TurnAround look at me. I've lost weight on Weight Watchers Flex /Core Plans
Written: Feb 06 '06 (Updated Oct 10 '06)
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Pros: A couple more points on the Flex Plan; no point counting on the Core Plan.
Cons: The Core Plan requires discipline; tendency to eat junk with the Flex Plan.
The Bottom Line: Weight Watchers is the way to go. The Flex and Core Plans have added some spice to the program.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Weight Watchers TurnAround Program (Core / Flex Pl... |
I am a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. For me eating anything I want works. When we came back from our vacation two summers ago I had gained weight. So back I went to a meeting and much to my surprise the point system had changed. Weight Watchers now uses the term TurnAround Program which incorporates two plans. These are the Flex and Core Plans.
I am going to reiterate some of my original review of the Weight Watcher community meetings in case you don’t head over to that review.
Why I tried Weight Watchers (WW) to begin with?
After years of sitting at this computer, with a shoulder injury, and hitting the high 40s (as in age) I found an extra 25 pounds on me. With the help of a trainer and a 1500 calorie a day diet I dropped the weight. It crept back on and as I got older (As you will find out.) the weight became harder to get off. I have been on Atkins – a couple of times – never to get beyond one month; Slim-Fast, a disaster since I was eating the whole box of chocolate bars; and, the Bill Phillips’ plan in which I ate healthfully 6 days a week with one “free day.” Bill's programs works but I found that free day turning into two and three free days so I turned to Weight Watchers.
How healthy is Weight Watchers?
I am not a nutritionist but when I commented to someone that I was eating sweets every day on Weight Watchers she commented that at least it wasn's a box of bars. She is right. Healthy is a relative term, I have discovered. Phillips' plan is healthy. The way I used to eat even before Phillips was with no free day and 7 days a week of “clean” food – no salt, sugar, nothing white...that was healthy. It also, for me, is unrealistic.
Unlike Atkins, nothing is off limits with WW. That means that I am eating a lot of vegetables and fruits. On Atkins, I ate few fruits or vegetables. Since nothing is off limits, though, nothing prevents me from sitting down to 15 potato chips, 3 cookies, an ice cream bar and if that adds up to my points for the day, then that is what I eat. This is not recommended!
The diet is what we make of it, in other words. The diet itself is not set in stone, as are some others. You have a lot of free will to pick and choose “healthy.”
What is the difference between the original plan and the Flex Plan?
Weight Watchers has traditionally worked with a point system. You first look at how much fiber is in a product, let’s say bacon. I don’t eat bacon. I am using bacon because it is so popular on Atkins. I have a Weight Watchers’ point finder on my desktop but we are given cardboard point finders also. Bacon has no fiber so I put in 0. I then look at how many calories one serving has. An average serving has 90 calories. I then plug in the fat content, which ranges from 2- 12 grams of fat so I’ll use 6 and I come up with 2 points. One serving of bacon will cost me 2 points. Since my point range on Weight Watchers was 18-23 per day, I could eat 20 slices of bacon. On Atkins I could eat 20 slices of bacon and not even count it! I don’t think an unlimited amount of bacon is a healthy choice so looking at these two ways of eating Weight Watchers makes more sense to me.
Portion control is key. The size of my portion will depend on how many points I want to spend. If I were to eat out and get Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, a salad and a piece of bread I would ask for half to be boxed up for me to take home. If I had eaten all that it would have cost me 16 points.
The original system had what the called a banking system. I could eat 23 points a day. This is based on how much you weigh. I could also collect activity points after 3 weeks. If I ate 18 points each day I could bank 35 points if I were going out to dinner or it was Super Bowl Sunday and use those extra points.
I loved this plan. Each day I would count up my points. If I only had eaten 20 points I would carry over 3 for the next day and eat 26 points the next day (or more depending on my activity level) or save them for the end of the week.
To me a calorie is a calorie. I believe strongly that all these diets boil down to those few words. If I eat more calories than I expend I will gain weight. The point program has been scientifically shown to be one of the best programs around. Twenty three was not an arbitrary number I am sure. I don’t work for the company but I would bet that many scientists and nutritionists have spent countless hours figuring out how many calories 23 points translate into and have made sure they don’t translate into 2500! This would be easy to test out but I never had. I could count my calories for the day along with the points and see how close my calories are to what I consider a weight loss number. Go ahead and try that and let me know.
So here I was at my first meeting in months and I learn that I am now working on a TurnAround program. The Flex Plan is really no different in any essential way to the original plan. It is still based on counting points, being able to eat whatever I want as long as I count the point but they added a tracking system that I found and still find confusing.
The major difference between the original plan and the Flex Plan is that I no longer have a range of points. Rather I stay within my point budget each day and get a weekly points allowance. To me this is the same just said differently. Now rather than having a range of 18 to 23 and being able to bank my points, based on my weight my daily point allowance is 20 points.
Ok here come the semantics. Rather than being able to bank five points a day if I only eat 18 points leaving me with 35 either at the end of the week or little by little each day, I now get a point allowance of 35 points to do with however I want. Seriously this is no different than the original plan only a bit more confusing because of the tracker which I will get into in a moment. I can use my allowance each day or to treat my self to a couple of weekly indulgences. I can use none of them or all of them. Basically I can divide the 35 into 7 and get 5. What the Flex Plan has done is given people a couple of extra points a day. If I now can eat a maximum of 20 points plus 5 that’s 25 which is two more than my top end of the original program.
The tracking system doesn’t have to be used. I used it one or two days and then thought it to be a pain. You’ll get a piece of paper at the meetings. On it you will check off how many points you’ve eaten; you’ll keep track of what they are and how many points they are by writing them down and you’ll keep track of your activity points. It might be helpful for those who really have a hard time writing down food and points on a piece of paper. For me I prefer the latter.
What are the difference between the Flex Plan and the Core Plan?
The Core Plan is a horse of a different color. It takes the points out of Weight Watchers which was a bit disconcerting to me. The Core Plan controls calories (There’s that word again.) by focusing our eating on a core list of nutritious and healthy foods without doing any tracking. The list comes from all the food groups. For an occasional treat foods outside the list can be eaten. You can eat as much of the Core Foods as needed to feel satisfied. If I choose to eat something that isn’t on the core list I then use my weekly points allowance. I am still given 35 which allow these two plans to be interchangeable from day to day or week to week.
A summarized list of the core foods is as follows:
Vegetables and fruits; non-creamy soups, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, potatoes and grains; high fiber and other cereals without added sugar; lean meats, poultry, fish and eggs; fat free milk products; healthy oils, condiments and coffee, tea and sugar free beverages. There is a detailed list within each group that I will be glad to provide if you want it.
I said above that we eat until satisfied. Knowing that key point is essential. We are given a scale of 0 to 5. Before and after each meal I would assess my hunger level. The goal is to be in the comfort zone. Very hungry would be 0; hungry to full/not at all hungry are 1 – 4 and are the comfort zone and 5 is very full/stuffed. With activity you can add points to the 35 given each week.
How noticeable were your results? How much weight did you lose and how quickly?
I have found the WW program to be excellent. I lose weight quickly and am able to keep it off as long as I count my points. Once I stop counting because I’m on a cruise or vacation and tell myself it is too hard to count or I’ll start back when I get home I gain weight. Stick to the points and you will lose the weight. I have lost eight pounds in three weeks since I’ve been back from our cruise. Two pounds a week is a healthy number to lose and one that will help keep weight off rather than a drastic weight loss of eight pounds in a week (Though some people do lose that much the first week.) so I figure I’m on track.
For whom would you recommend this diet?
I recommend the TurnAround Programs to anyone who wants to lose weight the Weight Watchers way. I actually was not happy with the two additional points a day and after using the Flex Plan for awhile, though I was losing weight, I mentally like having a range and carrying over the points rather than being given 35 points a week. Truly they are one and the same.
Weight Watchers is very careful not to let anyone go below what they consider a healthy weight. If I told them my goal was 100 pounds they would not allow me to have that as my goal. In fact if my weight went down significantly below my goal weight unless I had a good reason (I did have food poisoning and lost a lot of weight.) I would be asked for a doctor’s note saying it was alright for me to weight less than they though healthy. They do not support eating disorders and getting as skinny as possible is not their goal.
I recommend the Flex Plan because there are no forbidden foods. It is that simple. I can eat anything I want as long as I am in my point range. Drinking water is a must and it should be a must for anyone. Any type of weight loss program will advocate that and WW is no different. I recommend the Core Plan because there is a tendency to perhaps eat a bit healthier. Also for those who don't want to be bothered counting if you stick to the core foods you don't have to count anything.
Additional information :
The cost of the meetings vary by location. I pay $11.00 a meeting. Once I am back to my target weight since I am a lifetime member the meetings are free. I’ve been to meetings in Florida and Hawaii and found the fees $1.00 or $2.00 more or less. There is an approximate $20 registration fee on top of the weekly fee. If you have insurance it may be less. My insurance paid some of my fee so it cost me $129 for 12 weeks initially and that included the registration fee. If you miss a meeting you have to pay $5.00. I know to some paying to lose weight doesn’t make sense, but for others, that is what works and what gets you to meetings. I found that the incentive of having to pay for a missed meeting in the beginning really helped. I also find even years later that the people at the meetings both those who work for WW and those who attend are friendly and supportive. There is no judging at all no matter what the scale says or what you might say in the group.
On line you can access tools at www.weightwatchers.com including an at home program both of which will cost you money. However you can join boards and get recipes for free.
My thoughts:
For me I am most successful using the Flex Plan. I can easily count the points and not be confined to a core group of foods. Although I don’t like the tracking system and gave up on it after a few weeks, I do like the Flex Plan. I consider the Flex Plan really the same plan as the original WW way of eating just set up a little differently. One of the major negatives about the Flex Plan is that since I can eat anything I want I am very apt to eat a frozen meal (high in sodium) and a WW’s ice cream for dinner. I have lost weight using both the original plan and the Flex Plan but since I have 2 points less a day on the original plan I have tended to lose more weight on the original plan.
The Core Plan scared me. If anyone has any kind of eating disorder, tends to binge, eats for emotional reasons or can’t control portions (That covers just about everyone!) then this isn’t for you. The upside is that the Core Foods are healthy. A two egg cheese omelet is 6 points with 2 slices fat free cheese on the Flex Plan but on the Core Plan there is no limit there is no counting. The only constrain is that pasta, brown rice and potatoes can only be eaten once a day. It sounds great. It is great. I tried it off an on for weeks but wasn’t losing as much weight as I wanted. I am sure I was eating too many calories but short of counting calories (Which defeated the purpose of the Core Plan.) I wasn’t successful at it. I would certainly recommend giving the Core Plan a try especially since you are given the 35 points a week. That actually was worse for me because not only was I eating too much I was then eating WW ice cream which is low in points.
Weight Watchers is a great program. I think the TurnAround Program was a good idea if only to freshen up the program. I know from meetings that people lost a lot of weight on either program so I won’t recommend one over the other. I just shared my experiences. I hope this has helped but feel free to leave me a question or comment.
I have been asked for a list of Core foods. Here they are:
* Vegetables and fruits
* Soups (non-creamy)
* Whole Wheat Pasta, Brown Rice, Potatoes and Grains
* High Fiber and other cereals without added sugar
* Lean Meats, poultry, fish and eggs
* Fat-Free Milk Products
* Healthy Oils
* Condiments
* Coffee, Tea and sugar-free beverages
Thanks for reading. jo
You may also want to read:
What you should know about the WW brand
The Zone
Body for Life by Bill Phillips- the book
The Atkins Diet
Weight Watchers
Get With The Program (Bob Greene - Oprah's mentor)
Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution- the book
Body for Life- the diet
Recommended:
Yes
Approximate Monthly Cost (US$) 11.00
Food Variety Restrictions You eat any food you want
Restrictiveness of Portions Satisfying
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