weight watchers vs MFP

tushar05

Hi All,
Have a question about weight watchers. How is it different from logging food on my fitness pal. Is pointplus better way of logging?


Thanks
TC

jdhcm2006

Pointplus isn't a better way, it's a different way. WW doesn't consider the calories in a lot of fruits or veggies, so those are based at '0' points.

maidentl

My personal opinion is that points are just a complicated way of counting calories. I prefer to count calories because they're all treated as equal. So I can have, for example, a piece of chocolate without being punished for it by it counting as "more" the way it would with WW where two items with identical calories might have different point values. A good example is that they treat fruit as "free." I was doing the plan when the system changed and there were a number of unhappy campers on their message boards who didn't understand why they increased their fruit and their weight loss stalled.

cwolfman13

Personally, I think it's best to know what actual calories are. WW point system also skews actuals in that certain things like fruits and vegetables have either very low points or no points allocated to them (when in fact, these things actually have calories) while other foods are inflated to cover the difference when in reality they may not be quite as "bad" as they would seem point wise. Of course, this is done in an effort to change behavior...eat more fruits and veg and less junk...but personally, and particularly as I've been in maintenance for going on 16 months WITHOUT logging, I find it beneficial to know pretty much how many calories are in what and I keep a rough tally in my head.

Kattarra

I've done both and pointsplus can be a little easier for logging . Also certain fruits and most vegetable are zero points. MFP is however FREE.

martinel2099

I came from Weight Watchers and I have nothing against it, it's a good program that promotes healthy long term weight loss. The reason I came here is because I was tired of paying a monthly fee and I want to watch my intake the rest of my life so rather than converting everything to points I'd rather just count calories.

One plus that I liked about weight watchers was that most fruits and veggies are zero points. This isn't magic, WW gives you less calories (in the form of points) than my fitness pal would, leaving you to fill the void with veggies and fruits. That's really smart, even though fruits and veggies still have calories it's really hard to over indulge on them. I dare you to try and eat 1,000 calories in just broccoli in a single day, you'd explode.

I like Fitness pal ultimately better though because I can track my macro nutrients better, don't have to be hassled with converted everything to points and it's totally free.

tushar05

thanks all

annietud

Ww give food a propoint number. Every member is given a daily and weekly propoint allowance.
Fruit & non startchy veg have a zero propoint value.
Some foods seem high in propoint compared to calories. Eg 45g of shredded wheat minis & 125g of ss milk has a ppoint of 5, that's a 20% of my daily allowance (26pp) but would be 300 cals @ a push.
Eating out is difficult with ww as ppoints are high. You really have to cut back for a good curry and a beer as you weeklies (49) don't go far for treats.
I have just started logging on mfp even though I go to a ww meeting. Im find it easier to follow mfp as I can see what calories I'm consuming.
Does this make sense

vismal

Weight watchers made much more sense before the internet, smart phones and MFP. If it came down to calorie counting with a paper and pencil vs weight watchers, I can see where the ease and convenience of points comes into play. Now that you can log food with a barcode scanner on your smart phone, save your frequent meals and foods, create recipes, and search a mega database in a matter of seconds, I see no real advantage to weight watchers.

Adefowler

I like the weight watchers meetings, which are extremely helpful and the weekly weigh-ins are awesome if you have a problem with accountability. But WW online isn't any better than MFP. In fact, I find this community much better and more friendly (with the exception of a few trolls that you'll learn to ignore).

I haven't gone in a while because I'm lifetime and I have gained back some weight and I don't want to pay. :-)

When I was going to meetings, I counted my calories here on MFP because I like counting calories better than points. One of my major criticisms of the points method is that they think fat is bad and high fiber is good -- which makes those crappy WW and Lean Cuisine meals the best types of meals to eat because they are chemically altered to have lower points. If you're someone who eats healthy and natural, you get dinged because real food has natural fats that are good for you and don't have artificial fiber (inulin and chicory) to lower the points. I found that I practically starved by counting points because the points had me eating less than 1100 calories a day with the minimum points I was eating.

WalkingAlong

There is a way to track WW points plus on MFP, along with calories. If you're interested say so and I'll see if I can find the thread.

annpatalexa

I won't say it was a better way it was just a different way. PointsPlus really confused me. I couldn't get how fruits and veggies were zero points.

The points were way to confusing for me. I just need numbers that make sense and aren't made up from some witchcraft and magic- still have no idea how those numbers happened

Bj0223

I had this same conversation with a coworker this morning. I have done both WW and MFP and in my opinion I prefer MFP. Both are great programs and both work wonderfully. There is however one catch on both.....you have to commit and you have to log everything. Choose the one that works best for YOU.

SueInAz

One plus that I liked about weight watchers was that most fruits and veggies are zero points. This isn't magic, WW gives you less calories (in the form of points) than my fitness pal would, leaving you to fill the void with veggies and fruits. That's really smart, even though fruits and veggies still have calories it's really hard to over indulge on them. I dare you to try and eat 1,000 calories in just broccoli in a single day, you'd explode.

I like Fitness pal ultimately better though because I can track my macro nutrients better, don't have to be hassled with converted everything to points and it's totally free.

While this is true to some extent, it is, however, very easy to eat 1000 calories of fruit in a day. If that counts for zero points then some people can have difficulty losing weight on WW if they eat a lot of high sugar fruit. Bananas, in particular, are very high in sugar and calories. A "large" banana is about 120 calories. An average avocado is over 300 calories. I once ate a half of a small seedless watermelon over the course of one afternoon and was shocked to discover that it was well over 250 calories.

I've seen more than a few people in these forums who couldn't lose weight on WW and came here and had success.

WalkingAlong

Avocados aren't free and everyone gets some education about what are appropriate portions and knows that 1000 calories of fruit a day isn't appropriate (or should). And they're told to listen to their bodies and also to cut back fruit if they're eating a lot and having trouble.

I do see a lot of people having trouble with WW but I think it's because the average intake on WW now is in the 1800s. You have a lot of leeway on it so if you can't lose at that level, you need to make the decision to monitor your fruit and maybe not eat all your weeklies and/or activity points.

Kalikel

They're all diet programs. It's not science. It's not medicine.

There is also not a ton of reason for them to push you hard to succeed, lol. Once you figure out how to do it on your own, you don't need them.

Just talking to people who were told to lose weight and tried WW, many have success. Not all stick with it. Most of them gain it back...but that's true for all the programs...except MFP, which hasn't been around long enough to hear lots of feedback from regular people.

When it comes right down to it, it doesn't matter what tools you use (so long as they aren't obscenely unhealthy like hcg or these cleanses). It's about you. If you want to lose weight and are determined, you will do it. If you don't really want it and are a habitual dieter ("I'm going to try New Thing!", always gaining and losing the same 8 pounds)...nothing will work.

The thing that makes any diet succeed or fail is YOU.

martinel2099

One plus that I liked about weight watchers was that most fruits and veggies are zero points. This isn't magic, WW gives you less calories (in the form of points) than my fitness pal would, leaving you to fill the void with veggies and fruits. That's really smart, even though fruits and veggies still have calories it's really hard to over indulge on them. I dare you to try and eat 1,000 calories in just broccoli in a single day, you'd explode.

I like Fitness pal ultimately better though because I can track my macro nutrients better, don't have to be hassled with converted everything to points and it's totally free.

While this is true to some extent, it is, however, very easy to eat 1000 calories of fruit in a day. If that counts for zero points then some people can have difficulty losing weight on WW if they eat a lot of high sugar fruit. Bananas, in particular, are very high in sugar and calories. A "large" banana is about 120 calories. An average avocado is over 300 calories. I once ate a half of a small seedless watermelon over the course of one afternoon and was shocked to discover that it was well over 250 calories.

I've seen more than a few people in these forums who couldn't lose weight on WW and came here and had success.

Very true great point.

mochasmommie7193

They're all diet programs. It's not science. It's not medicine.

There is also not a ton of reason for them to push you hard to succeed, lol. Once you figure out how to do it on your own, you don't need them.

Just talking to people who were told to lose weight and tried WW, many have success. Not all stick with it. Most of them gain it back...but that's true for all the programs...except MFP, which hasn't been around long enough to hear lots of feedback from regular people.

When it comes right down to it, it doesn't matter what tools you use (so long as they aren't obscenely unhealthy like hcg or these cleanses). It's about you. If you want to lose weight and are determined, you will do it. If you don't really want it and are a habitual dieter ("I'm going to try New Thing!", always gaining and losing the same 8 pounds)...nothing will work.

The thing that makes any diet succeed or fail is YOU.

Well stated!

tushar05

great info, thnx all

NoXCuses4me

I've done both and pointsplus can be a little easier for logging . Also certain fruits and most vegetable are zero points. MFP is however FREE.

And this makes my little heart glad!

denmark979

i've done them both and i can say that i'm doing better with myfitnesspal. did i forget to mention FREE.