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.

bubsnoble

The start of the summer I joined WW again and stayed off MFP .. I noticed I was doing it on my own, not even counting points etc I was just going in and weighing in.. I can do that at home for free... the program does work ( for me) but this also does and it is free.. right now we are on a TIGHT budget

lnxjenn

I am a veteran of weight watchers! I lost quite a bit several years ago, when they had their Core Program. I STILL Love that one today. But they renamed it and refenagled it to power foods ors omething or other. not sure what they call it now. I really liked weight watchers, especially the support I got. I went religiously to my tuesday noon time meetings, and I loved my leader. I think he helped me with my motivation and just overall morale.

Core was more a whole foods, eat clean (basically, no counting points unless you are eating outside of Core foods. So, it'd be comparable to Clean eating, paleo (maybe?), just good healthy grains, lean meats, lots of veggies and fruits. Nonfat dairy is the only thing I would greatly disagree with, even to this day. The points system is pretty easy overall. And things with same calories have different points, that just says there's difference in the other calculations, like FIBER or FAT. I wish they would consider sugar, but I don't think they've done that yet?? I'm not sure. I haven't been in about 3-4 years?

I loved WW when i did it. I did very well on it at one point. I think the support was more my boost though. If you were just doing weight watchers online, then I'd say just do MFP. If you were considering meetings, then i'd say go for it! Because you can't really get that kind of IN person support from the internet... Sorry guys! I'm just saying, having people directly in your life supporting your efforts, and giving you that boost or consoling on the gain due to whatever... or just that GOOD kick in the pants you need, It honestly can't be beat!

But I'd say, eat smartly, avoid processed foods overall, and try to find people in your life, not just here, to help with your efforts. That really is the only difference, if you aren't going to WW meetings.

releasingitforgood

I have done both and there are pros to each. There is a script you can find to add to your browser that enables you to keep track of WW points within MFP. However, you can't use it on the app on the phone, so I'm tracking on the WW app (which is ridiculously huge, bulky and crazy slow), but still tracking weight and exercise here. I do not agree with how WW counts ActivityPoints (exercise) and had lost almost 100 lbs on WW and hit a plateau and stayed there for almost 9 months in large part due to how WW teaches people to count those. So, I revert to calories for exercise and if I'm truly ravenous and need something more, I'll swap calories.

I do really like their PointsPlus program. I think it teaches habits I still severely lack - moderation, portion control - I still really struggle with those and emotional eating. I think the meetings make me accountable and as great as knowing this community is here 24 hours a day, there's something about being in a room with others going through similar that's incredibly helpful, inspirational and motivational (for me at least).

I think it boils down to personal preference and whichever program seems to work best for you.

I'm editing this to add that many have mentioned the price of WW, but once you hit Lifetime (reach your goal), you no longer have to pay and as long as you weigh-in once a month and are still at or around your goal (I think you have a couple pounds leeway, but since I'm still not close, I'm not sure), you also get their meetings, e-Tools (website access) and phone apps for free.

Miles_to_Go

I do both WW and MFP. I find that WW points and their informational tools ("cheat sheets") help me navigate decisions about food choices. They favor eating things that are filling, with low glycemic index, things that are not captured strictly by calorie counting. They encourage participants to eat more fruits and vegetables, less carbohydrates and alcohol (ok, an oversimplification, but you get the idea). In the past I focused only on calories, but then made poor food choices. I would stay within my calorie budget, but eat high calorie foods. I was always hungry because the food wasn't filling.

I still like knowing how many calories I'm taking in - it makes for an interesting comparison, so I am tracking both. Long term, I imagine I would stick with MFP once I reach goal weight.

Unknown

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jkal1979

The biggest problem that I had with it when I did WW last year was their food database. I don't know how it is now but it was in serious need of an update. Actually I noticed their site hadn't changed at all from when I did it in 2008. I ended up on MFP double tracking for 3 weeks just to track my macros because you can't get that information while tracking on WW. When I seen how much better it is here (the food database and the forums) I cancelled my WW subscription.

tracie_minus100

Not better, not worse, just different.
If you need extra support and/or extra accountability, then the meetings are incredibly valuable. Not cheap though.
If you prefer the points system, it is very easy to do at home without paying for meetings or paying for the online stuff. There are a million free apps out there that will provide you with the points calculator. And you don't need access to their database, all you need is the calculator and you can figure out the points for anything (as long as the nutritional info is provided, of course). In my years at WW, I never bothered with their food database.
I have done Weight Watchers a few times. Twice I lost large amounts of weight. (I gained it back, but it wasn't Weight Watchers fault, it was mine, obviously).
I personally preferred it before they changed it (in 2010). To figure out points, it used to be calories, fat and fiber. Now it's carbs, protein, fat, and fiber. I liked the old way, just personal preference. And I don't like fruit and veggies being 0 points. I don't think that's a good idea. A friend of mine was doing WW and couldn't figure out why she wasn't losing weight...yeah, she was eating all her daily points plus 2-3 bananas, a bowlful of grapes, and a couple of apples every day.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I have nothing negative to really say about Weight Watchers, but right now I feel like MFP is the place for me.

Branstin

I lost 32 lbs. on WW and never gained back an ounce. I joined MFP because it was free not because WW didn't work for me. I have used many of the same principles I learned from WW when I joined MFP and never had a problem with regaining weight because of the transition. Both programs are excellent if people take the time to learn to use them correctly. Both could be carried into the maintenance phase.

Jbarbo01

I prefer WW because I find it easier to track, however some of your favorite foods will be more in points than in calories because WW is so concerned about fat. For example, easy for me to fit a chipotle burrito bowl in my calories, but at 15 points even for a healthy veggie bowl and only 26 pts a day on WW it makes it more difficult to eat that.

I also like that I can still eat fruits or veggies if Im hungry at the end of the day, where as on MFP, if you go over your calories no more food for you. That's hard for me, so I think it's just preference. I can tell you the message boards and user support is way better on MFP.

WalkingAlong

The biggest problem that I had with it when I did WW last year was their food database. I don't know how it is now but it was in serious need of an update. Actually I noticed their site hadn't changed at all from when I did it in 2008. I ended up on MFP double tracking for 3 weeks just to track my macros because you can't get that information while tracking on WW. When I seen how much better it is here (the food database and the forums) I cancelled my WW subscription.

I did a couple months back on WW earlier this year. Their site and database suck still. I even complained to corporate. They should be ashamed of charging for that. I'm a lifetime member and would love to have the motivation of getting the apps free but since they're so bad I don't want to use them, even for free.