Counting calories vs weight watchers

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  • kobiemom
    kobiemom Posts: 218 Member
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    I started out on ww and lost when I didn't think I could. Then they changed their program to points plus. I gained and lost the same 5lbs. for almost six months. It doesn't work for me. I came to MFP to see what had changed and how to get back to losing again. I ended up dropping ww. MFP has a much larger database and it's training me to do my own thinking. Everything is here - diet, exercise, advice, peer support. You can either learn how to tailor your own diet or learn to become dependent on ww.
  • msbobbitx
    msbobbitx Posts: 66 Member
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    I was a member of the online WW for years. This works just as well and it's freeeeeee.
  • msbobbitx
    msbobbitx Posts: 66 Member
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    Actually it works better in some cases because nothing is 0 points here. You are accountable for everything you put in your body.
  • Momwasix
    Momwasix Posts: 664 Member
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    I don't like how WE gives you fruits and veggies for "free" in the real world, they still count.... it just doesn't sit right with me

    The reason the fruits and vegetables aren't counted is to insure your taking in enough calories.
  • watcheronthewall
    watcheronthewall Posts: 104
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    I don't like how WE gives you fruits and veggies for "free" in the real world, they still count.... it just doesn't sit right with me

    They should be free though. In the 'real world', ie the world where you are not dieting, they should be things you are making up about half of your intake from, particularly veg. The point is that you are encouraged to learn to eat in a balanced way and eat enough of the right foods, and it works as far as I'm concerned.

    I don't get the logic of fretting over calories from fruit and veg, who exactly binges on these things?
  • paddy1945
    paddy1945 Posts: 7 Member
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    WW class some foods as free. As the old saying go's" there's no such thing as a free lunch" .WW dos'nt work for me, wheras MFP does.
  • kobiemom
    kobiemom Posts: 218 Member
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    It wasn't about the free fruits and veggies. I looked up the nutritional info for them, made up my own points and counted them. It still didn't work. Something is fundamentally flawed in the points plus system. They have come out with changes every year since it's introduction and it still doesn't work.
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I use both WW and MFP. I count points but then log my food in MFP, so I can see how many calories I'm consuming and what my other metrics are. There is also a plug-in you can use for Firefox browser which will display your WW points (old or new points) in your MFP food diary - very helpful.
    As far as not knowing how many calories are in something vs. the points - you should be able to easily see that on the label, and as far as fresh foods - just enter it in MFP and it will show you how many calories it is and you'll know the points.
    There is no reason to pay for WW unless you want to go there for meetings or to get weighed in. You can still follow the program and the points if you want to.
    I use both because I like seeing the calories, etc on here, but I find it easier to count points vs counting calories. I've been on and off WW for so long that I pretty much know the points in something just by looking at it at this point.

    By the way, I do NOT follow the points plus program. I am still following the old points system, and rather than eating the same number of points every day, I'm following the OLD weight watchers point ranges. So for my current weight, I get like 22 to 27 points per day. I don't use flex points or extra points during the week.

    And for the record, WW DOES work. You need to work it for yourself. If you think of it as just a diet, when you stop "dieting" you will gain weight back. You need to learn how to eat properly for the rest of your life in order to maintain the weight loss.
    the first time I did WW, I lost 70 lbs and kept it off for about 2 to 3 years. I gained it all back because I stopped trying or caring - not because WW failed me. I wouldn't be doing it again now if I didn't believe in the program.
  • tschaff04
    tschaff04 Posts: 296 Member
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    I am one of the ones that switched from WW to CC(MFP). Little background, I started doing WW about two and a half years ago. I loved it, saw great results and over the course of 11 months lost 98 pounds!! I found out that I was pregnant with our third child so I quit doing it. After having the baby I had about 50 pounds to lose to get back to that goal, so when my baby was about 4 months old I felt like I was ok to start WW again. This time around I found with the new program there weren't enough limits(free veggies and most fruits and it was just not enough accountability). I struggled, I felt hungry all the time!! I was losing nothing but staying within points.

    Finally I said what am I paying for?!?!?! Someone to do what I could do for free, for me! I cancelled the membership and signed up for MFP and have never looked back! I am so happy I switched. I look at food in a whole new way, it's not just points when I look at it. I am looking at the nutritional value, at all aspects of food. I am losing weight at a great pace(slow and steady) and enjoying food still but within limits. It's great, and best of all FREE!!

    Sorry to ramble, that's just my outlook/story on going from WW to MFP. :)


    Edit to add, I was doing WW online, that's why I was paying.
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    I don't like how WE gives you fruits and veggies for "free" in the real world, they still count.... it just doesn't sit right with me

    Same here. I thought it was very odd when I heard that they have "free" foods. What about the sugars, carbs, etc?.... I guess I'm all too accustomed to tracking my macros/micros for WW to make sense to me.
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I am one of the ones that switched from WW to CC(MFP). Little background, I started doing WW about two and a half years ago. I loved it, saw great results and over the course of 11 months lost 98 pounds!! I found out that I was pregnant with our third child so I quit doing it. After having the baby I had about 50 pounds to lose to get back to that goal, so when my baby was about 4 months old I felt like I was ok to start WW again. This time around I found with the new program there weren't enough limits(free veggies and most fruits and it was just not enough accountability). I struggled, I felt hungry all the time!! I was losing nothing but staying within points.

    Finally I said what am I paying for?!?!?! Someone to do what I could do for free, for me! I cancelled the membership and signed up for MFP and have never looked back! I am so happy I switched. I look at food in a whole new way, it's not just points when I look at it. I am looking at the nutritional value, at all aspects of food. I am losing weight at a great pace(slow and steady) and enjoying food still but within limits. It's great, and best of all FREE!!

    Sorry to ramble, that's just my outlook/story on going from WW to MFP. :)
    Just wanted to point out - you don't have to pay to USE the weight watchers program if you already have the books and the points finder, etc. You have to pay if you want to go to meetings or have them weigh you.
    If you had done it in the past, then you had the old books/points system and could've just followed that if it worked for you in the past.
    That is why I never followed the new points plus, because I knew the old points worked for me. I got an old book and points slider from someone and just have been using that.
  • MuslimFitnessInstructor
    MuslimFitnessInstructor Posts: 119
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    last year around jan. I signed up for WW and i was still counting calories on MFP to see how close they are.

    I was eating about 1900 calories on WW that is 45 points. except I was making sure to count veggies and fruits on MFP and not on WW sence they are free. I gave it a whole month and didnt lose 1lb but gained 3lbs. So i went back to watching what I eat on MFP and sticking to the calories they tell me and I went back to losing weight.

    WW works for some but for me it didnt work.
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I don't like how WE gives you fruits and veggies for "free" in the real world, they still count.... it just doesn't sit right with me

    Same here. I thought it was very odd when I heard that they have "free" foods. What about the sugars, carbs, etc?.... I guess I'm all too accustomed to tracking my macros/micros for WW to make sense to me.
    they are trying to encourage people to eat more fruits and veggies. When they were points, some people didn't want to eat too many of them because they didn't want to use up their points. I guess WW figures if they are "free" people will eat more of them. I personally don't agree, but I think that's probably what they're going for with it.
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    last year around jan. I signed up for WW and i was still counting calories on MFP to see how close they are.

    I was eating about 1900 calories on WW that is 45 points. except I was making sure to count veggies and fruits on MFP and not on WW sence they are free. I gave it a whole month and didnt lose 1lb but gained 3lbs. So i went back to watching what I eat on MFP and sticking to the calories they tell me and I went back to losing weight.

    WW works for some but for me it didnt work.
    there is no way you could follow weight watchers for one month and not lose anything, unless you weren't following the program properly. Just in the first week alone you should lose a bunch of water weight.
    How many calories are you eating now, and how was it determined you should've been eating 45 points? That seems extremely high.
  • jonesin_am
    jonesin_am Posts: 404 Member
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    I have done WW before and never had much success with sticking with it. I guess I didn't like not really knowing the details behind the food I was eating or the points system. Here I am able to not only count my calories but keep a better tally on my nutrition, etc. I LOVE this webiste and the forums and people are amazing. And of course I love that MFP is FREE! I guess it all depends on the person. But for me it is easier and more beneficial to use MFP verus WW.
  • tschaff04
    tschaff04 Posts: 296 Member
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    I am one of the ones that switched from WW to CC(MFP). Little background, I started doing WW about two and a half years ago. I loved it, saw great results and over the course of 11 months lost 98 pounds!! I found out that I was pregnant with our third child so I quit doing it. After having the baby I had about 50 pounds to lose to get back to that goal, so when my baby was about 4 months old I felt like I was ok to start WW again. This time around I found with the new program there weren't enough limits(free veggies and most fruits and it was just not enough accountability). I struggled, I felt hungry all the time!! I was losing nothing but staying within points.

    Finally I said what am I paying for?!?!?! Someone to do what I could do for free, for me! I cancelled the membership and signed up for MFP and have never looked back! I am so happy I switched. I look at food in a whole new way, it's not just points when I look at it. I am looking at the nutritional value, at all aspects of food. I am losing weight at a great pace(slow and steady) and enjoying food still but within limits. It's great, and best of all FREE!!

    Sorry to ramble, that's just my outlook/story on going from WW to MFP. :)
    Just wanted to point out - you don't have to pay to USE the weight watchers program if you already have the books and the points finder, etc. You have to pay if you want to go to meetings or have them weigh you.
    If you had done it in the past, then you had the old books/points system and could've just followed that if it worked for you in the past.
    That is why I never followed the new points plus, because I knew the old points worked for me. I got an old book and points slider from someone and just have been using that.

    Edited my post to reflect I was doing WW online. So I didn't have books and things and didn't attend meetings. Just did it myself from home, so that's why I said I was paying. :)
  • lovechicagobears
    lovechicagobears Posts: 289 Member
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    While eating a ton of fruit isn't exactly "binging", and I agree that fruit is good for you, it still needs to be counted. If you eat an apple and two bananas, that can very easily add up to 300 calories, depending on the size of the fruit. Toss in some blueberries, and now you're up to 400. That's why I think it's weird they aren't counted.

    Also, if you're used to having "flex" points with WW, remember that MFP's daily tracking is simply a tool to keep you on-track throughout the week. On the phone app, it's very easy to see your weekly calories and how they average out. It lets you know how many calories you have left for the week. So, if you go over one day but are under the next, it's no big deal. And if you're conservative during the week, you get extra calories for the weekend. You just have to keep an eye on the weekly total. That's why I roll my eyes at people who freak out over one bad day.
  • vnrogers
    vnrogers Posts: 1
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    I like both sites. I use both. WW helps me keep track of fruits and vegetables more than MFP.
  • sakthorp
    sakthorp Posts: 13 Member
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    A few years ago I lost a bit of weight following Weight Watchers. I paid for their eTools online and it worked for me. I found tracking points was really easy as you can memorize the foods you eat often and you just get good at guessing as well. Their system works.

    I managed to put the weight back on during the last two years and so was figuring I'd hop back on the Weight Watcher's wagon. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this site but I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed about having to track everything I put in my mouth i.e.: lettuce, etc because on Weight Watcher's I did not count the 'free' foods. So, this was certainly more work. After tracking my calories on MFP for a week, using the iPhone app with the ability to scan in nutritional data,, and the My Fitness Pal database, it became second nature and I ditched Weight Watchers.

    I'm 54 years old, at this point in my life, I'm all about health and have really been trying to eat the appropriate amounts of protein, fat and carbs and watch my sugar and salt intake. I want to age well, and feel well. When I followed Weight Watchers, I was making different food choices. Observing the nutritional breakdown on this site has steered me to make more healthy choices.

    ???????????? But, at the end of the day, it's all about burning more calories than you take in, so just find what works for YOU ????????????
  • MuslimFitnessInstructor
    MuslimFitnessInstructor Posts: 119
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    oh i was following the program great. I was doing everything it said. the problem is , i clean eat, so 90% of my food comes from fruits and veggies, so I was not getting in my points so the only way to get in my points was to eat processed foods. so I ended up eating those. I didnt lose anything.

    I dont lose water weight cause I drink 7 litters of water a day. That is my goal every single day and i stick to it. I also workout 3-6 days a week for 1-2 hrs a week. another weekly goal i always stick to it.

    before i joined WW last yr just to compare both programs, i already lost 85lbs just by using MFP. so I knew what to do to lose weight and how to do it, i just joined for that month to compare MFP and WW. I stayed within calories before WW, Adding processed foods to my diet killed me. my body doesnt process them well at all.

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