I have not been using my 35 weekly flex points (not intentionally anyhow-LOL) and was wondering if this is going to be a problem eventually when I get to a plateau or the weight starts to come off more slowly.
I have read things about the WENDIE plan and was thinking that I should incorporate some of the flex points into my week - but am worried to do so now, since I didnt eat that way from the beginning - and am thinking I might not only not lose, but actually gain.
What do you do with the 35 extra?

I use mine but not all 35. I might use 10 throughout the week, if I want that extra WW ice cream, or maybe an extra no pudge brownie...

They're also good if your going out to dinner or to some special party, birthday, wedding etc.

They're there for us to use... so why not use them???
Our leaders do encourage us...
From my own experience if I just use my 22 daily points sure I lose weight, but when I use a few of the 35 for some reason I have a better weight loss.

ON the days I exercise I also earn 3 AP those I use.

I usually save the majority of mine for the weekend and will use almost if not all of them. My ww leader gets really upset with us for not using all of our 35 she will even suggest that we use our activity points, but I will rarely use them. I have to be really hungry before I will. If someone does hit a plateau and don't use all 35 she will encourage them to increase their points instead of cutting back, because she says that eating more will cause you to lose more. Our leader is regional person in the state of WV and she a been a member since in the 70's. I guess she should know what she is talking about. Hope this helps!

I have started using mine since I am finished with my points by 5 pm and stay up too late. I can't go to bed as Tobe suggested because it is too early. I need to find low point things to eat because by dinner time I only have about 7 pts left. I have really liked reading when everyone puts what they have eaten for the day as it is giving me ideas.

I almost always use all of mine. I will give you this bit of advice, if you platuea then use them. I have a friend that is doing the program too and she was just using her daily target and that was it for her points. So everyday her body had the same number of points. It worked for a while in that she did lose weight, but then for 2 weeks absolutely no weight loss. She stayed exactly the same. I told her to use her flex points and to use a different amount of them everyday so that she would be fluctuating her points from day to day. She did not want to do this because she felt she would gain weight. She ended up doing what I suggested and she lost over 2 lbs that week! So she uses her flexies now!
It's funny because this is the "Wendie" plan, but I have been doing this long before I ever even heard of the "Wendie" plan. If you haven't read on her plan you really should check it out. It is very true that if you take in the same amount of points everyday eventually your body will stop letting go of the extra weight, kind of like if you were doing a starvation diet. Your body gets used to having the same amount of food everyday and then eventually shuts the weight loss down.
I personally find that I lose the most weight when I use my flex points to fluctuate the amount of points from day to day.
hope this helps!
Tammy

I am afraid to eat more since I think this will be turn into a weight gain, just like your friend - but I have read alot about changing the points around to get your metabolism going and I think I need to give this a try. Maybe I will start today as we are going out to dinner for my son's birthday and even if I stick to fish and veggies I know it will equate into more points then if I fixed it myself.

Thanks for all the input girls, I will let you know how I make out.

Even just watching calories, I have larger drops after I've had a high calorie day. It just confuses my metabolism a bit.

Besides, they wouldn't allow you to have those points if they didn't want you to use them, would they?

Marilyn - You should know that on the Wendie Plan, you WILL show a gain after a really high point day. But that is all part of the plan. That gain comes off and then more loss occurs. I was eating the same points everyday and lost about 40 lbs and then plateaued. I switched to Wendie Plan and lost 2 lbs the very first week and then 1.2 the next and then plateaued again. The Wendie Plan uses 27 of your flex points. On Wendie, there is one day that you eat Super High points. My daily point count is 21, but my super high day is 36 pts. I typically gain about 1 lb and it takes 1-2 days to lose it. But I still end the week with greater losses then when I was doing 21 pts each day. Just plan your Super High day as far away from your weigh-in as possible. For instance, my weigh-ins are Monday night. So my Super High Day is Tuesday. That way, the little gain I experience is always gone by the next week's weigh-in. So I still get to lose, and I'm eating way more food. Can't beat that. I'm a huge fan of the Wendie Plan. Google on "Wendie Plan" to find out more details on it.

Oh, I meant to tell you in the above post of mine, that I did slightly plateau again after a couple weeks on the Wendie Plan. So I bumped my flex points up from 27 to about 30-31. Basically I increased my Super High Point day from 36 pts to 40 pts. And it got the weight loss moving again. I'm thinking I might go ahead and just add the other points until I'm using all 35. But I don't spread them evenly over the days. I eat about 3-4 days at 21-22 pts and pile the Flex points on to the other remaining days, alternating between high point days and low point days. Seems to do the trick.

Martha- just reading your post now - but thanks for all the great info...my weigh in day is Wednesday, so I will probably wait for after this WI to start (Maybe on Thursday or Friday) with a high point day so that I have enough time before weigh in again if I do gain from the high day. I have not hit a plateau yet, but I can feel it coming LOL as I have been on program for about 11 weeks and lost 22 pounds, but it has really slowed down - most of my loss was in the beginning.
It is really nice to think that I can eat more and lose the same or MORE - hope it works.
Thanks for your help and I'll let you know how I make out.