MFP vs. Weight Watchers

besides this is free??? and probably an easier LIFE choice.......... Ithink with your hard work and dedication, YOU will be her motivator so WW nor MFP will matter!

Yes $$$$$$$$.......My daughter and I did WW in the past online and it was great. She was also 14 and the doctor said it was o.k..
The main difference I see is being able to physically go into a WW meeting if you would like to. Depending on the person the social aspect of the meetings are often useful.

I've done WW and been successful with it. However that being said, I think MFP teaches you how to eat properly and healthfully better than WW did. I find I'm more motivated to learn and stick with a healthy lifestyle now than I ever was on WW. Also, double check me, but I think for someone that young, WW will require Dr. permission for your daughter to do their program.

I did WW for a while. It was an easier to grasp method for someone who was completely clueless (me.) Once I had a better grasp of food values I moved on to MFP where I could track my diet with more detail.

The weight watchers cook books are amazing though. I still use them.

Having done both, I find MFP much more livable. It has a much more extensive database which makes dining out SO much easier. Calories are just easier to figure out than points. However, Weight Watchers did help my sister learn to eat in a more nutritious manner and that habit has stuck with her. She never had to lose much, but the woman definitely needed to learn to vary her diet! If you feel confident on providing nutrition advice to your daughter, then I say use MFP. If you think you both need guidance in that area, then perhaps do WW for a while.

I also did Weight Watchers but fruits and vegetables up to a certain amount are not counted, whereas this has the ability to count ALL calories which for some reason I am losing more steadily by logging and being more accountable

I am doing both right now...mostly to make sure I am getting enough calories. I am finding that I can be within my WW "points" yet only be hitting 1000 calories.

I think WW is a good starting place as they are encouraging fruits and veggies (0 points) and helping you monitor portion sizes. Once you get a good foundation going, you could definitely switch over to MFP. I find both of the sites very helpful.

FYI-there are some apps out there for a small one time fee that let you do the WW program without having to pay the continuous monthly fee of WW online. I might switch to that in bit (right now my employer is paying for WW)

I did WW several years ago and lost about 20 lbs over the course of six months. To be honest, I much prefer MFP and think that in the long run, it is something sustainable (at least for me).

I didn't like figuring out "points" for everything. I don't mind logging in my food, but having to carry around my special little points calculator (in the days before apps and smartphones) was something that I found terribly annoying.

I also didn't like that they pushed their food items/snacks at the meetings. The few things I tried were not that good and I thought were expensive, not to mention full of ingredients I can't pronounce. Teach me to make better choices, don't just shove a box of WW food in my hand and tell me it's what I need. It was almost like cattle going through the chutes at a livestock sale - pay your weekly fee, get weighed, and oh - by the way, our Choco-Minty cardboard sticks are on sale this week. They taste *just like* thin mints but only have 3 points per bar.

Support-wise, I've found the forums and my friends here on MFP to be FAR superior to any meeting I went to. I've been a member here since the beginning of February, and I've learned so much about nutrition and exercise.

Plus MFP is free.

They are different methods to basically accomplish the same thing. MFP counts calories and makes you responsible for determining your own macros. WW counts calories through a points system that has already been weighted to have certain macros (like carbs) "count more" than others (like protein). I've had good success on both systems. Both simply come down to personal responsibility and willingness to follow your plan and make adjustments based on how well you are succeeding. Both websites have similar tools (although I personally think the MFP food database is more extensive). Your success on either plan is dependent on adherence and what lifestyle changes you are willing to make.

The big thing that WW offers than MFP does not are in-person support group meetings. Some people find them very helpful and important for continued success. Personally, I never even considered going as having to attend a cheerleading/ sales pitch session each week would have just annoyed me into quitting. Also, WW costs money. It is more to do meetings than just online and even more to both go to meetings and have access to online tools. I found WW online to be a good way to get my weight loss started, but after a while I decided it was dumb to continue paying for it when I could just switch to MFP and track calories and macros without their help for free.

I was on WW and ended up looseing 65 lbs. I went off of tracking and gained 40 lbs back and now I'm trying MFP.

I could never make it to a meeting because the closest one was 1.5 hrs away so I did the online and it did work but I noticed something. A lot of food with WW points on the box have the artifical sweetners. That throws me for a loop because I started to get hungery. When I stopped my hunger stayed the same. After having a billing problem I switch to MFP. I just started so I really can't say which is better but I like the fact I get to see, in numbers, the break down of what I am eating. Plus if I have to go to the doctors and descuss my meal plans this is a lot easier to pull put and show them.