eggplant from the beef. The kid always asks me to "sneak" veggies into food after having my chili for the first time.
-Learn to love soup. WW's 0 calorie soup has gotten me through many hungry phases. It's worth it.

Good luck!

audubonbride2013

My H and I did WW (meetings + online) back in 2011 and each lost over 50 lbs.  We're lifetime members now so we still use the online tools if we need to refocus.  Our biggest issues were portion control and eating out.  I would make sure you have an accurate food scale to control your portions.  When we first started WW, we would look up the menu and nutrition facts online before we went out to eat.  That made it easy to stick on plan without changing our lives.  We also love making recipes from skinnytaste and sometimes we make a big casserole on the weekend so we can use leftovers for lunch all week.

singinchick13

Here's what I would do....get your carbs in earlier in the day so that you are still being active and getting exercise afterward so that you can burn them off. Then keep your salads/broccoli/chicken for dinner because they are not as carb-heavy (carbs are worse than fats, FYI). Make sure you have some form of protein in every meal, and if you feel like a snack go for something like a fruit or veggie, or even nuts/almonds. The frozen banana thing is a great idea, and if you like jam then you may like berries as well. Try them in a smoothie, that way you can incorporate them without the taste of one single item turning you off. You can even use plain vanilla yogurt in smoothies to thicken them up.

BTW my fiance is pretty much EXACTLY the same in terms of tastes and it drives me nuts because he ALWAYS wants fast food, keeping a perfect 6-pack regardless of what he eats. Meanwhile I'm struggling with the remainder of my baby weight - he is a horrible influence.

MadHops21

singinchick13 said:

BTW my fiance is pretty much EXACTLY the same in terms of tastes and it drives me nuts because he ALWAYS wants fast food, keeping a perfect 6-pack regardless of what he eats. Meanwhile I'm struggling with the remainder of my baby weight - he is a horrible influence.

UGH mine is the same way!! I think he's being the bad influence because he can eat a whole bag of Doritos in one sitting and stays a perfect thin sized person. I eat a cupcake and I shoot up 4 pounds in one day. He has agreed not to eat as much crap when around me because I will eat similarly. 

phira

I'm not the biggest fan of veggies (I love fruit but it goes bad so easily OR I eat it all in one go), so my recommendations:

Be adventurous to try to find veggies you DO like. I was shocked at how much I loved asparagus from the get-go, and I hadn't had it before I was about 20 years old. It's my favorite veggie.

Sometimes, the way stuff is cooked is way more important than the stuff that's being cooked. I love zucchini and summer squash, but it's so easy to overcook them when you steam them. Grilling/roasting is a good idea to keep them from getting mushy.

Add stuff to stuff you like. Like mac and cheese? Try adding broccoli. Or (my favorite) asparagus and tomatoes (thank you, The Publick House in Brookline).

I have such problems with salads, so here's how I've gotten way better about eating them:

- Try adding meat. When I have chicken or (!!!) steak on my salad, I feel like I'm eating a sandwich that has lettuce and tomatoes in it or something.

- Switch up your dressing. Salad dressing can be really violently overwhelming if you're not a fan. Make sure you're tossing it properly and not using too much to drown your lettuce/other veggies. Sometimes, making your own dressing, or trying different kinds of dressings, fixes the problem as well. Some people don't like vinaigrettes, which are some of the most common, popular dressings. Personally? I don't like ranch or creamy dressings, but I could probably chug vinegar.

- Be bold at restaurants. This can be REALLY hard because you don't want to waste your money on something you don't like. But I've un-pickied myself so much more quickly by going out to eat and ordering something that's not 100% "safe." If there's an item on the menu that sounds delicious except for maybe 1 item, then order it with the 1 item and see how it is. Worst case scenario? You order an appetizer the next time the waiter comes by.

Using the last step, MAN, I've had some great salad experiences.