REPOST: The Wendie Plan
Connie Reece
our newbie VICTORIA just asked about. (Welcome, Victoria! Glad you're here.)
Connie
282/203/140
"No more ugly duckling ... I give myself permission to become a swan."
---------------------------
Here is something that was posted in another news group and really makes
sense. A must read. Enjoy.
Roxan
The Wendie Plan" in a nutshell...
What is the "Wendie Plan?"
First of all, let it be known that the Wendie Plan is NOT something
different than good old Weight Watchers. Most of the people who regularly
visit here are following the WW plan. However, this does not mean that the
Wendie Plan can not be easily adapted for people who are using Richard
Simmons, and/or counting calories. I suppose even people following a plan
such as Atkins could adapt this to their program, however I do not recommend
it. The reason is simple. I do not recommend the Atkins program or any other
low/no-carb program like that. Why? Because it is not (or SHOULD not) be a
lifestyle change, and because it is very dangerous to your health. I cannot
advocate any program that would put your health at risk.
The Wendie Plan is very simple. You follow a simple plan of eating. You eat
your regular foods that you have on WW. You work within your point range.
You drink the water, get some exercise, etc., etc., etc. What is different?
You alternate the amount of points you use each day. What could be more
simple?
Let us assume for a moment that your point range falls between 22-29 points
per day. (This is based on the original 123 plan, not the "Winning Points"
plan) WW says that you can eat up to 29 points every day, and still lose
weight. Do you? Maybe. Maybe not. Ever notice that on some days you aren't
very hungry and on other days you feel you could eat all the points in the
universe? After doing extensive research, I have discovered several things
that don't always ring true.
At this point, if you are someone who has been doing the program and losing
a steady 2+ pounds per week, you don't have to read on any further. Your
body is doing what it needs to for you to lose weight. If you are struggling
to drop a pound, and no matter how hard you have tried the pounds won't
shake lose - read on - this is for you.
First of all, just because you eat within the points you have been assigned,
drink all of your water, exercise at least 20 minutes every day, journal
till the cows come home... does not mean that you will lose weight. I don't
mean to depress you, but it is the truth. We have countless people here,
myself included, who can attest to this. They try really hard, but week
after week they are struggling to even lose part of a pound. I see it all
the time. So... what are they doing wrong?
Oddly enough, they are doing one tiny little thing wrong. It is one tiny,
insignificant thing, but it is keeping them from losing weight faster and at
a steady rate. The secret to The Wendie Plan is simple. Alternate your
points daily. At the start of your week, alternate the number of points you
eat daily. Your rhythm of your week should look like this: low/high/low/very
high/very low/high/med. high.
For example. If your range allows you to eat between 22-29 points per day:
Day 1 - 22 points
Day 2 - 28 points
Day 3 - 23 points
Day 4 - 36-39 points
Day 5 - 22 points
Day 6 - 29 points
Day 7 - 27 points
On the WW plan, 22-29 points per day, you will eat between 154 points (low
end) - 203 points (high end) during the course of the week. On the Wendie
Plan, you will eat 190 points during the course of the week. Which falls
towards the high end of the range, but not the highest. (Adjust the points
to fit your current range).
We have already seen some amazing results using the Wendie Plan. I developed
this plan out of sheer frustration. After being on WW for 17 months, and
having lost no weight in the last 9 months of program, but being too
stubborn to actually quit, I found myself pouring over 17 months of anally
kept journals, trying to find the one key which would unlock my door to
success. In the first 8 months I was successful. I lost 40 pounds. What
happened then to impede my progress? I was still following the program in
every way. I was doing everything right, but experiencing no weight loss.
Why?
Why, indeed? The most interesting aspect of my journey came at the end of
May, 2000. I weighed in on WW and had reached a 40 pound loss. I decided I
was close enough to a 50 pound loss and I wanted to reach it by the 4th of
July. That was a reachable goal. So I worked even harder. I dropped my
points down to 25 per day, and began exercising more. Everyday I was outside
walking through parks or in the fitness center hitting the treadmill. At the
end of 5 weeks, I had a net gain of 1.2 pounds! Muscle? To some degree, yes.
But, as I never began to look like Arnold Schwarztenager, I realized that
something had gone terribly wrong. I had "shrunk " a bit, which was to be
expected, but still, at the end of 5 weeks, I was heavier. I continued. I
worked out everyday, and kept my points down. This has got to work, right?
Not necessarily. At the end of the next 5 weeks, I was down exactly 1.2
pounds. So my net loss for the 10 weeks after Memorial Day was zero!
I continued to work very hard, and by September, I had played around with
the same 3 pounds all summer. Up, down, up, down - but never gone for good.
In October, I celebrated 1 year of WW, by maintaining my 40 pound loss for
four months! What was up with this?
I stopped attending WW meetings in October, because first, I was making no
headway, and I became so depressed at Monday's weigh-ins that it took until
Tuesday afternoon to snap back out of it; and second, I did not get the
support I needed through WW. They simply had no answers as to why I was not
losing weight even though I was working the program very conscientiously. At
the last couple of weigh-ins, when I was going up a pound each week, I got
the general impression that my leader felt that I was not really working the
program. At that point, I walked out for good.
I tried several things between Halloween and Christmas to shake some pounds
loose, but to no avail. I then went back to WW the day after Christmas. It
is interesting to note what happened. First, I didn't start the program that
first week. I weighed in on Tuesday, and then rather half-heartedly began
the program on Friday. When I weighed in on Tuesday, I was down 3.5 pounds!
I buckled down and worked very hard on program the next week. I measured
everything, exercised, drank my water, and journaled every bite. The
following Monday I weighed in and I had GAINED 2 pounds! What is up with
that?
It didn't take very long for me to see that going to WW was not going to
help me. My body was being incredibly stubborn and was not going to let me
lose this weight. Do you see a pattern forming here?
In addition to having 17 months of journals, I also have kept a spreadsheet
of my weight losses. I began pouring over my journals and comparing what I
did on certain weeks to the amount of weight I lost at the end of that
particular week.
I made an astonishing discovery.
I have always been a moderate loser. Meaning, I usually lost about a pound a
week. Other people may lose 3 pounds a week, but I usually lost a pound,
sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. But I was very consistent
in losing. There were some weeks, however, when I did lose more than a pound
per week. Interestingly, the weeks I had my biggest losses were weeks when I
overate! The weeks were Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years! Christmas Day
I ate 43 points! I lost 4.75 pounds that week! Upon further studies, I
discovered something else. Every week that I overate one day, I had larger
than average losses! How can that be?
It has long been thought that you have use 3500 calories less than you need
in order to lose one pound. I simply don't believe it. I know it is
mathematical, and mathematics was never my strongest subject, but science
has always been an area in which I have excelled. I believe that our bodies
are far more complicated than a simple mathematical formula can describe.
The body is like a fireplace. If you build a fire, at first it takes awhile
to warm up. You add more fuel and it burns more efficiently. The more fuel
you add to it, the hotter it burns. Add less fuel, and it begins to cool
down.
Our bodies were built for survival. If you go on a "diet" the body can
become uncomfortable. This is especially true if you take so much food away
from it that it feels as if it is going to starve. There is a lot of talk
about not eating too little - your body will go into "starvation mode" and
you won't lose any weight. Well, to a point, this is true. Your body will
lose weight if you starve it, but it won't want to, and it will take the
weight from places you don't necessarily want to lose it from. That is why
some people who lose a lot of weight look "gaunt", and is far more likely to
hear comments like "Have you been sick?" as opposed to "You look good!"
Why does "The Wendie Plan" work?
Your body has this wonderful little thermostat inside of it. It regulates
everything you do. If you feed it lots of food, it turns the thermostat up
and burns it as efficiently as possible. This is why you have been able to
eat as much fast food before WW and didn't gain the amount of weight that
you should have. Your body became more efficient and was able to burn off
much of the excess amount of calories. Otherwise, with the amount of food we
porked in pre-WW, we should have been gaining 2-3 pounds per day!
When you go on a "diet" where you dramatically decrease the amount of
calories that you consume, your body thinks "Oh-oh, we're going to starve to
death here!" and immediately turns the thermostat down to conserve energy.
After all, your body will do whatever it has to do to ensure that you stay
alive. It doesn't know that you don't want to carry those extra pounds
around. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to convince my body that I really
do want to shed those extra pounds through talking to it.
That is where The Wendie Plan comes in. If I can't get my body to shed the
extra pounds by talking to it, then I have to trick it in to letting them
go! The Wendie Plan is the trick.
If you are on WW, or even just counting calories, and you stick with a set
amount of calories per day, such as 1400 or say, 27 points per day, your
body will adjust to that. It will become extremely efficient at using just
the amount of calories (energy) that you are giving it. You may lose fairly
well at first, but after the first week or so, you will find that your
losses may slow ... way... down, and even stop. Isn't it nice to have such
an energy efficient body? However, the body isn't extremely fast. If you
give it the same amount of food every day, it will adjust itself. But if you
change the amount of food it gets every day, it doesn't have time to adjust
itself! Which means on that day that you eat 10 points over your highest, it
tries to adjust by turning up your thermostat, but it is unable to turn it
down for the low points the next day. What you are doing, in essence, is
keeping your body guessing. It doesn't have time to adjust the thermostat
down, before it needs to turn it back up. What eventually happens is your
body will never again feel as though it is going to starve to death, and it
will never again try to shut down the thermostat, so you will continue to
lose at a more rapid loss. This also means fewer plateaus.
Some people are aghast at the thought of actually eating 10 points over
their maximum. I know, its the hardest part for me, too. Again, I just have
to plan higher point meals for those days and make sure I actually follow
through. If the huge point day isn't done, then the body will not turn the
thermostat up high enough. It is all a formula which has to be adhered to -
high points, as well as low point days.
What about exercise points? What about them? I never use them. I just know
that I don't plan any big exercise on my low points days. If I am going on
an 8 mile hike, I will probably do it on my high or super-high day, so that
I can take advantage of the extra fuel to get me through the exercise. I
think WW was using the activity points as a carrot to get people to
exercise. More activity, more food. I don't believe in that. Eat what your
body needs. Exercise plays a good role in this plan, because exercising
increases your metabolic rate. (Which turns up the thermostat even more!) So
does increased muscle. Arrange your high point days on the days that you
exercise. Or better yet, arrange your exercise around your high point days.
My high point days usually fall mid-week. But why? It makes more sense to me
to have my highest point day fall on Saturday. That is the most likely day
that I will be doing an 8 mile hike. Fit this plan into your lifestyle.
My WW leader told us that it isn't what you do for one meal that causes you
to gain or lose - it's what you do for 21 meals that makes a difference.
What this is telling me is that I have 7 days, 21 meals, and 217 points to
use. How I choose to use them over the course of a week is totally up to me.
If I choose to have 42 points on Sunday and 24 points on Monday... I am
still on program. Even better - I will probably lose some weight. Do not be
afraid to have that one high point day. Just as you shouldn't be afraid to
have the low point ones. At the end of the week, you will have lost weight.
CheerS!
Wendie
VICTORIA
that far back in the messages. Has anybody tried this? Does it work? It
sure sounds good to me. I have been trying to keep near my minimum every
day because I want to lose weight asap (or I'll get discouraged and quit)
but I find myself constantly hungry. A "splurge" day sounds great.
Hmmm.....
Victoria
"Connie Reece" <cre...@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:B8734260.173BB%cre...@austin.rr.com...
dcb
I always lose best when I eat at the high end of my range. I have
never given up a point until I absolutely had to.
Keep a close journal and you'll discover at what end of the range
you'll lose best. It may surprise you that your losses will actually
slow as you eat less.
Best, Diane
asdww FAQ: http://www.didian.com/asdww/
185/147/145 (150 WW goal)
Lifetime: 20 Feb 01
On Wed, 23 Jan 2002 08:49:41 GMT, "VICTORIA"
<victori...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Thank you for being so nice about reposting this. I guess I didn't make it
>that far back in the messages. Has anybody tried this? Does it work? It
>sure sounds good to me. I have been trying to keep near my minimum every
>day because I want to lose weight asap (or I'll get discouraged and quit)
>but I find myself constantly hungry. A "splurge" day sounds great.
>Hmmm.....
>Victoria
>
--
Help the women of Afganistan
http://www.rawa.org/
"You despise me, don't you?"
"If I gave you any thought, I probably would."
Celtic Gal (Vanessa)
I have found that this works best for me too <g>
I find if I do the same things all the time (e.g same exercise and same
calories) my body adapts very quickly and I will stop losing :-( BUT, if I
vary my routine for both exercising and eating (different amount everyday)
that's when I lose the best!
You just need to see what works best for your lifestyle and your body - but
hey, it's worth a shot!
Vanessa In OZ :-)
(273-206-goal170to140)
"VICTORIA" <victori...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:FOu38.5933$Fh4.4...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Connie Reece
Diane, I've found the principle of it worthwhile.
When I first started losing weight I got very gung ho about my success and
decided to drop to the low end of my point range or below -- after all,
that's the amount of calories I would wind up eating as I neared my goal
weight, so I might as well get used to it (so I thought). And of course, I
was exercising almost every day.
Well, for three weeks I did not lose a single pound, and I was very
discouraged. My skinny little ol' sister pointed out that I was not eating
enough and my body had gone into starvation mode. I was afraid to believe
that, but I followed her advice. And when I went back to eating at the HIGH
end of my CURRENT point range -- I started losing weight again. Now I'm like
Diane: I just don't give up my points. :)
So if you'll eat all your points, you won't feel hungry, therefore you'll be
more likely to stay on program, and you should still lose weight. WW is
calculated to put you between 500 and 1,000 calories less than what is
needed to maintain your current weight. That's why it works, even when you
eat at the top of your range.
Live Vanessa said, it helps to vary what you're doing both with food and
exercise. I don't plan on "splurge" days ... but my family does eat out a
couple of times a week. I can usually overdo it a bit and still be okay for
that week, as long as I don't do that a couple of days in a row.
Connie
282/203/140
"No more ugly duckling ... I give myself permission to become a swan."
VICTORIA
strict with myself and staying around my 18 points every day so far (even
though I'm exercising... we don't learn about activity points until week 4).
After my first week, I don't think I've lost much and I am kind of
frustrated. Hopefully this will work. I'm going do it!!!
Hugs,
Victoria
"Connie Reece" <cre...@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:B8740D87.17486%cre...@austin.rr.com...
Jenn van der Schee
I started WW a year ago in feb and lost my 10% without too much
trouble. I started portion control and started exercising again.
Things went well until I got married in August and I totally stopped
journaling. I gained a bit back and started back into meetings in
November. Since then I have lost 3 lousy lbs. 3!!! I am insulted! :) I
have been good!
The biggest change has been my running. I am doing a 1/2 marathon next
weekend and my long runs are over 2 hours. I also run about 15k during
the week. I am a big gal- tall and big bones with alot of muscle, but
I am also about 30 lbs overweight. (used to be more- thanks WW!!!:)
I usually eat my points and stuggle with hunger and don't usually
count my exercise points- well somedays I will take a couple and some
days I won't. Running isn't exactly muscle building, afaik- well maybe
a bit, but a 2 plus hours it should be burning up my celulite.
Anyway, I am going to try out the Wendie plan and see if I can get a
kick start.
Anyone else got any insight?? :)
Thanks!
Jenn
210/193/160