Monday, July 19, 2010

Tried the CORE plan

We tried the CORE plan. There were things I liked and things I would not be able to sustain as a long term lifestyle. 
Things I liked:

  1. I never had to deny myself something to eat. If I felt snacky I didn't need to try divert my mind from the fact that I wanted to eat. Instead I could go get something, as long as it was allowed by the plan. I ate lots of fruit. 
  2. I had huge meals. For dinner I would do a large pasta or rice dish. I made Korean Bulgogi one night. I didn't have to watch my portion. Instead I just got to eat until I was too full. On the normal plan I'm to 22 points. It is so easy to eat all those points in no time at all, and that's not even eating junk. I could be eating fruit and a salad and before I know it I only have 5 points left and have to force myself to stop eating so I have points for dinner. It is really hard sometimes. I love snacking on fruits, but fruits still have points. So to feel full and be able to satisfy munchie cravings, was so nice.
  3. Didn't have to calculated everything out ALL the time. I enjoyed not having to even figure what our dinner points were. It made life easier.
  4. I loved the dairy. I have cut a lot of dairy from my diet because I'd rather use my points on other things. But on the CORE plan, as long as the dairy is fat-free it was okay to eat whatever I felt like. I had skim milk with my breakfast and dinner. I'd use the fat-free feta in my omelettes and salads. I have finally got use to the taste of fat-free yogurt, I started having one as an afternoon snack. I'd use the sugar-free jello mixes make them with the skim milk and that was how I satisfied my sweet tooth.
  5. It changed life up. It was nice to have the change



Things that I didn't like:

  1. I missed breads and cereals. On WW I've learned to eat low- point sandwiches. I've come to look forward to them for lunch. On the CORE plan- no breads. I'm a cereal girl for breakfast. I did try to make the best of it and had some cooked grains for breakfast. I like them, just not every morning. I missed a big bowl of cereal.
  2. I didn't loose anymore than any other week, and I fluctuated a lot more throughout the week.
  3. My husband hated it. He has enjoyed WW, the way we've been doing it, because he can still eat anything he wants- he just has to pay for it with his points. So if he runs out of snacks that he has brought, then he can try to make a good choice from what is avb to him at work.  He hated having to plan his whole whole day ahead of time.  He eventually gave up on doing the CORE plan and instead of going back to points he just gave up until the week was over. I thought he would like the large as he can eat portions, but I don't know if he just didn't want to eat those foods, if he didn't want to eat that way, or what the reason was.  
My husband has expressed that he NEVER wants to do the CORE plan ever again. I understand that and I can respect that. I might do it again. Just to mix things up. But it won't be as easy or feel as much like a break considering I will still be counting points for my husband. It is a nice change and I will try most likely try it again sometime just to mix things up. 

2 comments:

Johnson said...

Hey I had a question for you I love the weight watchers diet and that is what I want to do after I have the baby. How many points extra do you add to nurse that is the only thing I don't know since my book just says to talk to the instructor but this time I want to just do it on my own?

Arizona Girl said...

I found something on the internet that said if you are nursing full time then it is 12 points more per day. My mother-in-law's book (2007 version)said if you are solely nursing then 7 points, supplementing any amount than 5 points extra and if you nurse less than 3 times a day there are no extra points. My friend's book (2010) didn't say, just to talk to your instructor. I found that if I ate less than my 12 extra points I didn't loose weight, I'd start gaining. As we got ready to ween I realized that there was 2 points for every feeding we were still doing. I then took 2 points away for every feeding we took away. It worked really well for us. Whichever plan you subscribe to be consistent with what points you're going to do. I would expect that either is fine, as long as you aren't eating complete junk for those extra points.