weight watchers v calorie counting

Amberh82

oh and they do have a weight watchers online so you don't have to pay for the meetings. it is a lot cheaper that way.

editress

I actually love weight watchers and use to do meetings then switched to online because my schedule got too busy.

With the people who say they encourage junk and not to eat your exercise points are dead wrong at least at my meeting. If fact they say not to starve yourself and to find the right balance with the exercise & weeklies points for you own body. They real do push clean foods which are power foods, veggies, whole grain, protein good oils and you get more bang for your points when you eat them. Yes they have thier junk products but I never bought them. Also they take into consider that you will eat about 300 calories a day of fruit and vegetables so that is factored in to the points you get. Also since fruit is free it encouraged me to grab for a fruit instead of junk when I was hungry.

I have tracked both WW with 28 points and MFP and it comes out to around 1300-1400 calories and that includes at least 2 fruits and a lot of veggies ( i love vegetables).

Now that I am on a budget I am just doing MFP which I also love at it syncs to my Fitbit. The only drag is I have to count every vegetable, condiment and fruit and it can be tiresome but it is free!

I say maybe just do MFP for a while and if it does not work for you go back to WW. They do keep all your info on file so you just hop back on were you left off.

editress

Oh and if you make goal on WW you can go to a meeting and the e-tools are free.

aplhabetacheesecake

I did weight watchers until august of 2012
I put pen to paper and figured out why I got so food obsessed.

I dropped from 197-177 within 12 weeks, and suddenly I was havign issues with food binges and constant hunger, I felt out of control.

I took my ww days worth of logged foods and put that into MFP....shocked to see 1358 cals.

WW is a VLCD (very low calore diet) and ultimately this will help you to lose weight with or without exercise.....the issue is the points they give you are a very BROAD estimate. at 177lbs I was down to the 26 points per day and 49 weeklies. This simply want not enough, even without exercise I burn on average 2800-3000 cals per day just in my regular job so no wonder 1358 cals was like starving me, I would eat my weeklies the day i got them and then try to fill up on fruits and veg but i NEEDED PROTEIN!

I started reading up on "eat more to weigh less" and the issues associated with very low calorie diets. For me, eating more works, I feel satisfied after my meals and snacks and no longer binge eat. I am losing weight but much slower this way, but it feels more sustainable than WW ever did.

food/exercise are very personal and individual for each person and no one right way is going to work for everyone.

put your pen to paper and figure out what you need, your goals and you answer of what will work for you will be in plain sight.
Cheers!
H

sweetpea129

Waste of money IMO.

lewcompton

Did weight watchers and lost a lot of weight years ago and gained it all back twice! Plus additional pounds as well... I have lost more here and the best part of it is that I don't pay and there is no plan... I just simply track and lose! Lots of people to chat with about good ideas and no meetings!

karendee4

I prefer calorie counting. Why spend the $ when you can do it yourself. Unless you need the meetings. Which would be great I admit.

I did WW and I do better on my own. I am learning more about food etc.

Do whatever works for you. Maybe you can try one then try the other. See which you like better. Either way you would lose weight.

kristinL16

I have done Weight Watchers.

The basics of WW is no different to MFP, you just count points rather than calories. If you can do WW, you can do MFP.

MFP is free. WW is not.

WW encourage you to buy processed, expensive, chemical riddled food in portion sizes big enough for a small child. MFP teaches you how to eat healthily without the need for microwave meals.

MFP teaches you about macros, healthy amounts of protein, fats, carbs, and sodium levels. WW simply concentrates on points.

Switch to MFP. You won't regret it.

Have you done WW? Much of this is not true. Yes, they do have their own foods that you can use if you want, but in no way does WW teach you to rely on their foods for weight loss. They also do more education regarding healthy food guidelines than MFP does. Yes, you can learn from others here but MFP itself doesn't educate you. It is a tool to help you track your goals. Also, in a lot of ways WW is similar to tracking calories, but their formula is different and more complex.

That being said, OP, have you looked into any of the other unoffical WW points calculators/tracking apps that are out there? There are a few that are supposed to be good and are low cost so that you could continue to track your points but for free. I recently saw a post here on how to make your MFP tracker show points as well as calories. I thought that would be cool but couldn't figure it out. I am not losing by tracking calories alone and was considering joining WW. I have done WW in the past after pregnancies.

sandydiane

I'm a current weight watchers member but I find I use my fitness pal much more. The site is more user friendly and it's easier to make friends and I retract with them here. I like that support and motivation. Plus I like to see the way my food diary breaks down I stead of just looking at points. And the biggest plus is that MFP is free. I already cancelled weight watchers and plan to just use MFP.

jmorris7156

I agree with sandydiane, just cancelled my WW online membership, MFP is so much better. I am on a low sodium diet. I could not believe how much sodium I was eating!!! I am having better luck with MFP and as everyone said it's free.

Ploogy

I joined WW shortly before finding MFP. I started out using MFP as a secondary tracking to WW, but now don't use WW online at all. I have to go cancel it, in fact. While I'm sure WW works, I personally don't see the benefit in learning a derivative Points system when I can simply learn how to allocate and gauge calories themselves. The numbers may be larger, but it isn't any harder to deal with than single/double digit points, in my opinion.

I think WW has a tested formula for success and one that must have been immensely useful in the days before the internet. Now that we can summon calorie counts of virtually anything - and MFP's database blows WW's out of the water - the monopoly on the database is disappearing. I think WW is only beneficial to people who are very well versed in the system and don't need/want to relearn a system of calorie-counting and people who need the in-person support.

RoadsterGirlie

I lost 90 lbs on WW Points Plus. Nobody got fat eating too much fruit or veggies and that includes myself.

My husband just started it last week, and has already lost four lbs. Not only that, but his chronic heart burn has gone away as well.

Also, it is NOT just about counting points - you have to get all of your good health guidelines in, including a minimum amount of veggies, fruits, dairy, protein, and healthy oils.

I have found that most who struggle to lose weight on it, aren't really following it as it's designed.

RoadsterGirlie

I also TRIED to switch to counting calories through MFP while getting the good health guidelines in, simply because it's free.

I found that for myself, counting points is much easier. It wasn't worth the risk of derailing myself so I decided to stick with WW.

CristinaL1983

After I had my daughter, I joined WW with a friend. I did the core program and lost 50 lbs. I didn't get down to my goal but I got to a comfortable weight and stayed there for years. Several years went by and stress, moving and all kinds of stuff made the weight creep back up (gained 20 lbs).

Last year I decided enough was enough and just started tracking my calories on my own (on a free phone app not related to this website). I lost that 20 lbs by myself then joined MFP with some friends. I have lost 10 lbs since joining MFP Jan 15th. I'm somewhere around 15-30 lbs away from my goal (I'm having a hard time deciding because I had my BF percentage tested and my LBM was a bit higher than I thought it would be so what I originally set my goal as would put me at 10% BF instead of the 18% I'm shooting for). I like it here, I liked weight watchers too but this is free and my friends are here .

meaningful99

I like the group dynamics and support you get at WW, but the plan itself is needlessly complicated. Instead of just counting something easily and freely available -- calories -- you're supposed to count this mysterious, proprietary unit that only they can provide the values for. They claim it's to teach you to choose higher fiber, more filling foods, but anyone who counts calories for long enough starts doing that anyway.

carolina822

Yes, most fruits and veggies are "free" but they also tell you to eat them in moderation and only until you are full. In other words, don't gorge on 10 bananas just because they are "free".

You do not have to buy the weight watchers products or smart ones. Just because it has their name doesn't mean you have to eat it when you are trying to follow weight watchers. yes, they might email you about them or if you go to a meeting they may advertise, but it has their name on it so why wouldn't they?

People will game any system and then complain that it doesn't work. On the old old points plan, some were putting all bran in their ice cream to bring down the points, thus the four gram cap on fiber. It's all about common sense and following the spirit of the program.

And count me as one who never bought a single product from them. If you're going to eat light processed junk food, there are much better options out there than ww.

CM9178

After following the points system for a long time, you learn to know how many points something is -so there is no reason to look it up in a database. You just record the points and move on.
With MFP and counting calories, you also constantly have to be aware of all of your other macros, and you have to look up every single food you eat to find out the values. It is impossible to memorize something like that.
That is a huge reason why I find counting points easier than counting calories - it takes the work out of counting the other macros - it is just ONE thing you need to calculate and remember.
I think WW is such a useful tool in helping you to make healthy food choices, because if you have 2 points left for the day, you know exactly what you can eat. If you have 200 calories left, you could choose to eat something that is very high in saturated fat for example, just because it is 200 calories - with WW, you won't end up doing that, because the points value will be higher based on the grams of fat, etc.

CM9178

I did weight watchers until august of 2012
I put pen to paper and figured out why I got so food obsessed.

I dropped from 197-177 within 12 weeks, and suddenly I was havign issues with food binges and constant hunger, I felt out of control.

I took my ww days worth of logged foods and put that into MFP....shocked to see 1358 cals.

WW is a VLCD (very low calore diet) and ultimately this will help you to lose weight with or without exercise.....the issue is the points they give you are a very BROAD estimate. at 177lbs I was down to the 26 points per day and 49 weeklies. This simply want not enough, even without exercise I burn on average 2800-3000 cals per day just in my regular job so no wonder 1358 cals was like starving me, I would eat my weeklies the day i got them and then try to fill up on fruits and veg but i NEEDED PROTEIN!

I started reading up on "eat more to weigh less" and the issues associated with very low calorie diets. For me, eating more works, I feel satisfied after my meals and snacks and no longer binge eat. I am losing weight but much slower this way, but it feels more sustainable than WW ever did.

food/exercise are very personal and individual for each person and no one right way is going to work for everyone.

put your pen to paper and figure out what you need, your goals and you answer of what will work for you will be in plain sight.
Cheers!
H

You are misinformed. WW is not a VLCD diet. They also encourage you to eat back exercise calories, AND I believe the program is designed for 2 lbs per week weight loss. If you felt that the points/calories weren't enough for you, you could easily eat a few more points and lose less weight per week.
I don't know your stats obviously, but my TDEG is 1411 based on the Roadmap spreadsheet, which is pretty much exactly how many points I get.

CM9178

I've done WW several times and ended up cancelling every time because I couldn't afford to pay $15.00 per week. I've been doing MFP for over 6 months now and found it to be very effective. I've met lots of people (online) and found them very supportive. Even better, you can search for friends within your perimeters (age, gender, location, goal, etc). I don't think you can do that with WW. I log my food all throughout the day, not at the end of the day. I mostly use the mobile app but I like to login from a desktop too and read or post in the message boards for additional support. I would not hesitate to cancel your WW membership. Best of luck

Or, you could go to a meeting and meet other people in person who also attend your meeting, and use them as your support system, rather than the MFP community of strangers.
Just sayin