Weight Watchers or CC

honeybee739

Can anyone that has tried both or is currently doing the smart points weight watchers plan please tell me the pros and cons of each? Why do you prefer weight watchers vs calorie counting or vice versa?

I'm stuck in deciding which path to take. I cycle between weight watchers, calorie counting or low carb. I dont ever make a decision and stick to it, give it time to work. I've tried low carb and had the most success as far as weight loss went, but as soon as I went "off" the weight came back with a vengeance. I know I need a lifestyle and not a fix. I've heard that the new ww program is basically low carb.

Please help with your input. Any insight appreciated.

2essie

I prefer calorie counting because that way I can eat whatever I want as long as I am under for the day. It seems easier for me.

drwilseyjr

Weight Watchers is basically simplified calorie counting anyway, isn't it?

Jruzer

Calorie counting is free and not copyrighted. It allows maximum freedom and flexibility. There's no argument to my mind.

honeybee739

drwilseyjr wrote: »

Weight Watchers is basically simplified calorie counting anyway, isn't it?

It goes into more than just calories. Focuses more on nutrients. So the healthier the food, the less point value. They recently changed how they tabulate the point value of a food. For example, calories and sugar are now taken into account to get the overall point value. Foods higher in protein but low in sugar are low in points.

One good point I read was that calorie counting never changes. But the weight watchers program does. But pros of ww is that some people say they are more inclined to eat their fruits and veggies on ww because most are "0" points where as with cc you can eat anything you want as long as with in calorie range.

k_nelson_24

I did WW about three years ago. I really think it is a personal preference. I prefer CC because its free and calories are displayed on pretty much all foods and WW points aren't. I will say, though, that my mother lost over 100 lbs with WW. It made it easier for her! I also liked the 0 point fruits and veggies rule.

lohlgren

What works is what you are willing to stick with. They're all good programs. You need to stay on one long enough to really understand how to eat that supports your long term goals. Atkins helped me get away from eating massive amounts of starches for a 40 lb loss. The next 30 were with WW and taught me how to eyeball portions and be able to eat any food as long as I stayed within my points. I could track on a piece of paper without much thought and did for over 10 years. WW is great for ones needing more than 15 lbs to lose. But I struggled with maintenance eventually. It's not 'fine tuned' enough and had me under eating according to MFP. MFP is transparent, I know the formulas, tweak the calories to fit my needs. My 5 lb goal turned into 14 lb loss. And it was so easy because....wait for it....I stuck with it. I am slowly transitioning into maintenance and have all the information at hand on how to do it. So, OP, pick a path, they all lead to the same place, but not if you keep going back to the trailhead. (And personally, I recommend MFP-It rocks)

1Nana2many

I've done both. Lost weight now with both. I am here on MFP and counting calories because I believe I can maintain it long term. It's free, it's portable, and I can have as much or as little contact with others losing weight when ever I want, even in the middle of the night. There's always advice, support out there if I need it and reading success stories keeps me going... As lohlgren stated, "what works is what you are willing to stick with."

perkymommy

I don't know what CC is. I do Weight Watchers and have off and on for years. When I stick to plan I always lose. I've lost 25 lbs since the first of February this year. It started slowing down once I started on this site so I mainly stick to tracking my points on WW. Not everything works the same for everyone though. Maybe you could try each of them one at a time and see which one you like better.

honeybee739

perkymommy wrote: »

I don't know what CC is. I do Weight Watchers and have off and on for years. When I stick to plan I always lose. I've lost 25 lbs since the first of February this year. It started slowing down once I started on this site so I mainly stick to tracking my points on WW. Not everything works the same for everyone though. Maybe you could try each of them one at a time and see which one you like better.

Cc is calorie counting

erockem

I was on weight watchers with my wife 17 years. Lost 60lbs in 4 months. Learned nothing. Gained up 40lbs back by the following summer. Started CC about 6 years ago dropped the 40lbs I gained + 20lbs more. Kept it off ever since. I make much better decisions about nutrition, health, exercise, etc.

emdeesea

I started with WW then switched to calorie counting.

I didn't like WW for a variety of reasons but mostly the meetings were time-consuming and dull and expensive, and (in hindsight) taught me nothing at all about nutrition and portions. Not only that, it could be deflating to get on that scale, have done everything right the week before, and see either no loss or a GAIN. We were never told about weight fluctuations (even though I was aware of it myself). It was very success-oriented, and a little culty to me, to be honest.

I prefer MFP because I've learned a whole lot more than I ever would have with WW.

KristiMillner08

I love CC w/ MFP. It helps me see the nutrients I am eating (or not eating) and helps me find founds that I can substitute that are a better fit. It's teaching me what foods my body needs. I LOVE IT!

cwolfman13

I think the bigger thing is just to pick something and stick with it.

Keladelphia

I agree with those that have said the one that will work is the one that you'll stick with but i'll give you my personal experience. I've done both WW and CC and had similar weight loss. The entire time I did weight watchers I was oblivious to the calories and nutritional makeup of food. I ate what I wanted but stayed within my points and lost the weight, however I was frequently hungry and miserable. I didn't really understand why I was so hangry at the time but looking back it's because less nutritious food was given higher points even if it wasn't that high in calories. For example (taken from livestrong.com) a 300-calorie breakfast that consists of Greek yogurt with berries has only 3 points, but a 300-calorie breakfast consisting chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup has 11 points. I was still eating the 11 point chocolate chip pancake type foods and consuming nearly half of my day's points but only 300 calories! No wonder I was hungry all of the time, I was essentially on a VLCD.

This time when I lost the weight by counting calories and macros I could see very clearly exactly what I was consuming. I realized that even if I wanted to eat those 300 calorie pancakes that didn't have to be half of my day's worth of food, I could still eat another 1500 calories. This time when I lost the weight I wasn't hungry. I also started making better choices because I understood what types of food kept me full, gave me energy and gave me the biggest bang for my calorie buck. Counting calories and macros changed my whole viewpoint on how I fuel my body, it's a life lesson I NEVER would have learned at WW and it's something I believe has created a lifestyle change, not just a temporary change which is what WW was for me. Regardless of what you choose OP I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

Edit to add MFP is free (win!) and the support I receive on this site is more than I ever received at a WW meeting

MissusMoon

From what I've read about the new Smart Points thing, I would stay here and count your calories. They are weighting certain foods ridiculously. One person said something that two of her favorite foods now have a point value that would end her day with points, but leave her at under 500 calories.

Counting calories empowers you to integrate things into your life and understand the overall process. MFP is free and teaches you a lot. Counting calories doesn't change it's formula based on what Oprah thinks is popular diet woo.

chocolate_owl

honeybee739 wrote: »

drwilseyjr wrote: »

Weight Watchers is basically simplified calorie counting anyway, isn't it?

It goes into more than just calories. Focuses more on nutrients. So the healthier the food, the less point value. They recently changed how they tabulate the point value of a food. For example, calories and sugar are now taken into account to get the overall point value. Foods higher in protein but low in sugar are low in points.

One good point I read was that calorie counting never changes. But the weight watchers program does. But pros of ww is that some people say they are more inclined to eat their fruits and veggies on ww because most are "0" points where as with cc you can eat anything you want as long as with in calorie range.

I think you'd get a similar effect to WW by tracking your macros as well as calories on here. To meet your macro goals, you'll generally pick nutritionally dense items. Here's a detailed explanation: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

You can always try calorie counting to start since it's free. If you don't feel like you can stick with it or you're not seeing results after a couple of months, then think about investing in a plan like WW.

lynn1982

Calorie counting is free...

Also, low carb does not negate calories...

DrifterBear

I did WW and am now doing CC. For me, it was a good journey. I'm not doing CC now because WW didn't work. I got a lot of value out of WW and quit when I no longer was getting value. What I like about WW is that their points are not just 40 calories per point. There's a secret formula based on macros that determines the point values. So 200 calories of chicken will be fewer points than 200 calories of chocolate. I saw both my fiance and I start to make better choices because in the example above, maybe the chicken was 4 points and the chocolate was 5. We often picked the chicken because it left more points at the end of the day.

Also, fruit and veggies are 'free.' They basically budget them in for you and then don't penalize you for eating them. Again, encouraging you to make better trade offs. If you were eating so many fruits and veggies that it impacted you're weight loss, they'd talk to you to figure out that you're eating 6 bananas a day and talk you about cutting down.

We adjusted our diet and I wasn't getting any value out of WW, so I switched to CC. It's really the same thing at the end of the day. Your body doesn't know what a 'point' is, but I found it helped nudge us towards healthier choices.

kirstinethornburg

I am doing low carb and even after the weight has come off to where I want it I most likely will stick with low carb as a way of life.At the End of the day it is about finding what works for you and making healthy choices. Helathy choices and eating is different for each person. Weight loss is not one diet fits all

Balaru

I'm doing MPG because WW is not in the budget right now and NOT is very similar. I was very successful on WW. I am a lifetime member, meaning I got to my goal weight and kept it off for six weeks. I actually kept it off for three years. When it crept back on I would head back to the meetings. Lost 20 - 30 pounds each time.

MFP is very similar. Hoping to have the same success with MPG.

Balaru

M F P.....the computer keeps auto-correcting. Ugh!

NewMEEE2016

Bottom line- you will only lose weight if you eat FEWER CALORIES than you need. You can EASILY do the calculations & COUNT THE CALORIES yourself- OR you can outsource it & pay somebody else to do it- but SOMEONE, somewhere is COUNTING THE CALORIES. Of course, they're not going to TELL you that- that's too simple & won't sell their program. Nuthin' in it for THEM. So they come up with their "point system" and whatever other gimmick they change it up to every couple years. There is no magic. It's all CALORIE COUNTING.

meritage4

MFP and calorie counting is free. It's working for me.

I did WW for a year with minimal results except paying $.

With MFP you can track nutrients etc.


But the real question is how motivated are YOU?

Jbell0213

I love My fitness Pal. Counting calories is like a game to me. I tried WW 5 times (yes 5 times) and just figuring points gave me anxiety.

jc4mee

For me, any program that I start works for awhile...then I struggle getting over that plateau and often times I give up. I did start WW at the end of March and have lost 15 pounds thus far. My struggle with it is that you are not really given any nutrition information and I have come to realize that it is important. A calorie is not a calorie, your body doesn't process all calories equally. For me, the need to reduce carbs is key to weight loss. When my 3-month WW period is over I plan to come back to logging on MFP to get a better idea of what the nutritional makeup of my diet really is. The Smart Points plan does assign higher points to foods higher in carbs to allow what I believe are healthier choices. I personally get very little value from the meetings, but logging my food intake is important. Why pay for the ability to log on the WW plan when I can log on MFP for free?

randomtai

I like free and sustainable.

vczK2t

my biggest thing about WW, now that I think about it, is with the meetings alone the leaders aren't "certified" in nutrition. They are simply persons that have maintained weight loss. I need my advice to come from a person(s) that have studied nutrition and such and have a background in knowing how all of it works. if you lost weight and maintained it, WONDERFUL. but that doesn't mean you know how to advise me to lose weight and keep it off.

crankyunicorn510

Depends on what you need. I liked my WW meetings and found them very helpful with the right leader. Knowing that someone was going to weigh me every week helped me keep my focus. Right now I simply don't have time for meetings.

If you are doing this 100% on line, I don't see any value in WW that you can't get with MFP. You are counting and recording food either way: it's just if you are recording points vs calories.

Sheila00000

Definitely calorie counting for me too. I did WW 4 times, and like someone said the meetings are very time constraining. And if you had a bad week, the "success" mode of the meetings got me very depressed.

I remember a girl told me at a WW meeting told me 1 point was equal to 50 calories, give or take (at that time several years ago, I know the point system might be different now). I never even thought about translating a point to calories, but it was very useful when I was out shopping and didn't have my WW counter with me, I would see something was like 150 calories I would be able to convert to 3 points in my head. I mean, it was not an exact calculation for WW because I needed to factor in fiber, etc., but it was very VERY close to being equal and when I added it at home the equation was right like 95% of the time.

I did lose weight with WW but it was SO hard with the point system, meeting times since I had kids, etc. So over time I thought why am I paying for WW when it's really just a glamorous calorie counting system? I can count my own calories for free! MFP is much easier. I'm getting back track with it now.

reinventingjessica11

I've tried Weight Watchers numerous times and each time I disliked it more and more. I was always starving for some reason, and got tired of paying money just to watch my weight go up. I just restarted calorie counting here last week and don't plan on leaving. It allows me to be so much more flexible and still get results, and its free.