If you're doing WW do you eat all your points?

Hi guys!

My weigh****chers at work session starts on the 24th and luckily I visit my surgeon before then so I'm going to talk to him and see if he thinks it'll be worth doing but I still have this question.

For those that are members, how do you calculate your daily points allowance considering the band?  I'm certain that the number of points (and thus calories and volume of food) that I'd be assigned to eat is well more than what my doctor and nutritionist would want me to with my band so the obvious answer is to just eat until you are no longer hungry and not worry about having many points left over at the end of the day. 

I am joining WW for the support (because I don't have a local band support group that I can make it to due to work) and because I need help staying on track with eating nutritiously and avoiding junk food.  I am not joining because I'm having an issue with portion sizes (my band totally works in that sense.) 

A 17 week session that takes place at my office is not that expensive so I do want to do it and try to follow the plan as best as I can but I'm worries about varying from it and not having good results.

I've barely lost any weight in 2 months (due to over indulging with the holidays and having a hard time getting back on track...plus maybe my body is just hitting a natural plateau.) So I'm certainly hoping that a weekly group of people all working towards the same goal will be helpful.  But I don't want to just be wasting time and money either. And I'm still up in the air over whether I should inform even the group leader about my band status.

But my biggest question is regarding the points values themselves. If you follow WW do you use them all? Do you have a method of determining how many you should be using? Do you combine WW rules with band rules? How does that work? 

Thanks!

I am newly banded - Nov. 16th - and have been following WW for...forever! The new plan is fantastic, but there is no way that I can eat all of the points that I'm allowed. When I weighed in last week, I lost a point, so I'm hoping that as the weight drops and the points drop, what I actually eat will come close to the points. Right now I am eating between 15 and 20 points a day. The lowest number of points for anyone is 29! So, yes, I combine the band rules with the WW rules -- band rules first!! Good luck!!

When I first had my surgery, there was no way I could eat all of my WW points.

I just followed my surgeon's plan of 'protein first, produce, whole grains, low-fat dairy'.
I ate about 1,000 - 1,200 calories a day (which was about 20 - 24 points on the old program and I was allowed 28 points)

Now, the program has changed, and I am at my goal weight --- so, yes I can eat all of my points.
Now, I get 29 points per day on the new plan --- and if I focus on protein/produce/grains/dairy, I don't usually use them all.

What I do is to use WW for the support and accountability --- and use my doctor's eating guidelines for what I eat.

I do track my food -- as I find that it is another useful tool to help keep me on track -- when I start to feel hungry between meals, I can usually look back and see that I have been allowing too many 'crunchy carbs' into my day.

Do you tell them at WW that you have had a band.  Know I did weigh****chers years ago, and know some of the ladies, and thought they would wonder why I am down about 70 pounds from the last time they saw me.  Just know them from the group, so they have not seen me in 3 years or so.
Thanks,  Kay

I just started WW 6 weeks ago, like you I don't do it for the portion size, I do it for the accountability, and to find ideas on different foods people talk about.  When I started and saw that I get 29 points I almost fell off my chair, even before surgery I think I only got 26 points.  Now that they have uped  the points you get they also upped the value of some of the items.  WW is now taking into consideration how the carbs, proteins, fats and fiber work together in affecting your body.
All fruits and most vegetables are free, which is new, but things that have high carbs there value has gone up.
Most days I eat about 20-25 points, the first week I lost 1.6 lbs and the second week after listening to people and from knowing from before doing WW that if I ate all of my points I would probably lose more.  HMMMM well that would be OK if I didn't pick cookies or birthday cake to use up my points, I of course gained .6 the second week, then Christmas, new years and my birthday all hit and it was just down hill from there.  Last week I made myself accountable again and lost 1.8lbs again.  So do I follow the weigh****cher rules, yes and no.  I log my food, I eat protein often(band rule too) I fill in with veges, fruits and if I am still hungry I eat some carbs.  So if you notice their thinking is leaning a little more to what they tell us with the band.  I don't eat all of my points most days,  I have never used my extra weekly points of 49.  I don't let myself get overly hungry and I exercise, drink my water and treat myself from time to time with something sweet.
I enjoy the other people and the group leader in our meetings.  I have not told anyone about the band.  There are three of us from our Dr's office who attend the same meeting so we just keep our mouths closed.  We do sometimes drool on each other when someone says about eating a whole donut or piece of bread, but in the end these things matter less to me than they used too.
Go enjoy the company, follow your band rules first and you will find that you have a lot of knowledge to give to other people because a lot of what they are now teaching is what we do with our band already.