So a few days ago, I was dispensing food tips to a friend who asked me, "So which one of those Flatout breads is the one with zero points again?"
To which I confidently replied, "Oh, it's THIS one."
And then for fun, I decided to re-calculate it over at Weight Watchers online.
Imagine my surprise (said ala Jim Carrey's character in A Series of Unfortunate Events) to learn my much loved and oft consumed zero point food item was actually a whopping 3.
WHAT?
THREE?
BUT… HOW?… AM I BEING PUNKED?
Sweet Jesus…I have been living a lie for MONTHS!
I have no idea how I miscalculated this item that has been lock, stock and part of my lunch for over a year now. (And before Points Plus, it was a mere 1 point! or so I thought.)
Needless to say I dropped to the kitchen floor, assumed the fetal position and stayed there for hours until Cole said to me, "Um, Mom… this is getting weird."
Long story short, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make any sound if no one is there to witness it?
Likewise, if points are consumed for months on end, but no one is there to record them, do they really count?
Herein ends our philosophy lesson for the day.
Now if you'll excuse me, my fetal ball is calling.
Vickie says
No, they don’t count.
Cynthia Friese-Hassanein says
No Way, you were unaware:) I think that lunch looks perfectly healthy and clearly it has worked:)
Barb says
I realized the other day that while I thought my 2 cups of skim milk for lunch every day was 4 points, I was really drinking two cups of 1% milk which is six points….times 30, times 2. THat’s 120 extra points that I haven’t counted since January, which works out to be about 4800 calories. That’s a pound and a half, dammit!
I feel like I cheated on my taxes. I hate accounting errors.
Amy Z says
🙁 that is sucky. But it may explain some of your plight. At least now you know and can work it back in the right way!
cathy says
ha! it IS like cheating on your taxes. : )
cathy says
whew! lol.
chksngr says
I think the new WW points program has personal issues with all things bread…there isn’t a single darn option that seems “reasonable” New Points Plus is def. wheat intolerant. For me if it happened YESTERDAY or any day before that, it simply does not count. I could too easily be consumed with guilt and self-loathing.
Kristyn G says
so which flatout IS 0 points? 🙂 Inquiring WW minds need to know 🙂
Lenea says
Therein lies your reason for the last couple of months!!! Now just think of how fast pounds are just gonna drop off of you chicka!!!!
cathy says
None. None of them. It was a complete miscalc by me!
Kelly says
i am still stuck on counting ww the old fashioned way (like, remember when you could just keep moving the old points counter past the four grams of fibre…i loved those days!) so, maybe in the regime that was two makeovers (ww makeovers ago) your bread is zero points? i am all for tweaking until you find what you are looking for! oh, and, is that green drink a big zero in the new ww world?
kelly
ps…and, in matters only semi related, i just ordered run like a mother and john bingman’s book. what do you wear to keep the girls comfortable when you run? i am sure you have probably written about this but i am not sure where to look.
cathy says
You think? Im sure hoping it might get things moving a bit again!
Dana says
Oops! It still looks like a fabulous and healthy lunch!
cathy says
Well, yes…. the green drink SHOULD be. All ingredients are zero. However, if you use the recipe builder, it lists the drink as 2 per serving. So I posted on the WW boards, and everyone said: dont use the builder. Enter the veggies separately. 1 apple, 1 cup spinach, etc…. I dont count it. Wont. Will not. ha!
Cynthia says
I think WW changed all their point values (I know this in talking to a friend who said that some of the carbs she had eaten before at 1 point were now actually 3 points) with the new program, so you were not necessarily wrong. The WW of old is not the WW of today.
And hey I figure unless you eating like 10 of those things per day no harm, no foul. As long as you are eating healthy and in decent moderation roughly 90% of the time, isn’t that a good thing?
Bridget =) says
this is why i like the new WW program – i feel like it is more true to points, even though it’s tough to see it some times (like this bread that used to be 0).
This happened to me once too – my mom was on WW and used to make these pumpkin spice muffins w. a can of pumpkin, a spice cake mix and water. She claimed they were 0 pts. And i would eat like 2 a day.
Well a friend asked me for the recipe and calculated it and it turns out that they were actually FOUR FOCKING POINTS (excuse my french) PER MUFFIN. FOUR!!!!!!!! And if I ate two, that would be 8 pts! That I thought were ZERO.
Turns out, my mom didn’t multiply the mix by 12 (since the nutritional info was for 1/12 of the mix). O.o
NO wonder I wasn’t losing a damn thing on the weeks she made those muffins! ARGH.
Now I check EVERYTHING for myself!
StephM says
Cathy – no fear, you were doing the right thing under the OLD points system. The NEW Points Plus has recalculated a lot of things (and the points generally went up for things like bread), but the good news is that all fruits and most veggies are point-free, AND you probably should have gotten an upward adjustment in your daily/weekly bonus point limits. But they stress that you shouldn’t combine the new point-free fruit/vegs with the old system because it doesn’t work that way. I’m new to WW within the past two weeks, and many people in my meeting group who have been doing WW for a while are having trouble wrapping their brains around the new system.
michele in la says
Oh – so sorry to hear this…. I do hope the corrections helps you along in your recent struggles :). I’m still in the “next week” I will begin – one week, it truly *will* be the week I start my healthy pursuits again… thanks for being a reminder for me every so often :).
ConniB says
BUMMER! can’t help but think it didn’t hurt you though. You were doing SSOOO well even WITH this miscalculation. Thanks again for being such an encourager. I’m working on my 30 min. of moving every.day. Just spent 30 on the stairmaster.
Sandi says
Too funny! The other day I was going to make these frozen waffles we had in the freezer and it turned out that they were 6 points for two. Needless to say they went back in the freezer not eaten. No way did I think they were worth 6 of my precious points!
cindy b. says
yet another reason i think WW is crazy…all that counting and figuring. Just eat good food already…LOL!!
Courtney Walsh says
That same exact thing happened to me with this water drink I was drinking. I thought (no idea why) it was no calorie and had no aspartame (how is that even possible.) Well, then one day I looked on the label to discover it was indeed NOT a no calorie drink. And I’d been downing it like a drunk guzzling liquor.
Bad move.
Uncurl the fetal ball…it happens to the best of us. 🙂
KellyB says
Past points do not count! You can just move on. I lost a ton of weight on the old system & this new version is giving me fits although I’m sticking with it for maintenance. I am having trouble finding a reasonable carb option for lunch on the new system too. My 1 pt sandwhich bread is now 3pts. I know that I get more points per day, but lots of my go-to “sweet” fixes have additional points. I get tired of eating fruits & veggies & want some sort of chocolate fix most days.
Therese says
What I want to know is, are you going to keep eating the bread now that it’s 3 points?
cathy says
No. Not going to. At least not the way I was eating it.
Susan R says
Hey, the good news is that maybe cutting back on that bread will help you. As you get smaller, thinner, weigh less, you know you have to work harder to lose a pound (i know you know that but just a gentle reminder) so maybe cutting back those 20 some points a week will be just enough to help! Do not beat yourself up so bad. You have accomplished so much!
Liz says
I have heard that the new WW Point Plus system hates all things carby and delicious. I’m sticking to MFD – (though everytime I eat something sugary, I hear your voice in my head “eat up, sister!”). My daily Smart Ones Pasta lunches went from 4 points to like, 7. That CAN’T be a good thing.
cathy says
Good point. 🙂 Im definitely having one of those days today.
Brooke says
I’d say maybe you were right when you calculated and then they went and changed the recipe on you?! This happened with my favourite store bought red curry paste so it can happen.
2hounds says
thanks for letting me know that I’m not the only one that does this … (so that is where those points go ….)
Janet McKee says
Hi Cathy –
My post is unrelated to the WW discussion going on, so I apologize for that. But, I was wondering what type of printer you had for printing your photo’s. Is it a special high dollar photo printer, or is it a regular printer that prints photos and documents. I posted this question earlier, but could not find your reply….I’m a blogging doofus (sp??). Anyway, I have been scrapping for a while, but am very interested in hybrid scrapping and just bought PSE 9!! I need some serious help, so I have been watching some of your tutorials!! Thanks!! Any tips for beginners are much appreciated!!
Thanks again,
Janet
Pilbara Pink says
Oh I feel your pain but what an easy way to cut some points from your week now you know 😉 I have been on holiday and was interested to catch up on your posts especially with your Valentines one as it related to an amazing thing that happened while we were away – I lost weight! I could have written that post before leaving, I have lost a lot of weight but gained back more than was comfortable (packing to go away was stressful as there were too many clothes I couldn’t take as they were beyond snug!). Before we left I was exercising diligently but not eating as well as I knew I should but just couldn’t get into my groove no matter what and I was blaming stress, my age (48 & 9/12ths) and perimenopause. I was being to think maybe this was it, I wouldn’t lose any more weight and I would just have to live with it (and buy bigger pants). However, we were away more than three weeks and I came home a lot lighter than I left. Why? – so far I have figured this out – we were in Asia in countries where a lot of people do not have enough to eat, eating less seems easier when you literally can see that from your table. We staying in hotels where the only food apart from restaurant meals was what we specifically purchased and carried in to our room – no pantry or cupboards to browse through outside meal times and the portion sizes, while perfectly large enough, were smaller than we get/serve here. Bottom line – I ate a lot less than I had been. I didn’t realise (understand, accept, believe???) before I left how much I was eating, even though I was recording my food. Sorry to take so long to make my point but it has been quite a revelation to me and a thrill to realise I CAN manage my weight as I am NOT a helpless victim of outside forces. I am really focussed on maintaining the habits I have developed in the past month and notice times when I would have snacked while preparing dinner but have chosen not too. I am so grateful to you for honsestly sharing your journey, you have inspired me to continue mine actively. Thank you.
Ame says
You eat off a paper towel?
Jennifer Larson says
The ghost points won’t count if you eat them standing up.
(Kidding.)
cathy says
Hi there, I have an older HP Photosmart 8750. It was on the higher end of the photo printer price range when it came out ($499 I believe, but that is because it is an oversized printer.) Im a big fan of the Photosmart Series of printers. You dont need to spend anywhere near that to get a good quality photo printer!
Lee says
On the ancient WW slider your flatbread would barely squeak over to one point!
I remember 100 years ago when they first took onions and carrots from zero points up to one. The entire meeting room was engulfed in a mushroom cloud of disbelief coupled with betrayal and fury.
I’m pretty sure the incident made the national news.
Well at least that’s how I remember it!
Hang in there Gorgeous!
;o)
– Lee
Deb says
No way do those count. Just pretend those flat bread were dessert. When you eat dessert, if you eat two, the calories work like negative numbers and cancel each other out. 🙂
Try this pita bread (http://www.kermanigbakery.com/index.php/pita-bread-18-pack.html). It’s only 60 calories.
They came to my Costco and I was hooked. It freezes well and if you only use half a pita, it’s only 30 calories. 🙂
cathy says
Loved reading this. : )
cathy says
Sometimes, yes.
cathy says
I found a pita product at one of my local stores that is even better, and its actually healthy:
http://www.josephsbakery.com/
Its pretty tasty stuff too.
cathy says
Maybe I should go to actual meetings, you know, for that in person sense of support. So I can gasp in real life with other people! LOL.
ale says
(lol) if one day you happen to get sick of scrapbooking (which i hope you don’t) you can easily pursue a career in comedy. i would definitely watch the “late night with cathy zielske” show.
tara pakosta says
3 points isn’t that bad and it’s good for you, so you are good! the arnold select thin bagels are very GOOD esp. toasted!!!
by the way, you really and truly motivated me! I did join weight watchers and on my first weigh in lost 5.6lbs!
thank YOU!
tara
tara pakosta says
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Twenty-for-Twenty-Vegetarian-Edition/Detail.aspx
just found this!
if you get these 20 ingredients you can make 20 vegitarian meals! awesome!!!
tara
Tammy M. says
Lol…I don’t think it counts Cathy…obviously whatever you are doing is working so you’re good!
cathy says
thanks for the link, Tara!
Lain says
Nope, no points if you don’t know they’re there. No points if you don’t remember eating it. No points if you ate it but didn’t like it. No points if someone else ordered it. No points if it was broken (cookies).
I have a whole list of these that I’ve committed to memory!
cathy says
Love it, Lain!
rkokes says
you just made me laugh out loud. hilarious. oh, and to add to Lain’s list-no points if it is on a holiday-and yes, half birthdays count as holidays. 🙂
Mad Morti says
Finally you’ve found out what has been causing the slight issue with the weight not shifting. I generally work on the theory that if it’s bread, it’s points. Ignore all these enablers – points are points are points, doesn’t matter when you eat them or if no-one is looking or counting, they know they are points and they know were to head. Usually my hips. And thighs. And anywhere else the fat wants to settle.
Problem now resolved, eh? Shame you have to not eat your fave bread….