WW Girls - Can I ask a question?

[emilyj]

My parents are both doing WW, and my mom is struggling, and a couple of thing she has said have seemed off to me.

My dad is doing great. For the past 5 weeks, my mom has been losing either .1 or .2 at each weigh in. Here's what doesn't make sense to me - she told me she is at the lowest amount of points possible.

I don't know anything about how WW figures out points in their new system, but if I had to guess, I'd say my mom is about 250. I'm guessing if I went to WW, I'd end up with the lowest amount of points, so shouldn't she be eating more points?

She does not do any activity, so activity points don't factor in.

I'm afraid she's not eating enough...and she's at the point of frustration and about to quit. She needs to keep pushing through and stay on the program, and I want to help, but I don't know how.

Does this make sense?

[chicken]

She should be eating the points at her weight level, not the lowest amount of points possible in the program. If her weight classifies her as getting (for example) 38 points, she must eat 38 points a day. I think the lowest in the program is like 26, so just make sure she is eating in her weight class.

Does your mom have the smartphone app? She can scan or program in what she eats and it calculates the points. This way you or your dad can check it out later and make sure she is following the guidelines.

[emilyj]

No smartphone.

Do weight levels have a set number of points? Because she is eating 26 points - when she weighed in initially, that's what she was told she was supposed to be eating. So she is eating the lowest number of points in the program, which is what does not make sense to me.

[melodramatic26]

there is no way the Points she is set at would be 26. When I started I was around 240 and my pts were in the mid 30s. She needs to have them recalculate her pts.

[missmis99]

Actually my mom and I are both doing ww. We weigh about the same. I have 35 points and she has 26. This is because she is older with a slower metabolism and is less active. I am younger and active so I get more points. I bet 26 is right for her.

[phoenixrising]

Points allowed are based on age, height, gender, and current weight. It is not out of the question for 26 to be her allowed daily points.

[emilyj]

It just seems so odd to me. She said the other night "At this rate it's going to take me over a month to lose a pound", which I agree is not right. She's not cheating - I believe that. My Dad said she's eating within her points range. I told her to talk to the meeting leader, but I'm not sure if she's done it yet. She's literally at the point of giving up, and I'm trying to figure out in all my uneducatedness of WW how I can help her and encourage her to stick with it, when even I think something just sounds really off about the whole thing.

[phoenixrising]

Another part of the roll out of Points Plus 2012 was that, if you think that you need to eat more points to lose weight, you can have the freedom to flex up a little bit. You could maybe suggest she try 29 points per day (the old lowest number) to see if that makes a difference.

[So_Fetch]

If she's not losing and her real amount is 26 - she should consider eating all of her "flex points" as well. That should put her up to about 32 points a day which seems more reasonable. I know that I did better when I ate either my flex points or my extra activity points because with the activity I wasnt' getting enough food without them.

[ddi741]

I would agree she's probably not eating enough. I found that I had to eat my 26 and no more than 1/2 of my extra 49 to lose. If I ate to little I didn't lose and if I ate all my 49, I would maintain.
Also, is she getting all her water in?

Her best option is to talk to her leader, have him or her review her tracker. It also could be what she is eating? Is it mostly power foods?

[spunkypenguin]

I haven't done the new program b/c I like the old one and it's been working with me, but if she's not losing, then it's obviously not working like it should. I found this calculator for pointsplus (http://gnomes22.tripod.com/dailypptarget.html) I have heard others having problems with the PointsPlus and not losing - she may want to try the old way (most of the stuff can be found free online).

[emilyj]

Thank you all for your input and suggestions. I'm going to talk to her tomorrow, so I'll see what she says to all of the points. I know she's frustrated and I just want to help and encourage her to keep sticking with it!

[alithebride]

i think i have a limit of 26 points per day and i've been using it for 4 months. i started with that # and it continues. i'm down about 19lbs.

it also makes a difference as to WHAT she's eating. if it's burgers and pizza and junk food or less than healthy then no-she probably wont lose, but if she's eating healthy she may see an increase in loss.

she also needs to increase her activity.

[polarbearfans]

My husband is doing weight watchers and loves it. One thing that does matter is quality of points. You can eat a bunch of crap bad for you foods and be within your points. They should have reviewed food with her when she signed up. Also not all fruits and veggies are free points. A lot are but some do have point values.

She should also add some activity into her day. My husband received a good pedometer from work and has worked up to 10,000 steps a day. He walks on his lunch break and/or after work to get his steps throughout the day. As her activity increases she will need more food. The program will let her know how many points she earned.

My husband has lost a lot of weight the past few months. A safe amount.

[Melissa W.]

I agree about quality of points. It really does make a difference.