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The Never-Ending Debate. . .

NYChick84
NYChick84 Posts: 331 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Out of curiosity....My mom is on WW, and we were having a debate about which one is better. I argued up and down that MFP is way better than WW. For my height and weight 5'6", 172lbs, I'm alloted 26 points on WW. I calculated my whole day from MFP, and according to the points value, I ate 31 points today. Hmm...Is this good or bad? I didn't calculate how many points I earned for working out, however my total calories burned for my exercises today came to 619. I'm going to assume that I was within range for WW. But what I'm trying to get at here is, which one is ultimately better? WW or MFP?? Also, my mom has lost 82 lbs to date on WW and has been on it since Sept 2011. Nearly a year on it - SW @ 257 she now weighs 175lbs. I am not going to sway away from MFP, for this is totally working for me, but it has me thinking.....Thoughts??

Replies

  • mhotch
    mhotch Posts: 901 Member
    Different stokes, for different folks. WW worked for me. I found MFP, after I reached lifetime. {at the time WW still charged lifetimers for etools} I need to log to keep me accountable, so I continue to come here. I think both are as successful as you allow it to be.
  • GiGiBeans
    GiGiBeans Posts: 1,062 Member
    I've personally met a lot of people that weight watchers has worked for. They lost the weight and kept it off. In fact so many of my customers have lost a lot of weight on weight watchers it prompted me to try it myself this past february. I lost 8 pounds but was constantly hungry. At night I was eating fruit like I was a toucan bird or something. I kept craving more and more sugary things. I gave up and gained 5 of those pounds back.

    I do think weight watchers could have worked for me if I was not so carb sensitive.
  • wlkumpf
    wlkumpf Posts: 241 Member
    I got sick of paying and buying their nutritionless snacks at the meetings because I always seemed to go hungry.

    I think it really does work for some people and they do calculate extra points a week as well as extra points for excersizing :)

    I still get the magazine and read it! I think whatever works is great, if you are already losing weight I won't change it up but if you like groups and want to go to meetings that is nice too...
    I have all the cookbooks and after looking through them I just ended up changing all my regular meals to healthier options with substitutions, never made anything from any of the ones I bought.

    My fave snack comes from them, sf jello with the "free" cool whip. YUMMY!!! My kids even love it!
  • BR3ANDA
    BR3ANDA Posts: 622 Member
    MFP is free, so its better! Seriously though, whatever works for you is what you should do. Try a 2 month trial on each one and see where you get better results. Whether its calories or points, you're still tracking. Some people like WW because they have a physical place they can go to and be held accountable(if you attend meetings), and some people prefer cyber interaction.
  • apocalypsepwnie
    apocalypsepwnie Posts: 373
    I've tried WW and it just felt too hard. But then again I only had the book at the time and there wasn't a website or phone app. I also didn't like paying for it. I was hungry and confused. I didn't understand how the points worked with the foods and what kind of nutrition I was getting.
    I like MFP because it does so much thinking for me. I don't have to write anything down and everything is there. I think that WW on the app would be the same but I don't want to pay for it.
    I find that lots of WW focuses much about the fat and sugar which is not a concern for me.
    I eat their frozen meals for lunch at work but stay away from the rest as it's not teaching me to eat real food.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I lost most of my weight on there but then it slowed down so started on MFP with results I'm happy with so far.

    Weight Watchers certainly takes less time out of your day to track but I like that I can see I'm getting all my nutrients right on here.

    Also I'm a life time member of WW and it's free for me to go to meetings but they expect me to pay for online. No thanks!!!
  • NYChick84
    NYChick84 Posts: 331 Member
    My mom has been a WW member since the 70's....constantly yo-yoing back and forth. She makes it down to 10-15lbs before reaching her goal weight, hits a plateau, and that's the end of it for her. Then she's back to putting the weight on and then some more....I hope and pray this time it's different since she is a diabetic (which drove her to go back to WW and change the way she eats). And the way my mom eats is like me - you can read my diary (and add me as a friend if you like).

    The biggest perk to this site is that there is ALWAYS someone to talk to, it's free and there's constant reinforcements, reminders, encouraging faces and words....Unlike WW which is just a once a week meeting, and that's it. What got to me and what made me stop going to the meetings (and the gym too) is the winter. "It's too cold out" or "The roads are too dangerous to drive on". So I let one week of not showing up, turn into two, then three....and that was the end for me. Now, MFP is right at my fingertips in my home and I do my workouts at home. NO EXCUSES whatsoever!

    Like people say, different stroke for different folks...I rather do everything in the comfort of my own home, IMO.
  • NYChick84
    NYChick84 Posts: 331 Member
    Oh, and I did lose 42 lbs on WW myself back in HS, but like I said in my previous post, I stopped going because the winter blues got the best of me.....Been yo-yoing from 175 - 230 since then...But no more....I'm at my lowest I've been since um.....9th grade? lol
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    I don't think that one is better. They are just a different way of doing the same thing - moderating what you eat and building in some exercise. If you have each found something that works for you - fantastic!

    If there was one diet that REALLY worked, over and above everything else, we would all have done that and we would all be thin by now!

    For me - MFP has been the most successful approach to getting and staying healthy that I have ever tried. I did go to WW years ago but I found that I just got obsessed with points and pissed off at the meetings.
  • ZugTheMegasaurus
    ZugTheMegasaurus Posts: 801 Member
    I did WW years ago (before they started their online program). I hated it. It was horrible; I dreaded those meetings all week long. I was an 18 year old college freshman with maybe 15-20 pounds to lose and these meetings were full of these whiny middle-aged women who spent the whole time complaining about how hard it was and how they wanted to eat junk food all the time and were pissed off that they weren't allowed to. So not only could I not relate, the negativity was just overwhelming and soul-crushing. I didn't lose any weight, either.

    I haven't ever met anyone who's been successful on WW, but it sounds like your mom has. So I guess do whatever works. It just was definitely not for me.
  • Birdie
    Birdie Posts: 256 Member
    I did WW a few times. I liked the old points system, but didn't like the changes they made last year. The biggest draw back for me was the meetings. All they ever talked about was junk food and how to make lower calorie junk. Plus all their WW snacks they sell are junk. Yes a 2point piece of chocolate cake is less than a regular piece but it's still garbage. What I needed from those meeting were ideas of how to make the stuff I don't really care for, like vegtables, taste good. Here on MRP I can find tons of new ideas for real food.
  • runzalot81
    runzalot81 Posts: 782 Member
    When I started running, I also used the old WW point system nearly 10 years ago. It worked for me at the time. Now, it doesn't work at all. I was still using the old point system but didn't really know how to manage the points and make it fit my athletic lifestyle. When I joined here, I very quickly learned that I wasn't eating enough :drinker: I'm already doing so much better and I'm still looking to increase my net calories in the next few weeks.

    My mom still does WW and she'll ditch an entire dinner just so she can have ice cream. Often :frown: It fits her points to "it's okay."
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