Weight Watchers vs. MFP

I did the same exact thing with fruit! I did a side by side tracking of WW and MFP back in July and I found that when I was at my Points limit for the day, I was around 1200 calories. But then I was eating fruits and vegetables at night, which easily added up to another 250-300 calories! It was no wonder I had so much trouble getting motivated to lose weight under Points Plus.

I had previously lost 60lbs of baby weight a few years back under the old Points system, but after baby #2 and the Points Plus, I just couldn't lose, then got frustrated, then gained little by little. So here I am with 40 more lbs to lose, but I am down 10lbs so far and SO much more confident about the rest coming off.

And to the other poster who commented that Weight WAtchers didn't encourage exercise enough, 100% AGREE!

What's wrong with middle aged women. FYI I like MFP better too. LOL I just so happen to be middle aged, and totally awesome. As are all of you! Which is why I am here. Love MFP so much better!

WW worked great for me but it was a hassle to calculate & remember points for different foods (I didn't do meetings or online, just tracked my points based upon information on the net and used iphone apps). I switched to MFP and continued to lose weight. MFP keeps me motivated to workout which WW never did. I find it easy to measure portions using a scale so I feel more confident in the numbers. I also use a HRM when I workout so I know exactly what I burned instead of estimating.

I prefer MFP because it deals with actual macros, nutrients, calories, etc, instead of some dumb point system created by middle aged women.

What's wrong with middle aged women???

I'm trying both simultaneously at the moment, to see which one I like better. So far, I'm liking MFP better. Tracking is so much easier and the database is far more extensive. I love the bar code scanner for my foods. WW has it, but almost nothing is in that database!

I've been stalling on WW for the last couple of months. I think it's because fruit is free. I eat too much of it. With MFP, I am counting those calories!

This is me too! I use both but I will admit I am better at using MFP than I am my WW app. When I found MFP I quickly realized that the "free" fruits and veggies were what was stalling my weight loss...I hit a plateau. Now I am back on track and losing again. I still am a WW member and will continue until I am a lifetime member....but this is for me no one else.

I just recently switched from WW to MFP as well. I was successful on WW this time and in the past. I did tracking on both for a week or so to see if my calories on here "matched" up with my points on WW. Once I saw they were pretty close, I cancelled WW. Why pay for something when this is free and so much better!!!! The foods database here is also much better than WW.

Also, on WW, you were never watching your calories, but rather points. I had no idea how many calories I was eating every day, not to mention how much I was adding with all the "free" foods they allowed.

I am really liking MFP!

I did WW years ago and at the time that was the tool I needed and I was successful. At this point in my life I really need MFP. I really need to understand calories and not just points. As others have also stated WW doesn't push fitness and exercise with their plan and that's something that I really wanted to focus on.

The main difference that I can see (besides cost) is health. WW pushes the points system and you've got to learn that and be able to translate that while at the grocery store or spend hours (yes, I used to spend over an hour every week in the grocery store breaking out my points calculator to see if a specific for was worth buying) debating whether to buy or not to buy a specific food.

MFP is not a diet. MFP is a health collective. We're all here to get healthy and the community shares healthful helpful tips. WW has many items that you can eat that have a low point value, but they have low nutritional value as well and they are highly processed and really not too healthy. (not all,of course, just most that I found).

I'm not saying that you have to give up processed & frozen meals when you change your account from WW to MFP, but I think if you give it enough time that naturally that is what will happen. You learn what really is healthy and what really works for you... there's no danger of "gaining it all back when you go back to eating normal again". [I lost weight on NutriSystem, 73pounds, 23 years ago - I also lost weight with WW, 97 pounds, 12 years ago -- since I had to do both, and I'm here now, how well do you think either one of them worked?]

Welcome to full time MFP! If you find you NEED the weekly meetings you might have to join WW again just to get that... but I believe in you and if you do too, you'll be just fine here.

I'm a ww lifetime member, but switched to mfp for a few reasons. WW does teach good habits (food tracking, portion control, etc) but I find it easier to connect with like minded people on mfp. I'm into fitness and I don't think ww emphasizes it enough. I think they try to be gentle about pushing exercise so as not to scare people off, but that's a disservice imo. I didn't like having to figure out points. Straight up calories is easier and more straight forward. Plus this is free!

Agreed about the exercise. They don't stress it nearly as much as they should. Most of the participants are middle aged women who would benefit from execise the most. Yet they hardly if at ever talk about it. And when they did it was to tell us to take the steps or park further in the parking lot. Never once did they mention cardio or weight training. Or yoga which can be great for us older women. I'm so grateful to have found MFP. I've learned so much in the time that I've been here.

Let me add that for some WW is the perfect tool. But if someone wants to really get 'healthy' MFP is the way to go.

Plus there's an easy point system you can follow and the points are listed on the products themselves, not just in a book. If not for fresh produce etc, then the info is readily available all over the internet.

The points are also known as 'Calories'.

You work out how many points (or 'calories') you can have in a day and add them up.

There you go!

I think the points right on the box is where it falls down. It encourages people to learn less about their food and pay more for pre-packaged food that is even worse crap than you were eating before.

I was at a WW meeting, and the leader was giving a talk about bread. It ended with having to be careful about points, and choose the white because it had less points than the wholemeal.........

Yep agreed again. Those pre-packaged meals have been proven to be toxic to our bodies. Yet that is all they sell and push on their members. Its insane. But like someone said here already. They are selling us a bill of goods.