Congratuations on another lb lost! I lost 9 this last week I weighed myself mid week and saw I lost 5lbs. I was exactly like you in hoping it would show up come weigh in and it did as well as 4 more lbs I lost! Alot because it was my 1st week of weightloss probably what they call water weight! My engagement ring is starting to slide on and of a lot easier again!

~Dottie

p.s. WW and Alli are working very well for me right now!

Hi everyone! I'd love to join in on this WW/Alli/excercise group...it seems like the WW board is SO not a fan of Alli. What a bummer.

I'm Christine and I started WW last Aug (07) and had lost 30 lbs by Christmas. Then I relaxed over the holidays, ended up moving towns and buying our first house. Obviously, that was kinda stressful (but fun!) and now I've gained 20 of the 30 back and am starting fresh. I don't go to meetings but DH and I weigh in at home every Thursday. 

I started back on WW last Thursday and started Alli yesterday. My first WI was today and I lost 3 lbs! I'm happy with that, and I'm secretly hoping that next will be the same or more since this WI only included the first day of taking Alli. I haven't had any TE's yet...I'm hoping I never will.

I am noticing that I'm having a hard time eating all my daily WW points while eating 19 grams of fat or less per meal. Is anyone else having that problem? I didn't excercise this first week, but today I started back at that and did the treadmill for 30 min. and the recumbent bike for 25 minutes. I'm determined to work out 5-6 days a week like I was doing last year. 

I can't wait to chat with everyone here and have an awesome support group through this journey! :)

 I am really enjoying the support here. Glad you've joined us. I'd been having very a hard time for the last few years (middle age is tough!). I got more overweight than ever and coudn't understand why not just eat right and exercise, what's wrong? I quit paying for WW meetings because I was wasting my money. NOthing I tried got me in the groove. Then things came together and I finally decided to lay down the idea that if I was eating right then I wouldn't need to take any pills. And so I use WW, Eating Well Diet and Alli. It's working for me, I only eat too much fat when I am eating food I shouldn't be. Like when I was at a day camp and had a sub sandwich (I skipped the chips, something I wouldn't have done before, but I saw that back had 15 grams all by itself!) I'd brought some fruit and veggies for snacks so at least I got some good stuff that way.

Now, with tracking, exercising and using this web site for support I have lost 12 lbs. My official alli loss is 5 lbs but I started a couple weeks before getting the pills and I've seen a lower weight on my scale than the one at my last check in on Sunday. This is really working for me and I'm so delighted! Only 6 lbs to go to my interim goal. In only 7 weeks. This is incredibly fast weight loss for me. (Sadly, I know all about yo-yo dieting...) I don't know how much of my success is just from the pills blocking that 25% since I do eat healthy such as tonights 3 ounces of broiled chicken breast no skin (3 points) and spinach with lentils (1 point) and a fudgesicle (0 points). I think the exercise I'm finally getting in every day is a big factor. And this site helps me be motivated and remembering what I should be doing.

I struggle to keep it under 30 points a day, but I still pick high fiber/low fat things to use my points on so am not having the problem you mention. I eat OroWheat light bread (1 point for two slices) and their double fiber english muffins, oatmeal, fruit every day...I don't know if I will ever be able to keep myself at 18 points a day, it just isn't enough food and I get sick of eating no point veggies all the time. I eat plenty of grains like couscous, quinoa, bulghar...the spinach with lentils tonight was very filling with a big portion for that 1 point and only 3 grams of fat. I could have had two servings!

Please post again and tell us your progress.

Cheri ~ Nevada

Weigh to go, Dottie!!!! LOL You're doing great! This is really helping me to be inspired and keep up the motivation.

Cheri ~ Nevada

I am also enjoying the support here - never been a part of weight watchers so I don't think in points- I log everything I eat online... and I am getting the hang of it all.  I am finding that I don't need to plan as much as I used to.  Overall I am eating much healthier and the exercise is helping.

Good luck everyone!

Christine,

I don't want to discourage you by no means that the Alli plan and WW can't work together it just takes double the effort if you are trying to meet fat and cal goals! I am doing WW and taking my Alli pill but I am just watching out how much fat I take in at one meal I have only experianced 1 time I ate too much fat and had a little bout of TE's nothing really bad. I actually think it would be hard for me to stay within my points and hit my fat and cal targets! Hang in there I am experimenting still with the WW and Alli but my starter book states Alli and WW is okay together

Good Luck

~Dottie

Another 1 point for two slice bread is the Sara Lee Delightful bread! I buy it now and well today is my grocery day I need to be getting off here and ito the shower wish me luck I need it I haven't a clue what I am going to buy today! I didn't plan any meals this week! tisk tisk

~Dottie

Thanks! Keep it up yourself Don't give in Don't give up keep your head up and your eye on the prize!

~Dottie

Dottie, thanks for the tip on the Sara Lee Delightful bread, I'm going to try some. I shopped today without planning or a list and I'm not gonna have the roast I planned on since I forgot it! Planning after the fact means no chicken breasts this week, no fish, but I did get a WW pizza and some veggie hot dogs...

Christine, I just follow Weight Watchers and only look at fat grams if I'm eating something that I ought not if I want to stay on plan, like the bag of potato chips I decided not to eat when I saw that it was 15 gram all by itself, on top of the sub sandwich I had that must have had a lot of fat too. I didn't have TE's so just the sandwich was ok I guess. But what if had mindlessly eaten those chips too. I don't find it difficult at all. If I remember right, Weight Watchers recommends 15 grams of fat for the whole day. Unless I'm eating tacos, lasagna, extra butter on some giant bread, unmeasured cheese or mayo etc. Then I pay attention. But on plan, I'm eating fruit veggies, grains, lowfat, low sugar and lean proteins so the fat grams just don't add up to more than 15 and I know it without trying to figure it out. I had some spagetti a couple of nights ago and I would like to have known how much fat is in 20% lean ground beef, but I was too lazy to look it up. So I probably skated on the edge with that one. I did have some bloating/gas after so I guess it added up to just a tad too much fat. Luckily I live alone!

 I'm going to a potluck tomorrow. So instead of my usual weekend indulgent breakfast of bacon, eggs and fried potatoes I will stick to oatmeal, fruit and milk. I will choose only a few foods to dig in to and watch portions, but eat whichever few I want and enjoy that food immensly as I enjoy the company of my friends. I will skip my alli for that meal and eat something very light for dinner if I do get hungry later. I will have only potato salad or macaroni salad but not both and stay away from potato chips; I'll allow myself only one brownie or chocolate chip cookie but not both. This is my plan I put out to you folks so I have some accountability and I hope to report tomorrow that I stuck to my plan. Thanks!

Cheri ~ Nevada

cherikim:

...Anyone following Weight Watchers is not eating any meals with that much fat in them except if they are binging and not eating what they know is right...

Cheri ~ Nevada

You're kinda right about that, Cheri... but I was eating more fat than that at some meals, and still within WW guidelines. 

This is what I was doing before alli, but not because I was intentionally binging; it was because I was doing what WW allows you to do - save up points for a big meal.  Only I was developing a pattern of doing this every day - light light breakfast, light light lunch, fat-free snacks, and then a somewhat sensible dinner with my husband (who does all the cooking... I'd figure out what I could eat of what he was making, based on points, etc).  WW lets you do this, which really isn't the best way for me to go, I realize now.  I was getting lots of fat in my evening meal. 

Now with alli I am spreading it out more throughout the day which is much healthier, and because I've been eating right all day, I'm not so hungry at night and don't need to eat that much.  I think that with alli making me limit each meal, I'm learning that I don't need so much food.  As a lifelong overeater, that's been the hardest lesson for me:  I look at normal portions and think I need more than that.

I'm also cancelling my WW online after this month is out.  It will have been more than 4 months and am not using any of the tools online anymore - just keeping track of my foods on paper, which is the goal anyway, right? Learning to eat right on your own... :)  And I have a points calculator so it shouldn't be a problem.

I also like the support system alli offers.

Oh, that is so true. Weight Watchers does allow for saving points and eating more at one sitting, which alli prevents if those extra points include too much fat. Points calculation does account for fat, but it doesn't say when we've reached that limit per meal. Some people are having trouble eating in their points range (me being one of them, but I do pretty much keep it under 30 which is enough to lose weight for now) and that must be because they are choosing higher fat/lower fiber foods which cost more points. A broiled chicken breast with a serving of starch plus some veggies for example is lowfat: A 4 oz skinless chicken breast would only have 4 fat grams, a 4 oz potato 0, and most non-starch veggies range from .1 to .3 grams. Add measured portions of butter, oily marinade or such and you'd still be well under 15 grams of fat. My favorite breakfast of oatmeal, raisins and lowfat milk only that has 7 fat grams. That lowfat milk instead of skim is a bad habit acquired lately, stemming from the thinking that alli will get rid of the extra fat (fat free milk would make my breakfast contain 2.4 grams of fat) The Sugar Twin brown sugar substitute has no fat. I can add a bit of margarine and still be low on fat and the points would still be only 7. If I have 7 points per meal, that is 21 for the day. Course I don't only have that, I eat a big meal for lunch or dinner, and I do snack on cereal bars, low cal yogurt and berries, etc. But not adding extra fat, I don't have to add up the fat grams when eating what I plan and prepare for myself. I stay away from trigger foods like potato chips and candy bars because I can't use moderation.

Cheri ~ Nevada

 I currently follow WW from materials I got in the past and am not a paying member. I have done meetings, online and at-home versions. As a lifetime member and former employee who just hasn't been able to move what I know in my head about maintance into my heart and life, I get where I want to be and become so tired of paying attention to what I eat. I even learned that if I just journal one a week, it's enough to keep me on track during maintenance, but I forget and the pounds come back on. It's so much easier to just eat what tastes good without paying attention.

I wasn't raised eating 5 - 9 fruits/veggies a day. I would really prefer to eat cheeseburgers and peanut butter chocolate icecream than broiled chicken, veggies and quinoa. Give me a lasagne or fried potatoes and bacon. I want butter, sour cream and lots of thick gravy. And fast food breakfast meals. That's how I was raised and though I eat all kinds of healthy, whole grain, vegetarian/vegan type foods, 20+ years of trying hasn't changed my basic desires for fudge and fried chicken all the old fashioned way. So when I get to my weight goal, I get lax, then forget altogether. Not being in the mindset, the pounds go on and I don't do anything and then I am stuck with more to lose. I thought all was lost this time (I'm 48 and everything has changed with my body) but thank goodness I got the focus and motivation back. I am very anxious to keep it up and I very much appreciate the discussion here on the message boards. It sounds like you are doing great. I look forward to hearing more from you.

I realize I repeat myself, but it is part of the process of keeping this in my heart and soul as a lifetime of health instead of being overweight, in pain and having sleep apnea like my brother, or high blood pressure and diabetes like my mother and grandmother, back trouble like my father, getting my gall bladder removed like my sister-in-law, etc. I am the thin one even at my highest weight and now am building on the fear of pain and illness to help me , using the family as what not to be, do, have.

Cheri ~ Nevada

 I have been on WW for just a  little over a year and have lost 40 pounds but I felt  like I was plateauing and needed a little extra something to get my metabolism revved up. Being hypothyroid does not help either. I do not feel guilty at all about taking Alli which I just started several days ago and I have had no bad experiences at all. I will be anxious for my first check in on Thursday to see if the Alli helped at all.

Keep up the great work everyone -- we are in this together and together we can win!

Have a great week and keep posting so we know how much you accomplished this week.

Cathie

Hi Everyone,

I did keep to the plan I made for the potluck yesterday. And It was a fun birthday party. Also, at my weigh in this morning, it shows an additional 3 pounds lost. YAY! This is so exciting!!!

Now I have 3 alli pills left and I am trying to find more alli at a store. So far all I've seen is just the starter pack and I don't want that...

Hope to hear from everyone on their progress.

Cheri ~ Nevada

Hi everyone! So, I've been journaling diligently and haven't ever gone over 19g per meal and I've worked out every other day. I've been a textbook Alli user...BUT...this morning I got on my scale ( I know, I shouldn't have) and I was back up the 3 lbs that I lost last week. GRRRR! What the heck?  I'm going back through my journal and I think I've been eating too much sodium in my food the last day or so. There's absolutely NO WAY I could have actually gained 3 lbs since Thursday.

I'm so frustrated. Did any of you gain at the beginning of taking Alli? I'm having my hubby hide the scale and I'm not getting back on it until Thursday. I'm not wimping out though, if anything this makes me more motivated to drink more water, keep excercising and watching my sodium intake. 

Before Alli, I used all my daily WW points and usually all of my flex points during the week. Now I'm usually under my daily pts by about 2 and I only used 20 of the 35 flex pts this week. Do you think that's okay? I don't want my body to be shocked by my healthy eating and go into starvation mode because it doesn't trust me to keep eating like this. I'm still journaling WW pts AND fat grams so I can still know that I'm doing good in following both programs.