Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Weight watchers....need convincing
I have been trying to lose weight for a little while now, but I continue to go for a few days then stop and then start again, you know the drill. I did weight watchers 2-3 years ago and lost about 21 pounds and felt amazing. During that time, I was barely working out, maybe 20 min on the elliptical 3-4 days a week and still lost. Now I workout consistently, but can't get my food in order and I gained 13 back in the past 2 years. I don't eat bad: no fast food, no fried food, nothing but water, watch my sugar, but I can't get everything in order to consistently lose.
I use myfitnesspal, but it says for my height/weight to lose 1 pound a week, I should only eat 1220 calories. That's hard for me. Calculating my BMR, it says 1467 and after reading NROLFW, he wants me to eat 1800. I am lost in the numbers and I know for me, weight loss is 80% food intake. I know weight watchers works, but I am wondering why it would work better than counting calories. Any advice? I am ready to get rid of these extra pounds and feel better about myself. TIA!
Re: Weight watchers....need convincing
I do WW. I probably would not make the effort to count & record my calories. I tried once when I was in college and I'd end up sticking to a certian # of calories but picking awful foods. Seriously, I had a huge piece of pineapple side down cake almost every day b/c it fit into my calorie count but I hardly ate a single fruit or veggie!
The newer WW Points Plus program tweaked a few things. IMO healthier foods now have slightly lower point values while foods that are highly processed or full of simple carbs are higher in points. The old system of calculating points counted fats twice but didn't do much to give a value to carbs or protein. I think some low fat, super high carb foods were given really low point values so people would think those foods were healthy or good choices when in reality they were pretty much junk food. It's still not perfect but people have to make healthier choices to stay w/in their point range and not feel hungry.
IMO you just have to find something that works for you. If WW is easier than counting calories then maybe it's a good fit for you. Other people might do better recording every calorie, gram of fiber or protein, etc. I always tell people to try WW for a couple of months or a prepaid session, then decide if it works for them. It might be great for you, but if not you're just out $100 or so.
Let me know if you have any questions or other concerns. I'll try to answer them ore share more of my experience!
Are you eating the MFP rec right now? You might not be experiencing any success because you're eating too little.
I use MFP too and the recs for me are too low. I use the BMR calculator (select my sedentary BMR) and set a resonable deficit in MFP. (In the phone app you can manually set calories, rather than just choose '1lb/week' or whatnot). Then from there, and since I use a sedentary BMR, I track calories burned using a HRM for all activities that require significant physical exertion.
So that's what I do for me. I agree with PP that finding what works for you is important. For me it was finding what works for me RIGHT NOW. I've tried things in the past and had limited success and then fell off the wagon. Be flexible with yourself and allow yourself to try MFP or try WW, and not be discouraged if that's not the right tool for you. Just keep trying!
The MFP recommendation is based on net calories. So if you are working out for an 45 minutes a day and burn 450 calories your goal for the day would be 1670.
My goal in MFP is 1500
Yesterday I ate 1740
Earned 480 from exercise
Net 1260
I'm doing WW too and I'm down nearly 20 lbs for the year so far. I'm almost at my 10% goal. But I also noticed that when I started to add in walking to the routine, I wound up either gaining or holding steady with my weight loss. I have no clue why, either. I don't know if I ate differently or if it was my body building up some muscle but I didn't think it would do that just from walking. I wasn't even walking fast, not quite a 20 minute mile.
So I didn't walk this week and I lost 1.6 lbs. I don't get it. But maybe you're not eating enough to support the working out.