Weight Watchers

I've done WW over the years and I agree they set you up to fail. It's a money maker for them, getting paid every week to sit and listen to 30 minutes of who did what right or wrong and here's a recipe to try. They are very forgiving if you stay the same or gain, heck that's another few weeks you add to your goal date. Sure, I lost weight, because I logged what I ate and ate better while I paid to "belong" to the group. But even though that's my take, I joined and rejoined over the years at least 10 times. You can get a good leader that makes it fun to get together and chat and you can get one that is struggling herself and whines the whole time about how we all have to do better in the future. I found MFP with the community page was all I needed, just log your food and exercise and talk to others when you have questions or need motivation. What really irks me about WW is when you lose 5-10-20 lbs, you get a sticker or plastic "reward" and I sit in a room of 30 people and think "really" you just took in $300. in this meeting and the ones that accomplished something significant got a sticker from you? wow, you really give back when your members succeed on your plan. Speaking of which, they love to change the plan every year just enough that a new slide rule, calculater, app, etc will be required to continue figuring out your "points". When I finally quit WW and did MFP, I hit goal. That says it all. Oh, and anyone can go to the WW sight and join the community pages, you do not have to be a paying member to start or join a challenge. That's the only good/free part of WW I did appreciate, even though they lock you out of recipes and diary options, you can still share info with others and work the program from the community page. Whatever you decide, plan to lose your $150. and then hope you don't. Very few in the groups I was in at work ever lost more than 10 lbs, in 10 weeks. Just sayin

I forgot to add when they started the PP program I didn't lose a thing and hated it and bailed. Fruit is no longer free, veg is though. To me it's too much of a diet, MFP is a lifestyle so I think that's why it works and it's free I weight myself 100 times a day too so no need to drive half and hour and pay $20 for that

I heard it does not work and it makes you fart like crazy

I did weight watchers several years ago (prior to points plus) and really liked it. 80% of people that loose weight gain it back in with any method of loosing weight, so the fact that weigh watchers banks on that isn't really due to anything but the individual. It is no magic pill. Here's what I liked about it...fad diets don't work, but weight watchers doesn't really fall into that fad category...it's based on keeping a diary and eating what you want in moderation (the same as most of us here on MFP are already doing). In my opinion, this is the only real way to learn anything you can apply to your life that may make you successful long term. Whether you fall into the 20% that succeed in keeping weight off or the 80% that don't is not up to weight waters. It's up to you. WW just breaks your day down into a certain number of points you can consume each day, but it's pretty much the same thing as counting your calories, just with a smaller number. Will you lose 20 pounds if you do the WW challenge at work? Probably, so your work will pay for it and you aren't out anything.

I liked the support groups because people help and support eachother, sharing there solutions to problems, etc. (much like MFP forums). I liked that I could keep track of how many points I had left, even in my head because I was dealing with easy numbers. I like that it taught me to look at labels.

Why don't I do it now? Because I essentially get all those things for free here on MFP. I don't have to keep track of calories, cause the mobil app makes it even easier than a points system. I get support from my MFP friends.

I guess one thing I don't get from MFP is the support of a leader. Each meeting had a topic that encouraged you to examine certain things about your emotions, trends...whatever. I'm more on my own on MFP, but I have read, researched and experienced enough personally that I don't feel I'm missing this element. I was really good for me at the time though and I still carry a lot of the WW lessons with me today.