weight watchers

I loved WW. I had to quit because it became to costly. When I stopped going the weight came back. The weigh ins and meeting were a really great motivation. If its in your budget I'd reccomend it. I have heard a lot of the success comes from having a good leader which I did. I miss her.

Hi Becca. I am a former WW member from way back, and have re-joined many times over the years. Everyone's experience is different. I last joined WW in January of this year, online. Then in May I switched to meetings. I did lose about 30 lbs. following the online. I quit altogether in September as I was not losing and could not afford the 60.00 (Canada) every month to simply maintain my weight. Here are the Pro's (my opinion) of WW:

- focus on logging food, which helps you be aware of what you are eating
-focus on eating balanced (healthy) meals
-focus on strategies to keep within food plan, i.e. dealing with emotions, eating out, family celebrations etc.
-group support at meetings
-accountability with weekly weigh ins

Here are some Con's (again, from my experience):
- after joining and re-joining many times over the years, I have concluded that unless I deal with my bottom line issues, i.e. sugar/refined carb "sensetivity" (addiction, or whatever you want to call it) I will not lose and keep weight off
- I found that I never really felt "fed" on the WW plan. That is, I had to scheme and manipulate my points constantly to make them last the whole day. That meant I was eating things like fat free cheese slices and artificially flavoured/sweetened foods, which I had formerly eschewed as I knew they were bad for my health. I was eating all kinds of "empty" calories, and processed foods, but felt like my body was not being nourished.
-WW is, and nothing wrong with this, a money-making corporation. They keep re-inventing the wheel, and we (I) seem to keep buying into it, i.e. "this time I will make it work". But with all the information that is out there about good, healthy eating, we shouldn't have to pay to step on a scale, or learn to eat right. This site (My Pal) is FREE. I am so glad I found it. It keeps track of what I eat , and the exercise that I do, but the burden of responsibility is on ME to take charge of what of put in my mouth, and how often I exercise. There is no magic bullet. It is all hard work. My Pal or WW won't do it for me, but with My Pal, I am not paying out big bucks every month to support a corporation. I have no illusions about what my weaknesses are, and it is up to me to deal with them. No program out there will do that for you.

My recommendation is that you stick with MY Pal, use these message boards for support, and don't be too hard on yourself. It is a one day at a time, one step at a time journey. God bless you!

I did WW and in less than 2 months lost 16lbs. Soon after I stopped attending the meetings and put it back on, falling back into my old habits. My mother has lost a total of 40lbs. She doesn't attend meetings anymore either but has continued to track and monitor her foods daily according to WW points and has kept it off well over a year.

I liked going, being held accountable to my weekly weighins but figured I learned enough and could be successful on my own. Wrong!

You have to know yourself and if you find you havent been succesful on your own (tracking etc) you will likely benefit from weekly weigh-ins/support etc... but if you leave you may fall back into your unsuccessful habits.

What SezxyStef says.

I loved WW. I had to quit because it became to costly. When I stopped going the weight came back. The weigh ins and meeting were a really great motivation. If its in your budget I'd reccomend it. I have heard a lot of the success comes from having a good leader which I did. I miss her.

And this is why WW Doesn't work...

just count calories.

If somebody loses weight on MFP, then stops logging and going back to old habits, they will also fail.

Both plans are great and are very similar - you get out of it what you put into it.

I like what somebody else in this thread said as well - plans don't fail; people do. Follow either plan and you will lose weight.

I loved the old WW format. The new one is not for me. But in the past when i followed the plan and attended the meetings i would lose. But when i got stuck at a weight they couldnt help me figure out why so i would quit. Also, there is no set menu plan. Sometimes that can be dangerous too, because when everything is allowed you dnt know how not to eat everything. WW can becoem expensive but you are worth it. I didnt buy their food products because i wanted to lose with foods i normally would eat.

I loved WW. I had to quit because it became to costly. When I stopped going the weight came back. The weigh ins and meeting were a really great motivation. If its in your budget I'd reccomend it. I have heard a lot of the success comes from having a good leader which I did. I miss her.

And this is why WW Doesn't work...

just count calories.

If somebody loses weight on MFP, then stops logging and going back to old habits, they will also fail.

Both plans are great and are very similar - you get out of it what you put into it.

I like what somebody else in this thread said as well - plans don't fail; people do. Follow either plan and you will lose weight.

I agree but MFP doesn't cost anything...and I am speaking from personal experience as well. The Free fruit etc is fine (except fruit shouldn't be free), the points are fine (except when you translate to calories it is a vlcd), the earning points is fine...it works yes until you stop. Just like counting calories.

WW when I did it gave me 26 points at 174lbs and yes I could earn exercise points that is 1300 calories a day everyday. That's silly....I eat 1600 and have lost 3/4lb consistently every week and no extra for exercise.

I have to say tho I have a family member doing WW and me doing MFP and I am losing quicker while eating more food and a wider variety of food...I mean come on for her to have a hotdog and it fit in her points so she can eat something at supper she can have 1 fat free hot dog...no way...I am having my full fat all beef dogs.

I will never ever go back to WW ever...

I agree 26 points would not be enough food for me - at the time I lost it, the lowest I went was 29 points. I was pretty generous to myself with the free fruit, so it came to about roughly 1400 to 1500 per day, and I didn't eat back my exercise. I lost an average of 3 to 4 lbs per week for the first three months, and an average of 2 to 3 lbs right up until goal. I was a bit concerned at first as they say the average rate of a healthy loss should be 1 to 2 lbs, but here I am three years later and have still kept it off, and the doc says I'm fine.

My diet was also atrocious prior to WW, so that could have had something to do with it. I'm glad you found something that works for you. I would love to switch to MFP if I wasn't so engrained into tracking points instead.

I tried WW a while back. I quit when the woman leading the group suggested skipping a meal if you are going out to dinner. From what I heard, the people who lead the groups are people who have been successful with WW. I am sure they get some training but they are by no means nutritionists or health care professionals.

ETA - I have gotten more useful information on the MFP message boards than I ever did at WW, and no one here every suggested I buy any of their preservative-laden boxed "foods".

I just started the WW plan and I have to say, I am really enjoying it. I lost 60 lbs on my own by counting calories and tried to do it again this time around and for some reason it didn't work for me. I wanted a different approach, learn something different so it is "new" per say.

MFP and WW are very similar but what I like is I don't feel like I am CONSTANTLY stressed over calories. I have been on WW for 2 weeks now and I am down 8 lbs. I do not feel starved or have to eat anything that I normally wouldn't eat.

I know a lot of people who have lost big on WW and I also know people who have lost big (me) by counting calories. It is really about what works for you and you really have to know yourself to know what does or doesn't work. For the time being, I am going the WW route. Who knows, maybe 50 lbs now, I will go back to calories.

All I know is I am losing weight, not eating fast food nearly as much as I was, getting more fruits/veggies/lean meats in, and feeling better about myself. Isn't that the most important part of this journey?

It has been over 10 years since I did weight watchers so I know things are a little different with their rules. Some of my comments may be out dated so take it as you will.

I think weight watchers is OK if you need a support system and you have no desire to learn about your body and food on your own. Going to the group meetings, having pre-set weigh ins, etc. motivate some people so keep that in mind. They do seem to really try and educate their members on what they believe is healthy eating.

The downside is that it becomes easy to fixate on the numbers. I know for most of my time following their philosophy I would still eat crap, but stop when I hit my limit. This created a lot of starvation feelings but to their credit, I did it to myself. You know - 2 cokes and a box of oreo cookies aren't quite as filling as some chicken breasts, rice, and broccoli but they still cost the same points. If you focus on trying to learn how to eat and less on how to count points it can be fine.

The other trap to fall into is their WW treats, which really aren't much better my aforementioned oreo cookies. Since they have the points already labeled for you, you feel like they are better to eat. You don't need the WW branded food, you just need to stick with meat and veggies.

Good luck no matter what you choose!

WW is a great program if you're able to understand the points concept. My friend and I both joined and we weren't able to understand the points concept. That was the second time I joined. I'm much better at looking at the calories and other information. My sister-in-law did GREAT on WW. She point her points on EVERYTHING and was able to have the point mentality. She lost 100 pounds in less than a year!