die hard weight watcher considering converting...

iluvco3

I am a LT WW. I still weigh in once/month. I had never been able to reach my personal goal. I gave MFP a try along with PP and realized that 26 PP gave me a HUGE range of calories and was often too much. I dropped counting and only tracked on MFP. I am now 18 lbs. below my WW goal and 5 lbs. below my personal goal. I still follow the GHG. I love, love having all the nutritional info that MFP gives me. I can't imagine I will EVER count points again. However, I will continue to weigh in each month for the accountability.

formersec

Don’t be nervous, it makes much more sense to move on to calories. I wouldn’t eat Weight Watchers stuff anyway, they are way too processed and filled with additives and stuff that is not good for you. You don’t need that to lose weight, you can make low calorie meals or eat natural low calorie snacks without eating all the extra crap.

Just wanted to make the point that WW does not force you to eat their food. In fact, the last few versions of the program emphasize less processed food. The meals are intended as a convenience from time to time. They aren't meant to be eaten 3 times a day every day. I didn't eat WW food either. Too many suspicious ingredients, too much sodium, not enough nutrition and ultimately more expensive than anything you could prepare at home.

cebreisch

I do both. I log my food with MFP, and then convert the data to points. It's an extra accountability measure.

rml_16

Don’t be nervous, it makes much more sense to move on to calories. I wouldn’t eat Weight Watchers stuff anyway, they are way too processed and filled with additives and stuff that is not good for you. You don’t need that to lose weight, you can make low calorie meals or eat natural low calorie snacks without eating all the extra crap.

Just wanted to make the point that WW does not force you to eat their food. In fact, the last few versions of the program emphasize less processed food. The meals are intended as a convenience from time to time. They aren't meant to be eaten 3 times a day every day. I didn't eat WW food either. Too many suspicious ingredients, too much sodium, not enough nutrition and ultimately more expensive than anything you could prepare at home.

Exactly. I think in all the time I was on WW, I ate on SmartOne just to try it.

I eat the same food on MFP that I did on WW.

I get so tired of people posting in these threads who have no idea what they're talking about. If you never did the program and if you did and don't know what a Good Health Guideline is, then you shouldn't be advising anyone on which is the better method of weight loss because you don't know enough about WW to have an opinion of it.

purpleipod

Even though WW makes you think fruits and vegetables are "free" you're still supposed to control your intake and they still have calories. Whatever plan you use will work if you work it.

Frankii_x

I'd strongly recommend not using weightwatchers - they were great to lose the weight but not so good at helping to keep the weight off - I lost 20lbs on weightwatchers and put it back on and more. With MFP I feel totally in control xx

Capegirl8013

I use both. I do WW because I like the group nearest my house and find the leader to be truly interested in helping participants lose and make the program work for them.

I did WW for a year, lost 50 pounds, became a lifetime member and then stopped tracking and measuring my food and gained it back and then some! I don't count this as a failure of the WW program, rather a personal failure of NOT using the tools that I learned: making good decisions about what to eat, measuring food accurately, writing it all down etc.

When I decided to start losing again, I knew the WW program works for me and so I went back there. Simultaneously I started exercising and wanted to track it a bit better than the way WW tracks activity, so a friend suggested here. I've been using both back to back for about two months now and have seen about 1 -1.5 pounds come off weekly.

Meetings - I like the one I go to. I've been to others in different cities when travelling (yes, I actually go weigh in on vacation or on business trips!) and have realized that the leader makes all the difference to whether or not you find the meetings valuable. Although these boards are awesome and you can glean a lot of of info from them, I find it requires a discerning eye to weed out the true science from the nonsense. The leader at my meeting is a nutritionist and is pretty quick (but does it kindly) to keep truly false ideas at bay.

Cost - WW is expensive. This is free. Given that I've been tracking in both places and now feel pretty confident in my abilities to do it well, I think that once I hit my goal I'll stop tracking on the WW site and only track here.

Nutition - With both, it's what you put into it. Obviously you can do either program eating total garbage and you may even lose weight provided you have a calorie deficit/don't exceed your points. OR you can use either tool to learn how to fuel your body well and pay attention to getting a variety of healthy whole foods. I have my macros set to show the same as what WW uses to calculate points plus and it's working for me.

Fruits & veggies - everyone has already said it - most veggie calories make so little dent in your daily allowance that they might as well be free. I have never been a huge fruit eater anyway, so the fact that they became "free" on WW didn't really impact my eating.

numsquat

WW works if you truthfully follow the plan, doesn't if you don't. Same with MFP though or any other plan. Personally lost 160+ pounds on WW and not gained any back. Never was forced or even asked to buy any other their stuff. My experience was that those that gained back quit working the plan. You can be at either for years not loosing or getting healthier if you don't follow through. WW is more educational focused than MFP, you learn a lot about healthier eating, exercising, etc which MFP as a site doesn't focus on (though there is plenty of information here), you can take what you learned there and apply it here.

I do prefer MFP at this point because I'm able to focus more on overall health than just weight loss. I tracked on both for several months before stopping WW and found things to work on, such as though I was staying within points/calories I needed to increase my protein (which has helped) and I would had not been able to figure that out staying with WW. I have more control over the little things tracking here and MFP is more well rounded though WW is getting better in that sense. It is cheaper but that's not a factor for me. The food data base is larger but can also be more difficult to navigate and both have their inconsistencies at times. Both messages boards (and you can still use the WW boards w/o being a member) have their good and bad things, a lot more trolling and negativity here but most things are WW focused there which doesn't help doing a different plan. I still visit a runners group there daily.

WW as a tool got me going in the right direction and far along my path, MFP is just the next tool to get me where I'm going.

briannadunn

I do both. I log my food with MFP, and then convert the data to points. It's an extra accountability measure.

I do this, I have a free points system calculator on my phone and I do MFP for free. I did the meetings only for the first 12 weeks years and years ago and then I started doing them on my own and hadn't looked back. I am back at it doing it on my own again. I love it and will continue to track my food on here and convert to points to stay in a daily goal range.