Weight Watchers vs. MFP

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Replies

  • love811
    love811 Posts: 7 Member
    I've done both WW and MFP. I prefer MFP. Weight Watchers is not a bad program. However, they say you can eat whatever you want as long as you stay within your points. Yes, the good things you're to eat are less points or no points, but you still have no idea the whole make up of what you're eating. Yes, I lost weight, but I had no idea the breakdown of what I was putting into my body.

    MFP tracks everything you put into your body. You can look and see if you're eating enough protein or if you're getting too much sodium. It's all right there. WW is simply a point system that doesn't tell you any of that information. I find that I'm much more aware of my eating habits by using MFP. It seems to help me more.
  • mearlie
    mearlie Posts: 224
    In my opinion, and I've said this before, the points plus system is flawed. Case in point. Grapes: 1 cup of grapes has roughly 60 calories. But. 1 cup of grapes is 0 points. 2 cups of grapes is 120 calories. 2 cups of grapes is also zero points. 4 cups of grapes is 240 calories..... and 0 points. 1 large banana is 120 calories.... and zero points! So you concievably sit there and eat a large banana and 4 cups of grapes, 360 calories, which is a typical full meal for me.... and not log a single point.

    Anyone who doesn't see the problem with this is crazy.

    Yep! BUT if someone's been eating high processed foods and sweets from a bag, just getting them to eat grapes and bananas is a good thing. I see where WW could be a really great starting point for someone who needs to totally change the way they think about food. Here, if they ask certain questions, they will probably be terrified to ask any MORE questions. At least at Weight Watchers it is supportive and helpful with no "flaming".
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
    I agree with you 100%.
    As a lifetime WW member, I have returned a couple of times to try to get back to my goal weight. WW doesn't seem care much about returning lifetime members. You don't even get rewards for your weight loss unless you go up and make sure you tell the instructor.

    How else would they know of your weight loss unless you told them? The ladies doing the weighing don't give the rewards. At least the last time I was there.
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
    I don't understand why people pay for WW or anything like that when you have sites like MFP for free.

    They don't know about it. I learned from a former boss. He lost 25 pounds and I inquired how. Thats when he turned me onto MFP. I was at WW at the time.
  • sweetkeys
    sweetkeys Posts: 81 Member
    I'm a WW believer - it's how I lost my weight and have been able to maintain the loss. I still attend weekly meetings and weigh in almost every week that I'm in town. I need the accountability and love the face-to-face interaction. And for me it's all free as I'm a Lifetime Member, even the etools as long as I weigh in and am within 2 lbs. of my goal weight. If I was only doing WW on line, I'd probably not feel the same way. I've only been on MFP for a week, but I love the food data base and the way food is tracked. And the support is great. I still follow the WW plan of eating because it's become a habit/lifestyle. But if you want a free plan - MFP is it!
  • mearlie
    mearlie Posts: 224
    I'm a WW believer - it's how I lost my weight and have been able to maintain the loss. I still attend weekly meetings and weigh in almost every week that I'm in town. I need the accountability and love the face-to-face interaction. And for me it's all free as I'm a Lifetime Member, even the etools as long as I weigh in and am within 2 lbs. of my goal weight. If I was only doing WW on line, I'd probably not feel the same way. I've only been on MFP for a week, but I love the food data base and the way food is tracked. And the support is great. I still follow the WW plan of eating because it's become a habit/lifestyle. But if you want a free plan - MFP is it!

    I did not know that lifetime members get etools for free as long as they maintain. That's good info! Thank you! It restores a bit of faith in their system for me.
  • senami632
    senami632 Posts: 134 Member
    MFP > all

    ^^ Truuuuuu!
  • chocolateluvr80
    chocolateluvr80 Posts: 64 Member
    I've done both WW and MFP. I prefer MFP. Weight Watchers is not a bad program. However, they say you can eat whatever you want as long as you stay within your points. Yes, the good things you're to eat are less points or no points, but you still have no idea the whole make up of what you're eating. Yes, I lost weight, but I had no idea the breakdown of what I was putting into my body.

    MFP tracks everything you put into your body. You can look and see if you're eating enough protein or if you're getting too much sodium. It's all right there. WW is simply a point system that doesn't tell you any of that information. I find that I'm much more aware of my eating habits by using MFP. It seems to help me more.

    Exactly. I did WW points and pointsplus and I have to admit that a lot of days I ate most of my points in WW ice cream bars. They tell their members that it is okay to eat junk just eat less of it. I think it is much easier to gauge how healthy your diet is using MFP.

    As far as exercise goes, I think the reason that WW doesn't emphasize it as much as they should is because they are afraid of scaring away members.

    I did the meetings and if you were to do WW that is definitely the way to go. Oh, and when I did WW I used to describe it as a support group for fat people (mostly women).
  • cmccorma
    cmccorma Posts: 203 Member
    In my opinion, and I've said this before, the points plus system is flawed. Case in point. Grapes: 1 cup of grapes has roughly 60 calories. But. 1 cup of grapes is 0 points. 2 cups of grapes is 120 calories. 2 cups of grapes is also zero points. 4 cups of grapes is 240 calories..... and 0 points. 1 large banana is 120 calories.... and zero points! So you concievably sit there and eat a large banana and 4 cups of grapes, 360 calories, which is a typical full meal for me.... and not log a single point.

    Anyone who doesn't see the problem with this is crazy.

    Actually they tell you not to double or quadruple servings. So that is not true. WW works for a lot of people. MFP is free, that is why I do it.
  • AmyP619
    AmyP619 Posts: 1,137 Member
    The nice thing is that you now have the tools to do WW on your own, if you want to, so you could do it for free in addition to using MFP. I was on WW for a little while, and when I finally stopped paying for it I would still track points and kind of do it on my own. So the option is still there, which is nice! I don't do it anymore..now I just log calories on here.
  • Time2LightenUp
    Time2LightenUp Posts: 86
    About a month ago My bestfriend and I decided to see whos was working best she was a on weight watchers and I was using mfp and it really help keep me on track and losing weight guess who made a mfp account today. Yep my best friend. Lol So I would say this is the better choice and FREE!! :)
  • raybaileyct
    raybaileyct Posts: 10
    You will. I lost a total of 23lbs on MFP. I gained by 10lbs but using it again to back to the basics. You will do fine.
  • lamilli09
    lamilli09 Posts: 354 Member
    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!

    :D this!!
  • eidc
    eidc Posts: 79 Member
    I am a life time member at WW but for some reason find counting calories way easier than counting points. I love the MFP app for my phone and you have to pay for WW'S app. Free is good!
  • jhall1255
    jhall1255 Posts: 99 Member
    i did WW for 3 months after my mom always raved about it. It was easy but i was paying to use a website which was dumb to me. Because after a while you get in your own habit and i never went to the meetings. In my 3 months i only lost 10 lbs. I started MFP in July 19th and Ive lost 22 lbs on here so far. I like this so much better, the support is great and the whole design is much better. Id def. stick with MFP
  • VanessaHeartsMasr
    VanessaHeartsMasr Posts: 727
    MFP > all


    This!
    I third this!!
  • BoltzNBrew
    BoltzNBrew Posts: 24 Member
    I did WW for a while and didn't like it. Tracking is much easier here and am losing steady so MFP is all good. Main knock I had with WW is the "Free" foods that don't count against your daily allotment of points. Sorry but fruits and veggies still contain calories and should be counted.
  • lmores
    lmores Posts: 18 Member
    I did WW for a while and didn't like it. Tracking is much easier here and am losing steady so MFP is all good. Main knock I had with WW is the "Free" foods that don't count against your daily allotment of points. Sorry but fruits and veggies still contain calories and should be counted.

    totally agree with this. I eat a ton of fruits and veggies and work out. There is no way I can eat all I want and lose weight. I joined WW for the accountability, but then I realized I just could come here and make friends to keep me accountable - for FREE.

    ETA: I JUST last week quit WW and joined MFP!
  • MrsWilsoncroft
    MrsWilsoncroft Posts: 968 Member
    I prefer MFP because it deals with actual macros, nutrients, calories, etc, instead of some dumb point system created by middle aged women.

    ROFL!!

    I also got sick of weight watchers, point this, point that and before I knew it I had non left lol!
    It is much better on here and the fact it's free too xxx
  • clarevince
    clarevince Posts: 2
    I've recently cancelled my WW membership and started logging my food and exercise on MFP and I'm hoping it was a good move. I've been an advocate of WW after losing about 10st over the last few years, I introduced exercise about 2 months ago but haven't really lost any weight I fact I gained a little bit. I discussed it with my leader on several occasions and she didn't really have any advice or suggestions about how much more I should be eating depending on the amount of exercise I was doing. Fingers crossed for more success with MFP,
  • EvelynBfly78
    EvelynBfly78 Posts: 240 Member
    I have thought about joining WW. But it cost $. In these poor economic times who has extra money to spend. I guess someone has to pay for the rental space for the meetings, the advertising, website, etc. MFP is FREE. I'm glad someone told me about this site. It's easy to log in my food & exercising. The food database is quite extensive. MFP lets me know my carbs, protein, fats, sugars, etc. based on what I enter in my food diary. It's a great learning experience. I've only been on it since July & am happy with my results.
  • sissy685
    sissy685 Posts: 12 Member
    I did WW for a couple of years. I loved it and lost 60 lbs. The only reason I quit was because I could not afford it anymore. The one thing that I am sad about is all the support you get while you are there is gone the instant you choose not to go back. I am still a huge fan of WW but cant afford the gym and the meeting. I am falling in love with MFP! I feel the two are very similar and its a lot easier to count calories than it is to figure out points.
  • tdhighfill
    tdhighfill Posts: 200 Member
    I prefer MFP because it deals with actual macros, nutrients, calories, etc, instead of some dumb point system created by middle aged women.

    exactly! also the support system MFP you can find people that have similiar goals, similiar hurdles, etc. WW meetings I found myself sitting there wondering "who ARE these people?"....and although only on MFP for about a month now - I am positive that this is the solution to me getting fit.
  • gmpuggles
    gmpuggles Posts: 137 Member
    I'm currently doing both, though mainly keeping track of what I eat here because I like the database better here and a lot of the people here have nice senses of humor. Like a lot of people that have posted, what I like about attending the meetings is the accountability of stepping on the scale and no they don't make a big announcement if you loose or gain unless you yourself want to do a little bragging about it.
  • wordena
    wordena Posts: 177 Member
    I went with my Mom all my life to WW meetings as a little kid. Great lesson in nutrition, weight loss, and healthful living as a little kid. I still look back at those meetings as very instructive for my life. That being said I did the WW online thing and bought the books and recipes, but I'm not a fan of the points system. I really just want to know how many calories a day to eat. Foods high in points although I could still eat them felt "bad" and forbidden. It took away the fun in the food. I like the freedom I have now. Literally anything I can have in moderation, The same could be said for WW, but the preception just isnt the same for me. Besides with those "free point" foods, I am one of those people who could get fat on carrots. I can sit down and eat a pound of carrots and not bat an eye. and then move one to the next free food. MFP has helped with learning control and I like counting caloreis. I can insistantly tell if I want to eat something or not vs. WW where Id have to type it in and decide based on the points if i wanted to eat them or not.
  • annabellj
    annabellj Posts: 1,337 Member
    ww is great. but, that being said, they only weigh you. they dont check your pics, fat, muscle gain etc. also mfp is 24 7 support. if i cant sleep or whatever. its great. i cant see ever leaving to go back to ww
  • LisaMarie8713
    LisaMarie8713 Posts: 310
    I lost 60lbs with WW a couple years ago... but if I'd known about MFP I would never have paid for it again! Love this site!!
  • SunnyAndrsn
    SunnyAndrsn Posts: 369 Member
    I prefer MFP because it deals with actual macros, nutrients, calories, etc, instead of some dumb point system created by middle aged women.

    ^^THIS!!! I've learned a lot more about nutrition this way. With WW, I was all about maximizing the volume of food I could eat with the least amount of points, therefore, I ate very, very low fat and very high carb. My hair looked like straw, and I was constantly hungry. I eventually snapped and swore I'd never diet again.
  • TeriCounts
    TeriCounts Posts: 3 Member
    Very interested in this topic, as I'm currently doing both WW and MFP. Perhaps I'll "weigh in" later with my observations!
  • skinnygal8
    skinnygal8 Posts: 4
    I tried WW, and after four months I lost no weight. It just wasn't for me. I think actually counting calories/exercise will work better for me. My doc recommended this to me!!

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