Why I left Weight Watchers new "Freestyle" Program
Replies
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So far the weight is wooshing off, but then again Smart Points sucked for me. I have been sticking to my deficit pretty well. I am still weighing, measuring and tracking everything. Today was tricky because I left my planned meals home in a hurry and had to rely on calories, no points, no list. But I made the best of it. Still made a deficit. I just felt unstructured in my eating.4
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I just ended my membership because of their new Freestyle program. I was genuinely upset about it. I would keep with the meetings but why pay to listen to ppl talk about a plan that doesn't pertain to my journey. I loved Smartpoints Beyond the Scale, and plan on paper tracking as well as calorie tracking.
I don't think it's right they changed my plan in the middle of my membership month. I didn't pay for the Freestyle plan.
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The cost has really gotten to me. It is $35 a month online. That is a lot of money! I was on the verge of joining again because I am a bit of a sucker for the new programs. However, I held off as I remembered my last membership. Everyone was making muffins in a mug and piling them with fruit and sugar free syrup, then packets of processed food. I recall trying to stay in my points for one day and after 8 days of going over my points, I gave up. I also tracked those days on MFP and a few of the days I ‘failed’ I consumed about 1400 calories. Forget about olive oil and healthy fats - you have no points for that. I am on mfp now and just eating 3 solid meals a day to a total of 1300 - 1400 cals with high protein and minimal sugar. Seems better to me and free!17
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Wow that list of -0- foods is going to do me no good - so I will stick with this and stay accountable to my friends - which yes I need friends - both here and in real life, but that is fat happy girl problem
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I also cancelled my membership today. I have been thinking about it for a while and tried and tested the new plan and have not had any success. A lot of people have left as per the post on connect. MFP is the way forward. We can do this.6
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Do they ask for feedback when you leave. I've always been curious.1
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I’ve always thought mfp is better. It’s more logical. It’s straight calories in vs calories out which is the science behind weight loss or gain. Plus it’s free.5
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Well they have caviar on the list - where do I sign up haha!!1
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I did weight watcher back when they were on points plus. When the only free things were fruits and veg. I left once they moved to smart points because it seemed like the punishment for carbs was kind of drastic. Foods I used to eat for 4 points suddenly became 11. It was too much of an adjustment to get used to.
I think they are moving more toward general better eating tools for people who have very poor diets. I get what they're doing and it has it's place but won't work for most.
If you eat nothing but takeout, pizza, wings and soda and decide to join weightwatchers you likely will lose weight and learn to eat better. Regardless of the amount of free food you eat. It's no longer a place for people looking to lose 5-20 pounds. It's a learning tool, meant to be used for losing 50+ pounds.
If you're someone who already eats all the foods regularly on their new list you're already past the point of needing their guidance.20 -
While I liked WW when I did it in the 90s, I don't see the point now that there are free resources like MFP.
I suppose the accountability of a public weigh in could be helpful for some, however.7 -
Change is hard, but did you did not give it a try for even a couple weeks.
I will see what my results are after a month, at least.
2013-2015 I lost 105# on WW Points Plus Value Plan.
2016-2017 I lost 80# on Smart Points
My first WI onFreestyle I was down -1.6
I will meet my GW soon by continuing to eat healthy and exercise. The BASICS of CICO are not going to change. Whatever program helps people to eat healthy , exercise and enjoy life should be the one they follow.
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I left weight watchers too. I tried the freestyle plan for 2 weeks and gained weight. Happy to have some structure with MFP and already back to losing weight!8
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Jimb376mfp wrote: »Change is hard, but did you did not give it a try for even a couple weeks.
I will see what my results are after a month, at least.
2013-2015 I lost 105# on WW Points Plus Value Plan.
2016-2017 I lost 80# on Smart Points
My first WI onFreestyle I was down -1.6
I will meet my GW soon by continuing to eat healthy and exercise. The BASICS of CICO are not going to change. Whatever program helps people to eat healthy , exercise and enjoy life should be the one they follow.
@Jimb376mfp Do you eat a lot/some of the free foods?1 -
This is my experiencie with WW:
I am a Lifetime member for 9 years, meaning I don't pay a cent because I got to my goal AND I'm maintaining, I've seen many changes, some I like better than others and what I've learned is that at the end of the day, just like with cals you have to find your own formula, is NOT one size fits all and I know that IF I use common sense IT WORKS
And before you ask I track cals once in a while just to watch my Macros...
Good luck getting to your goals!!!4 -
If you still have connect you can see my meals (fann28) I don't starve or abuse fruit or eat everything from the freestyle list, I enjoy fast food very often and I love my carbs I include them in every meal...My weight is at the middle of the BMI I lost 48 lbs 2
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Christine_72 wrote: »Jimb376mfp wrote: »Change is hard, but did you did not give it a try for even a couple weeks.
I will see what my results are after a month, at least.
2013-2015 I lost 105# on WW Points Plus Value Plan.
2016-2017 I lost 80# on Smart Points
My first WI onFreestyle I was down -1.6
I will meet my GW soon by continuing to eat healthy and exercise. The BASICS of CICO are not going to change. Whatever program helps people to eat healthy , exercise and enjoy life should be the one they follow.
@Jimb376mfp Do you eat a lot/some of the free foods?
@Christine_72,
I’m on day 12 of the new plan so not much data yet. Hard boiled eggs and chicken breasts have always been two of my Go TOs so I will continue to eat them.
I did make some chili with LOTS of beans and ground turkey. I’ll see how that affects my WI. (Concerned about sodium)
Today I bought a large container of FF Greek yogurt to use in lieu of Oikos Triple Zero yogurt I have been eating.
I have not reviewed the Zero Point list yet but I will to see if there is anything I would try.
After following two different WW Plans ( PPV and Smart Points) over the past five years I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Why would they roll out a product that does NOT work? They ( WW Inc) are in this to make money, if they fail at selling the program then they will lose customers.
I will follow the Plan, Eat Zero Point foods IN MODERATION. Try some new (healthy) choices and see how I do after a month.
I know there is no Magic Plan, no easy way to lose weight, but anything that helps my manage my CICO Process is worth trying.
CICO is a “Simple” process to understand, use more calories than you consume over a long period of time,
BUT it is NOT an “ Easy” process to understand, implement, and continue to do 24/7/365!
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I HATE Weight Watchers Freestyle program! I was doing well on Smart Points and losing weight. Freestyle is too restrictive. Since it is so restrictive I find myself running out of points mid day. Since I run out of points so early in the day I just go ahead and blow off the rest of the day. This is causing me to eat more than I did on Smart Points.
Weight Watchers should have given members an option to stay on Smart Points or switch to Freestyle. If I don't get the hang of this within the next week or two I will have to quit WW for fear of GAINING weight.15 -
The problem is, not everyone understands CICO. People who have used WW without understanding the reasoning behind the points system have a higher chance of failing when the system changes.
For example, I was sitting at the grocery store cafe a couple weeks ago grabbing a quick dinner. I overheard the lady at the table over talking about how WW changed the program. Her exact words, "I can eat all the chicken and eggs I want now. I could eat tons of that." She then proceeded to polish off an entire roasted, rotisserie chicken. Granted, I have no idea what she ate earlier or what she will eat later.9 -
Wow, their zero point list constitutes more than half, probably even two thirds, of my current calories. I would do horribly on it if I didn't count these. Dates? Dates are on the list? Whoever thought that was a good idea? They're very easy to overeat. A random snack of 5 dates has more than 300 calories and I've been known to eat 4x that in one setting if given free rein. Interesting how one program can be horrible for someone because it causes them to undereat, and horrible for another because it causes them to overeat. A program is bad if only a subset of people whose preferences are just right can do it.7
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Wow, their zero point list constitutes more than half, probably even two thirds, of my current calories. I would do horribly on it if I didn't count these. Dates? Dates are on the list? Whoever thought that was a good idea? They're very easy to overeat. A random snack of 5 dates has more than 300 calories and I've been known to eat 4x that in one setting if given free rein. Interesting how one program can be horrible for someone because it causes them to undereat, and horrible for another because it causes them to overeat. A program is bad if only a subset of people whose preferences are just right can do it.
NO dates are NOT on the list!
About 4SP (smart points) each, I get 23 SP a day...Have you ever been a WW member??? Please read my post above
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Wow, their zero point list constitutes more than half, probably even two thirds, of my current calories. I would do horribly on it if I didn't count these. Dates? Dates are on the list? Whoever thought that was a good idea? They're very easy to overeat. A random snack of 5 dates has more than 300 calories and I've been known to eat 4x that in one setting if given free rein. Interesting how one program can be horrible for someone because it causes them to undereat, and horrible for another because it causes them to overeat. A program is bad if only a subset of people whose preferences are just right can do it.
NO dates are NOT on the list!
About 4SP (smart points) each, I get 23 SP a day...Have you ever been a WW member??? Please read my post above
No, I have never done WW (jumped straight for calories). I was going by the list posted by Nony_Mouse, 200 zero point foods under the new freestyle system. Thing is, "being reasonable" doesn't work for some because things that are seemingly reasonable can be deceiving. 5 dates looks like a reasonable snack. You're not shoveling in the entire box or eating what looks like obscene amounts of food. But that's 300+ calories, not something that can be eaten without awareness. Now if you decide to have a snack twice, as people sometimes reasonably do, we're talking about something seemingly innocent being the difference between losing and gaining.
It's great the program works for you, it's just too error prone to work for me. The relationship between calories and foods eaten is inconsistent, creating inconsistent results and frustrations for some.12 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »Wow, their zero point list constitutes more than half, probably even two thirds, of my current calories. I would do horribly on it if I didn't count these. Dates? Dates are on the list? Whoever thought that was a good idea? They're very easy to overeat. A random snack of 5 dates has more than 300 calories and I've been known to eat 4x that in one setting if given free rein. Interesting how one program can be horrible for someone because it causes them to undereat, and horrible for another because it causes them to overeat. A program is bad if only a subset of people whose preferences are just right can do it.
NO dates are NOT on the list!
About 4SP (smart points) each, I get 23 SP a day...Have you ever been a WW member??? Please read my post above
I can't find the list on the website (probably because they restrict some materials for members-only), but according to this list, dates are a zero point food on the new plan: http://balancingtoday.com/complete-weight-watchers-freestyle-zero-points-food-list/8 -
[/quote]
I can't find the list on the website (probably because they restrict some materials for members-only), but according to this list, dates are a zero point food on the new plan: http://balancingtoday.com/complete-weight-watchers-freestyle-zero-points-food-list/[/quote]
Fresh Dates are 0 the green/hard kind, have you ever tried one
I see how not overeating is involved there, but you got a point...It's not for everybody...For me I can say that I'm a WW success story
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Thanks, everyone! I really enjoyed reading about that 200 zero-point list and downloaded it. Oh my, fruit cocktail? Corn? BEANS, any?? Those were absolute no-no's the last time I actually lost weight on a diet ("Quick Weight Loss"). Just one egg has 70 cal., people!! I lost all respect for WW when I read the list. "Lobster" just about tops the insane choices. If I ate nothing but some of the foods on this list I could gain 10 lbs. in a month. Easily.
The first time I joined WW they just got away from having to eat fish 5x a week, and that was a controlled portion every time. We kept a diary sheet and wrote "LEGAL!" on every day we stayed under our goal. And we lost weight! Ah well, that was in the pre-computer stone ages, 1980. When the new year rolled around they allowed peanut butter as one of the fat choices. A teaspoon full.7 -
I left it a while ago, I loved it 10 years ago but what are the200 foods they now have added? Also, why not just do the smart points program since you have the info? I didn't like smart points because with the old program I could look at a food and tell the points plus too many points for carbohydrates.
Hi There -
You can't really do any old programs once they change it because everything is done on the WW app now. I guess I could still do it and be a -7 everyday but that would mess with my head seeing the - everyday. WW has changed so much if you haven't been on it in 10 years you would be in for a major change going back. The 200 food list I am sure you can google it "zero point food list" and find an image.
look into the app itrackbites 2 -
I can't find the list on the website (probably because they restrict some materials for members-only), but according to this list, dates are a zero point food on the new plan: http://balancingtoday.com/complete-weight-watchers-freestyle-zero-points-food-list/[/quote]
Fresh Dates are 0 the green/hard kind, have you ever tried one
I see how not overeating is involved there, but you got a point...It's not for everybody...For me I can say that I'm a WW success story
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I admire your passion, but this new program has been out for a few weeks at most. I'm a former WW success story too, but they changed things into insensibility.11
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