My fitness pal vs weight watchers insight and inputs

Stingersquad1981

All, I am looking for input for those of you that have tried both MFP and weight watchers. Can you shed light on which features you think are best and most effective on each program?

drmrscyclist

Great question. I have done both. The main difference for me were W weekly meetings and weigh-ins, which offered a higher level of accountability. I learned great tools on WW, and might go back, but my time is at a premium now, so MFP allows me to track without the trappings of a structured weight loss program. I love how you learn about your patterns, recipes and hear collective stories about staying on the journey, but the WW program changes annually and it is expensive buying the new materials, unlearning the past Program, and trying the new Program. MFP has been consistent the whole time.

RodaRose

If you benefit from a weekly meeting of real life people, WW might be right for you.

SLLRunner

First of all, the way of eating that works best is the one that works for you. There is no right or wrong way of eating that will lead to weight loss because weight loss is about CICO.

I considered weight watchers at one time but it seemed too magical to eat by a points system, except for fruits and vegetables, which I could eat unlimited amounts of. Unlimited is never good for a person with an eating disordered past, so I chose a way of eating that provided more stability for me. This is when I decided, with the help of my gym trainer at the time, to learn calorie counting and moderation. I forgot it for awhile, gained some weight back, but for the last three years I have counted calories, logged, moderates and paid attention to CICO--except for vacations once a year, when I take calorie counting and exercise breaks.

Vacation ended yesterday, back to the my standard way of eating today.

mis1022

I learned a lot from weight watchers, having the meetings does help hold you accountable and getting some pats on the back in person really helps. Also seeing thin or average size people share their success stories in person really does give you that drive to keep going.

Other than that they are very similiar. Except MFP is FREE

rekite2000

I didn't like WW- even though they say no food is "bad", they make the points so high, it feels "bad". The meetings felt weird to me. And the app wasn't user friendly and not extensive. MFP just makes sense to my brain.

Queenmunchy

I lost all of my baby weight via ww (fruits weren't free, but non-starchy vegetables were) but tracked calories at the same time. Basically my ww days amounted to 18 points a day and about 1100 calories per day.

I wouldn't pay for it - I interpreted for another member and got a free account, but it's just a more complicated way of getting CI<CO

jkal1979

SLLRunner wrote: »

First of all, the way of eating that works best is the one that works for you. There is no right or wrong way of eating that will lead to weight loss because weight loss is about CICO.

I considered weight watchers at one time but it seemed too magical to eat by a points system, except for fruits and vegetables, which I could eat unlimited amounts of. Unlimited is never good for a person with an eating disordered past, so I chose a way of eating that provided more stability for me. This is when I decided, with the help of my gym trainer at the time, to learn calorie counting and moderation. I forgot it for awhile, gained some weight back, but for the last three years I have counted calories, logged, moderates and paid attention to CICO--except for vacations once a year, when I take calorie counting and exercise breaks.

Vacation ended yesterday, back to the my standard way of eating today.

I think this is where a lot of people (including people doing WW) get confused. Free fruit doesn't mean unlimited fruit. Unfortunately WW does a poor job of getting that across and it trips and stalls a lot of people up.