Weight Watchers vs. MyFitnessPal

samanthacread

I am stuck between wanting to do MFP or WW..anyone have any success stories with using MFP over ww?

NovusDies

samanthacread wrote: »

I am stuck between wanting to do MFP or WW..anyone have any success stories with using MFP over ww?

Many will say yes. If you ask the same question on a WW board many of them will say they had success with WW over MFP.

Success is not transferable and what works for one is no indication it will work for another. All weight loss requires a calorie deficit there are different avenues for making that happen. They all require eating less total food energy though.

The main reason to try MFP first is that it doesn't require you to spend any money. It does, however, require you to invest time and energy. If you do try it you should give it 6 weeks as an experiment. Weight loss is often masked by other weight fluctuations so it can take a few weeks for it to show up on the bathroom scale.

momnafit

i've done ww and it was easy a few years ago. every food had points. now it's a lot more complicated. i tried it again a year ago and didn't lose any. the meetings were great for motivation. they have great apps. but it just didn't work for me. MFP is a lot easier. everything has calories. that's what counts anyway. calories in vs calories out. i started MFP in january and i've lost 10 lbs so far. i'm losing slow but that's ok. i can eat a cookie and not feel like i've blown it. i know in advance that will slow me down a little. no problem. i have good days and i have bad days. i'm walking and getting more exercise and i'm not stressed over everything i'm eating. i use map my fitness so it tracks my exercise and syncs with mfp. with mfp i can go back and see what i've been eating and i don't think the ww app keeps an historical record so no going back last month to see what i had that day. ww works for a lot of people and it's worked for me in the past. but now i prefer MFP. i would take NovusDies advice and try it for 6 weeks. Don't try to lose it fast. don't go too low on your calories or you'll wind up sick and tired of it. physically and mentally. this is a life long process. just accept it and get more exercise and eat fewer calories and make your calories count. it works.

jlittle_85

I did 3 months with WW and lost 13 kg (28lbs ??) which was great - but I stuck to the program religiously and was 100% committed. I signed up again for a further 3 months but found my head wasn't in the right space, and I essentially wasted that 3 months of $$ paying for something I wasn't utilising. It's very much about the food choices, and not so much about the calories - I think perhaps counting calaroies is more "basic" and easy to understand, but that might just be personal opinion!
Perhaps give MFP a try first, being free - and if you get nothing out of it, try WW?

Ikeeptrying2

As I know it...
- WW is an eating plan designed to restrict your calories.
- MFP requires more input from yourself to learn your own calorie balance (in and out) to lose and maintain (hopefully).

In my opinion the benefit of MFP is the learning element which allows for sustainable maintenance.

Both (if done honestly/accurately) can lead to weight loss and maintenance.

nareykay

I have tried WW many times, and I always come back to MFP. I always have more success with MFP. I think WW gives me too much freedom with zero point foods. WW gave me too many calories and I wouldn’t lose as well as I do just counting calories. With MFP, everything has calories.... so I don’t overeat.

Vanilla_Lattes

I find it the opposite, weight watchers is a lot more restricting because they highly penalize food they determine "bad" on their plan. You can't log a donut as 190 calories and move on, a donut would be my entire day of points. In that way, I think calorie counting leads to easier maintenance for every day life, but WW teaches you to maximize healthy foods in your diet. Neither is bad or wrong, but they are completely different (other than eating at a calorie deficit). Also, the free foods are NOT free for all foods. You're supposed to still limit them. There are three plans now. One has points for all foods items and you get the most daily points, the other two have more or less free foods and your daily points are lowered, theoretically to allow for the free foods.