Weight Watchers anyone?
lovediets
Posts: 375 Member
I was looking for mfp members who are doing Weight Watchers. Just wondering how you are doing. I have done WW in the past and am wondering if I should do that since I have struggled lately with keeping on track. Help!
Jean
Jean
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Replies
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I'd be interested to know as well, I've seen it work for a lot of people but others have slated it!
Personally I'm trying to shift the last half a stone and wondering if it would work for me!0 -
Hi Jean
I signed up for WW this past week. I can't report on weight loss yet since I've only been doing it for a couple of days. Will post on my home page with my progress so you can see......I was having difficulty too with staying on track with foods and decided to try WW again. Years ago was a member.....I'm committed to lose this weight...... No matter how long it takes. If you join post or keep in touch so we can back each other up with support. :flowerforyou:0 -
I am doing WW also on my own. Didn't sign up but got lots of info on other sites.
I am posting my meals as normal but in the snack section of mfp I use that for my fruits and veggies.
When I'm done for the day I total up the snack area and then the total combined and subtract the snack part.
This way I can see exactly what I need to change in the other areas.
If anyone has a different way of posting the WW, please let me know.
I have lost 13lbs since beginning of March. What's discouraging is it's so slow but I am moving and I don't really exercise
due to back problems. I try to walk but sometimes pay for it too.
I started here last week so any help would be appreciated!0 -
I belonged to WW about a year ago and kept my membership for a year. At first I did well and then stopped following the program. For a week I tracked here and on the WW site. After that week, I cancelled my WW membership. WW is expensive and this is free. Also, the food data base here is superior to the WW one. I also feel that I wasn't eating enough calories on WW. I find I can eat more here and still stay within my calorie goals. I also didn't like the "hit" for carbs on WW and the way they forced me to count dairy requirements. My daily eating is now more balanced.
There are some members here who also do WW.0 -
I'm doing weight watchers. For some reason, my brain does not like counting calories.
I would love to have some more weight watchers friends (also, there is a group for weight watchers).
FYI....there is a way to add a points column to myfitnesspal tracker. try doing a search for it.0 -
Sounds good, sweets!0
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Hi Jean,
I started Weight Watchers in my early twenties, now 46, and I have kept so many of the tricks I learned from going to meetings. I know that WW is the reason i am only 20 lbs overweight and not more. I highly recommend WW. I am using MFP because you can basically do the same thing with this program. I believe you could use MFP in conjunction with WW and it would work great. WW teaches you how to eat regular every day foods by balancing your calories and physical activity. I always go back to the basics of WW when putting that extra 20 lbs back on. Just my opinion though. Hope this helps.0 -
I am actually considering joining their online program. I've been struggling for 4.5 months with a 10-14 # weight increase/plateau and I cannot seem to budge past it.
Feel free to friend me, I'm looking for others who use WW and have been successful. The last time I tried it, it didn't do too well so I don't have high hopes...0 -
Hi, there is no magic in Weight Watchers if you already have the knowledge. I hit a plateau last year and could only lose 15 lbs on my own and then gained it back over the holidays. Mid January I joined weight watchers and have been going to weekly meetings and using the etools. I have lost 35 pounds and am going for another 30 or more. I decided today to cancel my monthly WW pass subscription and go it alone and use mfp. Although the support and accountability really mattered to me for months I now have developed a strong internal motivation and in my heart just never believed it better to use points than calories and nutrition charts
Although there are healthy members, there are so many unhealthy looking lifetime members and leaders I've met who don't truly embrace a healthy lifestyle. They are skinny fat, at their correct weight but no muscle tone, etc. At every meeting there is a constant push of prepackaged weight watchers food products and most are unhealthy as compared to whole organic foods. I will say I do enjoy their other prodcuts like exercise mat, food sprayer, serving spoons, etc.
I'm glad I turned to weight watchers but I don't think there is any incentive to stay to be a lifetime member and I am going to see if I can make better progress on my own and continue my healthy lifestyle using real world calories and nutrition information instead of filtering it through the weight watchers points lens. My doctor suggested I follow the DASH diet and it is one of the highest recommended diets but you don't hear a lot about it http://dashdiet.org/ I am also going to take the money I save from not paying WW fees and perhaps buy a fitbit to help keep me on track with exercise.
Good luck with whatever you decide with WW, it gave me the push I needed and the reality check on portion sizes but in the end I still don't believe it is the answer and in six months I have learned the program and strategies now I just need to keep living the lifestyle.
Good luck0 -
I followed wwrs on and off for many years, monthly pass and then on-line. I am finding counting calories much easier than when I was counting points and agree the database is much better with MFP as well as when using the scanner on my iphone I am finding more items on MFP than on wwrs which really isn't right considering what weight watchers charges. It could be that I just got tired of counting points and I just needed a change since I am pretty much eating the same foods anyway. Whatever works to lose the pounds, happy losing to all!0
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My wife has been doing it for over 10 years now. She told me she lost close to 50lbs in 6 months and has maintained her weight on it ever since. She doesn't do the meetings though. Said they were annoying0
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for me i cant do WW or any other plan that gives me what food to eat every day.. im just not gonna follow thier plan. i want to eat what i want, easier that way.. so for me, its too disciplined for me. i'd rather just grab fruit, cereal and milk, rather than them tell me I have to eat: 1/2 scrambled egg with 1 tsp butter substitute, and 1/2 cup skim milk, and 1 half tiny banana, and 3/4 cup whole weat cereal. too much work!0
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First -- a quick correction to the poster above Re: “..for me i cant do WW or any other plan that gives me what food to eat every day”. WW lays out guidelines on the number of dairy, fruit/veg, water, healthy oils, etc recommended for a healthy diet based on your age/weight/ gender but does not specify the foods that you eat. I have been doing the WW meeting plan since the end of Feb and have lost 46 pounds after using MFP on and off for a couple of years trying to lose weight on my own. Prior to joining the meetings I had signed up for WW online in November 2012 but never even attempted to follow the online plan. I really needed the extra accountability that the meetings provide.
For me the structure and in-person support work. My meeting has a lot of lifetime members who are in good shape and share a lot of great advice. There is also the usual number of people who just like to hear themselves talk but I have never walked out thinking that I have wasted my time. All of my tracking is now done in etools but I occasionally cross track in MFP to get a general idea of the number of calories, fat, sodium, etc I am consuming. The forums here on MFP are also a lot more lively and cover a wider variety of weight loss topics so when I hit a brief plateau right after Easter I searched the forums here first. I agree that MFP has a more extensive food database but on the other hand in etools there isn’t as much conflicting, sometimes inaccurate info to be sorted through before finding what you need. This is not my 1st time through WW but this current program with it’s increased emphasis on the importance of physical activity and changing things other than food seems to be resonating with me.
At this point I could probably go back to WW online or just track in MFP but don’t want to mess with what has been working for me so far. Ultimately you should go with whatever you think will be the best fit for your personality and lifestyle. The main thing is to treat this as a permanent lifestyle change and not a short term diet. Best of luck!0 -
I did WW very successfully and lost almost 100 pounds. I kept it off for 7 years until an illness came upon me and medications and a forced sedentary lifestyle added that plus more weight on me. I am a huge fan of WW. They do NOT tell you what to eat- the whole point is to help you navigate the real world in which we live, not living on pre-packaged foods. One the best parts for me was the meetings with the right leader. I needed to connect with the leader, her story and her success. I had to "try" several leaders before I found the right one.
The thing I like the least about MFP and the message boards is so much negativity and so much self-righteousness in people's posts. This is the complete opposite of my experience in WW. WW encouraged many solutions to the same problems- such as foods to eat, small meals versus large, etc. It was not a cookie cutter solution, and we all shared what worked and asked for help with what didn't work. Members would share their successes, and those struggling could gain from all those perspectives.
If I could afford WW and predictably attend meetings, I would be doing that. I prefer the points system to straight counting calories. I also prefer more positive interactions, less overall negativity and far less judgement about my journey compared to someone else. We all walk this path with unique skills and challenges. We make decisions about how to progress that may not be suitable for everyone. When we ask for help, please don't preach and surmise that your journey is the only "correct" journey. Remember folks, this is the one place we should come where everyone understands our struggles!
Now that I took a moment to preach.......I think ultimately, this is far less about food and far more about what's in our heads. My last weight loss journey was so successful because I finally believed I was worth it, I finally believed I could do it, I finally understood it was not a "success only" journey. I finally realized that setbacks will happen, I will never be perfect, but I can continue to make my best effort and every meal or snack is an opportunity to succeed. WW made those beliefs stronger and was the path that worked best for me - it soothed my my psyche, and by default, my body followed right along.0 -
I love WW and lost over 60 pounds with the program! I come here for the message boards which are quite different from the WW message boards and I sometimes log my Food just to see what my macros are because I'm trying to include more protein in my diet and I want to see how close I'm coming to my goals.0
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First -- a quick correction to the poster above Re: “..for me i cant do WW or any other plan that gives me what food to eat every day”. WW lays out guidelines on the number of dairy, fruit/veg, water, healthy oils, etc recommended for a healthy diet based on your age/weight/ gender but does not specify the foods that you eat. I have been doing the WW meeting plan since the end of Feb and have lost 46 pounds after using MFP on and off for a couple of years trying to lose weight on my own. Prior to joining the meetings I had signed up for WW online in November 2012 but never even attempted to follow the online plan. I really needed the extra accountability that the meetings provide.
For me the structure and in-person support work. My meeting has a lot of lifetime members who are in good shape and share a lot of great advice. There is also the usual number of people who just like to hear themselves talk but I have never walked out thinking that I have wasted my time. All of my tracking is now done in etools but I occasionally cross track in MFP to get a general idea of the number of calories, fat, sodium, etc I am consuming. The forums here on MFP are also a lot more lively and cover a wider variety of weight loss topics so when I hit a brief plateau right after Easter I searched the forums here first. I agree that MFP has a more extensive food database but on the other hand in etools there isn’t as much conflicting, sometimes inaccurate info to be sorted through before finding what you need. This is not my 1st time through WW but this current program with it’s increased emphasis on the importance of physical activity and changing things other than food seems to be resonating with me.
At this point I could probably go back to WW online or just track in MFP but don’t want to mess with what has been working for me so far. Ultimately you should go with whatever you think will be the best fit for your personality and lifestyle. The main thing is to treat this as a permanent lifestyle change and not a short term diet. Best of luck!
Sorry, that is what i remember, the leader gave us these sample diets to eat for the day. thats what i was talking about.. they dont do that anymore?0 -
Sorry, that is what i remember, the leader gave us these sample diets to eat for the day. thats what i was talking about.. they dont do that anymore?
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No worries! In the materials there are a few sample meal suggestions for those just getting started who are afraid to make their own selections but it would not be practical for WW to dictate specific foods that apply to everyone since the daily points goals are dependent on age, weight, gender & activity levels. The program has changed a lot over the years but I am old enough to remember exactly what you are talking about. 0 -
First -- a quick correction to the poster above Re: “..for me i cant do WW or any other plan that gives me what food to eat every day”. WW lays out guidelines on the number of dairy, fruit/veg, water, healthy oils, etc recommended for a healthy diet based on your age/weight/ gender but does not specify the foods that you eat. I have been doing the WW meeting plan since the end of Feb and have lost 46 pounds after using MFP on and off for a couple of years trying to lose weight on my own. Prior to joining the meetings I had signed up for WW online in November 2012 but never even attempted to follow the online plan. I really needed the extra accountability that the meetings provide.
For me the structure and in-person support work. My meeting has a lot of lifetime members who are in good shape and share a lot of great advice. There is also the usual number of people who just like to hear themselves talk but I have never walked out thinking that I have wasted my time. All of my tracking is now done in etools but I occasionally cross track in MFP to get a general idea of the number of calories, fat, sodium, etc I am consuming. The forums here on MFP are also a lot more lively and cover a wider variety of weight loss topics so when I hit a brief plateau right after Easter I searched the forums here first. I agree that MFP has a more extensive food database but on the other hand in etools there isn’t as much conflicting, sometimes inaccurate info to be sorted through before finding what you need. This is not my 1st time through WW but this current program with it’s increased emphasis on the importance of physical activity and changing things other than food seems to be resonating with me.
At this point I could probably go back to WW online or just track in MFP but don’t want to mess with what has been working for me so far. Ultimately you should go with whatever you think will be the best fit for your personality and lifestyle. The main thing is to treat this as a permanent lifestyle change and not a short term diet. Best of luck!
Sorry, that is what i remember, the leader gave us these sample diets to eat for the day. thats what i was talking about.. they dont do that anymore?
I have done WW three times, quite successfully and loved it! Now that I am done having children, I am on the weight loss train again. I have never had them give me a meal plan, only a guideline or sample plans in case we needed it.
I love WW. So feel free to add me!0 -
I joined ww last year to help take off the weight after my baby was born, but I never got passed that (as I started slacking on counting my points). My mom is a huge believer though. I quit because it cost money and I figured out how to do it without going to meetings. I like mfp more since EVERYTHING has calories and you really gotta watch it where as ww, most fruits and veggies are free points. Too easy for me to pig out. However, points are much easier to count. What I have found myself doing is using mfp for most days and the days I am with company or out and about and cant really log onto mfp, I use the points and try to stay within the 26-28 point range. Its just another tool to keep me accountable.0
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I've been a ww member since 2007, achieved goal weight, and became a lifetime member. Then I moved to another state, and getting to the meetings because less convenient. Gained 10 pounds, and ultimately went back to ww online to get back on track, and lost the 10 pounds. Yes, it does work. I did not purchase any of the ww foods since I prefer to be able to do it on "real" non ww foods that was more compatible with my family's habits.
The benefits of ww for me are:
1. Learning portion control. Knowing what a 4 oz slab (ok, sliver) of steak, a Tbsp of nuts, or 1/2 cup of chickpeas looks like by eyeballing is huge.
2. Learning what makes up a balanced diet. Those check off lists of veges, dairy, water, vitamin, etc are so ingrained in me now they are second nature. While I'm tracking my food in mfp, I am still making sure that I get all those components in there.
My thoughts about ww vs mfp tracking (disclaimer: I'm a new member of mfp because I want to test out a free food tracking application) are as follows:
1. As far as tracking points versus calories, it's 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of another. As long as I track. MFP is pretty easy to track, and I like that I can also keep track of my macros (particulary protein intake, since I'm doing chalene extreme and am trying to shift over to less fat and more muscle). ww does not allow me to track my protein intake, which I don't like.
2. Better food database in mfp
3. logging in exercises in mfp is a bit clumsy, but that may just be because I'm still not quite familiar with that component. I like the simplicity of logging in activity points in ww.
4. At this point in my fitness level, I'm hitting a weight loss plateau (It's always those last few pounds that are the toughest to shed), and I suspect it might be because of those "free" fruits and veges that are considered zero points.
For the next two weeks I'm going to track on mfp and if I continue to lose (or at least not gain), then I may consider canceling ww.0 -
I remember my mom doing WW several years ago and lost nearly 120lbs. She never went to the meetings, but had all of the little booklets and what not. That on top of working out 6 days a week, she did an amazing job. I'd recommend it to anyone. 0
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I am doing ww but I am find it different right now. I need to know more nutritional about the foods. I also find it very annoying that 90% of the food I have to use the ww scanner and then I have to add. I use MFP and they have about 95% of the food already in the database. I am trying to get back in motivation mode.0
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Hi
I started Weight Watchers years ago to lose weight after my daughter was born, and I loved it! I could eat what I wanted and still lose weight, I learned to adapt my diet to have that chocolate or glass of wine.. I attended every weekly meeting and the weight came off steadily.
I have been doing MFP for a couple of months and to me it's the same principle of WW - you are tracking your food and can manipulate your diet to suit your lifestyle, but it's easier with MFP in that you have the calorie value listed on foods (no ww points). I have not been so successful...
I realised that what I did miss from WW, was the weekly weigh-ins and meetings, it made me accountable and I love seeing the ladies and motivating each other. I re-joined on Saturday and I am tracking my calories on MFP and forgetting about the WW tracker.
I am on 1200 cal / day and on WW I am on 20 points... 1 point = 60 calories.
Are you considering doing both?0 -
I follow WW alongside tracking calories on here for everything, including fruit and vegetables. I find most days including zero pointed items I am just below the 1450 calories I have set on here however I do cook mostly from scratch which I find makes your points last longer. I used to go to class but now I use an android app that I paid under £2.00 for which is better than the official Weight Watchers Android app and my losses are small and steady- 0.5 to 2 lbs per week. I look at it more as a lifestyle change so I'm happy with the slow and steady route while still eating tasty and 'naughty' things.0
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I have followed WW for 9 years and it has definitely changed my perspective on food... I see everything as points lol EVERYTHING!!! But I also lost weight 9 years ago, went up and down about 5-10 pounds over time, lost more weight from 3 years ago, and have now been on the last part of my weight loss journey losing the final 14 (9lbs in).
I LOVE WEIGHT WATCHERS. It helps you keep yourself in check and allows you to eat whatever you crave, as long as it's a smaller portion and fits for the day. AND you can get creative once you figure out how it works for you and your body.
I have come to really understand my body and have adapted to the plan to fit my needs. For example, I will eat at about 20-24 points each day and then on Saturdays I splurge and ignore points in general. In general, I drop about 1-2 pounds a week when I do this, however, now that I am so close to my goal, I have had a few weeks in which I platued and a few weeks where I had 2-3 days of indulging and would just even out weight wise by the end of theweek.
I also learned how many points my body takes when maintaining my goal weight (35-40) and that my weight range fluctuates 1-5 pounds depending on the day (like after a vacation or a weekend of parties) but then evens back out after a week or two and usually involves eating a few days at a calorie/point deficit 20-24 points.
Hope this helps!0 -
for me i cant do WW or any other plan that gives me what food to eat every day.. im just not gonna follow thier plan. i want to eat what i want, easier that way.. so for me, its too disciplined for me. i'd rather just grab fruit, cereal and milk, rather than them tell me I have to eat: 1/2 scrambled egg with 1 tsp butter substitute, and 1/2 cup skim milk, and 1 half tiny banana, and 3/4 cup whole weat cereal. too much work!
WW doesn't tell you what to eat, yes they do recommend how much diary one should have, but that is normal just like a Doctor would tell you how many Calories you should eat and how much exercise to do a day and where your Heart Rate should be. I follow WW and sometimes never have the 3 diary or ever the 2 healthy oils a day.....I use it in conjunction with MFP and think it is working fine.0 -
:flowerforyou: I agree. WW is a good way to eat for the rest of your life. No magic. I use eTools and MFP. It's working for me.:blushing:0
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I love WW too. I have had great success with it but wish they didn't change to Pro Points. That's why I ended up trying MFP, because I just couldn't get used to the new system. I liked Weight Watches Success or 123 (can't remember what it was called exactly) - the program where you counted your fruits but not your veg (apart from peas and other starchy veg). So yep, I use the same principles.....am eating 23 points roughly....1350 calories a day. WW is really the best with regards to learning about portion size just by looking at the food item, as some others have already mentioned. I'm off to look for a WW group now : -)0
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I've done WW on and off for several years. As with any diet that creates a deficit, it definitely works to lose weight. What I liked about WW personally:
You can eat whatever you want, but you learn to eat foods in moderation so they still fit within your budget.
I still stick with their guidelines for healthy eating habits every day (fruits, veggies, water, fat, calcium).
It's easy to follow, no complicated rules. You can get back into it any time.
WW has definitely helped me to keep my weight from getting out of control. I haven't reached a healthy BMI on WW, because I would always get stuck when I got close and then gave up. But on the other hand, I didn't let myself regain all the weight I had lost in 2009. Because I had the tools and the knowledge, it was easier to step in and go back on program.
The downside of WW is that it's expensive. I only recently cancelled my online subscription, after 4 years of membership. It adds up! Of course your health is worth it in the long run. But I don't think I could've let go of WW ever if I hadn't found MFP as an alternative.
Another downside is that IMO they don't do enough to promote exercise. Over the years I have lost (and gained) weight, but I never exercised much. I didn't need to, I was losing the weight anyway right? I started exercising this year, hiking and running. It has made a huge difference in my body.
And last, I was honestly shocked to find out how little calories I was eating on WW. I'm short so I got the minimum daily points. Turns out it adds up to about 1050-1100 kcal. I logged last week on WW and MFP to compare. I ate an average of 1500kcal a day (includes exercise cals). According to WW, in less than 5 days I spent my entire weekly budget. And I never even used half of my weeklies when I was on program. I have been feeling tired for a long time, and I'm starting to think it's because I ate too little calories for such a long period of time.
The thing is, I visited the WW forums in my country quite a bit, and even though there are women who eat their dailies + weeklies and lose weight, there are also plenty of women who are afraid to even touch their weeklies, so they are really eating way too little cals using only their dailies. I think that's definitely something to be aware of, make sure you meet your minimum cal needs.0
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