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-   -   Why don't people like this answer? (https://www.fitday.com/fitness/forums/support-group-just-women/6855-why-dont-people-like-answer.html)

Kumochi 03-05-2012 09:04 AM

Well said Kathy. I think using any tools at our disposal is good. Sometimes a change or a gadget will remotivate me.

People do feel they have a right to comment on weight loss -- and hair cuts. How you want to respond is up to you. I'm off to a meeting at a restraunt Because I will be rushed for curling afterwards I won't be eating or drinking other than coffee. I'm sure that will lead to comments. Mary

ToriD1012 03-05-2012 10:05 AM

Kathy,

Very well put. I wasn't saying that WW was only about calories. I was just pointing out that their "points" are based on calories. I have no problems with WW (other than the price). My SIL lost 90 lbs using WW after the birth of their last child. But, like a lot of people, she stopped doing what was working (keeping track of her points and going to meetings) and subsequently gained it all back plus more. She liked the fact that the guess work of what was in a certain dish was done for her. I on the other hand prefer to calculate it myself, and see where I can make substitutions to lower the caloric intake for something. But I'm a big math nerd, and LOVE doing those kinds of things. I feel that as long as something works for you, don't change it. FD is working for me, so I'll stick with it.



On a side note, one of my coworkers was talking about needing to lose weight (like she does weekly, but God bless it, I love her) and she made the comment "Tori, I just don't see how you do it! I gotta be able to EAT!" When I explained, for the 1000th time that I DO eat. She said "well, I gotta be able to eat GOOD food." I had to remind her, that I still eat "good food", just prepared in healthier ways. She gave me this funny look, and said "well, the way you do it is just too hard for someone stupid like me." I just smiled and said "you know what, maybe it is a little bit complicated for some people, but it's working out just fine for me." And I ended the conversation. There are some people who just DON'T WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH. There's no use arguing with them.

Rubystars 03-06-2012 12:05 AM

I was afraid to try to diet for a long time because when I would get hungry I would start shaking from low blood sugar, and my stomach would feel like it would fill with acid and cause a sour stomach and acid reflux.

The only way to prevent this was to eat enough before I went to work on food that was fatty enough/protein packed enough to stick in my stomach until I could eat again.

Sometimes stuffing myself before I went to work still wasn't enough and I'd end up trembling from low blood sugar or having acid come up into my mouth or just a very bad stomach ache on top of a growling stomach a few hours later when my stomach was empty if I had to wait too long before I could eat.

I did best if I ate every couple of hours and if the meal was heavy enough to stick that long.

That's one reason that I gained so much weight, I had to constantly have something on my stomach or I would start shaking and feel sick.

I was really afraid to try to diet because of how painful and unpleasant being hungry was, more than it was for other people. I thought I was stuck being heavy and I didn't know what to do about it.

My doctor's office told me a weight that was 30 pounds higher than what I'd estimated and I felt caught between being afraid of passing out from the low blood sugar and being afraid that one day or night my heart was just going to explode. I had an image in my head of myself that was about possibly having a stroke with half my body paralyzed and half my face frozen and it really scared me badly, and that movitated me to try to prevent that if I could. I was also afraid of a sudden, fatal heart attack.

I was under tremendous stress being caught between a rock and a hard place like that. I was so afraid of being hungry because I knew how it made me feel.

I was able to start losing weight by eating very large portions of low calorie foods with lots of fiber in them which helped them to "stick" around in my stomach long enough to where I didn't have a hypoglycemic shaking fit. After I lost more weight I didn't have the same health issues. I'm able to actually feel mild natural hunger now without worrying about passing out from low blood sugar or getting a shaking fit or having an extremely sour stomach.

I think that was my biggest hurdle that I had to get over, that was keeping me from getting where I am now. So maybe other people have issues like that too (that are probably both made worse by their excess weight, and perpetuate or worsen the problem) but they don't want to talk about them.

happy4286 03-06-2012 08:55 AM

People don't understand about calories I guess, it strange to anyone who has a brain why they would respond in that manner. :confused:I don't see what hard about counting your calories, if anything this is a simple way to lose weight and you can control how fast you lose weight as well. I guess lipo suction is easier but then you have the risk of dying. So the cons out weight the pros in my mind on this matter. Sorry that they were so negative about what you are doing, it's great that your losing weight, keep it up

VitoVino 03-06-2012 09:13 AM

There's another thing about WW worth mentioning. And don't get me wrong, I think WW is a great tool for folks who don't want to be bothered with details. It IS easier to track calories than the way we do it IMO, but I prefer this way because I actually learn about nutrition.

Now the other thing about WW is that you don't get the micronutrients calculated for you. So if you've got a deficiency in magnesium, which is an easy thing to be deficient in, you'll never know about it. And just taking a multivitamin won't do the trick as they don't supply the RDA of Mg. So how important is this? Well, without a good amount of Mg in the diet one will always feel tired at the least, and at the worst, a deficiency has been linked to strokes and heart attacks. So there's yet another reason how a packaged "diet plan" can be lacking.

callaquill 03-06-2012 09:21 AM

Somebody recently told me that WW has taken calories out of the equation altogether and points are based on protein and other nutrients. I can't believe it - they'd have to change their name to Weight Gain Watchers.

I almost joined a couple of years ago, but just got annoyed at all their advertising. I figured they didn't have a patent on weight loss and I did not want to pay for their Jennifer Hudson ads and so forth.

Kathy13118 03-07-2012 02:56 AM

WW has never lost its calorie basis. When you eat x number of points, it always ends up being y number of calories, more or less. The 'more or less' part stays within limits that still allow you to lose weight. They don't perform any kind of magic on calories and they are the first to tell you that. What's the focus is behavior. That's what meetings are about. There's a certain amount of 'how can I do this' discussion. There's a lot of motivational talk about being able to do something toward a goal without self-sabotage.

If you eat enough protein and fiber, you won't be hungry, and the low-caloric-density foods give you lots of variety of taste. That's how points tend to get 'weighted' but you can never eat a lot of either protein or fiber and have calories disappear from the equation. I found a very high fiber cracker (GG crackers, at Whole Foods) that is pretty much rye pressed into a sheet form... when I looked up the points, it was 0 points. No surprise there. It was relatively low in calories but seemed to be almost all fiber! How likely am I to overeat that to the point that it takes me beyond my calorie limit? Not likely - my body would be in some kind of appetite-revolt before I could do that.

What's in the protein? Fat (as in marbled meats) That's not going to be a bargain for points. If it's a lean meat (or fish, or cheese), that allows you more points to spend elsewhere in your daily menus. Point-wise, it is going to look better. But, no surprise - that lean meat is fewer calories 'for your buck' so to speak. It does come down to math, ultimately. Fat is not taboo - but it counts in nature and in points - it's more than twice the calories as the same amount of protein or carbs. Eat it if you want, count it, and see if you can live with just that dominating your calorie allowance. That's the accountability part of dieting, with emphasis on acCOUNTability.

This is all stuff you learn using fitday, anyway. WW just offers support for that.

I don't know for sure, but it may be that WW also encourages a basic one-a-day type supplement these days. Not more than 100% of the RDA for various vitamins and minerals - I vaguely remember that being mentioned in a meeting. (There's an online WW that I can go to for the answer,though - WW is online for people who want to do the plan but can't go to meetings... although I would miss the 'weigh in' if I did that.)
They don't go beyond recommending what is currently recommended for daily RDA (vitamin D recommendations are changing, and that has been discussed in meeting, because the change to the recommendation is happening in the medical world). Not only does it take emphasis away from the goal of the meeting (support) to devote time to looking at current vitamin/mineral research, but it's something they would say is probably a good discussion to have with a doctor, not them.

My doctor already tests for vitamin D. We already had that discussion!

I've been at a meeting where a member wanted to just do one older variation of the WW plan and the answer was 'fine.' Sticking to the plan, which is always counting, counting, counting.... is what makes it work. Hence the support group. If you don't stick to it, it won't work. That's true of any diet that manages calories, right?

The money doesn't bother me. If I couldn't do their meetings, I'd go to any of the WW-like programs (TOPS, OA, etc.) One thing I've come to appreciate is their WW cookbooks, which make it a lot easier to cook something good and know the points/calories. I have never paid the full price for a WW cookbook - Amazon offers books at discount prices. The very old WW cookbooks can be found at library book sales.

diabeticmonster 03-07-2012 08:49 AM


Originally Posted by Rubystars (Post 74929)
All I could reply to her was that I didn't know any other way of losing weight except to control the calories because you have to burn more than you take in. She frowned and obviously didn't like that answer.

It's as if people WANT a complicated diet plan or "easy weight loss secret". Maybe from now on I should tell them to eat 3 avocados at every meal or something off the wall like that. I think I'd get more positive responses.

:D:D:D

Yes that's exactly what happened to me!! They want to hear about a plan or that I had surgery (I think some probably think I did). They don't want to hear that I go to the gym and watch what I eat.

People also think I must be starving and depriving myself. Nope to both! Every three to four hours I put food in my mouth and I don't eat anything I don't like!

fit4luv 03-07-2012 09:10 AM

Here's my take . . .
 

Originally Posted by canary52 (Post 74962)
I was gonna say maybe you should make up some complicated crazy diet/exercise plan and tell them you did that. It seems like they might just be looking for reasons why they "can't do that" anyway.

I won't lie. I do find logging tedious or constricting sometimes. But it does work.

I agree with Hope. But really, am I lazy for not liking to deal with numbers? I'm so not a number person. I get so tired of tracking everything. To be blunt: I despise the tedious aspect of counting calories. (The first reason I joined FitDay.) I like Tori's idea of approaching logging in as a game. That idea helps. If I had to track calories by writing everything down - I would probably last only a day or two.

How it works for me at this at this point in my life:
#1. As I log in, I watch numbers/percentages play out. I learn for instance, about how many Calories for one meal to aim for. So I learn what combination of portions/servings of food works.

#2. I learn about food composition. Fats is a big thing for me to watch. So I continue to learn what foods are healthier and how to end up with a better looking pie chart.

#3. I approach eating with servings of food groups (Think the Food Pyramid). I DO NOT like to count calories. That's why I like FitDay, because it counts it for me. So as I work toward cleaner consumption by thinking thru Food Servings in the various Food Groups, the FitDay charts guide me. Does that make sense?

Other than Laziness?:When people respond that they can't do it, I wonder if they feel overwhelmed by tedious numbers. It may be laziness, but I think that often there is more to it than that. IF they can see how logging with FitDay can be adapted to their talents/abilities and to their own thought processing, then they need not feel so overwhelmed.

My Opinion: People first need to admit where they are, they need encouragement & hope, and they need reinforcements. They need to be shown how it is feasible for them with their uniqueness. (I guess you could just stick my name in this paragraph, because that's how it is for me.)
.

So please don't blame "not wanting to count calories syndrome" as laziness only. When people ask, "How did/do you do it?", what do you think the real question is? Is it that they need to see hope? And the response: "I can't do that." Again, they need to see that it is possible for them to become healthier, but they need to start where they are and not where you/we are.

In the end, each person needs to take responsibility for themselves and live with consequences of decisions (good or bad).

canary52 03-07-2012 09:56 AM


Originally Posted by Rubystars (Post 75154)
I was afraid to try to diet for a long time because when I would get hungry I would start shaking from low blood sugar, and my stomach would feel like it would fill with acid and cause a sour stomach and acid reflux.

The only way to prevent this was to eat enough before I went to work on food that was fatty enough/protein packed enough to stick in my stomach until I could eat again.

I was able to start losing weight by eating very large portions of low calorie foods with lots of fiber in them which helped them to "stick" around in my stomach long enough to where I didn't have a hypoglycemic shaking fit. After I lost more weight I didn't have the same health issues. I'm able to actually feel mild natural hunger now without worrying about passing out from low blood sugar or getting a shaking fit or having an extremely sour stomach.

I think that was my biggest hurdle that I had to get over, that was keeping me from getting where I am now. So maybe other people have issues like that too (that are probably both made worse by their excess weight, and perpetuate or worsen the problem) but they don't want to talk about them.

I have hypoglycemia. I feel severe pain in my stomach when I don't eat. If I wait too long to eat, I wind up eating three times as much to "catch up" it seems. I would be curious to hear the kind of foods you eat that you find helpful.


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