weight watchers and lowcarb
 

i thought i posted on this somewhere but i cant find it. i know i need low carb, but ...... i am addicted to all foods, but carbs are the worst. i thought maybe if i did lowcarb but counted ww pts too, that might be the plan for me. is there anyone else out there that is doing this "type" of plan?? i need some support and i love this website. dont want to leave and go to a ww website and thell them i am doing lowcarb. i want to stay here. any and all suggestions and opinions positive or negative are welcome!! thanx.

willbthin, I am trying to fashion a similar plan for myself. I've tried WW in the past, but I don't do well long-term counting points, so then I've switched over to the Simply Filling/Core plan. I like that better, but for me the carb count is still too high. I feel the best on low-carb plans, so I'm trying to devise a plan along the lines of WW Simply Filling but perhaps try to keep more to the low glycemic foods, which are the less starchy foods. It's obvious I'm trying to find a WOE that I can stick to long-term. I'd be happy to compare notes.
Sharon

I have a plan that involves counting, but not WW points. The WW points are based on low-fat and don't work very well with low carb. You end up hungry because you don't get enough points to have enough fat and protein.

My counting is, I have a certain number of grams per day for protein, fat, and carb. Then I just count those. I love it and find it very workable.

Like for example, my protein grams per day are at least 60+ grams, just counting the high-quality animal protein (not the protein in veggies).
Carb grams are 55 net per day.
Fat grams are 60-90 per day.

Then I make them into smallish meals (a pain, but large meals make me not lose). I like to have the meals evened out so I don't get the overeating and buffet effect. (also a trigger)

So, for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner:

12-18 g protein
12 g net carb, all veggies okay, even starchy ones
15-25 g fat.

I agree with shareli that WW's is almost the opposite of LCing and the points you're allowed are based on a low fat diet. Points disappear quickly when you're trying to eat enough fat.

I was still a WW's member when I started LC but I quickly realized that my points were almost gone by dinner and then I would stress out over the fact that I was out of points! So I quit the WW's and started only concentrating on fat, protein and carb counts.

I've recently gone back to counting calories too because I've been stalled and I have a very very slow metabolism and I have found that if I don't track my calories and only rely on feeling full, that I tend to eat too many calories so I'm counting them while I adjust them down a couple hundred per day.

So I can see where points can be a guide, but I dont' think they should be the rule to live by. Concentrate more on the amount of fat, protein and carbs you're taking in each day to make sure you're getting minimum healthy amounts of fat and protein.

The darndest thing happened to me. I was taking some pain medicine that stalled the weight loss, I went back to WW and last 2 days on it and started keeping track of carbs in the food diary I bought at the meeting. i missed the next 2 meetings due to a cold and a schedule conflict, then I just kept cutting the carbs till I started to lose. I found this website and I'm motivated on my own plus this website and the friendliness of the people. I wound up giving up all the grains and started to feel fantastic. You can check out my journal and see how I'm coming along. I'm new here and loving it. My advice is to forget the points. Keep us posted. myrt

You can follow weight watchers and just keep your carbs low. The food choices you have are very wide so you can eat higher fat foods and just use your flexi points if you go over your daily points allowance. I'm going to rejoin ( like the meetings) and just follow south beach (which is close to the filling foods plan).
Sure, it can be done! :)

I tried this at the urging of my nutritionist. "Go on Weight Watchers for maintenance (after losing 60 lbs on Atkins)...it's better for you blah blah blah"

Well, it opened the carb floodgates and I gained 28 lbs.

I found it really hard to have enough to eat, low carb, on the number of points I was given. I was not satisfied and always searching for something acceptable to eat. YMMV.

Maybe just do LC but also log your food and count calories. I know WW has helped a lot of people, but a lot of people don't really know what they're eating aside from how many points. Decide what you want as far as you fat/carb/protein ratio and decide on a calorie limit (you could experiment and see what makes you stay them same weight and then cut that be a reasonable amount) and track on the tracking program on this website or a site like fitday.com. Good luck!!

The newest WW plan points plus is really geared towards eating lower carb.
the stuff that used to be free that was high carb my example will be fiberone cereal is now 2 points, the only way I am able to count points on WW is to eat low carb (most of the proteins and fats have remained the same points)

I know that I do better on lower carbs. I've tried WW, and although their new Points Plus plan is better, in my opinion, than the old plan because it also takes into account protein (vital to me!), I find myself thinking about food all the time. When watching carbs, I forget about food, but I miss fruits and dairy on low carb. I prefer following WW Simply Filling/Core because there's no point counting, but it's still too many carbs for me. I decided to try WW Simply Filling but severely limit starches (sugar, grains, potatoes). It's working great! Oh, and I found that Dr. Rob Thompson had already written about it, but he calls it the Glycemic Load Diet. I'm satisfied, not hungry, fats are not an issue, and it's oh-so-easy to stick to.

Shareli
How funny you mentioned the SFT, that's basically what I am doing.
And yes you are right it is oh so easy to stick with!

Rachel, how nice to know I'm not alone out here.

I posted on here April 2nd. Since then I got bored with no carbs from starchy items. I tried adding some back and got sick on trying a new flat bread that I found at WalMart. I could eat 1/2 of one but not a whole one. I'll get out my WW material from up on the top shelf and see if I can figure out what you're talking about. myrt

The new Simply Filling Plan is a little different from the other one, the daily rules have been eliminated.
Also some foods have changed but not a lot

Rachael---I looked up the Simply Filling today and it seems like the foods that qualify are our basic foods that aren't processed. I personally think it would be too much trouble to do the WW points instead of counting carbs. Then again if one had it memorized it wouldn't be so bad. I had a nice grilled NY strip tonight and I hate to think how many points that would be but it's ZERO carbs. Losing weight is a mind game and whatever we can do and stay motivated is the name of the game isn't it? myrt

yes it is myrt it is!

You can have n.y.strip on simply filling, it's one of the power foods and you are incurraged to eat from the power foods list.
It's posted on line and you can get the handout at the meetings. I went to a meeting last saturday to get the new booklets as I'm thinking of following it at some point.

I am doing WW points plus. I previously lost 60 pounds on Atkin, but over the past year almost 20 of those pounds have crept back, which is why I joined WW about a month ago. I realized I cannot lose weight on Atkin unless I use portion control and count calories. WW is perfect for me and my lifestyle. So far I have lost 13 pounds, which is actually faster than I ever lost on Atkins. I still do low carb though, I make low Carb choices when it comes to points. Besides, the new program takes carbs and fiber into account, so lower carb/higher fiber foods are lower in points, and highly processed/sugary foods are very high in points. So if you are doing it correctly and using points wisely, you will be eating low Carb.

I totally agree that the new WW Points Plus program is much better than the former program. Good for you for finding a program that works for you. I'm 66 now, and I've found at different ages in my life, different programs have worked better for me. We are all so individual, and I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all diet. Personally, I tend to kinda burn out counting, counting, counting all the time, and my focus always seems to be on food and what I'm going to eat next. That's why I prefer the Simply Filling technique. Before I do my grocery shopping for the week, I write down ideas for meals (breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks) that I can choose from and then prep my shopping list. That way there's not so much focus on a strict plan for each and every day, but I've got ideas lined up that I can choose from as the spirit moves me on any particular day.
Sharon

I've already made up my mind to rejoin this saturday. If I see another egg I think I'm going to scream. I can't wait to have a bowl of cold cereal and soy milk again. And of course fruit! and I really miss butternut squash, theres a soup I make with baby carrots , butternut squash and angelia herbs. I't sooo good! and
0 points!

Gpod for you, catcookie! When I was a member of WW, I found point counting was very helpful at first, particularly with portion control, but after a while I burned out with the counting. That's when I switched to Simply Filling, the former WW Core program. When that got a little old, I switched back to counting. Good luck!
Sharon

Sometimes I just don't know what to do. We're on our summer vacation in our RV and I still have frozen leftovers which is really nice. I didn't bring any of my WW materials with me but I could go to a meeting and get the freebees. I don't have to rejoin because I'm a Lifetime. I have my weigh in book with me. My sister doesn't go anymore because she's happy with the SparkPeople sight and does SouthBeach. She says that program has solved her weight problem. I just can't eat hardly any grains but I do eat rye crackers, some root veggies and a few berries. I have fructose malabsorption and if you'll look it up on the internet, it's a very interesting condition. Wikepedia has the best explanation I think. There's so many things I can't eat. I can tolerate a few strawberries that are fresh and not ripe. No blackberries, no blueberries but I can have 1-2 slices of pineapple packed in it's own juice. Most meat is OK except lamb. I eat it once or twice a year. Well enough of my ranting for today. myrt

Yipes! I meant Incourage to eat from the power foods list.

I need spell check. :o

I think the word you are looking for is encourage

Cat--Did you get the n ew booklets? If so, how are you doing with it? Does it give quantities or do you just it till you're 'full' whatever that is.
So far on this trip I'm doing OK. We're in Las Vegas for a week to visit relatives. We don't care anything about gambling. DH said that while here he doesn't want to go out to eat at suppertime AT ALL. We're planning to go to the buffet at Sam's Town once at noon and maybe one other sit down meal. I've had one dessert since we left home so I'm doing good on that so far. There must be plenty of WW locations here in Vegas but I'd like to hear your experience first (and anyone else's for that matter. myrt

I'm hanging my head in shame now. :(

Yes, Simply Filling is like Core in that you don't track the power foods just
the nonpower foods. I've been eating mainly low carb still but I'm going
to start to add in more foods because I feel I need more variety in my diet. and I can't see going all summer without peaches,plums nectarines and watermelon.

I'm with you on the fruit category. If I could eat many I'd say "Fill 'er up". We're in the Medford'Grants Pass area of OR now and think I'll try to find a WW meeting. I could use a meeting. myrt

I've just started ww pro points in the UK as I simply need some portion control and discipline right now, it is encouraging to see I may be able to tweak it back towards lower carb and there is some support here :)

I am suspicious of WW, it seams to me to be engineered to keep there members (incl my OH and her friends) in WW paying there subs, my OH has been doing it for the best part of 15 years .... many of there meals/snacks seam very high carb

We worked out how many pro plus points a day i eat and its nearly double what they would give me, i would starve ...