We Meet Again, Again.
A few months since my last post and fortunately, only 4 lbs more than I was when I made it. I just got back from a mexican-food laden vacation in my hometown of San Diego, so... well, beans happen.
I kind of got stuck after 21 lbs. I got all the way down to 25lbs lost, but quickly gained those 4 lbs back due to... well, food. And Bravo's summer programming.
So, here I am, starting anew. I've decided to scrap Weight Watchers for now. I think it's a fantastic program, but I was tired of paying for it, never went to meetings, and even with the new PointsPlus system, I felt frustrated. I felt guilty ALL the time because what I ate, even when it was a healthy choice, didn't always meet with their "approval". And after almost a decade, I'm tired of "watching" my weight. I want to lose it, not watch it. While I realize that losing weight, especially a large amount, is a lifestyle change -- I don't want to be a Weight Watcher for the rest of my life. I want to lose the weight and then maintain a healthy lifestyle. WW was starting to feel like a life sentence with how many times I stopped and started.
Again, no fault to the program, it works if you work it, but I was just tired of working it.
Enter Lose It!, which is similar to WW in that you log your food and your exercise, but there's a more cohesive social component that I like better. It feels a bit more modern than Weight Watchers in that aspect. You can share your exercise and accomplishments to Twitter/Facebook, they have a mobile app and the best part -- it's FREE.
It tallies my fat and my calories and all that jazz, as well as tells me how much of a deficit I have every day and I am totally nerding out over all the charts n' graphs n' reports. You earn badges, much like other social media these days, which is a minor, but fun incentive. It also allows me to tally in my Fit Bit automatically. I also like that working out for 30 minutes gives you real numbers. I was always depressed when I'd do what I thought was a good workout and get 2 lousy points. Now I can see that an hour of water aerobics burns 400 calories. That makes me feel like it's *something* and not just a Tic-Tac's worth of effort.
We'll see how it goes, but a bunch of us have already started on it. Everyone is seeing results and everyone has plenty of calories left over at the end of the day they are free to eat. Everyone, so far, has said that they feel less restricted, that overall, it's easier. I joined a few weeks ago, but wanted to wait until post-vacation to begin in earnest.
I like that it tells me, at 2 lbs a week, by this time next year, I'll be at my goal. It's in my face every time I log in -- by X time, you'll be X weight. It's a constant motivator, a reminder when I feel frustrated, that there's an end point, there's a goal. With Weight Watchers (while its still a great program), I felt like i would be dieting forever.
I still kind of follow WW in my head -- I'm long-trained on Points, but I can see where I may feel more freedom. And those philosophies and portion control ideas I learned on WW are invaluable. But now, I'm a big girl (no pun intended) and I know what I need to do. Hopefully, Lose It!, along with my support system of participating friends, will be the ticket to keep me on track.
Are you on Lose It? Still doing Weight Watchers? What's your tool to stay on track?
They Said Stuff!
i completely get the “don’t wanna do the ww program for the rest of my life”! that’s exactly how i feel about ww these days. i think i’m gonna look into loseit. i was kinda hoping to be able and lose the weight without some kind of “program” - after all, years of dieting and programs make me feel like i know it all and “should” be able to just DO IT. apparently that’s not working and i will have to start actually keeping track of my calories and exercise. not just in my head! my first goal is my 35th bday in feb. i would like to be down about 45 lbs by then. doable, no? let’s rock this!!
I gave up on WW a while back because I got really frustrated with the new plan and feeling like I wasn’t making the same progress that I made on the old plan. Since the beginning of July I’ve just been concentrating on making exercise a habit. After more than a month of walking at least 4 days a week, I feel much better about myself even though I haven’t lost much weight yet.
Lose it sounds interesting, though. I’ve been using RunKeeper to keep track of my walks and it tells me how many calories I burned and my pace and stuff like that. Now that I have the exercise thing down I want to go back to working on my diet so I guess I’ll give Lose it a shot, too!
I haven’t been doing WW very long, and just recently “re-started”. I’m still getting used to it, but I think tracking points is easier for me to see what I’m doing than with calories or other info. SparkPeople is free too, and I tried that several times before switching to WW. They have a lot more social and “fun” aspects, but I wasn’t really noticing any change. Now at least I pay attention to what I’m doing - even if I’m doing it wrong. The social nerd in me kind of wants to try Lose It anyway and try both at the same time. Maybe that would give me a better comparison, if I can manage the double-entry.
The LoseIt, it has no Android app. So boo to that. :(
i finally switched from Ww to lose it about 3 months ago. The new system wasn’t jiving with me. I didn’t like that they made No allowance for healthy fat vs non healthy fat, and that processed non fat foods were looked at as being better than their regular less chemical laden varieties. Also the whole fruit is free, although great got me in trouble. I rather snack on fruit then 100 calories packs.. Well 4-5 servings of fruits adds up to a lot lol. I found some days o was pushing 1800 calories with the new system.. No bueno.
I would love to add some friends on Lose It :). I’m still struggling to get past my -140lb lost mark. I’ve only lost 8 lbs since march? Maybe having others as “friends” on there would help. :). I’m listed as ediegirl if anyone wants to “friend” me. :)
Yay! I’m so happy so many people are doing Lose It!
@mageezel, it does have an android app. I saw a link for it today on the site. They said it’s in the Android marketplace.
@Arwen, WW is a great program and when it’s new and fresh, is even better. I’m just an old, jaded WW. Lol!
Here’s a link to the Android app: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fitnow.loseit&feature=search_result
A friend of mine recently pointed me to www.bodyrock.tv, and although my gut instinct (which I’m pretty ashamed of) was to dislike and deride Zuzana (“How *dare* she look so good, she must be dumb/slutty/some other horrible assumption…”) after reading some posts and watching some videos I’m a huge fan.
The workouts are short enough that I don’t get bored, hard enough that I actually have sweat pouring off me, and I damn sure will suffer to get half as strong as that women.
Combining that site with Fitocracy.com and my natural urge to win at stuff that doesn’t matter, and I can actually do a couple push-ups.
I will take an iPhone app over fees, weekly meetings, having to buy meals, etc., any day. I’ve tried LoseIt, it worked ok. There is a huge mental component regardless of how you go and I agree the social aspect is key.
Ohh. I just signed up. Here I go again…. !!
@Donnie - I totally agree. I think it’s mental more than anything and after a while of doing this, I find it a lot harder to do than Weight Watchers in that aspect.
I think any plan works if you work it—I used to be really snarky about this plan or that plan, but I’ve come to realize that if someone is successful at a plan, whether it’s one I subscribe to or not—hey, they succeeded where I didn’t. And that rocks. :)
update: unfortunately loseit! didn’t work for me at all b/c they don’t have a metric system option and i just can’t find most of the products etc i eat… but, i actually went back to ww. again. that new propoints system seems to be a bit easier and the first week was a breeze. so we’ll see how this goes.
how are all of you doing?
loseit only works for individuals that need to lose a few pounds. herbalife programs Of course the mexican food doesn’t help when you are on a diet.
Hard enough that I actually have sweat pouring off me, and I damn sure will suffer to get half as strong as that women. I found some days o was pushing 1800 calories with the new system.. No bueno.
i actually went back to ww. again. that new propoints system seems to be a bit easier and the first week was a breeze. so we’ll see how this goes.I actually have sweat pouring off me, and I damn sure will suffer to get half as strong as that women.
I don’t get bored, hard enough that I actually have sweat pouring off me, and I damn sure will suffer to get half as strong as that women. After more than a month of walking at least 4 days a week, I feel much better about myself even though I haven’t lost much weight yet.
ww. again. that new propoints system seems to be a bit easier and the first week was a breeze. so we’ll see how this goes.I actually have sweat pouring off me, and I damn sure will s
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