Thinking about joining weight watchers

This!!! Honestly when I did WW I was n a room full of people but I didn't get to know any of them. We weighed in, sat through the meeting, and left. I have built much stronger relationships on MFP with people that actually encourage me.

I've done the same thing with WW online, I've developed an online community of support for myself through blogging. I think the support system you create during your weight loss journey is essential. I've found it easier to do on the WW site than on MFP, but that is probably because I don't blog on MFP.

I've done WW and recently switched to MFP because of one reason - sustainability.

I was always hungry on WW and my points didn't seem to go very far, especially after they revamped the WW plan a couple of years ago. I lost all my weight on WW doing the program prior to points plus and found it to be more about a "lifestyle" change than a diet. Once they changed the plan to make things like carbs (complex or simple) and alcohol very points prohibitive, I found it harder to make work in my real world. I want to have wine on occasion. I want a piece of cake sometimes. I even have been known to eat a bagel! All difficult to do within the WW model. It made me feel like I was on a diet. All. The. Time.

MFP allows for you to consume whatever you want, whenever you want and the calories all equal out. In other words, there is no punitive calories like there are points on WW. One calorie is one calorie is one calorie. Not true of points on WW. This was a big ta-da moment for me (as silly as it sounds). It reminded me that 3500 more calories out than in = losing weight. This for me equated to long term sustainability and a very nice shift in lifestyle. I've been LOVING MFP.

One hugely positive thing I will say about WW - boy are those member meetings nice to have. If you get into a good group, they become your support system, your sounding board, your inspiration. I had a great meeting leader and a good group when I first started and looked forward to those meetings each week.

From my experience I think WW is the same as mfp but I think mfp is better bc it's free.

this

I think you're looking for someone/thing to help keep you accountable? Do you have a good support team in your life? Family/friends/coworkers/gym buddies? Those people seem to help me the most. I rely a great deal on my husband and coworkers that also have a healthy mindset. Weight watchers worked for me right after I had my 2nd child, it gave me some great ideas and helped to reinforce healthy eating habits that I already knew I should be doing. Before you shell out the $15/week, maybe try making a good plan and try sticking with it for a month. I've heard some trainers/dietians tell me that you have to give a diet/exercise plan a good 30 days to really see it's benefits. I found this was true when I started eating Paleo. It took 30 days to really see/feel the difference. If you've already successfully lost 30 pounds, then you have a good idea of what you're body responds to. Good luck!

I know a couple of people on WW. I used to find it odd if we were going out they would barely eat during the day and "save up" their points so they could go all out that night. They aren't doing any better than me AND I'm not spending that extra money on ??? A couple of times I have calculated what the points equal in calories. Sometimes not so bad, but mostly really low. I couldn't do it. If you have the willpower to do that then you should just push through and stay. :flowerforyou:

Your diary says your goal is 1200 per week, this along with keep changing tactics is what is wrong. Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and work out your BMR/TDEE and chose "lose fat - 15%" depending on your weight now and follow the calorie advice this gives you. Give it 4-8 weeks and you'll definitely see a change. Most people in your situation either under eat, underestimate or don't give themselves time to adjust to their new healthy lifestyle and are forever switching things up. Paying someone to weigh you and sell you their products isn't going to be a miracle cure :flowerforyou:

It isn't that MFP/WW won't work, but nothing will if you don't stick to it long enough.

Truth!

I think Boatsie is right on and did you a good turn by actually looking at your food diaries. You deserve all kinds of compliments on your accomplishments, but now you have new steps to take--straightening our your diet so that you're eating a more rounded, more satisfying diet. I only joined MFP 7 weeks ago, and had the benefit of learning from a nutritionist before that. As wonderful as I think MFP is, it doesn't really encourage people to eat healthfully and ultimately that's an important secret to losing weight and keeping it off. I see so many people who subsist on protein bars, which are a nice treat once in awhile or good to have out on a hike or in the gym, but these are very processed foods which means they're not good for your blood sugar. They're usually filled with processed soy protein. How much satisfaction can you be getting from that, some yogurt and some fruit?

Just introducing more vegetables could make a big difference in how your day goes because you can eat so much of them for so little calories. Kale chips? a salad? some cut-up veggies, roasted till they're browned? add some chicken or seafood or an egg or two. Soup with a broth base, plus a bit of meat and some veggies thrown in?

My initial reaction to your question was, why leave MFP for WW? MFP actually offers more, from the point of view of daily accountability and daily friends support. You also get to pick your friends, an important advantage. But I'm thinking that WW might be a boon to you for just a few months so that you're learning sustainable, healthy eating with enough variety for you to continue losing weight. Then once you've got that down, I see no reason to pay the extra money for WW. But I'd be glad to help you if you want.

What are you going to do afterwards?

If you want to pay someone to tell you what to eat I have a paypal account.

I tried WW before did realyl well for awhile. After I stopped I gained about half of the weight back but had lost 52 pounds in about 6 months. The main problem I had with them was the focus on the scale- If I lost "too much" in a week they would kind of chastise me that I was losing too fast and then during the weeks where the scale held steady but my measurements were going down they made me feel like I wasn't following the program even though my journals were completely done. Its all a matter of what works for each individual I think. I found this and really like it much better as it focuses on whole nutrition where as a lot of WW people were using thir points for processed "junk" foods. If you can follow the points and make sure you track actual nutrition you will do great on the program!

First, I agree that you should definitely go to the Scooby website and figure out your TDEE. 1200 calories is not sustaianble, and even WW allows the points equivalent of something like 1400-1600 per day.

Second, I have paid for WW online twice, only to discover each time that their database of foods contains almost nothing. And this is a crucial deficiency because of the proprietary point system. I mean, who has the time to be manually entering all of the nutritional information for everything they eat into the online points calculator, and at least when I am grocery shopping I can see the calories on the label, whereas most stuff in the grocery store does not list points value (except for that processed stuff made by WW). The MFP database is FAR superior.