Weight Watchers

SpecialSundae

I am contemplating on going to Weight Watchers. Is there anyone out there that has tried it & had success? What is your opinion of Weight Watchers?

My honest opinion is that it is a profit-making corporation which makes money from yo-yo dieters. Friends who have done it worked out they were eating about 1000-1200 calories a day and actively avoided protein because it had too many points. I've never met anyone who managed to maintain the weight loss long-term.

Yes, you can end up in the same cycle on MFP or any other diet, but there is information on healthier ways to lose weight. I maintained a 15kg loss for 4 years after a sensible weight-loss regime (healthy eating and a personal training programme) and eventually regained some of it when I had a long-term illness.

RoadsterGirlie

I am contemplating on going to Weight Watchers. Is there anyone out there that has tried it & had success? What is your opinion of Weight Watchers?

My honest opinion is that it is a profit-making corporation which makes money from yo-yo dieters. Friends who have done it worked out they were eating about 1000-1200 calories a day and actively avoided protein because it had too many points. I've never met anyone who managed to maintain the weight loss long-term.

Yes, you can end up in the same cycle on MFP or any other diet, but there is information on healthier ways to lose weight. I maintained a 15kg loss for 4 years after a sensible weight-loss regime (healthy eating and a personal training programme) and eventually regained some of it when I had a long-term illness.

No, no and no! This is not true at all. The lowest I ever went was 1400 calories. On the newer 26 daily point limit it might be 1200, but don't forget you can eat your weekly and activity as well, so it still comes out to be more than that.

I eat more protein now than I did prior to WW, but I also admit my diet was pretty horrible then too. I also eat a lot more fiber, and just overall have a better sense of well being.

It literally changed my life, and I will never ever go off of it. It's a lifestyle - not a diet. No yoyo dieting here...

You can yoyo on MFP the same way you yoyo on WW if you quit logging your food.

Eileen889

I've gone to Weight Watchers years. Currently I am almost 5lbs below the goal weight that they set for me a few years ago so I only weigh in once a month now. Their new 360 program is ok, however, I prefer count calories instead of points, therefore I use the MFP App all the time now.

SpecialSundae

I am contemplating on going to Weight Watchers. Is there anyone out there that has tried it & had success? What is your opinion of Weight Watchers?

My honest opinion is that it is a profit-making corporation which makes money from yo-yo dieters. Friends who have done it worked out they were eating about 1000-1200 calories a day and actively avoided protein because it had too many points. I've never met anyone who managed to maintain the weight loss long-term.

Yes, you can end up in the same cycle on MFP or any other diet, but there is information on healthier ways to lose weight. I maintained a 15kg loss for 4 years after a sensible weight-loss regime (healthy eating and a personal training programme) and eventually regained some of it when I had a long-term illness.

No, no and no! This is not true at all. The lowest I ever went was 1400 calories. On the newer 26 daily point limit it might be 1200, but don't forget you can eat your weekly and activity as well, so it still comes out to be more than that.

I eat more protein now than I did prior to WW, but I also admit my diet was pretty horrible then too. I also eat a lot more fiber, and just overall have a better sense of well being.

It literally changed my life, and I will never ever go off of it. It's a lifestyle - not a diet. No yoyo dieting here...

You can yoyo on MFP the same way you yoyo on WW if you quit logging your food.

MFP is not a diet plan, though. It is a tool which you use as you will. People use it to lose weight, gain weight or just monitor what they eat. That's the difference.

As for activity, even if you eat your activity points, you actually only get 40-50% of your calorie burn back so it's actually building a bigger deficit.

Weight Watchers is NOT a charitable organisation. It is a corporation whose business is making money out of people who want to lose weight.

jadeyq1

I use the Weight Watchers points system alongside MFP. I track everything with MFP and take note of my fat, sat fat and carbs etc using MFPs guidelines and then at the end of the day I tally up what I've eaten in the equivalent Weight Watchers points. It's working for me and generally I find that Weight Watchers matches my MFP tracking in that I never go over my points as long as I keep to the guidelines MFP set me.

The only thing I will say about WW is that sometimes I will find that I've used up all my fat and sat fat according to MFP but I'm way off of using up all of my WW points so sometimes I am wary about what WW says you can actually eat in a day and still lose weight. For example, I'm set at 32 WW points for my statistics and some days I'll have eaten all of my recommended fat and sat fat by MFP standards but I may have only eaten 25 WW points.

To sum up, this isn't the first time I've followed the WW points system. It has worked for me every time I've followed it and it was my own pure lack of will power that has led to failure in the past. Generally speaking I've always found it to be successful.

hookilau

But for me, counting points was a pain in the *kitten*, and a lot of hocus-pocus math that gets to the same goal as MFP: eat less, move more, log what you shove in your face, and be realistic about your expectations and goals.

I also REALLY got tired of the second-hand pop psychology. We regularly had a couple of members who used WW sessions almost like group therapy, and the leader did nothing to limit their constant whining about what their significant other "made" them eat, or all the stresses in their life that were making them stress eat. Hire a damned shrink already!

There's still lots of whining and pop-psychology on MFP, but at least I can choose to ignore it if I choose (and I usually do!), and I get what really works for me--namely the logging

I can TOTALLY relate to this!!! :drinker:

I'm a WW drop out and when I did have success on it was when I was on the old plan at 19 pts per day. This was about 19 pts per day, then I lost weight and they took away a point :noway: :noway: I was really cranky when that happened :laugh:

After a while, it just wasn't for me. It was a lot of hocus pocus and lacking transparency, it was difficult to tweak the plan if it wasn't working, I was paying for it too, pffft. Ever since I found MFP, I've found that I had everything I needed & far more information I could use.

Also, a point doesn't necessarily translate to 50 calories. It was a lot like monopoly calories too :ohwell: I know there's a way you can track WW points on MFP, I did it just to see. It was eye opening :huh:

Info is within the first page
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/822197-how-to-track-weight-watchers-points-on-mfp

Entretien

Thanks for your thoughtful response, Tyree. I'm gonna give MFP another try.

karen5689

I agree -- to an extent!

I'm on WW too, have lost over 40 lbs (32 since January) with about 25 more to go to get me into the 130's comfortably. And while I have long loved WW and sworn by their methods... once I took up running, and once I started training for a half marathon, I began to feel as though WW, and its members, and its often not-that-knowledgable leaders, to be practically hostile to vigorous exercise.

If I run at a pace above 5MPH, WW gives me the same AP per minute when I run 5 miles in an hour or 8. There is a HUGE caloric difference there -- but it's not reflected in WW's APs. Ask a WW discussion group and they'll tell you to "find what works for you," aka the members and leaders both have NO idea how to respond to someone whose exercise level exceeds running two miles a few times a week.

It's gotten increasingly frustrating -- I eat only 26 PP a day and half my activity but I'm stalling on weight loss! HOW?! So I turned to MFP and started counting calories and paying attention to macros and the weight has fallen off.

All of this is to say: WW is an AMAZING program for people learning to take control of their health and depending on how much weight one has to lose, you are SO right that if one is disciplined and follows the program it ABSOLUTELY works. But for those really close to a genuinely low goal (for me, 130) the amount of points I received to lose weight at 160 pounds (26) simply can't still have the same caloric deficit now that I'm close to 150 pounds, nor will it at 140, 135.... And in that respect, I think WW runs out of steam for me. Add to that my qualms about athletics and ways to safely nourish a body that NEEDS simple carbs for going on 10 mile runs and, well... I have been frustrated.

And so here I am, om MFP, checking out while still tracking over at WW. Like you, I seek to find a plan that's sustainable for life. I think MFP might be my best tool in doing so!