The FastDay Forum

[Tracieknits]

Well I am almost two months into my new hybrid plan so I thought maybe I should share my success in case it helps anyone else. Also, this will hopefully be a great resource for me if I run into another brick wall

I started with 5:2 in January of 2013. Despite my thyroid troubles, I managed to lose about 53 pounds over about 20 months and by November of 2014, I was at my lowest since my son was born, in 2000. Then I hit a brick wall. I had my thyroid ablated (I was dosed with radioactive iodine intended to kill my thyroid). I had regained about five pounds by the time summer hit, and I was *very* unsuccessful with my fasts. I don't know why. Over summer and fall, I had a number of struggles with the medication my doctor prescribed. I became more and more sure that I didn't need any levothyroxine at all, and basically in October I called the doctor and said "I'm not taking it anymore." I had gained back another 10 pounds -- all that hard work gone!! Well the good news is that my thyroid has regulated itself. It didn't die - it shook off the radiation. I've had normal thyroid levels now since the week after I quit the levothyroxine. But the weight wasn't budging. I actually gained back another pound and in mid April, I was only 36.8 pounds down - I had regained 16.2 pounds.

Drastic times called for drastic measures. I decided to joint Weight Watchers, and apply some of what I learned here to their program. To start with, I like this new program better than the old ones as it seems somewhat more nutritionally sound, even if they haven't *quite* caught up with science. You're allowed a number of "points" in a day (30 is the minimum, but I started at 33) as well as a number of points in a week. Right now I have 42 weeklies. You're also allowed to earn points through exercise, and you can eat any you earn over four in a day -- walking about 10K steps in a day gives me roughly 12 points a day, 8 of which I would be allowed to eat. As for points - fruit and non starchy veggies are free. a point is roughly 50 calories. The point value of a food goes down if it's high in protein, but it goes up for fat, saturated fat and sugar. It goes up really, really fast for sugar. 150 calories of ice cream is 7 points.

For the first few weeks I just did the plan as written, and I had *very* modest success. Then I started really tweaking once I got comfortable. My week now looks like this:

Monday - eat about 20 of my allotted 30 points (this is against the rules). Save those points for Wednesday. Eat as few carbs as possible. Aim for eating window of noon to 8. This is roughly 1000 calories

Tuesday - eat about 25 of my allotted 30 points. Save those for Wednesday. Eat as few carbs as possible. Aim for eating window of noon to 8. This is roughly 1250 calories

Wednesday - weight watchers official weigh in day and meeting at 10am. I don't eat until after the meeting, but my window isn't quite as strict - more like 11:30 to 9:30. I eat my 30 points, plus any points I didn't eat on Monday and Tuesday, plus up to 7 of my weekly points. I have what I want. This morning, after my meeting, I had a lovely croissant (the 9 points were added to Monday night's tally), a cup of yogurt (added to Tuesday's tally), fresh cherries (free) and decaf espresso with a bit of cream (added to Monday's tally). So that was 15 rolled over points and I still have 30 + up to 7 I can eat for a splurge dinner. Since my husband is out of town, my son wants to go to a restaurant he loves. I've already selected what I'll have and logged it. Since it's high in points, I'll have a modest lunch probably at 1:30 with lots of veggies and 4 ounces of turkey (only 1 point!). Even with all of the treats today, I'll be at or under my plan.

Thursday - same as Monday - - eat about 20 of my allotted 30 points (this is against the rules). Save those points for Friday. Eat as few carbs as possible. Aim for eating window of noon to 8. This is roughly 1000 calories

Friday - eat reasonably modestly. Aim for an eating window of noon to 8 unless I'm super hungry for breakfast. Eat my daily points and any I rolled over from Thursday.

Saturday and Sunday -- Relax a bit. If eating windows work, fine. If not, fine. Track every bite, but don't go over what I'm allowed for the week. Use up points on a splurge or two - usually a bottle of champagne or wine on Saturday night, but if Friday works better for that, that's ok. Last weekend we saved up points and made large bowls of popcorn topped with finely grated cheese, accompanied by a reasonably inexpensive bottle of French champagne. 18 points for that treat, but worth it.

So far, since April 20, I'm down 19.8 pounds or 56.6 pounds from 2012. My BMI has dropped below 35 (on the NIH website if not on our tracker - not sure why they're different). And I feel like I could keep doing this.

My first couple of weeks on the plan, I was having a banana every day (yippee! they're free), and chocolate every day. I wasn't losing nearly as much. Now I can easily go 48 hours without any chocolate, and when I have some, it's just a small amount. I'm feeling so much more in control now, which is fabulous.

So anyway, I hope this helps someone who might be stuck or in a rut

Loved reading your post @tracieknits - it makes so much sense and I love how you have worked out what will work for you - because you know yourself best! Life would be so dull without some "foodie" treats - so to build them into your week is such a good idea. As is being flexible from day to day & saving some points for other days...

It's clearly going so well for you & it's great to read all about it. Success stories are what spur the rest of us on - so keep on posting! We're rooting for you....

[Tracieknits]

Thanks so much!

I'm hoping that the big difference in calorie intake between days like Monday and Thursday and days like Wednesday and Saturday will keep my metabolism guessing and prevent any sort of serious decrease in metabolism.

And yes, I was definitely hoping this would help someone who might be in the same kind of rut I was in

sounds like a plan @tracieknits which is working well for you

I hadnt realised weightwatchers had changed its plan. I remember going about 7 or 8 years ago & you were allowed only 15 or maybe 20 points a day. sounds like they have re-invented themselves again.

Im liking the way you tweak your plan to save up the points for a splurge treat. wouldnt make me feel like I was being deprived & sounds like the eating windows are helping too.

good luck with everything. shelley x

Sounds like you've come up with a good plan. I'm glad you've found something that's working for you and could work well for others. Thanks for sharing . You're doing great, keep up the good work.

[Tracieknits]

Thanks so much Shelley and Dee!!

Yes, it's a complete remake of their plan that they started in January or February. I know a few decades ago, when it was "Fat & Fiber" it was a terrible plan for me and I actually gained weight. Now I understand the science was terrible (penalizing you for fat and rewarding you for eating carbs "fiber" -- so fat free cookies were very cheap to eat, but an egg was expensive). This plan is called "smartpoints" and it makes a lot more sense.

I'm hopeful that I can keep going with this hybrid for a long time

Good on you tracieknits,it just sounds so complicated,for me to follow any way but happy for you if it works
Keep up the good work.

WOW! That is an impressive loss in a short time. Good for you! Years ago with WW, there was something called the Wendie plan (not officially through WW) where people mixed up their points to have some really low days and some really high days. Sounds similar to what you are doing! Do you think you'll get tired eventually of counting/tracking points?

[Tracieknits]

WOW! That is an impressive loss in a short time. Good for you! Years ago with WW, there was something called the Wendie plan (not officially through WW) where people mixed up their points to have some really low days and some really high days. Sounds similar to what you are doing! Do you think you'll get tired eventually of counting/tracking points?

Thanks @cblasz! Will I get tired of counting/tracking points? Absolutely. Right now it's a lot more frustrating to be fat, so I'm choosing to count and track. Hubby is doing it with me and thing is, when he stopped dieting, almost every pound of the 50 he lost came back. Having to re-lose weight you lost is awful and way worse than committing to tracking. So I think I'm going to see how long I can stick with this. I may eventually quit paying Weight Watchers and go back to simply tracking on MyFitnessPal.com eventually, but I'm not sure.

What I am going to commit to is weighing nearly every single day for the rest of my life. It seems to be when I stop weighing so frequently that I really get into trouble. But for now, tracking is really working so well for me, I think I'll keep with it.

Thanks @Newgirl ! It's really not that much harder than 5:2, but right now I just need the discipline. Not everyone does and that's ok.

[Tracieknits]

It's Thursday, and I'm on a "light" day. I ended up having to shift my eating window to 11am to 7pm/19h and I'm fine with that. BTW I also woke up and weighed in another 0.5 pound down! So I'm now 57.1 pounds down.

Breakfast - 4 points: 2 espressos with a half tablespoon of cream each - 1 point. 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt - 3 points. a cup of fresh cherries and half a cup of fresh pineapple - 0 points.

Lunch - 7 points: low carb wrap (2 pts) with deli low fat roast chicken (1 pt), 1 teaspoon hellman's light mayo (1 pt), ultra thin cheddar cheese (2pts), 1 tsp lowfat vinaigrette (o pts) & lettuce. Trader Joe's spicy hummus (1pt) and baby carrots, cornichons.

Dinner (7pts) will be a large green salad with cucumber, carrot and onion (0 pts) with 5 ounces of grilled chicken breast (3pts), 1/2 ounce of croutons (2pts), and 2 tbsp light vinaigrette (2pts)

I have two points left for the day to be at 20 points. I may add a small amount of cheese to my salad.

Then tomorrow, when I track a treat, I will track it as my Thursday snack to bring myself back up to the 30 points I'm supposed to eat in a day.

Yay - farewell to yet another packet of butter or lard! 114 packs down...and counting....hurrah - well done you, that's amazing! The stuff of my dreams, in fact...and many others'

Looking at your plan, I can see you have it totally sussed and working exactly right for you, which is just how it should be! Loved that you could add a bit of cheese to bring yourself up to the right points - these days, a little bit of anything is a treat - so I can imagine how tasty that will be!

Great post...

[Tracieknits]

Thank you @Hazelnut20! I wanted to show how it's really not difficult and really not unhealthy to do this. I will try to remember to post my points on a few of my higher days as well.

Like you, I'm eating a lot of things over and over again. Espresso, yogurt and cherries, for me right now, is the perfect breakfast. Once a week after weigh in, I may add a croissant to that (9 points). I did that yesterday, for example. I'm feeling this could be really sustainable.

It's 10 weeks from today that I leave for Paris, so I'm going to try and see how much more I can reduce my carbs without making myself miserable. But you've been a real inspiration and if Team England's champion comfort eater can abstain, then perhaps Team New York's champion comfort eater can as well.

Yay @tracieknits - loving the idea that we are united in kicking the comfort eating into touch!

Don't you just love the principle of sharing ideas on this forum? People have written so much that I find really helpful and I am always pleased if anything I say resonates with someone. Using our life experiences is so valuable - especially if it allows anyone else to shortcut something! Time after time on here I read something and think "Well, I'd never thought of doing that - what a great idea" - mainly because I can never see the wood for the trees myself!

I get so much from being a member of this forum. I know I belong here and really appreciate all the support I get. In return, I am very happy to contribute. So please keep posting about how you're tackling things as it makes fascinating reading and is so informative.

10 weeks to go til Paris! Wow - that's a good amount of time still to play with. I'm so going to enjoy reading your posts and sharing your successes as the weeks go by. We all know you can and will do it!

[Tracieknits]

Absolutely @Hazelnut20!! Although I need to be in the right head space apparently, and ready to lose weight to take advantage of the forum. Because these great people have been here all along, while I was off wandering around and getting into trouble for the past 18 months.

Yesterday's light day went really well. I ended up not eating all 20 points, I left 12 on the table instead of 10, so I ate roughly 900 calories - but all very healthy food and almost no carbs. Lots of veggies, some chicken and some olive oil. We had a huge salad for dinner and I had a chicken breast I had seasoned with a lovely lemon pepper blend I have, plus some balsamic vinaigrette. I was stuffed!

Today will be a splurge day. DH wants cheeseburgers and I definitely have a the points/calories available for homemade cheeseburgers made with good ingredients. I even have the points for wine. I'll have a big salad at lunch to balance the day out nutritionally. And I may try eating my burger between lettuce leaves instead of having the traditional bun. For five points I can have either a hamburger bun or three slices of bacon, so perhaps I should choose the bacon. We will see how it goes. I know my skinny son will want and get both, so the temptation will be present, for sure.

[Tracieknits]

Well, all things considered, I *had* the points for both the bun and two slices of bacon. And I had two "ultra thin" slices of cheddar, which came to just over 1/2 ounce of cheese. I even had the points for a very small serving of duck fat potatoes (my son's favorite), as well as half of a bottle of champagne.

I had a fabulous time!! And I was within my points limit.

I woke up this morning with 33 weekly points I could spend today and tomorrow if I want. They reset on Monday. Plus I have 30 daily points. So we had just espresso for breakfast. We opened the eating window at noon and I made a veggie hash topped with two fried eggs, sunny side up. We figured that was 12 points each.

Dinner will be another splurge. 2 large slices of restaurant pizza, thin crust, one meat topping at 9 points each, a large green salad with a bit of dressing (2 points) and a glass or two of wine (4 or 8 points). Even if I have 8 ounces of wine, I'll still have 24 weekly points left over. And they reset on Monday.

I have a lot of fruit for dessert, and fruit is free.

I just realized that I cannot remember the last time I had chocolate. Holy moly. I think I have to say it again and bold it: I cannot remember the last time I had chocolate. wow, what's going on and who took over my body? Ok, I just went through my food journal and realized I had some on Wednesday. Now that may not sound earth shattering to some, but I'm the kind of girl who could eat chocolate 15 times a day if I wasn't watching my money. I was still budgeting the points for chocolate every single day until I started reading @Hazelnut20's wonderful blog about her blood sugar diet journey. Dang! And I'm not even craving any. That's just weird. But wonderful. It's Saturday evening and I think I'm going to be able to skip it again today.