Weight Watchers or My Fitness Pal?

michele040673

Was successful in the past with both. Something has to change. I have gained ten pounds the past few months. Thougts, suggestions?

Faithful_Chosen

Weight Watchers is a dumbed down version of the MFP idea. You'll be more accurate with MFP and have more control over your intake. I say go wth MFP, but it depends on your preference.

Kalikel

It doesn't really matter. You just have to find something you like that you can stick with.

vivmom2014

Search the forums. This subject has been covered in depth. Good reading.

booksandchocolate12

I was successful on WW and would've stuck with it, had I not gotten fed up with shelling out money every month for a website with a million glitches and an app that always crashed.

The program--"dumbed down" or not--is great. But I'm not going to pay good money for something where the tools that are supposed to help me only work part of the time.

angie_momof3

booksandchocolate12 wrote: »

I was successful on WW and would've stuck with it, had I not gotten fed up with shelling out money every month for a website with a million glitches and an app that always crashed.

The program--"dumbed down" or not--is great. But I'm not going to pay good money for something where the tools that are supposed to help me only work part of the time.

I agree with this. I've had to delete my app and reinstall it a few times. Besides, I like MFP better. There is way more support on here. Also, MFP is based on calories so you can look at a label and always know exactly how many calories you're going to eat. With WW, you have to enter it into the app and find out how many points the item is. It did work for me while I was on it, but I find I like the support and motivation on MFP much better.

booksandchocolate12

Angie, have you been to the WW message boards lately? DEAD! Much livelier over here.

Kalikel

booksandchocolate12 wrote: »

Angie, have you been to the WW message boards lately? DEAD! Much livelier over here.

I heard their boards were very nasty, full of fighting, even worse than these. People bailed on their boards because it just got too crazy. I was never on them, but that's what I heard. Yes? No?

booksandchocolate12

Nah, no more heated than it gets over here.

People post that they're following the plan "to a T" (always a red flag) and aren't losing weight. Veteran WWers ask legit questions to get more info. OP gets mad that everyone's not saying "Poor baby! It must be so hard for you!", says people are mean, and flounces.

Helpbrittgetfit1224

Both! Lol I use mfp and I also have an app called itrack bites. So it track my food twice and once I get back from vacation next month, in going back to the meetings and I'm gonna continue to use both apps

timtakel

Weight Watchers does not have a better track record than any other sold diet. That's why there is not reason to usw. WW over MFP.

goaliesmate

I got tired of using a spreadsheet to convert the nutrition info of what I ate into calories. WW is confusing with so many 'zero heroes' which can be very high in calories. MFP has a lot of errors in the food database but usually I can spot something that is way out and then input my own data.

Asher_Ethan

I was on WW and I was hungry all the time (and looking back I was probably only eating 1200 calories a day). I tried talking to the leaders and all they had for me was, "you're not eating the RIGHT foods," when I definitely should have been eating more. With MFP I get to set it so I'm not feeling like I'm starving all the time. Right now I eat around 1800 calories a day and I'm still losing. I would never go back to WW. Plus MFP is free

booksandchocolate12

goaliesmate wrote: »

WW is confusing with so many 'zero heroes' which can be very high in calories.

Ah yes. The zero point fruits and veggies. Because if people are so stupid that they think they can eat a bunch of bananas or an entire watermelon every day and still lose weight, it's Weight Watchers' fault.

daniwilford

I am grateful for the things I learned from Weight Watchers, but once I had been with the program a while it was repeats. I did three different WW programs. There are the fees and marketing of food, magazines and gadgets to deal with. I also felt like WW focus was mainly on food and losing, where with MFP you can seek out what you need for the point where you are at in the process. I can read and interact as much as I want from my own home for free.

loulamb7

@OP, sounds like you know how to lose the weight but have trouble maintaining. What have you done when you reached goal weight? Do you keep tracking? MFP has worked for me for both losing and maintaining. Best of luck.

vixtris

MFP, because its free and more detailed. I tried WW... didn't like the whole point system. I like knowing straight up my calorie intake and macros.

bmc501

I liked WW but the fees got to be to much also. I am surprised that MFP states 1200 calories a day. I just entered my information . That does not seem like very many calories??

angie_momof3

booksandchocolate12 wrote: »

Angie, have you been to the WW message boards lately? DEAD! Much livelier over here.

Yes! I tried to check out the boards, but they're was nothing there!

seska422

bmc501 wrote: »

I liked WW but the fees got to be to much also. I am surprised that MFP states 1200 calories a day. I just entered my information . That does not seem like very many calories??

Did you set to lose 2 pounds a week? If so, that may be too fast for you, especially if you just have 33 pounds left to lose.

Try to set it for 1 pound a week or even 0.5 pounds a week to see if you get a more workable calorie goal for you.

MakePeasNotWar

I like WW for the guidance (the zero point fruits and veggies are a great behavior modification tool IMO), but I prefer MFP because it lets me track my individual nutrients and the database is so much bigger.

JensJourney11

I lost a lot of weight on WW years ago and I do believe it works. I attended meetings (didn't do the online only thing) and that really helped me. That being said, like an earlier poster said - I got tired of paying the high monthly fees. I have only been on MFP for a few weeks, but I love the vibe here. I think the food database is strong and it's easy to input your own recipes.

allaboutthefood

I will not pay someone else for my weight loss it's as simple as that for me.

divvyh

michele040673 wrote: »

Was successful in the past with both. Something has to change. I have gained ten pounds the past few months. Thougts, suggestions?

Tried Weight Watchers. Gained weight. Lost money.

Krystle1984

I lost my weight with WW initially, but used MFP for maintenance as I found the women at my meeting really bitchy and unsupportive (some of them had been going for years and lost nothing and were just really rude). I prefer MFP. And it's free. Just a no brainer for me!

KenziesFrenzies

I actually got really mad when I signed up for WW Online, because it's the SAME FREAKING THING as MFP, except they didn't have as many food items cataloged as MFP did.

I suppose if I actually went to meetings and whatnot I'd have been more satisfied with it, but as far as tracking calories, I could have accomplished the same thing on MFP for free. >_>

emdeesea

I had initially started with WW but I really hated the meetings. The meetings I went to were more a *kitten* session for all the stay-at-home mommies, which was an enormous turn-off. I've lost more weight here than I did with WW, and can't beat the price.

NinaSharp

michele040673 wrote: »

Was successful in the past with both. Something has to change. I have gained ten pounds the past few months. Thougts, suggestions?

As someone who has done 5 rounds of WW, I like MFP much better. I feel like I'm learning how to eat better instead of using their system and their points. I can just read the box with no calculator and boom!

betuel75

A guy here at work is on WW. Been at it for a few months and hasnt lost a thing. We talk and he tells me about how he went over his points but has points for the rest of the week, etc etc. I told him why not just use the accepted standard for measuring energy expenditure and intake. Calories. Why pay someone for the same thing you can do. All food labels use calories not point and costs you nothing. He is stubborn and insists WW is fine and paying is fine. Hasnt lost anything. Not learning anything about a proper diet and nutrition just points.

FairyDandy

I lost 6 stone with WW but fell back into bad habits and have put it all back on. I did try doing WW again but failed totally getting my head round the ProPoints system and couldn't stick to it. I am now trying MFP as I want to be able to go into restaurants who display calorie information and not have to get a calculator out to figure out what I can have .

You need to do what's best for you, both work and it is a sensible eating regime but personally I am now after something more applicable in the real world.

(plus they stopped putting points values in their recipe books which I thought was so rude as it made them totally useless to me)

atypicalsmith

I have never, and will never, do WW. Because I have known many people in my life who have, and either they (a) don't lose weight or (b) lose weight then gain it all back again. One lady I know is bragging that she's going back to WW for the fifth time. I told her about MFP and she said it wouldn't work for her because she needs that once a week meeting to weigh in front of people. Huh?