Tracking - WW or Not

misterhub

I left WW a couple of months ago due to financial reasons, and I shifted to SparkPeople for tracking. I may take a look at the tracking here, but I am very happy at the other site in that regard.

I am curious how YOU plan to proceed with tracking/non-tracking, etc. Staying with WW? Shifting to another site? Another program?

I still employ most of the principles I learned at WW, which was/is a very good program. No disparagement on my part. However, it is interesting to learn what excellent resources are available for free these days (e.g., MFP, SparkPeople).

crewahl

Right now I'm guessing I'll be staying with WW for tracking. That's despite my belief that they are one big corporate bag of excrement for the way they slowly strangled the message boards and lied as they did. No, the reality is that it's the first thing that worked for me in thirty years of being overweight.

But we'll see. I haven't made a commitment; I'm still a bit, well - ambivalent.

Al_Howard

TOL and I are sticking with WW, and meetings.

linmueller

I'm sticking with ww because of meetings. And I totally agree that they killed the boards. I still don't understand how they think Connect replaces the community that forms on a message board. SMH!

I am playing with tracking my calories here tho, as long as I'm here anyway.

susan092907

I gave up on WW for tracking after trying really hard for 3 months to make smartpoints work for me. I couldn't, so then I came here. I'm a free Lifetime member. I've been continuing to go to meetings once a month to weigh-in. I'll keep doing that. I stay for that meeting, and get my voucher for free etools. I have a free etools account now that extends to March of 2021. I'm thinking that eventually they'll come up with a new plan that'll work better for me, and then I'll go back to WW for tracking.

countcurt

They absolutely killed the boards. Which, from my point of view, was tragic. That said, board participation clearly wasn't effectively contributing to their operating margins. And, relative to their meeting particpation, the boards represented a very small percentage of WW participants, many of whom weren't paying members. It's self-perpetuating: low participation...poor financial return...decreased investment in boards...crappy experience...low participation...

As to the original question, I can see using WW to track, when I choose to track. I'm 'paid up' until 2021, so why not? I've been thinking in 'points' for so long that I'd have to re-orient myself to calories. And I'm too lazy.

jbrack381us

I track on MPF and I have gotten used to the calories and the seemingly larger food database. In my world, it is more about just keeping score, rather than pts or cals. What I really like here is the macro pie chart, which helps me keep the 10k ft view of how everything I put in my body really tallies up from more than just a total calories perspective.

I appreciate WW for helping me lose 100+ lbs the first time and for introducing me to all the Goadies, but I feel I can do it all again and better this time around and WW is not my only path to travel.

podkey

No question sticking with WW. Like my current meeting peeps!

minimyzeme

podkey wrote: »

No question sticking with WW. Like my current meeting peeps!

Sums it up for me, at least for now. My meeting leader is really fabulous and it's (finally) a good, engaged group.

cakeman21k

Yeah the meetings work for me we have a pretty good leader here, and I am reluctant to let go of ww for that reason alone. I am also too lazy to go re educating myself to think in calories instead of points

steve0mania

I'd given up tracking on WW a long time ago. I am a lifetime member, so could conceivably figure out how to get the passes for etools, but I don't really see the benefit now. I did some tracking on MFP in the past, and was surprised at how easy it was (particularly with regards to their food database, which included a restaurant I ate at recently). I do believe counting points is easier, but I'm sure it won't be too difficult to get used to keeping track of calories.

Now that we've shifted GOAD here, I've been tracking for a few days to try to get my weight back to my personal goal. We'll see how it goes.

myallforjcbill

I have been tracking on MFP for 9 mos. I calf smart points manually for now of that.

MurpleCat

I cancelled my WW membership. Wasn't attending meetings anymore and decided not to pay for just the tracking feature when I could get that for free elsewhere. I use an app from CalorieKing. It has a pretty good database, and I didn't find it onerous to reorient to calories from points. After all, the app is the one counting, not me.

podkey

Nice to see ya Murple (nano nano). Yea the automatic counters are nice.

trothaar

I'm tracking here and employing the principles I learned from WW, e.g., if I'm hungry in between a meal, I reach for fruit instead of crackers or tortilla chips.

As I mentioned in another thread, I like how I can use MFP to track things like protein and sodium, not just food consumption. The latter is really important for me, as I have high blood pressure.

It depends on you and what works for you.

imastar2

For now I'm going to stick with the tracking with WW. I'm an online subscriber only and don't plan at this point to leave WW but from the beginning of my weight loss journey the GoaD board has been a huge part of that journey. I have also been posting or tracking calories but find it hard to track calories and pts daily so I really need to make a decision in the near future if I want to stay with WW since the boards went away.

I get the same feeling with connect that I get with the Fat Secret boards that it's just a cheerleader situation which is really good but I like the dialog just such as we have here. It might be that I put too much into the on line GoaD board relationships and followed the posts. I'm not sure I'll have to figure all that out for myself.

I know this week is my 5th year in my weight loss journey and as far as I can tell I'm holding my on but clearly have as much to loose as I have already lost. So onward and downward and forward.

Lifetimer1111

As a returning Lifetimer with 25 pounds to lose, I was really disappointed to find the new SmartPoints System online - Ugh! Having to learn a "mostly" new points system and seeing a still very overweight Oprah all over the site and WW BREAD commercials on TV made me not want to return!

However, WW has helped me lose weight several times over the last couple of decades. I've been through many of their new "points" systems over the years and actually maintained goal for several years... Now, some personal issues have me back in the Red/ Disgusted With Self/ Danger Zone... Sigh... I was looking forward to getting back to GoaD, and then what to my surprise did I find? The Corporate mess that WW has become has gotten rid of, not only a points system that worked for me, but a community of wonderful online friends that was so supportive in helping me reach and maintain goal.

That all said, I simply HAVE to track again to get back to goal. I am paying for the online tracker at WW, but I will try the tracker here at MFP and see how that goes. it's a new day and I've just got to be open to new things. That, and not being so hard on myself

AND I'm SO GLAD to have found you all here - and on Facebook! Onward and Downward!

shellymarina

I've been tracking in MFP for quite some time. I actually started an HMR program in May, and while I've shifted to a hybrid I still go to their meetings. I'm realizing that making time for a weekly meeting is an integral part of weight loss - WW meetings are cheaper, too, so I might switch to that at some point.