Weight watchers vs calorie tracking

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piano515
piano515 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone have advice and experience that fitness pal worked better than weight watchers?
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  • MeganCannon
    MeganCannon Posts: 29 Member
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    Fitness pal works better for me because it is cheaper and in a lot of ways easier.
    I have had a long history with weight watchers that contributed to my patterns of disordered eating. I believe that the program is moving away from the "tips and tricks" nature of the program though.
    (for the record I am talking about in person weight watchers meetings and no the app)
  • Missbright14
    Missbright14 Posts: 57 Member
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    My fitness pal for me. Did weightwatchers for years of and off and it got the point where it didn't fit my life any more. When they changed it the last time. I just couldn't stick to it
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    With MFP I've wondered how WW stays in business. WW was developed using a simplified point system as calorie counting was too hard to track. With the evolution of smart phones this has made this a moot point.

  • socioseguro
    socioseguro Posts: 1,679 Member
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    MFP is free
  • Philtex
    Philtex Posts: 962 Member
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    cross2bear wrote: »
    My Fitness Pal - its free, and I was never into public humiliation or group therapy sessions like WW

    Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with WW, but to be fair WW is not about 'public humiliation'. I joined WW in 2011 and have never seen or felt anything like that. Maybe you had a bad leader. There might have been other reasons you felt that way, but no sense going into that here.

    To piano515, I had great success under WW's Points Plus program. I am maintaining under my goal weight, so I can't speak to losing under their current program or under MFP. Use whatever plan you can commit to, stick with and it gives you tools for gradual weight loss that you can carry forward into maintenance. Good luck!
  • MizKittyB
    MizKittyB Posts: 47 Member
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    I've found that dual-tracking with both seems to help. MFP is for the exact numbers, WW is for nudging my eating choices toward healthier-for-me options (Point system). I mean, I can track 500 calories of cake on both, but here it's just calories and carbs, whereas on WW it means I have to give up a lot more of my daily/weekly Points than, say, 500 calories of chicken and veggies. So one gives me hard data, the other directs my choices.

    I have found in the past that WW is not as supportive/useful for those who are looking to recomp instead of lose weight, though. Perhaps that's changed with the latest iteration of the WW system, though.

    All in all, it's whatever works best for you.
  • MizKittyB
    MizKittyB Posts: 47 Member
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    I've found that dual-tracking with both seems to help. MFP is for the exact numbers, WW is for nudging my eating choices toward healthier-for-me options (Point system). I mean, I can track 500 calories of cake on both, but here it's just calories and carbs, whereas on WW it means I have to give up a lot more of my daily/weekly Points than, say, 500 calories of chicken and veggies. So one gives me hard data, the other directs my choices.

    I have found in the past that WW is not as supportive/useful for those who are looking to recomp instead of lose weight, though. Perhaps that's changed with the latest iteration of the WW system, though.

    All in all, it's whatever works best for you.
  • MizKittyB
    MizKittyB Posts: 47 Member
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    I've found that dual-tracking with both seems to help. MFP is for the exact numbers, WW is for nudging my eating choices toward healthier-for-me options (Point system). I mean, I can track 500 calories of cake on both, but here it's just calories and carbs, whereas on WW it means I have to give up a lot more of my daily/weekly Points than, say, 500 calories of chicken and veggies. So one gives me hard data, the other directs my choices.

    I have found in the past that WW is not as supportive/useful for those who are looking to recomp instead of lose weight, though. Perhaps that's changed with the latest iteration of the WW system, though.

    All in all, it's whatever works best for you.
  • mari5466
    mari5466 Posts: 137 Member
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    I was a WW lifetimer. I personally would choose MFP but I am a very disciplined person. If you don't feel like you can be truly accountable to your self then try going to the meetings. If you can then MFP is for you. I like the flexibility and it's not very complicated to use such as calculating points.
  • Philtex
    Philtex Posts: 962 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    Um, the people who like WW better generally are not here, they're on the WW site. ;)

    WW discontinued their boards. There are some WW folks here on MFP now, including the group "Guys on a Diet (GOAD)'.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    The newest ww plan is extremely restrictive. I liked ww in the past but the newest plan doesn't work at all for me. It should also be noted they completely change their plan every few years so that is another clue it doesn't work for long term. I liked the meetings a lot but I had a great leader - there was no public humiliation but it wasn't worth the money to not lose any weight with their over restrictive program.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    IIFYM (basically myfitnesspal + tracking macros). Plus nutritious food and exercise.
  • mysteps2beauty
    mysteps2beauty Posts: 493 Member
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    Ten years ago, I lost 40 lbs. on WW. I had never dieted before so I needed the accountability, and of course MFP was not born yet. Right now I am staying with MFP, because it's cheaper, and more convenient. A challenge to get meetings. I did like their little treats. Gave you the point value so no calculating. Do they still have frozen foods? I I hear Oprah's halo effect is wearing off, and their stock is going down because of apps like MFP.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
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    They've both worked fine for me. The difference is that calorie counting is free.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Can someone please explain to me how the weight watchers points work? Does WW have a food data base like MFP, but instead of calories being assigned to food, it has points?
    What if i choose to eat a homemade chocolate cake, how are points assigned to this, how does WW know which ingredients i used and at what measurements? What if i want to track macros, can this be done with WW.

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