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This is a detailed post for anyone who is thinking of starting Weight Watchers and would like more information on how it works and what you have to do. It's quite a lot of reading so you may want to get yourself a coffee and make yourself comfy! The current eating plan is called “Discover”. HOW DOES IT WORK?
Notice how Weight Watchers like to call it an eating plan rather than a diet! lol! Weight Watchers are very keen that this is a way of eating for life and not a strict faddy diet for now, which will let you go back to your old eating habits once you have got to your ideal weight. Depending on how closely you follow ALL the rules of the Discover plan and how overweight you are, you can expect to lose approx 1-2 lbs per week. As with any weight loss plan, the more strictly you follow the rules, the better results you will get. The Weight Watchers POINTS© system restricts the quantity of food that you can eat and promotes healthy eating choices by encouraging the choice of “filling foods”. You are NOT required to purchase special "diet" foods although you may find it helpful and/or time-saving to buy Weight Watchers branded items in the supermarket as these have the points worked out for you. Advantages of Weight Watchers:
•Works well for people who struggle to manage their appetites when given their own control over how much they are allowed to eat.
•No food is forbidden and you can choose to eat anything you like, albeit often in a small quantity Disadvantages of Weight Watchers:
•It does require planning and tallying of how much you are eating every day. Some people may find this time consuming.
•You have to pay to attend the class each week to get the plan information on a week-by-week basis for at least the first 5 weeks. To continue to be weighed at class, (and to get moral support from your leader and other members) over however long it takes you to lose your excess weight, you will need to continue to pay the weekly fee until you get to "goal". HOW TO FOLLOW THE DISCOVER PLAN
You are allocated a certain number of POINTS per day based on your:
•age
•gender
•current weight
•height
•general activity level. Work out your daily allocation by looking at the formula on this thread:
http://messageboards.ivillage.co.uk/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ukdfwwatcher&msg=12493.8&ctx=4194304
Your minimum daily allowance must be at least 16 points. You are allowed to eat a certain amount of food each day up to your own personal allowance. Any item of food can be converted to POINTS using a simple formula which you can use if you know the calories and saturated fat in whatever you're eating and the weight of the portion you want to have. The formula is here:
http://messageboards.ivillage.co.uk/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ukdfwwatcher&msg=7875.1&x=y Nearly everything you buy in supermarkets has the nutritional information (calories and saturated fat) listed on it. If not, there are plenty of web-sites which can give you this information and you will be given a basic conversion guide at your first class.
There are also some ‘point-free’ foods, a list of which can be found here:
http://messageboards.ivillage.co.uk/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ukdfwwatcher&msg=16666.1&ctx=8192
You can eat any quantity of "point-free" food without using points from your daily allowance. Once you have learnt this system, it can become easy to use and you can enjoy some flexibility with having slightly more points one day and less the next as long as you carry forward no more than 4 of your daily allowance points each day. For good health WW also say that you should have a minimum of 14 points in any one day. The key to this plan is that NO food is forbidden. You can eat anything - albeit sometimes in VERY small quantities. PLANNING AND TRACKING
It helps to plan in advance what you are going to eat (either for a day or for a whole week) to ensure that you don't go over your points or run out or them part-way through the day. It is also essential to write on a piece of paper (or on computer) everything which you eat and take the points value of that food from your remaining daily allowance. This is the recommended way to ensure you do not exceed your daily or weekly allowance.
Weight watchers meetings provide paper templates for this, (called Trackers) or you can use WW's "e-source" on-line resources (fee payable). You can also make your own ‘trackers’ and write the information down yourself free of charge! BONUS EXERCISE POINTS
You can earn additional points by doing exercise. You can choose to consume these extra points as food, or not, as you wish. For people close to goal, on a low daily allowance, it can be a useful way of having enough points for treats. Alternatively not using all of your bonus points will leader to faster weight loss. It’s entirely a personal choice. The number of points you earn depends on:
•your weight
•the number of minutes you exercise for
•the intensity of the exercise (high, medium or low)
Calculators to work out your exercise points levels are given to you at your third meeting. You may earn as many exercise points as you like during the day but you may save (carry forward to eat another day) no more than 4 of your bonus points per day. OTHER WW GUIDELINES:
•Do regular exercise to help with your weight loss – 30 mins, 5 times a week is ideal
•Try to drink up to 1.5 litres of fluid every day – this doesn’t HAVE to be water
•Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day – make sure they are different types
•Get plenty of variety in what you eat – this helps limit diet boredom and minimise point calculation errors
•Limit sugary foods and alcohol – these are empty calories and provide little or no nutritional benefit WHAT HAPPENS AT CLASS
You pay a one-off registration fee & a weekly meeting fee. You can avoid paying the registration fee and reduce the amount you pay per week by applying for a ‘Monthly Pass’.
Your weight is recorded on a card (which you keep) and on your leader's records (which your leader will keep). If you miss a meeting you will have to pay for missed weeks when you next . Alternatively you can re-register if it has been more than 2 weeks since you went. This may be cheaper if you have a coupon for free registration. You are however allowed 2 free holiday weeks every 6 months when you can miss class and not pay. If you pay for the Monthly Pass this does not apply as you pay a monthly fee by direct debit whether you attend or not. Your weight is confidential between you and your leader (unless you choose to tell anyone else). It often helps to chat will your fellow weight watchers to enhance the sense of community and to pick up hints and tips from them too after you have left the scales. Once everyone has weighed, the leader will hold a 30 minute seminar-style class. Staying to the class itself is an important psychological tool to help you with your weight loss.
When you have lost 7lbs (and for each subsequent 7lbs) you will get a ‘silver 7’ sticker on your card. When you have lost 10% of your body weight, you will get a WW key ring and when you get to goal you will get a gold charm to go on it. In between you may also get a certificate for 50lbs, 75lbs and 100lbs lost if appropriate. GETTING TO GOAL
You can decide your own final goal weight, provided you will have a healthy BMI. Check out this link to see what your own BMI is and what weight you should be to be healthy:
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/stc/bodyboost/bmi.html When you reach that weight, you can attend class for free. You must maintain your weight to within 5lbs of your goal, for 5 weeks to qualify for Gold Membership. Once you have obtained Gold Membership you only have to weigh-in 5 times a year to be allowed to attend meetings for free for the rest of your life anywhere in the world. If you exceed this maintenance weight you can still attend class, but will have to pay the weekly fee.
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