I am struggling with my weightloss and thinking of joining weight watchers. Is anyone else doing it?

If so, how many points are you doing?

Any help would be greatly appriciated! I tried the new search and cant freaking find anything:cursing:. Am I the only one???:cursing:

Amanda

Amanda -

I have seen on the boards that several people do WW after being banded. My nut even recommend the WW way of eating. I will plan on following it once I am banded but have no idea how I will do the points because I won't eat the points if I'm not hungry. Hopefully someone who follows it will post soon.

I am struggling with my weightloss and thinking of joining weight watchers. Is anyone else doing it?

If so, how many points are you doing?

Any help would be greatly appriciated! I tried the new search and cant freaking find anything:cursing:. Am I the only one???:wink2:

Amanda

Hi Amanda, just wanted you to know that Alex was kind enough to open a forum for people struggling with weight loss due to non mechanical issues on the band and it's placed under Band complications.

Anyway, after stating that I'm still struggling and have always fallen back to Weight Watchers to be my guiding star of sorts. Mainly because I've been doing it for so long it's burned into my brain. (35 years) Points and all. I haven't gone to the latest of meetings but I have the last program guide and and have been trying to stick with the point system they have given me for my weight.

I know it's changed a bit now and they take age into consideration, but I'm still in the same range for my weight and I chose under 250 lbs and I think it's about 26 to 31 points. I know I do better in the lower of points range but that's me. I also am a bit under-filled now as I was always overfilled so I can probably eat those points without a problem. I don't go to meetings though and don't choose to. I have seen other bansters post about Weight Watchers it seems to be one of the favorites on this forum. brandyII. Don't know if I was of help.:smile:

WW is great!! I am going back this weekend as I am finally able to eat real food. I lost 50 lbs a couple of years ago and I gained everything back (plus more) because I stopped following the program. It's all about exercise, portion size, good food choices, support, and goals. Everything we have to focus on, even more so after banding. The point allowance calculation did change. At my highest weight (336 lbs) I was allowed 39 points a day. Not sure now, I have to dust off my materials. It is a formula involving sex, age, height, current weight, and daily activity level. If you follow the plan, you can eat all your points and you will lose. I'll warn you about the boards at weightwatchers.com. The online tools are good but a lot of the people on the boards are self-righteous and rude. They also have no tolerance for talk about weight loss surgery. I threw it out once and was literally attacked by 20 people!! The people at the meetings are great. Your can check out a meeting for free and they are everywhere.

Edited May 21, 200818 yr by TxChelsey

i just joined and started today. i was a member last yr and lost 25 lbs in a few months, but just lost track of it. but i went and got back into it now with the band. my points allowance is 35..but i found that i cant even make it past 25..which is good. the rule tho is, if u dont use all ur points in a day, u lose them. never carry them over. always start with your set points allowance each day. hope u join, i love it..and its great motivation to get the magazine!! i'll stay posted on my ww and band journey.

Cheers,

Jenna

WW is great!! I am going back this weekend as I am finally able to eat real food. I lost 50 lbs a couple of years ago and I gained everything back (plus more) because I stopped following the program. It's all about exercise, portion size, good food choices, support, and goals. Everything we have to focus on, even more so after banding. The point allowance calculation did change. At my highest weight (336 lbs) I was allowed 39 points a day. Not sure now, I have to dust off my materials. It is a formula involving sex, age, height, current weight, and daily activity level. If you follow the plan, you can eat all your points and you will lose. I'll warn you about the boards at weightwatchers.com. The online tools are good but a lot of the people on the boards are self-righteous and rude. They also have no tolerance for talk about weight loss surgery. I threw it out once and was literally attacked by 20 people!! The people at the meetings are great. Your can check out a meeting for free and they are everywhere.

You'd think Weight Watchers would be thrilled that people have gotten the lap band and still have to use their program in order to lose weight, wouldn't be surprised if they used that to their advantage one day!

I also follow the WW points. I try to stay between 25-27 points a day and find in doing that the scale will move. My body doent react that will with limiting my calorie to 600-900 I had been doing that and was at a stand still for a month or so. First week following the point system and was able to loose 4 pounds...........yahooooo

It's not WW itself attacking people who have WLS but the members who follow the plan. I remember thinking that I would never have Gastric Bypass and looked at surgery as a weakness but here I am waiting to get LBS.

Yes, you do get a points allowance based upon on some questions you answer. If you don't use the points within a 24 hour period then you forfeit them. You also get an extra 35 points extra per week to use however you wish.

WW also now has the Core Plan. It's a list of certain food on a list that you eat from. No weighing or measuring foods but you only eat until you are full, not stuffed. A lot of people are successful with it but it always scared me. Once I'm banded I might try Core. You also get 35 points per week to use however you want.

I just looked at my WW book "getting started 1" and it's from the year 2001, last time I actually joined WW. I checked with my SIL who is currently going and looked at her book and she figured out I should get 31 pts for someone my age and weight but it seems high but oh well, I'll just use the old book I don't think it's that much different than the new one I just won't count the exercise when I walk.

Well it really doesn't surprise me that the people would be like that. I never would tell anyone at WW that I had a band especially since I wasn't doing well and needed to go there, lol. There's always people that knock wls and think you've gotten off easy like it's lipo or something and it's totally not. Some people do seem to lose weight very easily with the lap band but some people like me have been struggling since the beginning. But I'm not giving up, just trying to deal, brandyII

Edited May 22, 200818 yr by brandyII

I would not look at going to WW as a sign that your band isn't working or that you are failing as a lap-band patient. The band is just ONE tool to help you manage your weight. WW is another. As soon as I started going to all the specialists required for insurance approval, I had the whole "lifestyle change" thing beat into my head again and again. Should be a no-brainer, but some people need help putting all that info into an action plan. WW can provide structure and facilitate that change.

Edited May 22, 200818 yr by TxChelsey

It's true everyone is different after getting the lap band. Some need the type of structure that WW provides and some can just handle the 3 meals a day thing. You were provided with a lot of good information prior to your surgery that some people were not that's all. I never expected that I'd be back full circle going to WW again after my lap band and still struggling to stay within my points! I'm sure I'm only a small percentage who feel that way, brandyII.:confused_smile:

brandy.. a lil off topic here..but i have to say ur profile pic of ur african grey is adorable!! i was reading ur last post and i couldnt help but that that little guy bring a smile to my face. he is too cute!!:confused_smile:

brandy.. a lil off topic here..but i have to say ur profile pic of ur african grey is adorable!! i was reading ur last post and i couldnt help but that that little guy bring a smile to my face. he is too cute!!:confused_smile:

Thanks Jenna,

We're going to pick him/her up next month from a breeder. He's being hand fed now, but we won't know the sex until we get a test done at the vets. I'm going to change his picture to a more updated one when my husband gets a chance. It's going to be quite the experience. He/she is actually going to be my daughter's bird and she's 19 and goes to school but still lives at home and wants to be the one to bond with the bird. She's getting gastric bypass surgery next Tuesday so it's kind of a special gift for her bday this year with all the stuff she's had to go through for the surgery etc... Anyway I'm sure that's TMI:lol: thanks, brandyII

aww thats so sweet!! what an awesome gift. i have 3 birds myself..cockatiels, and my baby i hand raised, my 2 tiels hatched him under my bed. well goodluck to your daughter and the new addition to ur family.

Jenna,

That's so cute you got a baby from your birds. We have a brother/sister pair of cockatiels also and I'm hoping it won't stress them out too much. We'll see, we've had them for about 9 years. We also have two rescue dogs and the baby is being raised around German shepherds that they raise also so I'm happy about that, talk to you later, brandyII.

Thanks for everyone's input! I really appriciate it. I am going to sign up for WW today. I think being held accountable and having a weekly weighin will help me greatly.

I don't think seeking extra help is a sign of failure, just another measure to help me get to my goal. Afterall, if it was easy to loose weight none of us would of had to have the band.

If anyone else is doing WW would love to chat/email pointers and tips.

Also, in case you havent heard there is a website called Hungry Girl (fitting huh?) and they have a new book out. She takes receipes from resturants and makes a healthier version and includes the ww points in all of them.

Best of luck to everyone in their journey!