MFP vs Weight Watchers

Nachise

I lost 38 pounds on WW back in the Eighties through an at-work class, but ended up putting all that on plus more. I am now working with a registered dietician and an exercise physiologist, and have lost 55 pounds since working with them.

I found WW classes outside of the small group to be too big and too frustrating because it took forever to weigh in. I hated how the system would change every couple of years, and I found that weighing in every week gave me loads of anxiety.

I see my dietician once a month, and I hand him my iPad with my MFP diary. I see the exercise physiologist twice a week in the gym.

LLT38

I did WW on-and-off for 7 years. I lost around 15 lbs the first time and less each other time. With the weekly reset on points after your weigh-in, I would eat a lot until I used up all of my weekly flex points. WW does teach about portion sizes but I agree its database is not that big. I never tried their new program. I found it off putting to have this enormous picture of Oprah appear when I visited the WW website.

I like the additional information I get through MFP. The ability to analyze my patterns allows me to adjust as needed.

AnnaBeach7

I actually do both together. The new WW program is difficult , but it does steer me towards super healthy choices. I think WW alone would be extremely difficult. I have tried it alone and ended some days using the allotted points and only eating 800-900 calories which makes no sense. I have tried MFP alone and had trouble staying on it because it is so flexible, and I was eating the wrong foods-so even though the calories looked acceptable, I was not losing and I was also dealing with cravings due to choosing too many simple carbs and sugary foods. I suggest trying them together. They balance each other out well.

eldamiano

WW is a con. Simple as. You pay to either find out what is healthy, which can be done for free, or for their products for which they just basically give you less and charge more....

onlytati

I did ww for about 2 months last year. The meetings were useful, as well as the accountability of it. If I lost weight, it was recognized. If I gained, I wasn't. It is really the fact that someone is seeing and responding to my weight gain or loss that made a difference for me. I quit because it wasn't helping me do any better than I already was.

Jindeed

I joined way back in 2006. I'm not too sure about what has changed since then, but I HATED weight watchers. The point system drove me insane. It's much easier for me to count calories (and for free at that). To echo what the people above said, you're better off leaving WW unless you get something from the meetings.

watcher1600

AnnaBeach7 wrote: »

I actually do both together. The new WW program is difficult , but it does steer me towards super healthy choices. I think WW alone would be extremely difficult. I have tried it alone and ended some days using the allotted points and only eating 800-900 calories which makes no sense. I have tried MFP alone and had trouble staying on it because it is so flexible, and I was eating the wrong foods-so even though the calories looked acceptable, I was not losing and I was also dealing with cravings due to choosing too many simple carbs and sugary foods. I suggest trying them together. They balance each other out well.

[I did do both together and MFP won by a landslide. Why pay money for something you can get for free? Also the meetings lately were all about how much junk you can get in for lower points, they dissed eating healthy fats and fibre foods. colossal waste of money!

missyfitz1

watcher1600 wrote: »

AnnaBeach7 wrote: »

I actually do both together. The new WW program is difficult , but it does steer me towards super healthy choices. I think WW alone would be extremely difficult. I have tried it alone and ended some days using the allotted points and only eating 800-900 calories which makes no sense. I have tried MFP alone and had trouble staying on it because it is so flexible, and I was eating the wrong foods-so even though the calories looked acceptable, I was not losing and I was also dealing with cravings due to choosing too many simple carbs and sugary foods. I suggest trying them together. They balance each other out well.

[I did do both together and MFP won by a landslide. Why pay money for something you can get for free? Also the meetings lately were all about how much junk you can get in for lower points, they dissed eating healthy fats and fibre foods. colossal waste of money!

I would say this depends on the leader - my experience was different. You are actually supposed to eat healthy fats every day as part of the program, as you are supposed to drink a certain number of glasses of water, and eat a certain number of fruits and vegetables. And the points are designed to penalize you for eating junk.

One thing I never understood though, was the fact that almost all WW-branded food products are utter crap. The program promotes eating high fibre foods, high protein and low sugar, but their foods are heavily processed and high in sugar and simple carbs. They're low in points, but not great choices. I can imagine a lot of people buy them without even thinking about it because they're endorsed by WW.

cbelc2

I have done WW 3-4 times over the decades. I mainly have a problem with the double speak of talking about healthy food and pushing unhealthy food from their store or their brand. I read the ingredients on a free snack at a meeting and handed it back. I do try to be careful with the quality of food and drink I consume. It's not all about taste and calories.

laurenjennifer1987mfp

Not WW, but slimming world made me realise that calorie counting isn't the devils option!!! That said, I still use their recipes and tips to my advantage so it was worthwhile trying.

Morglez

I tried WW for a bit several years ago. It worked for me while I was on it (which wasn't very long), but I wasn't in a position financially to keep at it. Then I found MFP and realized I could do basically the same thing for free. I've heard a lot of complaints over the years about WW changing their points system. That seems a bit wonky to me. I mean, if their system works so well, why keep changing it?