Myfitness Vs Weight Watchers

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  • ngressman
    ngressman Posts: 229 Member
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    Yes it's the same concept. One big difference is WW gives you extra weekly points to use at your discretion, whereas MFP doesn't. I have had a lot of success with WW. I like the accountability (I never did it online though). The only problem is the money. Right now $40 a month is too much.
  • 9jenn9
    9jenn9 Posts: 309 Member
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    Personally I think weight watchers is the BEST healthy eating plan out there.

    My reasoning behind this is that myself and others I know have developed eating disorders and obsessions with calories.

    Funny you should say this. I'm a life time ww member, but I prefer MFP because I developed an very unhealthy obsession with points! I was constantly obsessing on how many points I had left. I don't do this with calories nearly as much.

    WW is good in that it teaches some good eating habits and how to make healthy choices. I don't think the program emphasizes fitness nearly enough. Exercise is soft peddled. Also, I was only allotted 21points in ww. It wasn't enough. I was hungry all the time. With mfp, I've learned that I can eat more and still lose weight. MFP is a better fit for me.
  • nolongerXXL
    nolongerXXL Posts: 222 Member
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    I would really like to be able to enter a weekly weight and have it show up on a graph like eTools.

    I haven't found this on the online site, but on the phone app, they have a graph with your weight lost on it! :)
  • twestla70
    twestla70 Posts: 28 Member
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    I've done both. MFP has a better food database. I was continuously having to add things into the WW food database.
  • twestla70
    twestla70 Posts: 28 Member
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    Quoted without commenting. Lol. Couldn't agree more about the wealth of info in the MFP database. Especially for us Canadian folk. WW database was challenging at times
  • twestla70
    twestla70 Posts: 28 Member
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    6 days on MFP and I lost 2lbs, after 2 weeks on WW with 0lbs lost. I find it so much more intuitive, and love that it links to my fitbit. Not dissing WW, as I have had great success in the past, but I have to say this works for me now that I am more active than with my previous stints with WW. Good luck to anyone regardless which program you follow.
  • Buff2022
    Buff2022 Posts: 373 Member
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    Weight Watchers does work for some. It worked for me years ago to lose 50 pounds I did gained it back and then some. Not WW fault -- all mine.

    I have tried to go back for years on WW and I was good for a few weeks and then I would fall off again. I guess I was not ready. I did not like going to meetings anymore. I just could not connect with others in the meetings. So I spent a lot of wasted time trying to get the weight off.

    41 days ago I went to see my Doctor. Pretty much had a breakdown and told her I need this weight off. Well she gave me some suggestions and one of them MFP. In those 41 days I have lost 24.4 pounds. AMAZING cause I have not been able to do that in years. I feel better, act better and look better (in my eyes)

    So for me WW no longer worked, because I was tired of counting points, I was tired of not meeting people. I just could not get the click in my head there that I needed.

    For some WW is a lot of work. I don't find MFP to be a lot of work. I am use to measuring food so that is natural to me. I use the app on my phone. I also find that I eat some things now that I would not on WW to many points. Nuts are a good example of that.
  • craigmandu
    craigmandu Posts: 976 Member
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    Have tried WW my wife before.

    I cannot stand WW....not because I think MFP is the "end all, be all", but rather I have a very obsessive and addictive kind of personality. I'm one of those people that would and did eat alot of no points food because I didn't have to count it, and save the points for the high calorie foods I wanted. And I paid them to basically do nothing for me (and I agree, it was all me that made it happen like that, however I don't like a system that lets you "game it" so to speak)...

    I do the same thing here with exercise...I'll exercise just to gain enough calories to eat something "bad", but at least I did something for it, and that activity helps me more in the end.
  • gracielynn1011
    gracielynn1011 Posts: 726 Member
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    I used WW before and lost a few lbs. Not as successful as I have been with MFP. I did not connect with any of my meeting people because I was in my 20s and everyone there was at least twice my age, if not more. And I started noticing that even though people were at goal, they really were not fit. They were still skinny fat. I had to do a lot of research to learn about health and how the body works. I am still learning, but MFP has helped so much with that. This is a good fit for me.
  • mattskeeper0319
    mattskeeper0319 Posts: 3
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    I did ww a few years back and was happy as I could see i was losing weight. However, the meetings drove me crazy (I didn't try online) . Sometimes I just wanted to scream at the people who would say things like "I didnt realize fried chicken was less calories than grilled chicken" just to get a star sticker!!Totally didnt need to listen to the bs there and couldnt get any real life struggles from the other members i could relate to! The meetings made me crazy, the price of the snacks and food they sold were ridiculous, and I felt like I had to change my life style too much. I am extremely busy , like most of us, full time student, full time job, and full time single mom to a special needs child. With only a couple of days to play on mfp I can see that this is totally doable and FUN seeing a goal and the website doing all of the work for me really helps.
    Not to mention the "weigh in" process at ww was humiliating I always stressed abt it and there were too many ppl around to witness my weigh in.
    I dont feel as restricted with mfp and it has already given me the power to control my BAD CHOICES!!
  • janimei
    janimei Posts: 105 Member
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    Long ago I reached my WW goal and became a lifetime member. But the weight came back. When I went back to WW, 3 times, it did not work for me in the long run (at one point I had lost 40 pounds, which came back). When I would show a weight gain at weigh-in, they'd say "you're up 2 lb, $2.00 please." I'd stay after meetings to ask the instructor for some help, but she'd be out the door like a shot the minute the meeting was over. I was "on program" but gaining. Looking back on it, I think the free foods were defeating me.
    All that said, I do love their cookbooks. Some great healthy, delicious recipes in those books. Just bought another one a few weeks ago, aimed at people cooking for one.
    A diabetic friend of mine has been going to WW for the past 4 years and weighs the same now as 4 years ago. She hasn't changed her bad eating habits, just kept them within the point totals, when she's on program. WW does provide exercise information, but that part is easily ignored.
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    OP - that is not at all how WW works. You have to get in all the good health guidelines, while staying within your daily and weekly points. The GHG's are just as important as tracking your food and practicing portion control.
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    To give my two cents, MFP is very similar to WW. MFP replaces the WW's Good Health Guidelines with focusing on macro content.

    Both plans will work equally as well - you will get out of it what you put into it.

    And yes, MFP's database is tons better than WW. I would switch so I'm not paying $18 a month for the online service, but I personally find it easier to count points.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    I've done both. WW was good, but a lot of times I'd use the MFP database because there were things missing from WW. I lost 75lbs from Feb. 23, 2012 to the end of March 2013 with WW, but since April-ish I've lost another 20 lbs with MFP. It's free. The database is pretty good. The forums are very informative and no worse than the general forum at WW. You'll also get a lot of strong opinions. If you can keep in mind that they are opinions and may or may not work for you I think you'll like it here.

    Having said that, here's my opinion: You can eat whatever you want as long as it fits your calorie goals. Fruits and veggies aren't free they need to be logged. Ignore the sugar macro unless you have a medical reason to track it because an apple and a banana or handful of grapes will throw you into the red. Be realistic when you set up your food diary. If you don't have a lot to lose don't set it to 2lbs a week. Eat back your exercise calories. MFP expects you to. If you're worried that the database amount for the burn is too high try eating 3/4 or 1/2. The deficit to lose is already built in there so you don't even have to exercise if you aren't able or don't want to.

    I do try to follow the good health guidelines, 2 servings of dairy, 5 of fruit/veggies, and 2 tsp of oil per day though. I just no longer count points.

    Good luck with whichever you decide to do!
  • hilaryhill
    hilaryhill Posts: 156 Member
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    To give my two cents, MFP is very similar to WW. MFP replaces the WW's Good Health Guidelines with focusing on macro content.

    Both plans will work equally as well - you will get out of it what you put into it.

    And yes, MFP's database is tons better than WW. I would switch so I'm not paying $18 a month for the online service, but I personally find it easier to count points.

    I agree. WW and MFP are nearly identical, one just uses points, the other uses calories. You get to choose what kind of calories you fill your body with in both (I have seen some terrible food choices from food diaries here on MFP, some people will go days without a fruit or veggie... but they're within their calories, sooo...). I liked that WW took fiber into account, something that is high fiber is less points. I lost weight on it many times. Im only on MFP because it's free and I like the community here. :)

    ETA: Oh, I also dont like how MFP automatically puts everyone so low with their daily calories and you have to visit these forums to figure out how many calories you actually should be eating (like with TDEE and all that). That part was frustrating at first. I like how WW just spits out how many points you should have. Easy.
  • metamorphoo1961
    metamorphoo1961 Posts: 3 Member
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    I did WW about 10 years ago (old plan) and lost a lot of weight with it. Unfortunately, I went through a relocation a few years later, and in the process, got off track and regained the weight I lost. I am losing weight once again, but this time with MFP (although I also use MPF to help me calculate how many WW points I've eaten for the day and put that number in my notes. I get my calories, fat and fiber info from MFP and then input it into one of the free WW point calculators online.)

    Both plans have helped me lose weight, but I think that MFP has helped me track things that I really am also trying to keep an eye on--i.e., my sodium and sugar intake. Through MFP, I think I am learning to make better choices that will benefit me for a lifetime.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    Weight Watchers are a bunch of con artists. Use the "Eat Less Crap than normal" diet, sponsored by common sense.
  • beastmode_kitty
    beastmode_kitty Posts: 844 Member
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    I've done both and I like MFP better. I've lost more on it, and its free!
  • pepeleo
    pepeleo Posts: 49 Member
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    WW is a great program as long as you follow it.
    You are under no obligation to buy WW products. I never do because it is the same crap as in the stores.
    With WW you can not eat 20 bananas in a day and expect to lose as would be the same thing with MFP. Maximum is a combined total of 5 fruits and veg's a day.
    With WW, as long as you eat food that is high in fibre and protein, filling foods than there is no need to log/count points.
    Both WW and MFP are great programs. Their goals are for you to learn to eat more nutritional food and to get away from empty calories which is junk food and the foods that clog your arteries.

    Both programmes are fantastic in their own different but similar ways.


    MFP is Free

    WW causes you to part with cash to be told your weight and how much to eat.

    With MFP you can eat what you want within your calorie goal.

    WW pushes their own products on you to try to make you part with more cash.

    WW allows fruit / veggies to be free food which can be very misleading. If I eat 20 bananas in a day those calories should definitely be counted.

    MFP has a great database of foods. Logging is easy, no complicated points to calculate.

    So MFP all the way!


    oh by BTW, a standard McDonalds meal (in the Uk at least) is around 1000 cals. If that is more than your entire calorie goal for one day then your calorie goal is too low.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
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    I lost a lot of weight on WW in eighth grade and I got to my goal weight of 125 lb., which I now see as unrealistic (I was and am 5'6"). I immediately gained it all back in less than a year, and by senior year of high school, I was 168 lb. WW was effective for weight loss for me, but I wasn't able to maintain it. With MFP, I am losing weight more slowly but I am confident that I will be able to maintain my new goal weight of 140-145 lb. when I reach it.

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