Counting Calories Vs Counting WW Points
DonnasJourney0805
Posts: 75 Member
Which do you find most easiest... for sure I believe counting calories Is the most accountable.. Switching once and for all..
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Replies
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I did weight watchers years ago and lost 65 pounds. I didn’t regain any weight until I got pregnant. I decided to try mfp since it’s free and i honestly find it much easier than calculating and tracking points7
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Nbaker0909 wrote: »I did weight watchers years ago and lost 65 pounds. I didn’t regain any weight until I got pregnant. I decided to try mfp since it’s free and i honestly find it much easier than calculating and tracking points
I think I do too.. I still eat WW style... But I feel more accountable to calories. Counting everything..and no free food..5 -
I lost about 30 pounds on WW several years ago. Back then, it was the points plus program where 99% of the time, 1 point=40 calories. It took me awhile to figure that out. Before WW, I'd tried MFP several times and never stuck with it for more than a month or two. It took me forever to figure out that the difference with WW was that when I was heavier/starting out, they gave me a lot more points. On MFP I was always choosing "lose 2 pounds a week" and getting stuck with 1200 calories. WW allowed me to eat a lot more, and thus it was much easier to stick to. As I got thinner, I started really struggling on WW too. That's because at that point I was given the minimum number of points and was back to eating really low calories every day. Now that I understand all of this, I've found success with MFP setting my goal to lose only 1 pound per week, so I get a lot more calories and I don't feel like I'm white knuckling it.
I don't think the current WW system would work for me AT ALL. I understand that they're trying to push you to eat healthier foods, but I need to eat a mix of healthier things and treats every day to stay on track. The idea of "punishing" you for eating something like a small candy bar that easily fits into your calorie day makes no sense to me. That sets people up to fail and get into a cycle where they just say "I've already ruined it, might as well eat whatever I want today and get back on track tomorrow." That cycle was one of the biggest reasons I gained weight in the first place and it took me a really long time to break out of the black and white thinking. Although I do much better now, those thoughts still creep in sometimes.
It also just seems very imprecise with so many foods being "free" now (back on points plus, only fruits and veggies were "free"). I'd rather just know exactly how many calories I'm eating than try to guess at what is a good balance of "free" and "point" foods and hope for the best. I've also heard they no longer allow you to earn points for exercise/eat back any exercise calories- not totally sure if that's true because I haven't looked into it myself, but if so that's really setting a lot of people up for under eating and then falling off the wagon because they feel so deprived.21 -
Weight watchers is designed for repeat custom so it's not comparable to me. Counting calories and learning how to eat in a sustainable way is the only way for me to both lose the weight AND keep it off.13
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swimmchick87 wrote: »I lost about 30 pounds on WW several years ago. Back then, it was the points plus program where 99% of the time, 1 point=40 calories. It took me awhile to figure that out. Before WW, I'd tried MFP several times and never stuck with it for more than a month or two. It took me forever to figure out that the difference with WW was that when I was heavier/starting out, they gave me a lot more points. On MFP I was always choosing "lose 2 pounds a week" and getting stuck with 1200 calories. WW allowed me to eat a lot more, and thus it was much easier to stick to. As I got thinner, I started really struggling on WW too. That's because at that point I was given the minimum number of points and was back to eating really low calories every day. Now that I understand all of this, I've found success with MFP setting my goal to lose only 1 pound per week, so I get a lot more calories and I don't feel like I'm white knuckling it.
I don't think the current WW system would work for me AT ALL. I understand that they're trying to push you to eat healthier foods, but I need to eat a mix of healthier things and treats every day to stay on track. The idea of "punishing" you for eating something like a small candy bar that easily fits into your calorie day makes no sense to me. That sets people up to fail and get into a cycle where they just say "I've already ruined it, might as well eat whatever I want today and get back on track tomorrow." That cycle was one of the biggest reasons I gained weight in the first place and it took me a really long time to break out of the black and white thinking. Although I do much better now, those thoughts still creep in sometimes.
It also just seems very imprecise with so many foods being "free" now (back on points plus, only fruits and veggies were "free"). I'd rather just know exactly how many calories I'm eating than try to guess at what is a good balance of "free" and "point" foods and hope for the best. I've also heard they no longer allow you to earn points for exercise/eat back any exercise calories- not totally sure if that's true because I haven't looked into it myself, but if so that's really setting a lot of people up for under eating and then falling off the wagon because they feel so deprived.
That is exactly why I'm not doing it anymore. I was blowing through my points and only having like 1000 calories. They make you feel like your doing something wrong by eating half a avacado and making it 5 points... So you choose not to eat them. Then feel irritation..lol9 -
scarlett_k wrote: »Weight watchers is designed for repeat custom so it's not comparable to me. Counting calories and learning how to eat in a sustainable way is the only way for me to both lose the weight AND keep it off.
I'm finding that to be so true for me too..❣️2 -
I think it depends on the person. I like MFP and it works for me. My best friend lost 82 pounds on WW and has been successfully in maintenance for a year. Just do what works for you.4
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debrakgoogins wrote: »I think it depends on the person. I like MFP and it works for me. My best friend lost 82 pounds on WW and has been successfully in maintenance for a year. Just do what works for you.
That's exactly right.. I do love it.. But at this point of the last 15 lbs to go.. It's become difficult for me.. It has definitely helped a lot of people from better eating habits though.. That's great for your friend..0 -
I've had a quick look, and on all three colours, you can have unlimited grapefruit, grapes and strawberries. I love those.
A punnet of grapes is 330 calories. A punnet of strawberries is 120 calories. A fresh grapefruit is 126 calories, but a tin of grapefruit is 174 calories. Let's use the fresh calories for argument's sake. That's 576 calories.
With the blue and purple plans, you can also have unlimited eggs. I'll quite happily eat scrambled eggs without adding anything to the pan - just pure, scrambled eggs. No butter, no oil, no milk... just eggs. A large egg is about 90 calories. A three-egg scramble is 270 calories.
Add up my egg and fruit binge and you get to 846 calories.
If the lowest WW plan came to 1,200 calories - and that's a guess - add on 846 calories of free foods and you get to over 2,000 calories. I don't always burn over 2,000 calories a day. I would actually gain weight.
The trouble with any plan with unlimited free foods is that anyone who has put on signifiant amounts of weight probably really likes food, and will exploit any loophole to get more food if they think they can get away with it. Eating free foods doesn't teach you to be accountable to yourself, or to learn portion control.
It wouldn't work for me, that's for sure. I do know some people who have been very successful on WW (and kept the weight off) but this just wouldn't work for me. I love my food too much.11 -
thelastnightingale wrote: »I've had a quick look, and on all three colours, you can have unlimited grapefruit, grapes and strawberries. I love those.
A punnet of grapes is 330 calories. A punnet of strawberries is 120 calories. A fresh grapefruit is 126 calories, but a tin of grapefruit is 174 calories. Let's use the fresh calories for argument's sake. That's 576 calories.
With the blue and purple plans, you can also have unlimited eggs. I'll quite happily eat scrambled eggs without adding anything to the pan - just pure, scrambled eggs. No butter, no oil, no milk... just eggs. A large egg is about 90 calories. A three-egg scramble is 270 calories.
Add up my egg and fruit binge and you get to 846 calories.
If the lowest WW plan came to 1,200 calories - and that's a guess - add on 846 calories of free foods and you get to over 2,000 calories. I don't always burn over 2,000 calories a day. I would actually gain weight.
The trouble with any plan with unlimited free foods is that anyone who has put on signifiant amounts of weight probably really likes food, and will exploit any loophole to get more food if they think they can get away with it. Eating free foods doesn't teach you to be accountable to yourself, or to learn portion control.
It wouldn't work for me, that's for sure. I do know some people who have been very successful on WW (and kept the weight off) but this just wouldn't work for me. I love my food too much.
You are exactly right... That messes up aloof people in the long run. I always thought they should make one Serving free and then you have to count it if you eat more...5 -
There's a reason WW officially discourages the use of the term "free" foods.
But honestly, the problem isn't just with 0 point foods.
If I can have an extra 23 grams of something without spending an extra point, I will.
If I can have two servings of something and the points go from 2 points for one to 3 points for 2, I'm going to have the second serving.
Those calories add up fast and that's where my biggest problem is with WW.7 -
lissakristinej wrote: »There's a reason WW officially discourages the use of the term "free" foods.
But honestly, the problem isn't just with 0 point foods.
If I can have an extra 23 grams of something without spending an extra point, I will.
If I can have two servings of something and the points go from 2 points for one to 3 points for 2, I'm going to have the second serving.
Those calories add up fast and that's where my biggest problem is with WW.
I get that totally... I need the accountability of counting calories.. In this part of my journey..0 -
Without calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than one uses) there will be no weight loss. Counting points, avoiding certain foods, etc. may work, but it's the calorie deficit that causes the weight loss. Being simple-minded I have to keep processes basic, and counting calories is about as basic as it can get.Eat Less
Eat Better
Move More6 -
I only very very briefly looked into doing WW years ago and to me it just felt like more complicated calorie counting. The whole point system just seemed more complicated than counting calories so I passed on WW. If it works for someone that’s great though.7
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thelastnightingale wrote: »I've had a quick look, and on all three colours, you can have unlimited grapefruit, grapes and strawberries. I love those.
A punnet of grapes is 330 calories. A punnet of strawberries is 120 calories. A fresh grapefruit is 126 calories, but a tin of grapefruit is 174 calories. Let's use the fresh calories for argument's sake. That's 576 calories.
With the blue and purple plans, you can also have unlimited eggs. I'll quite happily eat scrambled eggs without adding anything to the pan - just pure, scrambled eggs. No butter, no oil, no milk... just eggs. A large egg is about 90 calories. A three-egg scramble is 270 calories.
Add up my egg and fruit binge and you get to 846 calories.
If the lowest WW plan came to 1,200 calories - and that's a guess - add on 846 calories of free foods and you get to over 2,000 calories. I don't always burn over 2,000 calories a day. I would actually gain weight.
The trouble with any plan with unlimited free foods is that anyone who has put on signifiant amounts of weight probably really likes food, and will exploit any loophole to get more food if they think they can get away with it. Eating free foods doesn't teach you to be accountable to yourself, or to learn portion control.
It wouldn't work for me, that's for sure. I do know some people who have been very successful on WW (and kept the weight off) but this just wouldn't work for me. I love my food too much.
QFT!2 -
mullanphylane wrote: »Without calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than one uses) there will be no weight loss. Counting points, avoiding certain foods, etc. may work, but it's the calorie deficit that causes the weight loss. Being simple-minded I have to keep processes basic, and counting calories is about as basic as it can get.Eat Less
Eat Better
Move More
Totally agree.. ❣️0 -
I guess my experience with WW was different. I was on WW reached goal and maintained for 7 years. It wasn't just the plan. A big part of it was the community. It started out as a group of friends getting together and sharing. I loved it and knew I could also get by on those days that I just wanted to eat by eating the zero point foods. Ate lots of fruits and vegetables but had my treats too. I was really sad when the plan was changed so that I was losing weight. I seem to need carbs so the number of points I needed to eat was very high to get the calories that I needed. It just didn't make sense anymore. Fortunately I found MFP. I've been here a couple of years now - maintaining!3
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I guess my experience with WW was different. I was on WW reached goal and maintained for 7 years. It wasn't just the plan. A big part of it was the community. It started out as a group of friends getting together and sharing. I loved it and knew I could also get by on those days that I just wanted to eat by eating the zero point foods. Ate lots of fruits and vegetables but had my treats too. I was really sad when the plan was changed so that I was losing weight. I seem to need carbs so the number of points I needed to eat was very high to get the calories that I needed. It just didn't make sense anymore. Fortunately I found MFP. I've been here a couple of years now - maintaining!
I totally get the community part.. It has a large support system which I loved too.. I know there are some different apps now that offer the old points plus plan again. And it does definitely work for a lot of people..1 -
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Shortgirlrunning wrote: »I only very very briefly looked into doing WW years ago and to me it just felt like more complicated calorie counting. The whole point system just seemed more complicated than counting calories so I passed on WW. If it works for someone that’s great though.
Slimming world is similar, a friend of mine is going through that and was hyping it up. I asked how the points system worked (I think it’s syns with SW) and it seemed like a massively overly convoluted system which once boiled down was low calories low syns and vice versa. I just thought calories are so much simpler, weigh your food, tally the calories and you’re done, plus it means you can eat whatever you like, so long as it fits in with your goals, without being made to feel overly guilty.
One thing I will say which is good about WW and SW is the community spirit. Regular face to face meetings (less so now with covid) and weighings help keep you accountable and in contact with people in the same boat.
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CC is 'easiest' for me because I understand calories. I'd have to learn a new way to valuate foods if I switched to WW. Kind of like learning a new language? More foods come with calorie information - while only certain foods come with points values attached. Meaning more estimation and guesswork for WW.1
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swimmchick87 wrote: »I lost about 30 pounds on WW several years ago. Back then, it was the points plus program where 99% of the time, 1 point=40 calories. It took me awhile to figure that out. Before WW, I'd tried MFP several times and never stuck with it for more than a month or two. It took me forever to figure out that the difference with WW was that when I was heavier/starting out, they gave me a lot more points. On MFP I was always choosing "lose 2 pounds a week" and getting stuck with 1200 calories. WW allowed me to eat a lot more, and thus it was much easier to stick to. As I got thinner, I started really struggling on WW too. That's because at that point I was given the minimum number of points and was back to eating really low calories every day. Now that I understand all of this, I've found success with MFP setting my goal to lose only 1 pound per week, so I get a lot more calories and I don't feel like I'm white knuckling it.
I don't think the current WW system would work for me AT ALL. I understand that they're trying to push you to eat healthier foods, but I need to eat a mix of healthier things and treats every day to stay on track. The idea of "punishing" you for eating something like a small candy bar that easily fits into your calorie day makes no sense to me. That sets people up to fail and get into a cycle where they just say "I've already ruined it, might as well eat whatever I want today and get back on track tomorrow." That cycle was one of the biggest reasons I gained weight in the first place and it took me a really long time to break out of the black and white thinking. Although I do much better now, those thoughts still creep in sometimes.
It also just seems very imprecise with so many foods being "free" now (back on points plus, only fruits and veggies were "free"). I'd rather just know exactly how many calories I'm eating than try to guess at what is a good balance of "free" and "point" foods and hope for the best. I've also heard they no longer allow you to earn points for exercise/eat back any exercise calories- not totally sure if that's true because I haven't looked into it myself, but if so that's really setting a lot of people up for under eating and then falling off the wagon because they feel so deprived.
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DonnasJourney0805 wrote: »swimmchick87 wrote: »I lost about 30 pounds on WW several years ago. Back then, it was the points plus program where 99% of the time, 1 point=40 calories. It took me awhile to figure that out. Before WW, I'd tried MFP several times and never stuck with it for more than a month or two. It took me forever to figure out that the difference with WW was that when I was heavier/starting out, they gave me a lot more points. On MFP I was always choosing "lose 2 pounds a week" and getting stuck with 1200 calories. WW allowed me to eat a lot more, and thus it was much easier to stick to. As I got thinner, I started really struggling on WW too. That's because at that point I was given the minimum number of points and was back to eating really low calories every day. Now that I understand all of this, I've found success with MFP setting my goal to lose only 1 pound per week, so I get a lot more calories and I don't feel like I'm white knuckling it.
I don't think the current WW system would work for me AT ALL. I understand that they're trying to push you to eat healthier foods, but I need to eat a mix of healthier things and treats every day to stay on track. The idea of "punishing" you for eating something like a small candy bar that easily fits into your calorie day makes no sense to me. That sets people up to fail and get into a cycle where they just say "I've already ruined it, might as well eat whatever I want today and get back on track tomorrow." That cycle was one of the biggest reasons I gained weight in the first place and it took me a really long time to break out of the black and white thinking. Although I do much better now, those thoughts still creep in sometimes.
It also just seems very imprecise with so many foods being "free" now (back on points plus, only fruits and veggies were "free"). I'd rather just know exactly how many calories I'm eating than try to guess at what is a good balance of "free" and "point" foods and hope for the best. I've also heard they no longer allow you to earn points for exercise/eat back any exercise calories- not totally sure if that's true because I haven't looked into it myself, but if so that's really setting a lot of people up for under eating and then falling off the wagon because they feel so deprived.
That is exactly why I'm not doing it anymore. I was blowing through my points and only having like 1000 calories. They make you feel like your doing something wrong by eating half a avacado and making it 5 points... So you choose not to eat them. Then feel irritation..lol
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been on WW two different times in my life and lost weight both times . 17lbs the first time and 38 the second. I’ve gained back 18 recently. I am most definitely a binge eater and after the initial success, I stopped losing. I believe it’s because of the 0 points food system. I feel like it encouraged my compulsive eating. As stated above I felt like I was being punished for eating foods that are actually healthy. If I can eat candy for the same amount of points as a healthy food, I’m gonna eat candy! Plus, I would binge on 0 Points foods and then still eat junk food.3
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I actually had a different problem on WW. I didn't like eating enough of the 0 point foods and when I reached my max points for the day I hadn't even had 1100 calories. I discovered the problem, and why I felt like crap, when I tracked both points and calories for a month. Now that I've switched to CC I can monitor it all more thoroughly and have a balance I can keep up. Now I can have my veg with oil or butter and eat more of them the way I actually like them.4
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Swimchick87 after reading your post I adjusted my goal to .05 lbs a week and was pleasantly surprised at how much my calorie goal increased. It made a huge difference in my frame of mind. I was able to be satisfied and be under my calorie goal.3
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Ok, I have a strong opinion about this... I lost weight with WW back in 2007, again in 2011, and I used it to lose weight after both kids in 2012 and 2016. And here's my opinion- each time they have changed the point system over time, it gets harder and harder for me to follow it and more and more restrictive. I can't do it anymore because the points are so heavily weighted towards certain foods and it wasn't good for me mentally to feel like I couldn't fit things into my points, even if I knew I had the calories.
Also, the closer I got to my goal weight, the harder it was to figure out how many of my "weekly" or "exercise" points to eat, and I was just sick of not really knowing what to do with that. So honestly, I miss the old school WW which corresponded better to calories, because I did think it was easier to think in smaller numbers and I was successful on it.
Oh also, I didn't like how more and more food was "free"... I mean, I felt like that was besides the point, and once it started including all fruits and even more, it got more difficult for me so I would end up manually putting in a point or two for a pear, for example.5 -
It worked for me until perimenopause struck.
As a mainly vegetarian (eat small amount of fish) it worked for me until then. I would stay the same or fluctuate half pounds. Then get fed up and go a little of track & gain so quick.
Apparently I needed to seriously up protein & reduce carbs. I'm still struggling to loose but by using MFP I can monitor calories & macros- works better.3 -
Totally agree with Raegold, I lost a stone with WW in 2011 for my wedding and it was fairly easy. Tried again but they keep changing it and it’s so much harder. I could never stick to my points and go quite a bit over, when I put the same foods into MFP, it would come to about 800 calories!1
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I too lost on WW several times and kept it off (until I didn't). The weighted point system that steers you to lean proteins and fruits and vegetables can be great if you are trying to learn to eat that way, which I did need to do early on, but I hated how it then disproportionately penalized bread and sweets. Something that was like 100 calories would be five points which was close to 25% of my points for the whole day which always felt wrong to me.
I have REALLY enjoyed being on MFP for the past year and hit my goal weight and have been maintaining for almost 8 months now. I like CICO, and knowing how much I have to eat to lose/maintain/gain. It makes me feel so in control of my eating, whereas WW had some guess work that didn't always make sense to me. MFP makes me feel empowered to make whatever choices I want with my eating. I never feel guilty eating something because it is whatever calorie expenditure it is, whereas with some high point food that I knew intellectually was not that many calories would make me feel like I was wasting my points. And there is no profit motive here. WW had to keep changing the system so people like those of use who keep joining and re-joining have something new. This is all free - it's just reading packages and tracking.
For people who want data and want to learn from that data and make choices based on data, MFP and counting calories works better than WW (in my experience).11
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