Whole-Food Plant-Based WW
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In May, my Croc wearing, vegan aspiring, unschooling best friend came to hang with me for a week. By the time she left, I was wearing Crocs and dabbling in veganism myself. She made me watch the documentary “Forks Over Knives,” and 26 minutes in I declared “I renounce meat!” She laughed, I laughed, and then the learning curve began.
After many failed attempts to be vegan, I have decided that my family will eat a Whole-Food Plant-Based diet with limited oil. If I don’t focus on whole-foods, we will eat too many processed snack foods. Whereas if I don’t focus on plant-based, we will never eat vegetables.
Whole-Food Plant-Based
My family is doing WFPB for our health and budget. My definition for WFPB is the same as this article. You may want to read that to get a better understanding of what this eating style consists of.
A quick run-down goes like this: we strive to have all our meals centered around fruits, vegetables, legumes, beans, and grains that have been minimally processed. I also majorly restrict oil, typically using a third of what a recipe calls for or eliminating it completely. Parmesan, goat cheese, butter, and sour cream are consumed from time to time in very limited quantities.
My Transition to WFPB
Whenever I decide to try a new diet, (and I have tried MANY) I tend to find the dietary loophole. For example, when I found out I could have potatoes and Tessemae’s ranch on Whole 30; I ate potatoes and ranch 3 meals a day for 3 days straight. Once, I had to do an elimination diet, and guess who was deep-frying chicken coated in rice flour for all my meals? Guilty! I WILL FIND A LOOPHOLE, and Whole-Food Plant-Based was no different.
The loophole for WFPB was my weakness: sugar. Isn’t this everyone’s weakness? Dried fruit, maple syrup, energy bites, coconut ice cream, and healthy cake. The list is never-ending! Even if the food has been made to be healthier, I’ll eat so much of it that it can no longer be considered healthy! I’m nothing, if not determined; I will find a way to stay portly.
Weight Watchers
I was on WW when I decided to transition the family to WFPB, but the stress of figuring out how to eat discouraged me from logging points, and so I ended up gaining weight! After 6 weeks, I had gained 3 pounds! I looked at myself in the mirror and said, “I refuse to be overweight on a Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet while I am doing this for my family’s health.” I was making so many radical changes that I knew my health better get in line!
Being WFPB doesn’t mean you have to cut out desserts and occasional treats, but you shouldn’t be sitting down with a chocolate cake slathered in chocolate icing with vanilla ice cream on the side…daily. So, I decided it was time to start following through on the old WW plan I was paying for anyways. I needed to develop the discipline of eating healthy and tracking my points through WW is the perfect tool to do that.
We all know that I love WW. But sometimes I also kinda hate it… like when I refuse to change my habits and don’t lose weight or even worse GAIN weight. I usually end up taking substantial breaks from WW during plateaus when I just can’t seem to make progress. Usually, by that point, I have picked up some unsustainable habits (like eating too much junk food and then trying to get points back from exercise).
The thing is, up until recently, I still had the diet mentality. No matter how much freedom I had on the plan, I still felt deprived and like I was missing out. Lately, things have just clicked into place, and I know it was WFPB combined with WW that made it click for me. I feel so much freedom with my food choices, and I feel good about the foods that I am eating!
What happened since combining WFPB with WW?
It’s been 4 weeks since I have combined Weight Watchers with Whole Food Plant Based, and I have steadily lost weight. You can read about that here. The end of that blog is the beginning of this blog… because I literally wrote that 2 days ago. I got to thinking, I am well into my 5th straight week of WW, and miraculously, I don’t feel like I’m missing out, starving, or out of control with my diet! This is a huge accomplishment for me! You can read about my diet fails and struggles here, and here if you don’t believe that diet has been the biggest hurdle in my weight loss journey. Thanks to WFPB, WW is no longer a diet to me
WW no longer feels like a restrictive diet because my relationship with food is changing. Eating real food that has been minimally processed has forced me to cut out so much junk food. My cravings have gone way down, and now it’s natural to me to say no to donuts and candy bars… and it’s ONLY been one month!
Because WW always works for weight loss no matter how the program changes. WW is the best for that.
UPDATE 2/17/21: I am no longer whole-foods or plant based. Since this post was written I have reached my goal weight, and created a life and fitness planner for weight loss. This planner would also be useful if you are WFPB, however it is meant to be used with a calorie tracking app like Noom. If you continue to struggle on WW eating WFPB, you might want to try this approach out.
The New Program: myWW
WW has a ton of point-free foods, and they just made their program more flexible than it has ever been. There are now three different plans to chose from! The first one is the green plan, on it there are 100+ free foods, and you get more daily points. The second one is the blue plan, it is the same as the freestyle version that has been around a few years. It has 200+ free foods and a few less daily points. The final option is the purple plan. This is the one I chose and it has 300+ free foods on this list, with the least amount of daily points. Here is the link for the full explanation of each plan and what foods are included from the WW site.
Many of the free foods on all the plans are a staple in a WFPB diet. On the purple plan the short list boils down to: lentils, beans, most fruits, veggies, lean meats, and WHOLE GRAINS. The only foods you will consume that have points are are fats, breads, sugar, and things made with refined flours. That’s exactly what I (and most others) need to limit! It’s that limit that is forcing me to have a salad instead of a sandwich, eat lentil noodles instead of white noodles, and chill out on the hummus and avocados.
Related Article: myWW – Will the purple plan work?
Most dairy and non-lean meat will have points as well, but buying grass-fed or pastured meat and grass-fed dairy is expensive, so we rarely eat it. This works out nicely for my WW point budget and my actual budget!
Things are finally clicking!
Since combining a WFPB diet with WW, I have been eating super healthy. I am feeling much better, probably better than I ever have trying to lose weight. All the health benefits they talk about seem to happen very quickly. One thing I have noticed is that my energy level is consistent, I sleep better, my cravings are not as bad, and all those combined have me feeling better.
WW is good for me on this diet because I have upped my bean and lentil game. If it weren’t for WW. I’d be in a grain rut. Oatmeal with too much maple syrup, sandwiches with too much avocado, big bowls of lentil pasta… you get the point. Add the grain rut to the sugar problem and, you don’t have to be a dietitian to know, you’ve got yourself a problem!
Should I join?
If you find that your weight has plateaued or even increased, after being promised the weight will fall off being WFPB, try combining it with WW. It’s an amazing tool, and it works.
If you are eating no animal products and want to lose weight, WW works like a charm as a vegan too. I know this because I often eat completely vegan. Those are my easiest days to log, and I feel like I get so much food!
If you decide to join or have any questions about which foods to eat, let me know in the comments. One of the best things about Weight Watchers is the community of support you have access to!
Follow me as I lose weight the WW!
Follow my Whole-Food Plant-Based Pinterest board for recipes I have tried and approve.
