Jen, glad to help if we can. Do you get Weight Watchers magazine in your area? library? I weigh 145 pounds at present, started at 157 pounds. I use about 18 points a day which works for me. I don't miss meals, I actually eat when I am hungry during the day but I annotate what/how much I eat in a diary so I don't forget. I know I am hungry mainly in the afternoon so that is when I 'graze' on healthy foods - fruit salads, low fat yogurts, low fat chips (small portions) and I count everything. At night I am more tired than hungry so I usually have a nice veggie/broth soup, some fish/meat (about the size of the palm of your hand and fruit or veggies. Some nights I just have soup and a slice of toast. Most of my food is in the afternoon. Do check the link above. Someone on one of these threads has posted a points calculator link online. Start reading food packages - avoid hydrogenated oils of any type. There is a lot on WW website but I can post more info for you. Please feel free to join us on the Diet Pals thread. Later on I will start posting more info on portions and points. If you can tell me a basic list of foods you enjoy eating, I can give you the points for them from my books. I have a family funeral today, so I may not be posting again until tomorrow. I will start a new thread about Weight Watchers basics. Cheers, McPeg

They even have a bra calculator. How cool is this? Here is a link that might be useful: Bra size

I have never tracked my points on a daily basis on CORE. I probably should -- my weight loss has really slowed down in the last 6 weeks. But I did lose 2.4 lbs this week. My typical daily menu -- Breakfast steel cut oatmeal w/ 2 Tbsp. raisins and 1/2 c milk Snack Apple or banana Lunch 2 eggs scrambled with mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, spinach and FF cheddar cheese Fresh fruit or Large toss salad with turkey or smoked salmon -- lots of veggies --- FF dressing with blue cheese tossed over it Afternoon snack - more fruit or carrots --sometimes, I eat one serving of FF/SF pudding here to get past the chocolate cravings. Supper WW pasta with variety of sauces -- maybe with beef, shrimp or chicken or Grilled meat with roasted potatoes and salad and veggie or Soup with salad or a sandwich on 1 pt bread (always fill the sandwich with lots of goodies --spinach, roasted red-pepper strips, cukes, FF cheese) Snack Popcorn or WW ice cream treat I use most of my 35 extra pts on dried fruit,cheese,nuts (love almonds!) wine and the occasional slice of bread or English muffin. We try lots of the WW recipes -- just got the new Comfort food cookbook. Looks good to this midwest farm girl! Not a lot of pure CORE recipes but some can be used with simple changes -- like whole wheat pasta or FF cheese. and some things -- I'll just count into my pts. I don't have the patience to count points and since I am a bit of a health food nut (we can all our own veggies and fruits --over 500 jars a year) and buy all of our meat from local organic farmers........... CORE works well for me. But you have to "shake it up" -- If you eat grilled chicken everyday for supper and a salad everday for lunch -- you will get bored quick. Cathy

Hello all. Life keeps getting in the way but I'm still here. Here's a cut and paste from another forum for starters. This was 2 nights ago. Well my day has started with a bang and I haven't been to bed yet. Around 2:30 am the dogs went crazy in the neighborhood. Our Rottie went absolutely nuts and I couldn't see what was going on so I called her back in. Our Lab who has a touch of Coonhound went out and joined in but not like the Rottie. Shasta (the Rot) became extremely stressed when I tried to keep her in so after distracting her with play for a bit I let her go out in the backyard again around 4:30. Both dogs started going at the rear side fence and then I heard a splash, a crash and a lot of hissing, high pitched barking. Got DH up and we saw the dogs had crashed through the fence and they and a large racoon were all in the neighbors in ground pool. DH goes around to the neighbors yard and I stay on our side. He's in the neighbors yard trying to corral 2 large dogs who are jumping in and out of the pool trying to get at the coon swimming in circles and the neighbors are nowhere to be seen. Finally the neighbors turn on an upstairs light and call out their bedroom window to ask what is going on and DH tells them they have a coon in their pool. They don't say anything and turn out the light. DH finally get both dogs back thru the fence. We get them in the house. He gets hammer and nails and repairs the fence. It is still dark and still no sign of neighbors in spite of all the commotion going on in their yard. So now I'm sitting here waiting for 2 wet dogs to dry and the Rotti is strutting around so proud of herself for taking care of the" intruder" and our Lab/Coonhound acts like he just had a fantastic playdate at a pool party. See life in the suburbs isn't always all that dull either. DH had our anniversary dinner on Tues. Tonite I have a Red Hat dinner and on Sat. I have a Red Hat picnic. FOOD and more FOOD. I'm not losing but I'm not gaining either. This is good ;) but I really need to get back on the program and go for he next ten pounds. Jen, WW is great because unless you do their CORE program there are no bad foods. Lots of peeps have great success with the Points System. I don't so I do an old style food exchange plan from the 80's. Great going Trekaren. Welcome Jen and Mooner. Waving at ya LL. Come and post Ruthie.