There are probably a million posts like this, but what the hell?

Okay, so I know the best answer to weight problems is to eat well and exercise. But I don't know where to start.

My best friend Angelina lost a lot of weight on Weight Watchers, but what she's doing doesn't seem healthy. She follows this point system- she's given something like 50 points per week that she can use. Different foods have a different number of points, and every time you eat something, you subtract the amount of points those foods are from you're total. So what she does is eat very little for the week, and than pigs out on the weekends. I understand the idea of being careful most of the time, and then eating some cake or something occasionally, but the way she does it doesn't seem healthy.

I've tried Slim-Fast in the past, and I'm reasonably convinced that the whole Slim-Fast diet is a freud, because I gained weight on it. And all of the people I know who tried Slim-Fast either gained weight or stayed the same. I haven't heard any success stories that weren't from actors on a commercial.

Another problem is that I'm a vegetarian, and that's something I don't want to give up.

I know how important eating right it, but I've been eating badly for so long that I'm not sure where to start with eating right.

Also, exercise. I used to be in sports, but I got too old for recreational leagues, and all the sports in my college are try-out. I'm a good basketball player, but not good enough to make the team. And I'm out of practice. And I tried yoga in gym in high school. It didn't work out. They were telling me to move my body one way, and gravity was telling me to move it another way. Gravity won that arguement. And this may sound silly, but DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) got me moving for awhile- say what you will, but it is good exercise- but my game system isn't working right anymore.

So are there any fitness tapes you use? I think a fitness tape would be easier for me to work than going to a gym. That way I wont have to do it in front of anyone.

 

As far as Weight Watchers goes... I have done it and it really is a sound program. However, there are people who do the program improperly and quite frankly they piss me the fuck off because they take something good and push people like you away from trying it.

Ok there are 2 programs actually. The Core program has certain foods that you can eat all you want of. Mostly they are veggies and fruits and high fiber foods, it limits starches. High in protein. The idea is there is no limit on what you can eat, but honestly, how many steaks can you really eat and feel full. That is the thing, feeling full, not stuffed. And you should be getting a variety. But it pretty much makes you use fat free everything. Yes, you will have fat in your diet (because we all know that we do need some good fats) but it won't be coming from junk. There are people who like this program, I don't care for it much.

The Points Program gives you a set amount of points per week that corresponds to your weight range. The points are calculated from Calories, Fiber and Fat in a food. And don't forget serving size!!! They emphasize that a lot because that is where many people (myself included) get tripped up. Ok so you have these points and you are supposed to (this is where people piss me off) use these points to eat healthy nutritious foods like fruits, veggies, and whole wheat/grains, and lean meats. No where in the program does it say to starve yourself for a week then gorge yourself on the weekend. Nor does the program ever suggest wasting your points on candy or ice cream, because that will not give your body the nutrients it needs. Yet people still do it. And beer. People don't get that they need to cut back on the alcohol. So they think that well I'm within my points so I'm ok. No that is completely wrong.

And the other thing about WW that pisses me off is that they put way too much emphasis on the scale. The scale is not the only indicator of weight loss. You could be very lean and weigh more than what their ranges indicate you should (however you can get a note from a doctor stating where you should be and if you get your body fat measured and it is in a healthy range I'm sure your doctor would have no problem giving you such note). I wish they had another way of measuring, or at least told members to measure in other ways.

And lastly the final flaw of WW, though I have later found out is due to legal reasons, is they do not tell people to exercise enough, or give them what I consider enough information about exercise. Lifting soup cans for anyone even the extremely old or over weight is not a work out. People need to be pushed (to an extent of course). Telling people that they can walk 1 mile and lift some soup cans isn't going to cut it. It really bugs me when they say that. I try to tell people that they need to exercise a lot harder than that to burn calories and build muscle, some listen, some don't.

But all in all WW is a good program and they do have a lot of good ideas. They teach you good eating habits if you follow the program correctly (btw, your friend is not following it correctly). I lost about 25lbs on it.

As far as exercise, if you can afford it, hire a pesonal trainer to train you either in their home or yours so you won't have to be in front of others. The gym isn't really so scary though, especially not the Y. It is very family oriented and you will find all types of people there at all fitness levels. And like drumminmama said find exercise that you enjoy. If it is DDR (which a lot of WW people do) then do it. Who cares what people think. As long as it gets you moving. Videos are good. So is old fashioned walking and it doesn't require any equipment.

 

It's actually a good idea to have a pig out day.

Your body snaps out of "starvation mode" and doesn't try to hang on to fat.

Most "weight loss" in these things is water and muscle weight.

 

Iron, it is a good thing to have a "cheat" day; it is never good to just pig out on everything in sight simply because you can or want to. If you are not hungry you should not be eating, plain and simple. It defeats the entire purpose of gaining control of your eating habits. I do understand what you are saying, because your body does adapt to everything that you do to it. So most diet programs do include a day where you will increase your calorie intake, then go back to your diet the following day. That is fine if you can keep control that way. A lot of people cannot though.

And WW never says you can't have treats they make ice cream for crying out loud. However, the point is that these are treats if you have extra points, they aren't meals. Just because you have 20 points a day doesn't mean you should use all of those points on 5 cookies and then not eat anything else all day. That would be plain stupid.

No one is perfect and no one is expected to be perfect all of the time. Of course on special occasions you will forego the plan and eat whatever your heart desires and there should be 1 meal, or maybe a whole day if you are careful, where you don't hold yourself as accountable, but by no means is it good to gorge yourself on food for no reason at all.

Most people who do WW use the day that they weigh in their cheat day (after the weigh in) because you have a whole week to make up for what you eat.

Here is one of my typical cheat meals/days. Usually we will go out to Korean BBQ or something and I will eat whatever I am craving at the time. Sometimes I finish sometimes if I am stuffed I don't. And I will have like 6 beers or so. To me that is a cheat meal. Or if we get a frozen pizza I might have 3 slices and 2 glasses of wine or something. But I don't sit in the middle of the kitchen floor and empty the contents of the cabinets into my stomach. That is what I picture when people say they pig out.

And on WW you are correct in the beginning and if you don't do it properly (the way I explained before) you will lose mostly muscle and water. Anything more than 2lbs a week is most certainly muscle and water. However, the 25lbs I lost was mostly fat, but then again I am a trainer so I spend a lot of time in the gym and I understand the difference between a brownie and an apple (regardless of the points value) and I get my fat measured, which is why I said the scale is not the best measurement.