Written by tigs01 on 23/01/2011 15:17
You might think this is a bit of an odd question. After all, we each know what our daily allowance is, and what the weekly allowance is. And there is guidance available with respect to activity points, too.
While eating the full daily and weekly allowance works for me, it may not work for you. It depends on how active you are, how old you are, how close to goal you are, any number of variables.
With regard to activity points, I tend not to use any I do earn. I have no idea how many I earn flailing along after Jillian Michaels, the sadistic bee, so I never point that up. If I go for a walk, I know what my idea of a brisk walk happens to be but I don't exactly know to the nth degree how many miles an hour I do (around 4, sometimes 5, could be 6 at times as I vary the pace and intensity.) I prefer to think of them as bonus points that I can bank that may help towards losing. If I get to the stage where I am back running 5K four or five times a week, then I may consider using some of my activity points.
It all boils down to trial and error. If you've been afraid to eat the 49 weekly points so far, try it and see how you get on. Start off with eating fifteen or twenty of them. If you have a better loss, eat more the next week and see how it goes. If you have an even better loss, try them all. See what works best for you.
Remember that weight loss is rarely consistent. I've noticed quite a number of people commenting that they have one really great week where they lose three or four or more pounds, then a slightly less great week, a modest loss and then a small gain or stay the same. That's always been how I lose weight, I have to say. This is why it is better by far to assess what difference changes to your eating habits will have over several weeks rather than just one week. It's also why I refused to give an opinion of ProPoints until I'd had several weeks on plan to make up my mind. That six week plateau that I had could have happened at any time, and wasn't solely to do with the change in plan. I am still losing weight; at the moment my average weekly loss has dropped, thanks to the plateau. If I took that out of the equation, I think it would still be pretty impressive.
If your weight loss has stalled, go back to basics. Weigh and measure EVERYTHING. That splash of milk in your coffee, the butter on your sandwich, the chicken you cut off the bird at dinner time. Don't guess, don't estimate, weigh it, measure it, and then track it. Portion distortion, they used to call it. Easy to over-estimate how much you're eating if you go by eye alone. Although at this stage of the game, I can pretty much tell by eye how much pasta I've pulled out the storage jar, I still weigh it to check. (I'm usually under by about ten grammes, which ain't bad going.)
Eat widely. I mean don't restrict yourself to the same meals every day. Vary things, mix it up. I would go spare if I had the same breakfast and lunch every day, every week. I may have phases of eating the same or similar for a couple of weeks, but I do change things around every so often. I am never afraid to try something different. I used to be a very fussy eater indeed when I was very small. If it didn't come smothered in mint sauce, I wasn't interested. And I have been known to drink vinegar.
You didn't think I was entirely sensible all the time, did you?
While eating the full daily and weekly allowance works for me, it may not work for you. It depends on how active you are, how old you are, how close to goal you are, any number of variables.
With regard to activity points, I tend not to use any I do earn. I have no idea how many I earn flailing along after Jillian Michaels, the sadistic bee, so I never point that up. If I go for a walk, I know what my idea of a brisk walk happens to be but I don't exactly know to the nth degree how many miles an hour I do (around 4, sometimes 5, could be 6 at times as I vary the pace and intensity.) I prefer to think of them as bonus points that I can bank that may help towards losing. If I get to the stage where I am back running 5K four or five times a week, then I may consider using some of my activity points.
It all boils down to trial and error. If you've been afraid to eat the 49 weekly points so far, try it and see how you get on. Start off with eating fifteen or twenty of them. If you have a better loss, eat more the next week and see how it goes. If you have an even better loss, try them all. See what works best for you.
Remember that weight loss is rarely consistent. I've noticed quite a number of people commenting that they have one really great week where they lose three or four or more pounds, then a slightly less great week, a modest loss and then a small gain or stay the same. That's always been how I lose weight, I have to say. This is why it is better by far to assess what difference changes to your eating habits will have over several weeks rather than just one week. It's also why I refused to give an opinion of ProPoints until I'd had several weeks on plan to make up my mind. That six week plateau that I had could have happened at any time, and wasn't solely to do with the change in plan. I am still losing weight; at the moment my average weekly loss has dropped, thanks to the plateau. If I took that out of the equation, I think it would still be pretty impressive.
If your weight loss has stalled, go back to basics. Weigh and measure EVERYTHING. That splash of milk in your coffee, the butter on your sandwich, the chicken you cut off the bird at dinner time. Don't guess, don't estimate, weigh it, measure it, and then track it. Portion distortion, they used to call it. Easy to over-estimate how much you're eating if you go by eye alone. Although at this stage of the game, I can pretty much tell by eye how much pasta I've pulled out the storage jar, I still weigh it to check. (I'm usually under by about ten grammes, which ain't bad going.)
Eat widely. I mean don't restrict yourself to the same meals every day. Vary things, mix it up. I would go spare if I had the same breakfast and lunch every day, every week. I may have phases of eating the same or similar for a couple of weeks, but I do change things around every so often. I am never afraid to try something different. I used to be a very fussy eater indeed when I was very small. If it didn't come smothered in mint sauce, I wasn't interested. And I have been known to drink vinegar.
You didn't think I was entirely sensible all the time, did you?
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