New and possibly switching from weight watchers

julieplummer875
julieplummer875 Posts: 6 Member
in Getting Started
Hi everyone! I’m new here. :) since December I’ve been doing weight watchers and have lost 33 lbs on that program. I enjoy it, but lately I’ve had a very hard time sticking to my daily points and I’ve been plateaued for about 6 weeks. I decided to try counting calories and watching macros to see if that would help me get these last 20lbs off.

Has anyone made the complete switch from weight watchers to MyFitnessPal and have been successful? So I’m liking this app way more than my weight watcher app.... just hoping I’ll get some better results (not to mention this is FREE).
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Replies

  • longbranch92
    longbranch92 Posts: 22 Member
    I lost 60lb on WW and I’m still an online member. I love the support on Connect. But I’ve hit a very long plateau so thought i would add something different to the mix. It’s only been a couple of weeks and so far it’s been good. I think there are several WW people who do both. Good luck on your journey!
  • julieplummer875
    julieplummer875 Posts: 6 Member
    @allisonlane161 yeah I initially dual tracked to compare.... it was pretty similar aside from days where I ate a bit more sugar. On my sweet tooth days it had me at a pretty big difference. If i stick to zero point and high protein it seems to be pretty similar though.

    Thank you for your insight! :)
  • GemstoneofHeart
    GemstoneofHeart Posts: 865 Member
    I really like the weight watchers recipes. They are usually tasty and low calorie and mostly easy to make. That’s the best part.
    Other than that, why pay for something that is rooted in calories any way? All weightloss is calorie deficit, so you can do that for free with this app and a modest investment in a food scale. Just my two cents!
  • julieplummer875
    julieplummer875 Posts: 6 Member
    @elizawho48 congrats on being down 30 lbs!!! Yeah I agree I think the calorie difference can be pretty huge between the two programs.... especially if you are working out! I’ve been plateaued on WW for 6 weeks myself.... one week tracking on here and I broke it by losing 1.2. I don’t think I was getting enough nutrition. I’m going to give it a couple more weeks before I fully quit, but I’m definitely leaning in that direction!

    @GemstoneofHeart I really like their recipes too.... but you can find a lot of WW recipes online now too so that’s not gonna hold me back! I already have a food scale and I’m likely going to make the complete switch myself. :)

  • Jennacita
    Jennacita Posts: 116 Member
    I just quit last week. I joined WW in Sept of 2017 and found success first time ever. I slowly lost 17 pounds but I was double tracking here the same time. I've used MFP since 2009 with little success, not because of MFP but because I was tracking but not keeping myself in a deficit. I think the accountability WW gives is priceless but sometimes a girl wants a treat without it being your entire day worth of points. I have 20 pounds more to go to reach WW lifetime. That could take me a lifetime, lol. So due to the expense part of it I decided to cut the cord. I'm team turtle. I lose slowly but as long as it stays gone I'm happy.
  • Sweetsfreak
    Sweetsfreak Posts: 1 Member
    Funny, I'm here for the same exact reason. I've been "on" and "off weight watchers many times. I lose 20 pounds, go off it, regain it, etc. The new program works but is very restrictive. I'm thinking I need a change.
  • cathyreames62
    cathyreames62 Posts: 8 Member
    Congratulations on the 30 lb loss.
    I did weight Watchers many years ago and lost a lot of weight and gained it back plus more. I find it to be a diet not a lifestyle. You need a lifestyle change in your food intake. A fitness tracker and an app like MFP is that in my opinion.
    Good luck with continued success.
    Cathy
  • Warriorprincess60
    Warriorprincess60 Posts: 9 Member
    I'm a gold member on ww but decided to make the change and join mfp because of the amount of bit*ching that goes on there. The New points system left me hungry most days.
  • changeconsumeme
    changeconsumeme Posts: 229 Member
    edited July 2018
    I did well on WW Smart Points. Lost 54 lbs. I had been struggling with staying within the points allotment, then my doctor told me I wasn’t eating enough good, healthy fat. I had always hated that WW shunned pretty much all fats and carbs by giving them higher points values. So, I quit WW and went it my own on MFP.

    I’ve always been on-off with MFP. I was stagnating a little on my own, so I tried to go back again to WW when they began Freestyle. I didn’t even last a week. Freestyle is TERRIBLE. How are you going to try to roll out a new program without any update to the science of why fat is not bad and carbs are okay, AND take points away from everyone? They thought that giving all of those free foods to you would give you more options, but there’s only so much of the free foods you can eat. Plus, you can’t just gorge on free foods and expect to lose weight! I saw so many posts on Connect about people not being able to lose and hating it. I doubled tracked here to figure out why I was so hungry all the time and saw that with all of the new point restrictions and even with all the free food, I wasn’t even netting 800 kcal a day! I quit again.

    Came back to MFP and stagnated again. I think I’m a person that needs structure. It’s too “free” to eat whatever I want. I tend to go over more frequently. I had slowly lost another 15 lbs in my own, gained 10 lbs, then did keto for a couple months. Lost those 10 lbs plus 6. I started an intensive workout program and realized I needed the glycogen to perform, so I quit keto to focus on timed nutrition and macros.

    I know there’s no real science behind meal timing, but it helps me focus on macros and getting enough of what I need so it works for me.

    TLDR: WW needs to hire some dietitians and rework the program entirely.
  • KelliCruikshank
    KelliCruikshank Posts: 3 Member
    allisonlane161 wrote: »
    As a side note, I occasionally track my day in WW just to compare to my calorie tracking here. Today, 1276 calories tracked here for the day, equates to 20 points in WW...some days it comes up 23, some a bit higher.
    allisonlane161 wrote: »
    As a side note, I occasionally track my day in WW just to compare to my calorie tracking here. Today, 1276 calories tracked here for the day, equates to 20 points in WW...some days it comes up 23, some a bit higher.
    allisonlane161 wrote: »
    As a side note, I occasionally track my day in WW just to compare to my calorie tracking here. Today, 1276 calories tracked here for the day, equates to 20 points in WW...some days it comes up 23, some a bit higher.

  • KelliCruikshank
    KelliCruikshank Posts: 3 Member
    I lost ten pound of the twenty five I wanted to lose on weight watchers then plateaued for five. Yes five. Months. So I came here.

    After my first week I randomly took a day and put everything in my ww app and it turned out to be 35 points!!! I am worried. That wasn’t including the banana and the orange I ate either as they were free.

    I am giving myself two weeks (which is next Friday) to weigh in. I am nervous. I just hope I didn’t gain.

    Five days left until weight in.

  • TeresaW1020
    TeresaW1020 Posts: 3,231 Member
    Hello! I was going to introduce myself but saw this thread and it fits perfectly with what I'm currently doing. I've been on Weight Watchers for over a year and a half and have lost 37 lbs. Honestly, I can't blame my lack of progress on WW! I have become very angry at myself and know that I have got to stop playing around and get this weight off!! So yesterday, I came back to MFP and plan to track my calories down to every single lick, bite, and nibble, including every 0 point WW food.

    I love my WW meeting! My leader and friends, there are awesome and I do think that the plan gears me towards a healthy lifestyle. But it does annoy me that they avoid talking about calories. I know that losing weight is mostly about calories in vs. calories out. I want a lifestyle that is sustainable so I plan to work both points and calories and see what I come up with. :)
  • jtomm2005
    jtomm2005 Posts: 17 Member
    Started on WW in Jan 2016 list as much as 62 pounds by August last year enter Freestyle and found its not for me

    Just started here over the weekend I’m tracking both ways to do a lengthy comparison but am already seeing something that may be part of my issue which was something I suspected when they changed.

    Not dissing WW I wouldn’t be where I was without it but with my recent experience /findings I’m having a hard time convincing myself to go back

    Please any of you on this thread are welcome to add me look forward to hearing your experiences

  • blujp
    blujp Posts: 30 Member
    I did WW when I was in high school (I remember having to track everything in a booklet lmao). I just signed back up recently - I'm still planning on using MFP tracking and maybe not be as faithful to the WW points but I think I just need the accountability of going to meetings and having a coach or whatever, because I'm super bad at sticking to tracking (I lost 60lbs a few years ago using MFP and it all came back 😭).
  • Disneymom70
    Disneymom70 Posts: 2 Member
    I have debated WW & MFP all day and decided to try this since its free. The plan is to need new clothes soon so I will save my money for that.
  • Shepherdchris
    Shepherdchris Posts: 7 Member
    julieplummer875 wrote: »
    @swimmchick87 I agree with you! I mean I’ve loved weight watchers and the new freestyle program seemed/is pretty flexible with all the zero point foods.... but it KILLED me with the no sweets thing. When a candy bar is 11 points and you only get 23/day it makes you feel kind of deprived. So I started not tracking those foods because it made me feel guilty. Haha counterproductive I know... 🙄. 23 points left me feeling pretty hungry, especially on my work out days. I always went over and pretty soon just stopped tracking. 🙁 Miraculously in the 6 weeks of pretty much not tracking I’ve managed to stay the same weight. Now with this app I’m right back to tracking and it feels awesome! I had a candy bar this past week and still lost 1 lb with no shame! 😎 this app also seems WAY less glitchy too. :) I also already use a good scale so it’s been a pretty smooth transition for me. :smile:

    Thank you for your insight!
    TessMickens wrote: »
    I haven't made the complete transition, only because I paid three months up front on a special and I'm going to get my money's worth out of it by going to all the meetings. But while I see people raving about it, Weight Watchers just isn't sustainable to me. I was dual tracking every day for the last 8 days and while I lose weight, my total calories for the day very rarely got above 1000. It was more often around the 700/800 mark and I was miserable. I was crying, and just plain temperamental because I wasn't giving my body what it needed.

    I did learn a couple things during the last week that I will take with me when I fully transition back to MFP, but not enough to consider spending more money than I already have. My relationship with food is complicated enough without being shamed for wanting some french fries, or a small coolata from Dunkin Donuts.

    I'll take solid calorie and nutrition facts over the abstract idea of allotted points any day.
    TessMickens wrote: »
    I haven't made the complete transition, only because I paid three months up front on a special and I'm going to get my money's worth out of it by going to all the meetings. But while I see people raving about it, Weight Watchers just isn't sustainable to me. I was dual tracking every day for the last 8 days and while I lose weight, my total calories for the day very rarely got above 1000. It was more often around the 700/800 mark and I was miserable. I was crying, and just plain temperamental because I wasn't giving my body what it needed.

    I did learn a couple things during the last week that I will take with me when I fully transition back to MFP, but not enough to consider spending more money than I already have. My relationship with food is complicated enough without being shamed for wanting some french fries, or a small coolata from Dunkin Donuts.

    I'll take solid calorie and nutrition facts over the abstract idea of allotted points any day.

  • Starbunny11
    Starbunny11 Posts: 12 Member
    I'm a current WW member and have been missing MFP a lot... WW is just so expensive (especially if you do the meetings). I like that skin-in-the-game feeling of paying for something and it upping my commitment level, but at the same time...I'm STARVING ALL THE TIME. I'm trying to fill up on fruit and zero point foods, but I'm still hungry. :(

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