a question for current and past Weight Watchers members

bunnysone

After attending my first Weight Watchers meeting last night as an observer from the public, I came away feeling the supportiveness of the group and the willingness to help by the team leaders, but also felt that the focus was very much on the food, the products they sell and diet.
I didn't feel that they put a lot of focus on the fitness and activity element of weight loss and after blogging last night it appears that other past members feel the same way. I feel that without the fitness and exercise element I can see how many people aren't successful once they leave WW as they haven't trained their body to be active during their WW time.
What to other MFP friends think of this? Do you think that there is not enough focus on the exercise and fitness within WW?

missvetters

I was a WW member for a loooooooong time and had a lot of success on it. However, as soon as I stopped counting points, I gained all the weight back because I really didn't learn a proper lifestyle change. They don't put any emphasis on exercise because that's their big pull is that you don't have to exercise.

SarahRuth♥

Absolutely. I always felt that way in Weight Watchers. I did manage to lose 55 lbs on Weight Watchers, but it was not because of the meetings, as I never felt they were all that supportive and it always seemed like too much of a sales pitch for me. Often I found I could buy healthier, lower-point foods AND save money by specifically AVOIDING the Weight Watchers items. And the meetings I attended always seemed too negative to me. The point system just made counting really easy for me. That was really the only benefit, and I quickly realized that I didn't need to pay for meetings in order to count point, so I quit going and lost most of that weight on my own.

kellyscomeback

My meetings weren't bad but I didn't walk away with any diet or life changing news like hidden fats or sodium, etc in foods.

IMO WW isn't based around exercise but making better food choices. They leave the exercise stuff up to other companies.

EatDrinkandbeSkinny

WW Is the lazy mans diet. It works, and I've done it a few times (see..which I guess means it doesn't work).

You don't learn about what is in food, most of WW's products have tons of artificial flavorings and chemicals to make them "low cal and low fat". You assume that vegetables have no calories so you can over indulge in a lot of things on accident.

Its a good stepping stone but if your going to give your money to companies for weight loss you should look into eat this not that, and do lots of research of whats in food. The more you learn about different foods and how they react with your body the easier it is to choose healthy options. But you can get great weight loss plans and information for free thanks to the world wide web. WW is just a way to keep track of food and I think this program works a lot better.

Quiltmania

I stopped going to WW because I couldn't afford the meeting fee once DH lost his job. However, at my meetings, they never tried to push any WW products. The whole emphasis was on better food choices, portion control and, yes, exercise. I think it really depends on the meeting leader.

CatseyeHardcast

My wife started weight watches in Feb (the same time I also started simply watching what I eat to support her) Since Feb she has lost 30kg with minimal exercise (she has a very active job however). She has also not been sucked into buying their products. Instead she adapts our meal portions and ratios and makes smarter choices at the grocer. I think being aware of food in general and spending the time is the important thing and not simply looking at a number value WW gives its products.

She does admit that there is little said about exercise. Thankfully she likes exercise and has recently introduced it to her lifestyle.

On the other hand, I used to go to the gym 5 days a week, running, Cycle, freeweights and was the size of a house. Why? I ate too much cheese and drank too much wine.

As we all know weight loss is 90% nutrition 10% exercise however I think WW need to advise people the benefits of exercise go far beyond the weight loss aspect.

GeekGirlOnAQuest

WW Is the lazy mans diet. It works, and I've done it a few times (see..which I guess means it doesn't work).

You don't learn about what is in food, most of WW's products have tons of artificial flavorings and chemicals to make them "low cal and low fat". You assume that vegetables have no calories so you can over indulge in a lot of things on accident.

Its a good stepping stone but if your going to give your money to companies for weight loss you should look into eat this not that, and do lots of research of whats in food. The more you learn about different foods and how they react with your body the easier it is to choose healthy options. But you can get great weight loss plans and information for free thanks to the world wide web. WW is just a way to keep track of food and I think this program works a lot better.

^This. I quit WW because after finding MFP I have learned more about nutrition and fitness and how to fuel my body than I ever did on WW. I only did WW online, but what always bothered me was you could spend your points on whatever you wanted and still lose weight but you weren't necessarily eating well. I know they have their healthy guidelines, but I like being able to know how much protein, fat and carbs I'm getting everyday.

I never exercised while I was on WW because it wasn't emphasized. Since I started using MFP I am now excited about my workouts and I'm actually doing strength training 3x a week and cardio 5-6 times a week.

Basically, MFP is a more complete way of looking at your health and it's free!

vegamy

I go to Weight Watchers solely for the group support - I actually stopped tracking points when I started MFP (I track calories/nutrients now), but have been attending the meetings since January.

I think that the majority of their focus IS on the food and staying on plan (personally, I've never bought any of their products - I find that they are mostly processed). However, they have a particular focus for each meeting and probably once a month the focus is on exercise - they encourage walking and other forms of exercise. Also, in the weekly readers they give out there are always exercise tips and a little section on fitness and trying new exercises. There was one meeting where the leader specifically said that you have to exercise in order for your body to look good and get toned up. So I think that they definitely encourage exercise, but the average member seems to need encouragement with food choices and tracking - I'm always floored when I attend a meeting and there are several people that just never track and make poor food choices and wonder why they aren't losing weight.

wendybird2

I did it for a few months with a group of female co-workers right out of college, and I agree with the ladies above: you learn how to track. I've continued to use the points system on and off until this year, when I switched to MFP. My biggest problem with points is that i'm a distance runner, and WW was NOT built for runners. I had to invent my own system for eating back my exercise points, and it took a long time to figure out ("high effort" estimated points that were way too high, medium was way too low). I also have the problem that I LOVE healthy food, and will overeat the healthy low-point/no-point stuff (fruit, kashi golean, raw oatmeal) with abandon if I get a craving. I could never lose weight on the old Flex plan. On MFP every calorie counts, and it keeps me honest. Using a heart rate monitor is a heck of a lot easier than "creating" activity food points out of thin air (hmm, that was a hard workout, 7 food points! yeah!)

Winstonandgilly

I did WW on and off for years. The Points program just didn't work for me, and it didn't calculate your carbs, protein and fat intake as accurately as MFP. Plus, the food database was limited. I also found WW products to be full of HFCS and other artificial ingredients. As soon as I started to "eat clean", the weight started coming off.

bunnysone

really great feedback - thank you so much!
I am surprised that there is little emphasis on the exercise part of such a well known worldwide program, and even more surprised that it was so easy to "spot" as an outsider looking in on just ONE meeting!
I'm hoping to work with my local WW to perhaps offer walking and running groups for their members for free for them and perhaps help them along the road to understanding what you need to do with your body to maintain the weight loss.
Personally, I know that you can lose weight without weight watchers, I've done it myself this year easily just by basing my weight loss on my fitness and exercise, so with that in mind I need to make sure I don't conflict with the WW ideals!

monajkm21

I did weight watchers in 2008 before I got pregnant with my youngest child. I lost 35lbs in about 1 1/2 months but that was mainly because I worked out a lot too. I am surprised that everyone keeps saying that there wasnt an emphasis on working out because when I went they constantly reminded us how important it was to "get moving". I currently am signed up for the online program but find that the meetings are more successful. There was something about having to get on that scale and everyone shouting out their sucess that motivated me. I find that I like to track what I am eating better with MFP than I do the points. At the end of the day different things work for different people but as long as something works!

AlyRoseNYC

In my opinion, WW is overpriced. It is basically a low-fat diet with a gimmick: Points system. I've seen people lose weight successfully, but they were usually obsessed with food and their next meal. A lot of them said that they constantly felt hungry. And I find it disturbing that they would advocate healthy lifestyles and their Smart Ones and WW products at the same time. Really? Has anyone looked at the ingredients of those frozen dinners? Or even worse, tasted them?!?!?!

I really don't mean to offend anyone here that loves WW. If you do, great! There is a system out there for everyone. I'm just venting bout my furstrations in MY experience with the program. I'm on a low-carb life plan now. It took a while for me to get out of the low-fat way of thinking, but it's working for me.

LosinMama2b

I did WWs back in 2003 and lost 75lbs...the plan at the time was that you had your daily point value (much lower than the Points+) and you could "bank" two points (not eat them) and save them for a 10 point splurge item. They didn't have flex points at the time, it was just the 10points you got at the end of the week. I have to say that while I lost weight - I ate complete crap. I think I lived off of Wendy's nuggets, chilli, and their Mandarin Chicken Salad (I do wish they'd bring that back). I didn't exercise at all. I started exercising after I reached Lifetime...but then injured myself twice in a row (broken knee cap and sciatica) where I couldn't walk or do anything for months. Needless to say it all came back on because I wasn't counting anymore AND wasn't exercising.

I tried to go back on it in December and just can't do the Points Plus thing...just doesn't work for me. I didn't lose a thing. I came here and lost 5lbs right away AND I'm really focusing on eating the right things this time AND exercising at the same time. I definitely have to say that WWs didn't emphasize any of that - clean eating or exercising.

With all that said - their plan does work well if you really follow it and don't let all the extra flex points go to your head...also stay away from the so called "free" fruits and veggies...even eating too much of a good thing can cause weight gain.

MinnieInMaine

I've been a WW member several times and have been quite successful in the past and definitely liked the last Points (Momentum) system. Not a fan of the new plan as it makes things a bit too complicated...IMHO.

It does sort of depend on your meeting but in my experience, there wasn't much emphasis on fitness. Earning exercise points was about all the motivation there was but even that involved some confusion. There was that limit on exercise points which I thought was rediculous! When I was training for my 10k walk last fall, I'd earn 9 or 10 easily on long walks and there was no way I wasn't eating those back!! I earned every last one of them!

Now that I think of it, there was one promotion last year for walking and I think that was some partnership with the March of Dimes so WW encouraged folks to get groups together and work up to walking 5k or whatever it was. Great, but temporary... I remember we had some discussion in our meetings too but only once or twice and most of the input was negative (folks saying "I hate exercise" and the leader saying "well, you don't really need to exercise to lose:) bah

Anyway, great idea to see if you can promote walking groups or the like!! Good luck!

dancingj2

WW makes it easy to keep track of what you eat by having the point assignments. Once I found this site though I found it can be fairly easy to track calories too.

minilawyer

The newest points program bases the points on carbs, fat, fiber, and protein. It is no longer based on calories, fat, and fiber, so there is subtle encouragement to focus on healthier foods (carb heavy items tend to have a higher point value). WW does give you activity points for exercise - like MFP giving you your exercise calories back, WW can give you your points back for exercise. They do not generally discuss incorporating exercise until the 2nd or 3rd week. Most "diet" plans do that for some reason, I think because they want you to get that good water weight loss in the beginning, so you'll keep coming back. But yes, the focus is on diet more so than exercise, but the meetings I've gone to (been a member on and off - not currently a member), the leaders have talked about exercise. There is no exercise "plan" but they do encourage so many minutes of activity so many times a weeks. At least at the meetings I've been to.

PJS323

I agree to a point. I started my journey in Oct '10 with a friend & WW. Having done the point program before, I knew what to expect. I believe that it is a great way to start a change, especially for those that have issues with overeating, or emotional attachment to food. The group is supportive, and weighing in helps hold you accountable. The food they sell is loaded with chemicals that I now know are horrible for you, but unless you have an iron will, and you can go cold turkey, the program helps. From October - March I lost 51lbs. Then i needed a change. I hit a plateau, and signed up for a 90 day challenge with my gym. During a free meeting with a personal trainer I was taught what foods to switch out, and replace with clean foods.

Weightloss is such a personal situation. One important lesson I have learned is that we are all accountable for ourselves, and that if we don't really want to lose the weight, & change our lifestyle, then we will fail.

Now 102lbs lighter, I am happy that I used WW to jumpstart my weightloss, and if you find success in it, then that is what matters.

*You really get what you put into it. My friend that started WW with me has lost 33lbs in 10 months, as opposed to my 102lbs. She was only 15lbs lighter than I was, but for her it's not as important as it is to me. I hope that doesn't sound like a snob, but the results speak for themselves.

cownancy

I honestly believe that the individual WW locations have a lot ot do with your experience. I hated the fact that the majority of the emphasis was on the scale with no room for a large group of people who come in needing to change EVERYTHING about their life and eating patterns. The group leader was also the regional director and she had her favorites. Others, she sort of ignored. She would not very original or spontaneous and I did have experiences with other leaders, over the years, who were so captivating. There certainly was a push on the WW foods. I just have seen a lot of yo-yoing with Weight Watchers. I think there is just not enough in-depth information for me.
But, then, I have needed someone to really get into my head to convince me that I will NOT lose weight and keep it off if I don't make permanent changes. But, I am a lifetime overeater/bad eater.

shashaz2002

After attending my first Weight Watchers meeting last night as an observer from the public, I came away feeling the supportiveness of the group and the willingness to help by the team leaders, but also felt that the focus was very much on the food, the products they sell and diet.
I didn't feel that they put a lot of focus on the fitness and activity element of weight loss and after blogging last night it appears that other past members feel the same way. I feel that without the fitness and exercise element I can see how many people aren't successful once they leave WW as they haven't trained their body to be active during their WW time.
What to other MFP friends think of this? Do you think that there is not enough focus on the exercise and fitness within WW?

I'm a lifetime WWer Member and I think it depends on the leader as to whether or not they promote the WWer products and food. My leader is fantastic and is a retired nurse, and focuses more on activity and healthy lifestyles, she doesn't promote the WWer products, but she does bring in "food finds" from other stores, which is great! Try and find a group and a leader that you like, I have had some leaders in the past that sounded like robots, and really didn't care for their meetings.