Diet and excercise advice

C

ctripp

Member
Dear Cathe,
I was hoping that you could give me tips on a well balanced diet, that wouldn't leave me hungry. I am trying to stick with a weight watchers diet and I work out Monday-Thursday. I am not seeing the results I want. What is your diet during the week? I usually eat a banana for breakfast around 9:00 a.m. at 1:00 p.m. I eat a turkey sandwich and about a half of cup of cottage cheese for lunch, and for dinner, well, I am not a very good cook, but I usually eat chicken or pork. I work 8-5 Monday-Friday and I don't get home until around 5:30 and I immediately start my work out and I don't get done until 6:30, then I start dinner. I do your Imax 2 video on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and I do the power hour video on Wednesdays (which is really tough for me). At the end of these workouts, I do the ab hits video, which I just started doing. I skip past the ones that have the planks because it hurts my back. I drink water all of the time, but my big weakness is on the weekends when I drink beer (which I know is really bad for you). I am 5'5 weighing between 135 and 140, I am getting married next year and I would love to look great in a bikini. The areas that I'm most concerned about are my stomach and thighs. Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. By the way, you look great, I wish my body looked like yours. Keep up the great work.

Thank You
Courtney
 
I am a Weight Watcher and have had great results (down 101 pounds) by including great exercise routines such as Cathe's.

It sounds to me like you aren't eating enough! Are you eating your activity points? I personally found that if I didn't eat ALL my activity points, my weekly points allowance and my target points (when doing Flex, I'm now on Core), I had poor results. When I ate all that, I got MUCH better results. Everyone is different BUT the trend at WW.com also seems to be that people who are doing high levels of activity (such as Cathe's workouts) need to eat at LEAST their APs and target. If not, your metabolic rate can slow down because your body isn't being provided with enough fuel to function properly.

You are welcome to visit my website at http://www.freewebs.com/jtshotone to see my results and for some tips. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I will check back in either later tonight or tomorrow (Sunday) for sure.

Enjoy your workouts! :eek:)
 
Courtney, forgive me but why are you sabotaging your efforts and hard work every weekend? WW and any other "diet" or "way of eating" is not a Monday through Thursday deal. It's a lifestyle change and a committment. You either do it or you don't. I also agree it sounds like you aren't eating enough during the week. You can't "make up" for that by ignoring your plan on weekends. That won't work. Your body gets messed up insulin levels and you sabotage all your efforts. Also, I would definitely add more strength training. Without lean muscle you won't burn fat efficiently. Doing the same workout three days a week may be hurting you too. Your body gets used to it and stops giving you consistent results. Try changing things up a bit. Try working out one more day per week, and make it a strength training day. If you enjoy your beer on the weekend, count the points then too. It's not necessarily "bad" for you unless you drink so much you lose count of the points, or go nuts on weekends and don't follow the plan at all. I don't know if this is what you do, but just from the overall tone of your post it appears you give this 100% from Monday to Thursday, then throw it out the window on weekends. Won't work. Trust me on this one. The WW message boards are riddled with people who moan and complain that it's "not working" for them, only to finally "confess" they only follow the plan three days a week, or five, or whatever. It doesn't work that way. That's why they have flex points built in, or no counting like the new plan. If you can honestly stick to it - I mean all week long - for a few months and you still are not getting results, then it's time to try something else. But it sounds to me like you haven't even given this a fair shot yet. By the way, this is only my humble opinion, but you sound like you're at a "healthy" weight to me!! If all you want to do is tone things up, you need to strength train more than one day a week.

Hope this doesn't offend. I'm only trying to help because I've been there.

Carol
:)
 
Amy I have seen your peronal page and you are fabulous.I want to congratulate you for your weight loss.108.0 pounds Woooo you have done a big and great work.
 
Hi, Courtney,
You've been given some great advice and as a fellow Weight Watcher (flex plan), I have to agree with Carol and Amy (great page BTW...wtg, girl:)). At our 6 week weigh-in, I'd lost just over 16 pounds.
As to the workouts, you're packing some intense stuff into only a few days...try spreading this all out. Do the cardio only every other day. Same with strength training. You'll burn out too quickly with the schedule you're on now and that will be rough for you. And don't be afraid to do something (cardio) that's a little less intense.
Your diet is pretty light. I actually eat two breakfasts...one at about 5 a.m. while preparing to leave for work (we start at 6 a.m.), the second at my 9 a.m. break. A simple lunch at noon and something light when we knock off at 2:30 p.m. and a light supper. Those extra flex plan allowance points...they get devoured through the week. Hey, I love to eat big time...I just have to eat less:) As to the weekend beer and eating, Carol is so right. The weekend is a tough time for all of us...but that's when you have to make those tough decisions...and if I can, I know you can, too:)
BTW, another problem may well be that you're so close to a good weight, you may be one of those struggling with those d#@n last few pounds.
Good luck, Courtney, and keep us posted!!!
 
I really appreciate your advice and I am not offended at all. I have been realizing that I hurt myself on the weekends and then spend all week trying to burn everything off. On Fridays I am usually away from home all day and all night long so it is hard for me to work out, but on Saturdays and Sundays, I have no excuse. Than you very much for your help. I will be working on making changes.

Thank You
Courtney
 
Thank you for responding. I haven't been to weight watchers for about two years, but I still have the fast food and supermarket books from there and also the points finder. I am still going off of my weight being under 150lbs. so I would only have 18-23 points a day, and to be honest, that is not much to work with. I just do the weight watchers diet at home, I don't go to the meetings or anything. I have heard the diet has changed, but I don't know what all has changed. What are activity points? What do you eat in a day? I would really appreciate you sharing what you in a day so maybe I can get some different ideas. If you could get back to me I would greatly appreciate it. I am getting burned out on the "healthy things I eat".


Thank You
Courtney
 
Courtney,

I would actually recommend that you go into a meeting and go for a few weeks to get updated on the program changes. Perhaps you would find one of the two newer options more able to fit your life. If not, then you can at least get some guidance on how to best use Winning Points. I believe registration is still free at this time, you can find out for sure by calling your local center, dropping in to ask or going to www.weightwatchers.com . You would just pay the weekly meeting fee.

Unfortunately trying to explain the programs via email is way too time consuming and really not fair to Weight Watchers. (They are a business and understandably prefer to not have the info given away.)

But, I can tell you the basics of activity points. For every 100 calories burned in activity, you earn 1 activity point. That means you can exchange that point for food in the same day you earn it. (No carrying over). Weight Watchers recommends an average of 28 activity points each week. You don't HAVE to exchange those for food, but those of us who are active find that our bodies need that fuel to keep our metabolism revved and keep feeling our best.

So basically, when you are active you get extra food. :eek:) This was true on Winning Points (which is the program I think you are following) as well as the two newer programs, Flex and Core.

Regarding what I eat in a day ... I am on the Core program which is really geared toward eating healthy foods. Lean meats, fat free dairy, whole grains, whole wheat pasta, fruits and veggies. Very little processed stuff on the Core list (there are some extra points available to use for non-Core foods).

I change up my eating all the time (important that you don't get in a rut!) but yesterday I had a canadian bacon, fat free cheddar and veggie omlet with salsa, a bag of 94% Fat Free Popcorn, Tuna Bake (a Core receipe), a Clif Bar (used my extra points for that), a snack of sugar snap peas, and some sugar-free fat free Jello pudding with Fat Free Cool Whip for a snack (the Cool Whip cost me one of my points). Note: I am pretty active AND maintaining, not trying to lose, so I get my activity points and maintainence points to play with every day.

I hope that helps! Note that I get in my protein early (the omlette) and incorporate it throughout the day (Clif Bars have 11 grams of protein each, the Tuna Bake, and even the pudding has protein from the milk.) It is important to get that protein in to help your body function properly (along with good carbs).

I hope you consider going to a meeting, I beleive you will find it helpful to have the information on the new programs so you can choose what is best for you. Who knows, you might even choose to stay for the support! :D
 
Thank you for responding with great information. I like this website because people like you encourage me to try harder to be fit. I thank you for that. I will look into the meetings, I think it will help me to stay on track. I hope you keep maintaining your weight, sounds like you are doing a great job. That is great that you are active all day. I don't have a choice to be active daily because I have a desk job so I do a lot of sitting Monday-Friday. When I get home, I am active by working out and doing things around the house. Thank you for your support and keep up the great work.

Thank You
Courtney:)
 
I just had to respond to your website. I am in awe! I am a WW member for about 2 weeks now and I have lost about 6lbs. I run and do Cathe 5-6x's per week. I have to lose about 50lbs or so. I too and 5'9 and I am about 205. I am so disgusted in myself. I am really happy to have joined WW. I just wanted to say how wonderful you look and how hard it is for us. You are my role model!!! Good luck in everything Tracy
 
You are more than welcome, Courtney! :7

We are actually in the same boat activity-wise. When I said I am active, I meant I get a pretty good amount of activity in, not that I am active all day. I am a full-time student and run my art business, neither of which are designed for physical fitness to be included! ;o) I, like you, have to make a concerted effort to ensure that I get my activity in. But, I do get it in. It's a GREAT stress release, yes? :D

Let me know if you end up going to a meeting, how you feel about it, etc. ... I'd love to know if it makes a difference for you (I believe it will ...). GREAT JOB on asking for support advice ... that is the fastest path to getting what you are committed to.

I look forward to hearing how things went!

Best regards,
Amy :)
 
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