Weight Watchers Experience?

I have had success in the past, when they did the core plan, which was similar to slimming world, but I've never been able to fathom out their point or pro point system x

I lost quite a lot of weight with WW years ago. The recipes and things made sense, mainly 'real food' tweaked to make it more healthy. BUT, counting points did nothing to prepare me for life after WW; after all, what is a 'point' in real life? Once I had stopped, I didn't have the means to keep track any more, and so piled all the weight back on again :ohwell:

Counting calories does take commitment, but once you have logged your most used foods it does get much easier, and in my own opinion is far more sustainable in the long term. Counting calories does work, but you have to be utterly honest with yourself, and make sure you weigh things accurately.

Good luck! (and WW magazines and books have healthy recipes, we use quite a lot of them for every day meals now).

I did WW many years ago and all it really taught me was unhealth eating habits. I used to 'save' my points so I could eat what I wanted in the evening without having the worry that I would be over my points for the day (a habit I still have some 25 years later and find extremely HARD to break) I also lived on just cauliflower and tomato ketchup for about 2 weeks and depite pointing this out to my class leader and asking for help no one really cared because I was loosing LOADS of weight. I think slimming clubs are good to a point but as most have pointed out I don't think in lots of ways they prepare you for the big bad when you're on your own

I've had success with WW online program twice over the past 4 years. First time around I lost about 60 pounds in about 9 months, second time around I lost around 30 pounds in 4 months. I feel their plan is healthy and do-able, however my issue is that it does very little to prepare you for eating once you go off the plan. I became so obsessed with how many points were in such and such a food, playing games to skim a point here or there, and would find myself hording points for weekend binges or evening binges. While it did help me become more aware of portion sizes, I don't feel that the program really helped me gain control of my real issue of mindless or emotional eating. In the end, I've always gained most of the weight back.

I disagree with prior posts regarding pressure to use WW products. I've never felt it necessary to rely on their packaged food. It is convenient, but totally unnecessary for success. You can easily do WW by eating regular foods you would get at the grocery store.

I will agree with the other poster however that WW is basically calorie counting. Points for foods are assigned based on carbs, fat, and protein....aka calories. My suggestion, save your $, use MFP and exercise regularly.

Option A) "I need to lose ____ by ____" go somewhere else.

Option I want to lead a healthier life.

People fail because of option A.

^ This. Trying to lose X amount in X amount of time is only going to make you nuts.

I was very successful on WW about 5 or 6 years ago as far as weight loss goes, HOWEVER... I hated counted points and gained back about 80% of what I lost. This time I started out low carb, which did not do favors for my health and ended up Paleo(ish). I basically just eat real food most of the time with some exceptions. I started losing the weight about a year ago, met my initial goal about 8 months later and have kept it off (actually lost a little more) since. This time it's more about my health and how I feel than the weight loss. Hope that helps!

I did WW 4 times and lost weight every time. Gained it all back. I'm on mfp now (round 2) with the approach of learning how to eat and getting lots of support here and making friends! I'm losing way slower than any other time I've tried to lose weight, and sometimes I feel really impatient (like today!) But I know I'm losing it in a healthy and sustainable way.