Hi everyone. I just found this site this morning. I just joined WW last Tuesday. Not sure if I've lost anything or not. Trying to do the points system. Anyone doing core? Just wondering the pros and cons for each. Thanks for sharing so much wonderful information on here!

Sue

Hi Sue and Welcome...

I just came in off the beach, what a superb day, full strong sun and just a little wind...

I can only share with you whats worked for me this time around,
I started with Flex, stuck to that for a few months with weekly losses but little ones, .2 more .2's then got stuck weekly with .8's
So I thought I would switch to core and shock the ol body, i loved core, but again the ounces dribbled off of me,
so back to flex I went, and then the 2.2's started to happen, so thats where I am today, on flex..

the last 2.2 I lost then took me 1 lb below goal...

some meetings they say.. stay on core or flex for a week or two, one or the other but not both.

I've done 6 days on Flex and 1 day on core, and it worked for me, giving me a loss...

Good luck Sue and keep hopping in here, good supportive group of many friendly and kind people..

Hi Sue!

Welcome to the group. You'll find nothing but excellent information and great support here!

I personally do flex because I think I would have a hard time limiting myself to core only foods plus I worry that I won't know when to say when I've had enough to eat. So flex works for me. I count the points and when they're gone they're gone!

Tammy

Welcome Sue!
I follow the Flex program. I tried Core over a year ago and I liked it, but I got bored with it pretty quickly. I also noticed the longer I was on it, the less I was really paying attention to if I was really full or not and I started justifying larger portions. I'm a person who needs to weigh and measure everything I eat. I think if you're a person who doesn't want to journal points down and you enjoy eating the whole grains and such, give Core a try and see if you like it. If you don't like it, you can always switch over to Flex after a week or two and go from there. :) If you have any questions, everyone here is very friendly and helpful. Feel free to post anytime about anything you'd like.

Dear Sue,
Welcome to Aimee's site!
I do flex. I have tried core. I love what is called 'eating clean' meaning core-like plain recognizable foods!
But I like Aimee, find it a bit too limiting for my tastes and cravings to keep me sane! So I use flex, but I eat much like core. I eat a lot of whole grains. But I count all points like flex.
Recently I have found myself using the system to seee if I am full,satisfied or rnning on empty. So while counting flex, I use the system of feeling full or not to learn how to eat like a thin person does!
My husband and thin friends can say no to my target foods because they can say 'I am not hungry'.

I am learning how to say I am not hungry by paying attention to my body and my fullness, satisfaction or feeling hungry.

So both plans work. I think flex works great for those who need more variety and like or do not want to give up prepackaged foods and convenient foods or other cravings.

I think core works for those who can work it! I found it to be a bit more difficult. But I am doing better with the listening to my body talk.

My many intructors all say the same thing: one week on flex another week on core. But do not mix them.
Remember all foods on core are on flex, but not all foods on flex are on core, UNLESS you use them as part of your 35 weekly points.

Best advice? start on flex, then after you have given it a try, then try core. Make a choice and stick to it thereafter.

I am curious, how did you find this site? Was it a recent post that had Aimee's link in it? or did you find another link on a WW board post, then this site? (that is how I found it),or did someone at WW meeting give it to you or ??

Hope this helps!
Keep on Posting!


JeanCat
PS don't be afraid to ask us any question, even if you think we have answered it before!

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful responses already! A friend of mine emailed me this morning and asked if I'd found the site yet, and gave me the link. I think I'll give the flex points a couple of weeks and see how I do before I think too much about core. I'm afraid I'd go the big portion route myself.

Thank you again for your warm welcome! I'm overwhelmed by your friendliness and willingness to help!

Sue

Dearest Sue,

Your friend is?? Can we thank her/him too for helping you and others find this site.

I must admit I have little time to do chatting. But I find this site a part of my LIFE LINE!
I don't get a chance to read the blog or daily Aimee input. I rarely get over to the recipes. But I have gone throuh them and gotten some ideas and feel good knowing if I get stuck that I can find them and they are there.

HOWEVER without THIS 'part of AIMEE', I would go nuts! It keeps me on program, accountable and with a WW mindset DAILY, MORE than if I was not been here. That does not mean that I never go off program or that I never get a larger portion of my program foods, it just means that my chances are LESS that I would go off program and for LESS time and that I will get back to program quicker and NOT LEAVE WW IF I stay at AIMEES message board and NET WORK and post and STAY active on the board.

I found that I can not do that at the WW board because of the back biting posts. So when I came here for the fellowship that I needed, the spirit of kindness that was lacking there I found here. I am very grateful to be here, thankful to Aimee and honored to post daily.

Welcome and Congrats on being a WW member/Aimee site member,

JeanCat

Hey JeanCat and others,

I'm new here also. This is actually MY first post. I am Sue's buddy who mentioned this lovely site. I have been coming here for recipes for a long time, but had never checked out this BB before. I don't know why, but I hadn't.

Sue and I are coming off of 'another' plan. I had great success on it, but the limitations were really starting to get to me. I have done WW a couple of times in the past, most recently on Winning Points. It worked and worked very well..... when I actually stayed on plan. I just never could, before. I guess I had to find my 'bottom' and hit it before I started getting serious.

Finally, at 307.5 pounds, I started seriously thinking about Gastric By-pass, but could not get the financing. I was desperate, and finally willing to do MY part. I signed onto a well advertised system, and gave it my 'all'. I have lost, as of today, 72.5 pounds, which thrills me. But, for the past couple of months, like I said, some of the silly restrictions were causing my attitude to flatten out. I started doing a program that was really my old Winning Points program. Only, I didn't count points, I counted calories.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, Sue and I, started talking about changing over to WW. I intend to do MY program at home, and get encouragement from excellent places like this. I finally clicked onto the message board yesterday, and couldn't wait to tell Sue about it. So, I emailed her. I am so impressed at the friendly attitude of this board! Both Sue and I had to deal with another board with a less friendly atmosphere. So, anywhere we send each other now, has to really reek, lol, with respect and 'niceness'.

So, here we are.

Oh, and by the way, HI EVERYONE! It's really great to meet you all! And Aimee, I love your recipes! I swear by your 'Mock Peanut Butter"!! Delicious stuff, and have a couple of 'your' soups in my freezer right now, lol.

cheers everyone

pattyjo

Dear Pattyjo,
Welcome to Aimee's message board!
I am very glad that you gave us your history! Some time you may never know it, but a lurker out there needs to identify or hear your personal story to help them to get over a hurdle or two, to stay on program.
Others may also be contemplating bypass.

I am inspired and HONORED, that you a long time Aimee member and recipe use, decided to post after my solicitation! :) Makes me feel proud! I am glad that the two of you (Patty Jo and Sue) found this place as a safe haven! A place to feel safe and post as you like, and find return in a kind fashion.


Sounds like you may have been on Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem. I have been there and done that. They are very restrictive and in addition they do not teach you how to live and eat without the boxed foods. But they CAN give someone the discipline and jump start to loosing weight that is so necessary for many. It really does not matter what other program you have been on. Most will work if you work it and if it something that you can continue lifelong. Finding that is hard to do. But WW is something that is life long if the comittment is there. Welcome!

Check out JeanCats Finds # 5 (which is really # 4) you will find some videos for food prep and some exercise videos that may be what you are looking for.

I am looking forward to your posts and wisdom.

JeanCat

Welcome Patty

I've been a WW all my life, but as a 20 yr old I did the route of the diet pills, sure they worked but then i gained it all back again plus.

After my 2nd child i wobbled into WW and it was the old old very beginning program when Jeanne Nietich was still alive (shes the founder of WW) and let me tell you talk about restrictions, but for some reason I had much success on it, I went to goal, maintained it and then became life time...

Well all these years later, here I am again, when I gain a few extra that I can't handle, I know where to go, back to WW.
I did the winning points also, counting, weighing and measuring, I even stil have my old lil white scale with the cup. LOL..

Now with this new flex plan, omg is this easy, even a "brain surgeon" can do it!!!

I'm back at goal again, and it was what I call a snap.
THis time around, I plan on still going weekly to get weighed and most important for me is to stay that extra 1/2 hr or 1 hr for the meeting.
Lots of incentive to go on, along with this site..

day by day, one day at a time....

Welcome Sue and PattyJo..nice to have you among us...Glad you found us. You will find us much nicer than some on the "boards" Keep us posted on how you are doing or what is working for you.....Again..welcome aboard....

Patty(Dayton,Oh)

Welcome PattyJo! I'm really glad you and Sue have decided to join us. :) The more the merrier!

Dear Sue,
Are you the same Sue in Orange Co?
So where is Patty jo from? Ca too?

Oh gosh are we going to have an Aimee recipe party or what?

Love yas
JeanCat

Hey JeanCat,

Sue and I met on that 'other', really less than friendly all the time, board. I live in Valparaiso, Indiana, a world away from the life Sue lives out on the coast. That's the beauty of places like this. The opportunities for making new friends are really amazing.

We started talking in private email, and in an email group. We found, after talking away from prying, critical public eyes, that we were both moving away from the restrictions imposed on us in the plan we were on. This also gave us a basis to 'compare notes'.

I really am not dissing that other place! I don't want to sound like that at all. It gave me the structure I needed when I needed it most. When you are on the food/overeating/binging disaster train, you NEED a really firm hand to help reign yourself in, to put on the brakes! After a time, though, I felt that I HAD to move on into preparing regular food for myself. And, some of those restrictions that helped SO much at first, were downright ridiculous! Quite frankly, the rebel inside of me ignored them from the start. The 1/2 of a banana rule, and the actual limitations on vegetable consumption. Oh, their dietitians SAID if you were hungry, it was SAFE to eat veggies....but still, on the basic plan, you were limited to only so much per day. With my WW background, I KNEW that was not only silly, but it deprived you of the, to me, KEY ingredients that 'bulk up' your meals, and leave you feeling satisfied. So, again, here I am.

I am noticing, now, that I haven't been eating enough food. (I just love saying that, lol, but it's true!) Primarily, cause, even though I was eating those veggies at will, I was also including them in my own personal calculations for the day. To get my lovely veggies in each day, and stay under my 'calorie ceiling', I shortchanged myself in other areas. I am sooo much more comfortable on WW now.

Guys, looking over what I have written here, you should get the idea that I am a motor mouth, or motor fingers? My thoughts run away with me, and before I know it, I've written an essay, lol. But, I love sharing my thoughts, and the rabbits my little brain likes chasing.

I hope you all have a great day. I'm gonna head down to my kitchen in a couple of minutes and fix myself my lovely veggie/egg scramble, one of my favs. I'll be checking in, off and on all day, to learn more about you all. I think Sue and I found a goldmine here. How lucky can ya get?

Cheers to all my new friends!

pattyjo

Hi, this is Sue from Orange, CA - I just saw that you have another Sue posting here, so I'm going to start going by my other known name - SophiesMomSue! That will keep it easier.

I see Pattyjo has already answered the questions you posed, so you know we've never met in person, just in cyberspace.

Sue

Good to know you both met on line and still meeting here! I won't pretend to know what company or group or diet that you refer to, but suffice it to say that I respect your 'kindness' not to bash them by name!
However I suspect it is one of the boxed meals plans that never teach you how to live in the real world.

Any way sounds like you made the right choice for you both. Glad to know that you are both here to share your wisdom and progress.

I am so envisioning Patty Jo visiting Sue and I in California one day! Talk about the beach? We will take you to Newport and La Jolla!

Love to you both, feel like I know you both from years past.

JeanCat

Hey Again Jean Cat!!

You know, there is really NO point in bashing any plan. The 'other' plan served a purpose for me. I needed a strong task master for a few weeks. I came to that plan as a last resort and, for a while, it really helped me. It was not as dissimilar as die hard Weight Watchers might think. BUT, once my head had straightened out, and I had myself under control, all the knowledge I had obtained over the years, and then never used, came back to me. I KNEW some of those restrictions were really ridiculous. I KNEW I needed to be able to plan things for myself, or I would NEVER be able to maintain my goal weight. And I wanted more VARIETY. Well, lol, I've got it now.

No looking back, no regrets. But the future is Weight Watchers!

The beach? You know, when I was a young teenager I lived in the water. Couldn't imagine ever NOT swimming. It has been so many years since I've had a bathing suit on my bod. Sure would like to get back, mentally, to the kid I used to be.

I guess I'll just have to come visit the two of you guys!!

cheers

pattyjo

Welcome Sue!!
I'm new too !

Hey Sue. As you know, Im new here too. I just wanted to welcome you.