Mfp vs weight watchers

traceyroy54
traceyroy54 Posts: 89 Member
in Getting Started
[HAS ANYONE DONE BOTH OR COMPARED THEM.?

Which is better?

Replies

  • albertaro
    albertaro Posts: 9 Member
    I am doing WW but also tracking on mfp to really see what the carbs are. Some things are interesting. I like to make the comparison to learn better about which foods are high carbs even though they are low points.
  • robin153
    robin153 Posts: 14 Member
    I have just switched and started my own journal here. W W is a very program to build habits to track and eat healthier but I stopped losing weight.I ate too much. We will see how it goes on MFP.
  • debrakgoogins
    debrakgoogins Posts: 2,033 Member
    My best friend has lost 75 pounds over the past 18 months using WW exclusively. It has worked very well for her. It is free through her company and they have medical discount incentives for losing weight and reducing their blood pressure. I have been very successful using MFP. I think it makes a difference what your personal goals are.
  • FitAndLean_5738
    FitAndLean_5738 Posts: 90 Member
    What's the difference between WW and MFP? Don't they both track calories?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    I've had success with MFP, and kept the weight off.
    My DIL is currently doing WW, if I was able to eat all the so called 'free' foods, I know I would not be maintaining my weight but gaining. I feel it will work well for her until she get closer to her goal weight and then I have a feeling it wont - because as any of us long term MFP users know, its all about the Calories in < calories out.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
    I've lost weight with WW in the past but always put it back and more, as it takes me too low calorie to be sustainable longer term, so once I reached goal the bad habits came back too quickly (and "free foods" can be dangerous!). Whereas on MFP I've lost weight and kept (most of) it off for over 5 years - occasionally a few extra lbs creep on, so I just cut back my calories and up the exercise until its back where I need to be. I rarely qweigh now but measure every couple of weeks, then if the inches creep up that's when I weigh myself and reduce the calories.
    I still log all food and drink (using a food scale of course) and use all exercise calories if not on that day then at the weekend.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    MFP is free.Why pay?
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
    That too ;) I've only done WW using my mum's discarded WW guidelinesas I don't need to pay someone to tell me I eat too much.
  • robin153
    robin153 Posts: 14 Member
    And I think it is a helpful program to learn new habits. I tend to navigate towards "free foods" but many of these foods are calorie rich.
  • trylb18
    trylb18 Posts: 1 Member
    Hello everyone. I am doing WW, but I think it is time to double track for a while. I have no idea the calories of what I am eating and I think that is the reason for my slowwwww loss. Do any of you know if there is a way to import a recipe you have in the WW app to MFP and have it calculate it into calories? Thanks
  • rsj7799
    rsj7799 Posts: 74 Member
    I am a WW member (lifetime) but I prefer to track on this app. I think the primary value of WW is the meetings and weekly weigh-ins. Many people like the WW connect social app which is far more positive and active than the forums here (although you will hear a ton of nonsense diet theories there).

    TBH the freestyle system (and the "zero point" foods) doesn't make a lot of sense to many people without the group leader explaining how to use it as intended. Having said that I know countless people who have successfully lost weight on the freestyle program.

    The irony is people getting closer to goal complain about only losing .5 to 1 pound a week on WW, then they come here and every one tells them to set MFP to "a safe sustainable weight loss of .5 to 1 pound a week."

    The big problem with WW is it costs money. Then again people tend to take things more seriously when they pay for it. I find being a lifetime member very motivating because I refuse to give them another 15 bucks for not being under goal lol.

    As for keeping weight off long term, if you stop watching what you eat you will probably gain weight. This is true of any program including MFP.
  • rsj7799
    rsj7799 Posts: 74 Member
    trylb18 wrote: »
    Hello everyone. I am doing WW, but I think it is time to double track for a while. I have no idea the calories of what I am eating and I think that is the reason for my slowwwww loss. Do any of you know if there is a way to import a recipe you have in the WW app to MFP and have it calculate it into calories? Thanks

    There is a recipe builder feature in MFP just like in the WW app. You will need to enter all the ingredients again separately though. There is no auto-conversion feature or anything like that.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    FitAndLean_5738 wrote: »
    What's the difference between WW and MFP? Don't they both track calories?

    Not exactly. MFP tracks calories, WW tracks points which loosely represent calories, but not always. Free foods have calories, but they aren't tracked. Some lower calorie items have higher points because they don't fit their definition of healthy. Basically, on WW you could be overeating, undereating, or being in an appropriate calorie deficit and not know exactly what you're doing until you establish a weight trend, and even that can change if something changes about the way you eat. MFP is what you see is what you get. No hidden calculations or free/bloated points foods.
  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
    mazdauk wrote: »
    That too ;) I've only done WW using my mum's discarded WW guidelinesas I don't need to pay someone to tell me I eat too much.

    made me laugh.....sooo true!
  • Lift_Run_Eat
    Lift_Run_Eat Posts: 986 Member
    I did WW a few times since it was free through work and they came to the office.
    They did nothing to teach me how to eat healthy. They might have talked about how to read a label a few times, but mostly they talked about their food products and recipes.

    Nothing about developing sustainable lifelong habits.
  • sheloves89
    sheloves89 Posts: 88 Member
    The conspiracy theorist in me has trouble trusting weight loss programs that have a subscription associated with them, as it is in their financial interest for your weight loss to fail, or to at least take a really long time. MFP's subscription unlocks additional perks that may make tracking more convenient, but doesn't really alter the functionality of the base program.

    But people have success to varying degrees on both, and at the end of the day, either is just a tool - it's up to you how you use it and how to make it work for you. If one strikes you as being more useful to work in to your daily routine than the other, by all means, use that one. =)
  • Dandylines
    Dandylines Posts: 18 Member
    I bought the hype and thought it really might be different now. I found I was looking at a screen designed for a 7 year old who likes to read picture books. No way to make screen smaller (tech help said). Very slow to scroll down if putting in dinner meal. Also data base is slow and inadequate compared to this data base. Glad I got a 3 mos. special - I will be gone, gone, gone in 3 mos.
  • mackfoo
    mackfoo Posts: 28 Member
    edited March 2019
    rsj7799 wrote: »
    trylb18 wrote: »
    Hello everyone. I am doing WW, but I think it is time to double track for a while. I have no idea the calories of what I am eating and I think that is the reason for my slowwwww loss. Do any of you know if there is a way to import a recipe you have in the WW app to MFP and have it calculate it into calories? Thanks

    There is a recipe builder feature in MFP just like in the WW app. You will need to enter all the ingredients again separately though. There is no auto-conversion feature or anything like that.

    There's an 'import recipe' feature on MFP. You just give it the web page with the recipe, and it sucks it up and calculates the calories. You do have to double check the ingredients though. Sometimes it picks up something weird, like 1000 calories of parsley or something...

    I've used it with Blue Apron for years..
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    WW is too restrictive when people do not have a lot of weight to use, it's sort of like training wheels in that it's great for many to start with but eventually the freedom is more the point than the hand holding. WW's points are set up to guide you to certain foods, counting your calories yourself puts the choices back with you.
  • 93058
    93058 Posts: 5 Member
    I just left WW. I started off losing weight then Free style hit I lost a little more. But I stopped losing and when that happens I get discouraged and start over eating again. So I decided I was wasting my money and decided to come here. With me saying that I learned a lot about food on WW and some good pointers that will help me with MFP.

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