WW vs calorie counting

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  • FLBeachluvr
    FLBeachluvr Posts: 110 Member
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    Back in 2011-2012 I lost 53 lbs. with the WW Points Plus program. It worked very well for me and was easy to follow as (almost) all fruits and vegetables were 0 points. At that time you could exchange exercise points earned for food and I liked the 49 bonus weekly points you could use (or not) for special occasions (or alcohol, lol). The deaths of both my parents and a cross country move away from family saw me gaining around half of it back. I had still been paying for the monthly online membership and tried the new program but as others mentioned, it's very punishing on foods the plan wants to discourage you from eating. I decided to give MFP a try as it's free. I'm still getting used to having to weight/measure everything vs. the free fruits and veggies on WW though. I think it comes down to whatever you can see yourself doing for the long term.
  • kschramm7
    kschramm7 Posts: 72 Member
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    lizlamarca6843 wrote: »
    kschramm7 wrote: »
    I lost 80 lbs on the Points Plus plan. I joined MFP recently when I just couldn't take the SmartPoints plan anymore. When 150 calories of chicken breast is 2 SmartPoints and a 150 calorie Skinny Cow ice cream cone is 8 Smart Points (and you only get 30 points a day), there's something wrong.

    They so drastically penalize sugar and fats that the program is stupid now. In my opinion, they're setting you up to fail...to cheat, to binge because of how they've structured the new plan.

    I'm lifetime. I still go to meetings every week and weigh in once a month, but I calorie count, and I enjoy my Skinny Cow ice cream cones now. I need the accountability of having to get on a scale once a month and be under a certain weight, but I don't need their plan anymore.

    I canceled my WW plan this morning and wrote them a long letter saying essentially what you said, that the new plan was basically a waiting game until I binged and a discouragement from exercising. I can't believe how badly they messed up what was once a good program. I hope they change it back or go bankrupt :P

    At least now I've finally found something that works!!!

    They set my "fit points" at 120 a week! And I couldn't eat any of them! 30 points a day, 27 weeklies, and I couldn't consume any fit points, yet had to do the equivalent of 12k steps a day AND an hour long spin class 5 days a week to meet their goal. Sometimes my 30 points a day was under 1000 calories (with 2 fruits and 5 veggie servings), and I wasn't losing any more weight. I'm betting I crippled my metabolism exercising so much and eating so little. I've spent the last month working on "fixing" that...eating more (1420-1600 calories a day) while maintaining a reasonable exercise routine. I've watched my weight bounce around several pounds, and finally am starting to see a downward trend again.

    Points Plus taught me how to eat, there are some really good recipes on the WW website, and I learned portion control (or at least that I need to weigh my food to be sure of portions). The program has some merit, and people with LOTS to lose who are not active seem to be doing well on the new SmartPoints program, probably because they have enough points to burn to have that 8 point ice cream cone and still eat 3 meals.

    And you're absolutely right. They took a "lifestyle change" and turned it into a diet. And as we all know, diets fail.
  • sadiepie05
    sadiepie05 Posts: 52 Member
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    I liked WW back in the day. I lost over 60 pounds with the old momentum plan back in 09. Their new program set me on a binge cycle. I think I'm just way to active to be eating so little. Even when I as on plan perfectly, I was only eating around 1200 calories. Points plus, in my opinion, wasn't any good either. I can't do the low carb thing though, which is what it was. In the end it's what works best for you. I have 30ish pounds to lose and am doing just fine on MFP. I found a good routine that works for me and my binge issues have vanished!
  • angelaypolite
    angelaypolite Posts: 63 Member
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    I do both. I agree with the comments about how WW is turning toward low carb, sweets are very high in points, ect. But, in my opinion, I like the structure that WW has. I've been doing MFP on and off for years, lost and gained. With WW, the program steers you in a better direction with choosing what you eat. I don't feel hungry, most of the time, and when I want something sweet or a glass of wine, I need to plan for it. I also agree that the amount of calories you get (around 1200) isn't alot, but again, it depends on what type of calories they are.
    I do like how they give you alot of activity points, I use a Fitbit, and I have it synced up, it encourages me to workout. So, I guess it's a personal preference. I use MFP to see my total calories/macros, so I have an idea of how many I'm eating.
  • saintshoc
    saintshoc Posts: 29 Member
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    Really depends what works for you. I calorie count and that works for me while my partner uses ww and that works for her.
  • songbird13291
    songbird13291 Posts: 120 Member
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    I was very happy with Weight Watchers when I was doing Points Plus. When they switched to Smart Points last year, I quit. Until the switch, the WW plan always felt sustainable. The new plan feels like a diet. I quit WW in December and started calorie counting here at MFP. A few weeks ago I decided I needed to shake things up, and I switched back to WW/Points Plus, which I track on iTrackBites. But I'm still tracking calories here.

    I find that there's a real correlation between calories and points when you follow Points Plus, but there's no correlation between calories and Smart Points.
  • NancyYale
    NancyYale Posts: 171 Member
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    I lost 105 of my 110 pounds on WW. It's not that different than calorie counting really. They just calculate that for you behind the scenes and assign a SP value to food items. The current plan places a rediculously high SP penalty to all sugar laden foods and most carbs though. For some folks that was a HUGE issue. The plan works, though. But so does MFP.
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I lost weight on WW in my 20s, but at 35 I rejoined and ended up not losing anything. It made me feel really frustrated to be so limited in what I could eat on the new SmartPoints system. I would eat something that would be very low calorie, but due to how WW calculates their points, it would cost me 8 points out of a grand total of only 26 per day. On MFP I can eat an abundance of foods and feel satisfied whilst also losing weight.

    ETA: I just saw someone mentioned that they shut down the community. Even though my membership lapsed, I still occasionally sought inspiration from people on the message forums. It saddens me that WW seems to be gearing more toward keeping people overweight and without a support network (besides paying for a diet coach or group meeting) and discouraging people from making balanced choices and giving them tools like learning and motivation from your peers.
  • angelaypolite
    angelaypolite Posts: 63 Member
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    JennGardner1 wrote: »
    I lost weight on WW in my 20s, but at 35 I rejoined and ended up not losing anything. It made me feel really frustrated to be so limited in what I could eat on the new SmartPoints system. I would eat something that would be very low calorie, but due to how WW calculates their points, it would cost me 8 points out of a grand total of only 26 per day. On MFP I can eat an abundance of foods and feel satisfied whilst also losing weight.

    ETA: I just saw someone mentioned that they shut down the community. Even though my membership lapsed, I still occasionally sought inspiration from people on the message forums. It saddens me that WW seems to be gearing more toward keeping people overweight and without a support network (besides paying for a diet coach or group meeting) and discouraging people from making balanced choices and giving them tools like learning and motivation from your peers.

    They have a new thing called Connect, that replaced the community. I haven't figured it out yet, but I never really used the community anyway, I like MFP better for that.
    https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/m/cms/article/how-use-connect
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
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    angelaypolite wrote: »
    They have a new thing called Connect, that replaced the community. I haven't figured it out yet, but I never really used the community anyway, I like MFP better for that.
    https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/m/cms/article/how-use-connect

    It's only for paying members, which is a bummer for people who just wanted to hang around the boards for support. Fortunately, MFP boards are free and far more active :)

  • joearcabascio
    joearcabascio Posts: 7 Member
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    Im curently on ww and loving it! So easy to follow and im never hungry. Sure sugar is not worth the points but fruit is free! The accountability is a plus for me. I started ww feb. 1 at 317lbs and currently 252.
  • theratdh
    theratdh Posts: 5 Member
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    I used to be such a ww advocate, but I can't stand the new smart points system. It's not a lifestyle change because if you eat even one brownie then you practically have to skip a meal to avoid going over the points.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
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    To me, Weight Watchers seems more complicated than just calorie counting. My sister did it a few years ago, though, and lost quite a lot of weight. Basically, she stopped drinking sugary drinks (which she was having a lot of before), dramatically reduced her starch intake and dramatically increased her vegetable intake (since they were "free"). Not surprising, really, since those add up to a significant drop in caloric intake.

    I lost 40 pounds calorie counting many years ago. Unfortunately, I stopped counting when I got married and put on a lot of weight though my two pregnancies. But I've started over and it's working. To me, it's the most straightforward way to lose weight. This time, I'll just have to keep counting once I get to maintenance.
  • minniestar55
    minniestar55 Posts: 346 Member
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    I lost on WW Pro Points (UK); found it easy to use, was not hungry, loved the leader in local meetings, meetings were great. Got to & under my goal weight with little trouble. Maintained for several years, still tracking food, but leader quit & other meetings I found were not fun nor inspiring, & not welcoming to gold members. I quit tracking, weight crept back up to goal weight...had put 10 lbs back on. Just laziness & complacency. Had been paying for online tracking all those years, last Nov, signed up here, did this & WW in tandem; this was easier & free. P,us WW was changing the program, over complicating it. So quit WW...have lost 29 lbs & happy as heck.
  • selina884
    selina884 Posts: 826 Member
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    I think MFP requires alot more discipline than WW.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    What you are asking is which method to create a calorie deficit will work for you. The answer is which ever one you can stick with for the long term. Only you can decide that.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    How does WW points work when you are cooking from your own recipes? How do you get the points values? How hard is it to calculate points for your own recipes, vs. calculating calories on recipes?
  • alyssa0061
    alyssa0061 Posts: 652 Member
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    savithny wrote: »
    How does WW points work when you are cooking from your own recipes? How do you get the points values? How hard is it to calculate points for your own recipes, vs. calculating calories on recipes?

    They have a recipe builder very similar to MFP. Each food is assigned a point value. When you enter your recipe ingredients and their quantities it calculates and averages the points for you.

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