If you have switched from Weight Watchers to calorie counting only, what made you switch?
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I lost my interest in WW after a leader suggested I was lying about my exercise in front of the whole meeting. I told him I earned 170 Fitpoints per week and he told me that was impossible because the app would cut me off (huh?) and I should never use Fitpoints. I got tired of throwing money at the new program, which caused me to gain snd have trouble with Maintenance. I made goal on the old program. I count calories one week and lose. Every time I count Points I see a gain. I also felt I was restricted, felt guilty everytime I ate a high point but low calorie food, and at times just eating food I didn't need (and going over my calories) just to make 30 pts.
Best thing for me is that calorie info is easy to find- on packages, menus, online. With Points you need the app, and pray that it works!2 -
Well calorie counting is free and also WW is too judgy. Especially the Smart Points. Points Plus wasn't so bad, but SP e.g. make alcohol a huge no and I'm an adult who can make decisions of my own. I really feel like they made it less sustainable with the new points.3
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newheavensearth wrote: »I lost my interest in WW after a leader suggested I was lying about my exercise in front of the whole meeting. I told him I earned 170 Fitpoints per week and he told me that was impossible because the app would cut me off (huh?) and I should never use Fitpoints.
Appalling. I'm sorry that happened to you.
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I switched about 2 years ago. My main motivation in switching was $$$$. That, and I wanted something I could easily do for the rest of my life and MFP fit the bill.2
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newheavensearth wrote: »I lost my interest in WW after a leader suggested I was lying about my exercise in front of the whole meeting. I told him I earned 170 Fitpoints per week and he told me that was impossible because the app would cut me off (huh?) and I should never use Fitpoints.
Appalling. I'm sorry that happened to you.
Thank you
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I've been a lifetime member of WW for decades and used WW, as well as other programs, several times to lose significant amounts of weight. I've always regained, and probably always will to some extent.
I tried the new program last year for a short time. It reminded me too much of the 1980's style of unhealthily restrictive eating and I could feel some of my habits from old eating disorders returning. It was also way too low calorie to be healthy, under 1000 or even 800 on most days for me depending on the foods I chose. I prefer to eat higher in fat than now works with WW current plan which kept my calories super low. I've spent too many years learning how to eat properly for my body and overcoming some really sick food habits to want to return to that. I think they've destroyed what was for decades consistently the most successful program available. Past changes to the program have always been improvements. This was not in any way an improvement.7 -
I had a good WW group in the 90s and enjoyed it. Back then it served a purpose which is partially moot now that there are free calorie counting sites like MFP. For people who like external accountability and the (hopefully) camaraderie of meetings, and can afford it, I would recommend WW.3
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I did WW back in 2013 and successfully lost ~22lbs on the PointsPlus system. However, once I started eating the non-diet versions of foods (bread, cheese, yogurt, you get the idea) I gained it all back +15lbs of "love weight".
After switching back to MFP April 2016 I've lost 46 lbs - and have not gained any of it back. I maintained for a good 4 months during grad school but my monthly weigh-ins with my nutritionist never went up. I was eating regular, whole foods for about 8 months then switched to a lower fat diet 3 months ago for health reasons which is suiting me better. Still have not gained and am actively losing weight month-to-month.
My two-cents: counting calories and eating whole foods has worked far better for me in the long run than WW & their processed foods ever did.5 -
I found that I would hoard points through out the day just so I could have something sweet after dinner. This ended up not working well for me. With calorie counting, I can eat normally, and still have a treat in the evening.5
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7 years ago I did really well on the Points Plus program, so when I needed to lose 10 lbs I decided to try WW again. The new Smart Points program just plain sucks. I was starving all the time. When I tracked in WW and MFP I was only eating about 1100 calories a day if I stayed within my daily points. I always need to eat a protien/fat with my fruits and veggies or else my blood sugar drops within an hour and I couldn't "afford" to. Calorie counting gives me more freedom to eat what is right for me rather than what WW judges as "good" food.2
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Agree with other posters. WW ruined a good thing by switching to a food police program that requires you to eat healthy foods or else you starve for the day. Lost weight with it years ago but after trying over and over on the newer points, it just did not work for my lifestyle. Too bad they lost their way from weight loss because it was a fantastic program for many years.2
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tinkerbellang83 wrote: »If any of you are interested in the wedly accountability thing I've a weekly weigh in group here http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/118368-friday-weigh-ins-2017
Although it's called Friday weigh ins, the thread is open all week in case people have another preferred weigh in day and I have a progress thread in which I post stats for the month - Weight/Target Weight and Total Lost/Maintained/Gained.
I wish there was a biweekly group
sad lol 0 -
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For me, it was simple. I like the concept of Weight Watchers, but they don't have the option to import a recipe in the recipe builder like MFP. I don't have time to sit there and input all the ingredients of a recipe each time. I'd like to simply be able to import it from a website and have the ingredients populate. I can't believe they haven't added this feature yet!3
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Verity1111 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »If any of you are interested in the wedly accountability thing I've a weekly weigh in group here http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/118368-friday-weigh-ins-2017
Although it's called Friday weigh ins, the thread is open all week in case people have another preferred weigh in day and I have a progress thread in which I post stats for the month - Weight/Target Weight and Total Lost/Maintained/Gained.
I wish there was a biweekly group sad lol
@verity1111 You are more than welcome to post twice in a week, it's whatever suits. I weigh in daily, but only post up my Friday weight.3 -
MFP is free.4
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I did points a few times - never paying (I don't pay people to tell me I'm fat
) but using my mum's guides and buying a calculator online. I lost weight, but it was not sustainable because WW portions are so tiny you need loads of free foods to fill you up, then once you get back to "normal" eating BAM it all piles back.
I've lost 3 stone on MFP, put back a couple of lbs because I looked too old and scrawny and maintained (with an odd few holiday lbs) now since Jan 2014. If I put on a lb or two I just scale back the calories til I'm back to goal weight. I weigh pasta, cereal etc and have logged for over 1500 days continuously. WW doesn't really give you any support programme as far as I know once you've reached goal - probably because people stop paying!4 -
starfruit132 wrote: »Agree with other posters. WW ruined a good thing by switching to a food police program that requires you to eat healthy foods or else you starve for the day. Lost weight with it years ago but after trying over and over on the newer points, it just did not work for my lifestyle. Too bad they lost their way from weight loss because it was a fantastic program for many years.
I agree the Points Plus was a great program. Now they will no longer discuss it in meetings. Smart points was way too restrictive. I don't know what made them go in that direction.1 -
I have done WW for years and MFP for years. In my opinion, a perfect blend of the two programs would be staying in your calorie allotment while only eating whole, unprocessed, sugar free foods.2
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Agreed. That is why I had to leave WW. Just saying that if you were choosing between the two programs, there is essentially a way to do both.1
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Thanks so much everyone (and I will of course continue to read replies left here). I have been tracking both my calories and WW points since Monday. So far, I am over my WW points each day while staying below 1,700 calories. Today, I am at 700 calories so far, but I have just 8 WW points left before dinner. :-/1
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aschroeder2749 wrote: »For me, it was simple. I like the concept of Weight Watchers, but they don't have the option to import a recipe in the recipe builder like MFP. I don't have time to sit there and input all the ingredients of a recipe each time. I'd like to simply be able to import it from a website and have the ingredients populate. I can't believe they haven't added this feature yet!
It certainly is ironic that a FREE app is WAY better, technologically speaking, than a program people through millions at each year.
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I've lost weight on WW (early 2000s) and MFP.
Left WW and will never go back because
-the MFP app is superior to WW tracking in any form.
- WW meetings did not help me. As other posters have said WW/meetings/attendees seemed obsessed with low point synthetic food. The coping strategies they suggested always tended to plan ahead and restrain yourself rather than earn some big activity points, eat well the rest of the day, earn activity points the next day while eating very well, etc. They removed the joy from food and eating in social settings.
-THE COST!!!!!
I think free access to great online tools has made WW irrelevant for all the but the few who find meetings supportive.2 -
I did WW for a month with the new points system.
I felt like I was beginning to go back to my old negative relationship with food. I felt that by giving points to food, they were in effect labeling foods good and bad. The fact that my morning granola bar was 7 pts. (180 calories) and two bananas were 0 points (about 180 calories) just didn't make sense to me. It also felt so restrictive, I cannot imagine eating like that for the rest of my life.
I ate so much fruit, because they were no points , that I had to leave work one day because eating all that fruit caught up to me! I profusely apologized to the custodian, as I left the building naked from the waist down (thank god I was wearing a dress!).1 -
I lost quite a bit of weight with Weight Watchers over 10 years' ago. It worked in that I lost the weight pretty quickly. However, it didn't encourage me to eat whole foods or look at ways to sustainably live healthily. It seemed more interested in me buying their "food" - processed low fat things like WW ready meals and sweets. I never felt satisfied as I was eating a lot of low fat junk that fitted into my points.
Once I reached my goal weight, I started to put the weight back on and eventually ended up bigger than my start weight in the end. This happened to nearly everyone I knew in the group. There were quite a few who were serial members of WW - they would join, drop weight, put it on again, rejoin etc. A never-ending cycle as they never learned to transform the process from a diet to a lifestyle change. This is pretty much how WW makes their money - after all, if everyone kept the weight off, that's would be seriously bad for business, wouldn't it?!
For me, keeping track of what I eat on MFP, while eating proper food and a good balance of nutrients, as well as a bit of junk when I really fancy it (and take it into account on MFP), works much better. Weight loss is not as quick, but it fits into my lifestyle - not just a diet that mentally comes to an end when I hit my goal!
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WW is too restrictive and I wasn't losing weight on it anyway. I didn't like using up a half day's points on a bagel! MFP has a great database, and I find it much easier to count the calories. I do try to eat a balanced diet and watch my portion sizes.1
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I successfully lost weight with WW quite a few years ago - probably around 1999/2000. At that time, it was all about '0' point foods, which included both vegetables and fruits. In theory, that's fine, but the reality for me was that I learned to eat copious amounts of those foods and, guess what, I slowly gained about half of the weight lost over the past 15 years. They may have 0 points, but those foods definitely have calories.
During those 15 years, I did go back to WW several times but, as others have mentioned, found the program too restrictive. As well, the meetings in the community I live in all depend on one leader (occasional subs for vacation, etc.), so no choice. That leader really hasn't changed/updated meeting style in the 20 years that I've participated. And, as others have also mentioned, the meetings are all about how to work the program to 'allow' one to 'have' a facsimile of a restricted food. Subtle, but so much emphasis on good/bad, allow/punish, etc.
Much happier with the MFP and CICO, eat whatever I want within my calorie bank. I have come a long way in terms of being honest & accurate with my food logging, accepting weight fluctuations and committing to this lifestyle.
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