My Eating Plan

Like a lot of overweight people, I have done a lot of dieting in the past, and have tried a lot of eating plans. The one that best suits my lifestyle, my budget, and my discipline level (or lack thereof... haha) is Weight Watchers. It involves a bit of work in counting points, but I need a diet that allows me to eat everything in moderation, no food is off limits with Weight Watchers as long as you count the points for it and stay within the guidelines of the program.

I will be doing a twist on the Weight Watchers Flex plan. With the Flex plan, you are allowed a set number of points a day, based on your current weight. Points are calculated by looking at the total calories, fat, and fiber in the food you're going to eat.
The formula Weight Watchers uses to determine how many points a food contains is this:

(Calories/50) + (Fat/12) + (Fiber/5) = Food Points

The more fiber a food has, the lower points it will be, but the maximum amount of fiber you can count per serving is four, anything above that is considered a bonus for your body.

You can purchase electronic points calculators online at Ebay, or at your Weight Watchers meeting. There is also an online calculator here (I recommend saving it to your hard drive)

In addition to staying within points, you need to follow Weight Watchers healthy eating guidelines each day: 4-5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2-3 servings of dairy, and 1-2 servings of healthy oil. You also should be drinking at least 64oz of water each day (eight 8oz glasses).

Here's a rundown of the daily point targets based on your weight:

Your Current Weight = Target Points

less than 150 pounds = 20 points

150 to 174 pounds = 22 points

175 to 199 pounds = 24 points

200 to 224 pounds = 26 points

225 to 249 pounds = 28 points

250 to 274 pounds = 30 points

275 to 299 pounds = 31 points

300 to 324 pounds = 32 points

325 to 349 pounds = 33 points

350 pounds or more = 34 points

At my current starting weight of 295.4, I am allowed a total of 31 points per day. I need to eat all of those points to keep my metabolism going. It may seem like you will lose more weight if you skimp on your points and come in under, but I know from experience that I lose more weight when I eat all of my daily points every day.

Flex points
With the Flex plan, you start each new week with an extra 35 points to use when you need them throughout the week. Unlike your daily points which need to be eaten each day, the Flex points are bonus points that you can eat when you need them or not eat any of them at all. Once the week is over, though, any remaining Flex points are gone, and you start the new week with 35 points again.

Wendie Plan
Here's where my twist comes in. In the past I have been more successful with a version of the Flex plan called the Wendie plan. This is a plan that I came across online, I can't take the credit for it, but I think it's genius.

The Wedie Plan works in almost all of your Flex points into your daily points target, so you have some high point days, some medium points days, and some low points days. By doing this, I think it tricks your metabolism into never knowing what's coming next, thus helping you avoid the plateaus that can come when your body gets too comfortable with your eating plan.

On the Wendie plan, the rythm of your week should look like this:

low (+0)/high (+5)/low (+1)/very high (+15)/very low (+0)/high (+4)/med. high (+2)

You'll notice that this incorporates all but 8 of your Flex points into your daily points.

Since we tend to eat out on Fridays, I make that my very high day. That puts my high day on Sundays, when we eat lunch at my husband's parents each week, and it's often difficult to eat extremely healthy. Putting your higher points days on the days when you may want to indulge in higher-point meals helps you stay on plan and still be happy with the food choices you are able to make.

Today is Thursday, so today is my low day. Here's how my point plan looks for the foreseeable future (until my weight drops below 274 lbs and my point target drops to 30 per day):

POINTS TARGET - 31 (Weigh 275 - 299 lbs)

Day 1 (low) Tuesday- 31 points

Day 2 (high) Wednesday- 36 points

Day 3 (low) Thursday- 32 points

Day 4 (super high) Friday - 46 points

Day 5 (very low) Saturday- 31 points

Day 6 (high) Sunday- 35 points

Day 7 (med high) Monday- 33 points

That Super High day on Friday may seem like a lot of extra points (it can be hard to get 15 extra points into your day, believe me) but it is just as important as your very low days in acheiving weight loss. I am convinced that varying the amount of points you eat each day tricks your body into never knowing what's coming next. In the past, even in the weeks that I fell off program a day or two, I still saw a weight loss (or at the very least, maintained my previous week's weight) because I think my body didn't even realize that I was off program.

A few helpful tips:

• If you weigh every day, you may notice an increase in weight after your Super High day. I Don't worry, it WILL go down. I suggest doing your weekly weigh-in on the morning of your Super High day.
• Prepare for your low days. Have low point snacks readily available, and have a menu plan on those days so you aren't hungry or tempted to eat more than your daily points. I also try to keep my exercise light on those days, and save my strenuous workouts for the higher point days, when I have the extra food to fuel me through it.
• Snacking is ok as long as it falls in your daily allotted points. As a rule, I don't allow myself snacks (chips, ice cream, sweets) until I have eaten all of my fruits/vegs and dairy for the day. It is more important for my body that I use my points on those healthy foods first, and then if I have points left over, I use them to reward myself with some low-point goodies.