Weight watchers

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jillyjelly
jillyjelly Posts: 148 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there, I was wandering if anyone who was in thie Weight Watcher program, how did you like it?
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  • dawson002
    dawson002 Posts: 170 Member
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    My wife and I are following it but I have mixed feelings.

    I have 32 points a day and I really struggle to eat that much so it seems i'm eating more just to try and reach that many points....surely if I'm not hungry I shouldn't eat!!
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    there seem to be a lot of people on MFP who have done WW (some more than once) and do it either in conjunction with MFP or MFP has become a follow-on.

    In my experience (never done, but have had many friends who have) - seems that the points work for some folks and others not - I also don't understand the not counting points for vegetables - because even those have calories...and they can add up
  • xoalexaCxo
    xoalexaCxo Posts: 9 Member
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    Hi,

    I did WW twice. I lost weight the first time and it was amazing then I fell off the wagon and gained a good portion of it back. The 2nd time I tried it I didn't really like the new layout they had for the website, it wasn't very user friendly. I did the website only and didn't go to meeting or anything. I found that I was wasting my money paying monthly. I feel that just using MFP alone works great and it's free unless you purchase the premium. I am paying closer attention to the calories, protein, sodium etc. rather than just going by WW points. This I feel will help me more in the long run because it's giving me the tools to understand better what I am putting into my body. If you are really curious about WW you can always try the free trial and see how you like it. Just make sure once the trial is up that you cancel it if you don't like it or it will keep charging you.

    I hope this helps out. :)
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    The points would be no different then the calories, the problem with WW points is they give you points so far below what you actually need to encourage people to eat the "free" foods more, but just like on MFP, it can be hard to hit the proper goal if you only eat low calorie foods without a mixture of calorie dense foods to help bring the calories up

    The points are even worse now..........once upon a time points = calories.

    But now WW wants to steer you away from certain foods by making them worth a large number of points......sugar for example. If I want to eat something with sugar in it, then I guess 900 calories should be enough for me (?).

    There are people leaving in droves, I'm not sure if Oprah's ads are picking up enough newbies to compensate.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/holistic-or-horrifying-not-everyone-loves-weight-watchers-new-program/2015/12/24/ce96cf38-a97f-11e5-8058-480b572b4aae_story.html?utm_term=.a211dda26045
  • kermax39
    kermax39 Posts: 149 Member
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    Iv signed up online for a month after losing 50lbs on mfp, I kept gaining and losing the same 7lbs since last October so felt I needed something different to challenge me. Lost 5lbs my first week and two this week so its going well. I stilll track everything on here though but as im not a big fruit or veg fan (fruit and veg is free) iv found my 30 daily points often only equate to 1100 cals....no wonder im losing weight....but I am making better food choices as generally bad food is too high in points to spread the points evenly throughout the day. I am forcinng myself to eat fruit to get my calories upto at least 1200.
    Iv only got another 14lbs to lose so this seems to b working
  • missmagnoliablossom
    missmagnoliablossom Posts: 240 Member
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    I liked it - about three-four program changes ago. I lost about 85 pounds, but I also figured out how to "cheat" the system to get the most bang for my buck, points-wise. Since points can have a range of calories, you can easily end up over-eating. Did I put it all back on? You bet. And they brought some friends.

    Honestly? I just prefer calorie-counting. It feels like much more of a real-world/sustainable solution. And even better - it's free! :)
  • andrea4736
    andrea4736 Posts: 211 Member
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    I liked it in the beginning but then I couldn't lose the last 15 pounds AT ALL. When I switched over to calorie counting and tracked for a few days, I was basically eating at maintenance because of the "free" foods. I feel like (in my opinion) WW works better for people who have more to lose. Plus I hated how it gave me a mentality that there were "bad" foods. It wasn't healthy for my psyche at all.
  • jaymijones
    jaymijones Posts: 171 Member
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    I've done weight watchers twice. Once on the second or possible third iteration of the program and once on the newer from 2011? pointsplus program. I heard they changed things up again since last time I left.

    The first time I managed to lose 25 of my 30lb goal, I got pregnant again before I reached my goal, and when I came back and saw that they had changed it, I thought it could only be better. It took me 6 months to lose 10lbs and 8 of those were in the first three months. I wanted to lose 30lbs, I really. tried, but for some reason it wasn't working for me. I even switched from the online program to going to the meetings, and after months of watching the same two pounds come and go I decided it was time to find something else.

    Some things I liked about weightwatchers. I liked the concept of weekly points, and exercise points that could be earned one day and used later in the week. It's a concept I still use. I liked a few of the bloggers on the community, and I was very sad when the most recent website revamp made it so I couldn't keep up with them without a subscription.

    What I didn't like. As much as I liked the weekly/exercise points I found that if I had a rough day one day and didn't track then I felt like my whole week was ruined and I would give up and stop tracking for the rest of the week, and since I wasn't tracking I would decide I could take a break till my week started over and eat whatever I wanted. I was starting over all the time. I think that had more to do with my own compulsions than the program itself, but why pay for something that in the end just wasn't a good fit?

    Since MFP and other tracking apps like it only track day to day I find it much easier to stick with it long term. If I have a busy/bad/hard day instead to derailing my whole week, I just start fresh the next day and don't get frustrated that my "weekly" calories are now off.

    I've had two more babies since giving up of weight watchers and have had baby weight to lose both times. I have used both My Plate, and now MFP. I have favorite things about both apps, but finally settle on MFP and I suspect this is where I'll stay.
  • c50blvdbabe
    c50blvdbabe Posts: 213 Member
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    I've done it twice before and made it to Lifetime. Momentum worked best for me. PointsPlus didn't work at all as I ended up gaining the weight I lost and never could make it back to goal. I too began to get frustrated with the meetings as I found people waxing poetic about how they cheat the system with their foods and then get frustrated about losing/gaining the same weight over and over again (ya think).

    I love MFP so much better as I see members looking at the holistic approach with the different message boards. If you feel you need the in-person communication, go for it. If you don't and can do online, I say stick with MFP and save that money for new clothes, hairdos, etc.
  • jaymijones
    jaymijones Posts: 171 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Wait! They took away exercise points? That's dumb! What's the point of exercise then. Way to go WW! Teaching people to obsess over the scale numbers, and ignore all other aspects of health, they just keep getting worse! Of course their customers are leaving in droves!
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    so do you get more points to start off with, if they have removed the bonus exercise points? or do they just assume you don't eat back those calories
  • jaymijones
    jaymijones Posts: 171 Member
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    annacole94 wrote: »
    jaymijones wrote: »
    Wait! The took away exercise points? That's dumb! What's the point of exercise then. Way to go WW! Teaching people to obsess over the scale numbers, and ignore all other aspects of health, they just keep getting worse! Of course their customers are leaving in droves!
    Oh, you're still supposed to exercise... but you don't get to eat more if you do.

    The point of exercise is calories for wine.

    Well, and health and sanity and strength. But calories for wine is probably #1 on my list right now. And that's ok.

    Seriously, I exercise so I can eat more, I claim it's because I want all the other health benefits, and I do want those! But really it's so I can eat more.

    I wasn't planning to go back to WW ever, but now it's a sure thing. No bonus for exercise? Where is the motivation to do it?

  • missmagnoliablossom
    missmagnoliablossom Posts: 240 Member
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    annacole94 wrote: »
    jaymijones wrote: »
    Wait! The took away exercise points? That's dumb! What's the point of exercise then. Way to go WW! Teaching people to obsess over the scale numbers, and ignore all other aspects of health, they just keep getting worse! Of course their customers are leaving in droves!

    The point of exercise is calories for wine.

    Preach.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    jaymijones wrote: »
    annacole94 wrote: »
    jaymijones wrote: »
    Wait! The took away exercise points? That's dumb! What's the point of exercise then. Way to go WW! Teaching people to obsess over the scale numbers, and ignore all other aspects of health, they just keep getting worse! Of course their customers are leaving in droves!
    Oh, you're still supposed to exercise... but you don't get to eat more if you do.

    The point of exercise is calories for wine.

    Well, and health and sanity and strength. But calories for wine is probably #1 on my list right now. And that's ok.

    Seriously, I exercise so I can eat more, I claim it's because I want all the other health benefits, and I do want those! But really it's so I can eat more.

    I wasn't planning to go back to WW ever, but now it's a sure thing. No bonus for exercise? Where is the motivation to do it?

    From responses to the Washington Post article above there is a way to add activity points.....WW is sort of discouraging that because they don't make it easy. But if you connect with web support, they can show you how to use activity points before your weekly points.
  • NinaSharp
    NinaSharp Posts: 101 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    so do you get more points to start off with, if they have removed the bonus exercise points? or do they just assume you don't eat back those calories

    You get the points for excercise, but they tell you weirdly enough not to eat those.

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