Has Weight Watchers gone insane?
glassyo
Posts: 7,756 Member
I haven't done WW in years but I like to keep up with their program changes and on the new Freestyle program, protein sources and some starchy vegetables are now 0 point foods? Do they realize how many extra calories a day their members can injest on just chicken and peas alone?
I kind of want to bust into a meeting and ask, "WTF??"
I kind of want to bust into a meeting and ask, "WTF??"
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Replies
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Free fruit derailed me when they started that and my leader constantly drilled into our heads that “no one ever got fat from eating bananas!” Fresh pineapple and watermelon sure did me in!! I’ve been struggling since. Finally happened upon Keto this summer and am losing slowly and fairly steadily. It’s sort of the anti-WW. Going to the meeting to say goodbye and good luck to my friends.26
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I've been saying it from the beginning.. Lol..
They want members to fail. It's a business model.. You can't make money without people who want to lose. Giving them a program that gives some success but they begin to struggle with then quit.. and having those same people return thinking it was their fault it didn't work is the perfect loop of forever flow of income.
They keep changeing the plan to make themselves seem fresh and current with the so many fad diets and weight loss media garbage making people believe in pointless things like meal timing and vinegar and detox drinks and cleanses
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I agree all foods should be tracked but you have to eat a lot of watermelons and pineapples to gain weight! They are not exactly calorie dense foods.17
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suzannesimmons3 wrote: »
IMO it is not WW's fault if someone believes a whole pineapple is 0 points. When I did WW's, we were told to consider serving sizes. We were also told to do approximately 2 fruits and 3 veggie at 0. I realize not all WW leaders are the same, and this was back in 2012.8 -
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But who eats a whole pineapple? I love it, but that's a lot of food.36
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People think of Whole Foods as too much food because they're not looking at the abstract concept
People go... Who eats a whole pineapple but the point is is that nobody is sitting down and eating a whole pineapple it's the fact that they are eating their meals on top of consuming a pineapple 450 calories of pineapple whether it's spread out over one day or two days or 3 days is still going to take up a nice chunk of your deficit if the pineapple is not just going to be a meal and is being considered a free food that doesn't count as anything37 -
HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »People think of Whole Foods as too much food because they're not looking at the abstract concept
People go... Who eats a whole pineapple but the point is is that nobody is sitting down and eating a whole pineapple it's the fact that they are eating their meals on top of consuming a pineapple 450 calories of pineapple whether it's spread out over one day or two days or 3 days is still going to take up a nice chunk of your deficit if the pineapple is not just going to be a meal and is being considered a free food that doesn't count as anything
I get your point, and I left WW's so I don't want to spend a lot of time defending them
. When I did WW's, with the number of points I got, I was only eating 900 to 1200 calories, depending ony choices. They recommended 2 fruit servings and 3 veggie servings, I assume to round out calorie intake and encourage fruit and veggie intake. At that time, starchy veggies cost points. And we were never encouraged to just eat a bunch of fruit. That may not be true for all WW groups. 3 -
I just ate 150 cals worth of pineapple. Of I add 100 cals of watermelon that shrinks my deficit from 750 to 500 cals a day in a snap. Say I thought they were free foods. If I were trying to eat at maintenance every day and thought these were zero point snack I would actually be gaining weight. Maybe not QUICKLY but still gaining. 250 cal surplus every day of pineapple and watermelon. Aaaaaand that’s how it makes you fat.38
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I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back17
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MsHarryWinston wrote: »I just ate 150 cals worth of pineapple. Of I add 100 cals of watermelon that shrinks my deficit from 750 to 500 cals a day in a snap. Say I thought they were free foods. If I were trying to eat at maintenance every day and thought these were zero point snack I would actually be gaining weight. Maybe not QUICKLY but still gaining. 250 cal surplus every day of pineapple and watermelon. Aaaaaand that’s how it makes you fat.
But you can't compare mfp method to WW like that. Mfp is designed so that you track everything. With WW, the points are pretty dang restrictive, especially if you make what they consider to be "poor" choices. The assumption is that the free food encourage fruit and veggie intake.
I did both for a month, and clearly preferred mfp. This will be my last post on this, because I've heard the newer system is even more restrictive, and I would prefer people use mfp.10 -
suzannesimmons3 wrote: »spiriteagle99 wrote: »But who eats a whole pineapple? I love it, but that's a lot of food.
How do you think people get fat???
As caloric as pineapple is, the number of people who have become overweight from overdoing it is not large. Same goes for the number of people who have become overweight from eating bananas or potatoes or chicken breasts. Frying, adding sauces or butter, etc. move those items out of the zero points category.
I don't see the big deal here. MFP's program does encourage calorie counting but it's not the only way to lose weight. Simply focusing on eating more fruits, veggies, lean meats, etc. rather than what is traditionally considered "junk food" can go a long way toward helping a person to lose weight. The fact that it doesn't work for everybody doesn't mean that it is wrong.19 -
Years ago I worked at U-Weight Loss. Long before I knew better but quit when I realized how predatory and horrible they are. Anyway councilors had to be on the program. Ugh it triggered my ED (that I thought I was over) so badly! Weigh ins SUCKED. One day I mentioned that my time of month could bloat me up to 10lbs because i carry water weight like crazy. My boss said that she was glad I said something because I had been about to get a “talking to” for gaining so much weight so quickly and obviously lying about my food logging. *eyeroll*HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back
While not WW, I have seen the inside of the weightloss big business beast and it is SCARY. Those people have sold their souls. I had people come into the “clinic” and tell me they couldn’t pay their RENT because of the cost of the program , and I was still supposed to convince them that $300 worth of protein powder and multi-vitamins were more important than paying their bills and the only way to succeed.
I quit so fast!
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HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back
We didn't do that. We had stations, and your weigh in was private. No one knew whether you lost or gained.4 -
I must of been young at the time, perhaps in jr high school... I was very over weight and stores only went to a size 13 for pretty much all clothing. I don't think plus size stores were very common then either, like they are now. So at the time, i was squeezing into the pants that barely covered my butt crack or went up over my love handles and i would compensate that by tying my jacket around my waist.
so at this weight watchers they have 4 stations, none of them were private and you stood in the lobby with a ton of people and they weighed you, since i couldn't leave the jacket around my waist, i had to stand in front of everyone with those pants that barely fit showing my butt cheeks. Very mortifying at that age.. i suppose now i wouldn't care LOL im older and can joke about that stuff, but i had no self esteem back then12 -
suzannesimmons3 wrote: »spiriteagle99 wrote: »But who eats a whole pineapple? I love it, but that's a lot of food.
How do you think people get fat???
Maybe it's a blessing that, while I can enjoy pineapple in moderation, too much gives me cankers, then.12 -
In response to the pineapple/watermelon remarks -
I did not eat a whole pineapple in one sitting but those fruits became my “go to” foods if I was hungry between meals. So my blood sugar would shoot in and then crash and I would be hungry again, so, more fruit. The leader KNEW what I was doing and never once suggested limiting my portions. Since the new list of free foods says “no need to weigh, measure, or track” these foods, unless a leader adds “in moderation,” it sounds like a free for all!
Thank you, @MrsHarryWinston! My point exactly!
@HellYeahItsKriss My WW location in Illinois has a separate room for weigh in. That was nice. It should be private. Maybe the idea is to humiliate us into sticking with it.
@Dnarules I got the new info this morning. I’m going to continue to track on MFP but also going to try to track in their tracker - continuing to eat Keto. I’m curious how many points I’m eating in their plan. I bet a bunch! And I’m losing every week. 20# since mid-July.10 -
I just plain hate fruit all together lololol5
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quiltingjaine wrote: »In response to the pineapple/watermelon remarks -
I did not eat a whole pineapple in one sitting but those fruits became my “go to” foods if I was hungry between meals. So my blood sugar would shoot in and then crash and I would be hungry again, so, more fruit. The leader KNEW what I was doing and never once suggested limiting my portions. Since the new list of free foods says “no need to weigh, measure, or track” these foods, unless a leader adds “in moderation,” it sounds like a free for all!
Thank you, @MrsHarryWinston! My point exactly!
@HellYeahItsKriss My WW location in Illinois has a separate room for weigh in. That was nice. It should be private. Maybe the idea is to humiliate us into sticking with it.
@Dnarules I got the new info this morning. I’m going to continue to track on MFP but also going to try to track in their tracker - continuing to eat Keto. I’m curious how many points I’m eating in their plan. I bet a bunch! And I’m losing every week. 20# since mid-July.
That would be interesting to track while on keto WW points really demonize fat.3 -
Maybe.. they could of changed a lot since then... if i was maybe 14-15 at that time and i am 31 now, a lot could of changed with their weigh in methods..
That being said, nova scotia sucks for everything... when i was younger i joined a boys and girls club and these clubs are supposed to be for kids to have after school activities until their parents got off work.. the commercials often show them with nice facilities with tons of sports equipment and activities... however mine.. was a one room box with a tiny side room with nothing in each room except chairs.. the boys often brought their own hockey stuff and took up the main room to play and the rest of us were stuck in the small cubby hole off to the side. lol..0 -
HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back
We didn't do that. We had stations, and your weigh in was private. No one knew whether you lost or gained.
Unfortunately some areas -- or anyway, some weighers -- don't abide by that. I was well past my teens and that could be pretty unnerving.1 -
HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back
We didn't do that. We had stations, and your weigh in was private. No one knew whether you lost or gained.
Unfortunately some areas -- or anyway, some weighers -- don't abide by that. I was well past my teens and that could be pretty unnerving.
Oh, I agree. I probably would have quit sooner if that had been the case. My point was just they are not all the same.1 -
The fact that they say “no measuring or tracking” the new free foods is a little concerning. They did lower the daily points though. I don’t know, calories are still calories and I think lean proteins should be counted. That’s just me though.5
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HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back
We didn't do that. We had stations, and your weigh in was private. No one knew whether you lost or gained.
I did WW when i was a teenager,my grandmother took me. We did weigh ins behind a screen when we showed up. If you showed up late and the meeting had already started you got weighed in after. no one knew anything unless you told them.0 -
HellYeahItsKriss wrote: »I tried Weight Watchers once and that public weigh in where you stand in front of everybody like your waiting at the gates to get scanned at an airport was enough to mortify me at the age of whatever teenage age I was at when I joined for me to never go back
We didn't do that. We had stations, and your weigh in was private. No one knew whether you lost or gained.
I did WW when i was a teenager,my grandmother took me. We did weigh ins behind a screen when we showed up. If you showed up late and the meeting had already started you got weighed in after. no one knew anything unless you told them.
When we went, you weighed in the open, but the screen with the weight on it was right in front of the recorder and they didn't say it out loud - just wrote it down1 -
I plan to try the new program, but also continue to track here as a way to make sure I’m not overdoing the ‘free” foods. I think of it as a way to direct me towards healthier choices.7
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I'm trying the new program as a free Lifetime member. Day one went smooth. I ate a ham and cheese wrap with grapes for breakfast. Chow mein, half egg roll, more grapes, and fried rice for lunch. Dinner will be grilled chicken, corn, broccoli (the "zero point foods") and Halo Top for dinner. Still within my points. Used half my exercise calories, so I'm still at a deficit too. Everything was weighed. I don't care if it's zero I will always weigh, measure, and log it. What I do notice is that I don't feel guilty for my food choices though. Lunch would have made me feel like garbage on the Smart Points debacle.3
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