Why pay for Weight Watchers Online?!

Plus everyone knows on here that there are no 0cal foods & that fruit & vegies are NOT a 'free' food.

I lost 50 pounds doing WW online and have maintained 45 pounds of that loss (darn vanity pounds!) for over 10 years. I'm sure most people's next question is - "well, why aren't you there now?". My answer - cost. WW did teach me the basics of portion sizing, which really is why I have kept the weight off.

I think most people start off with WW cause its widely known, and it infers that the program will keep you accountable.
I started off with WW- gave up (i was only 18 and party life got in the way)
On my maternity leave I found dailyburn (similar to mfp with a website based tracking and phone app) and I did that for a lil while but wasnt seeing results, the whole "what is my TDEE equation" really caused me a lot of anxiety whether I was eating to the right calories or not.

I justified rejoining ww because there was no TDEE just points, and i know if i stayed in my points I lost weight. (but i was starving all of the time).

I then found MFP and did this for 4 months with hubby before leaving and rejoining again with WW. I couldnt figure out why hubby was successful and I was not.

fast forward and I got a fitbit....and magically with linking to MFP i have sorted out what my TDEE is and what activity level that places me at, and how much of a deficit I need, want, or can handle on any given day or week. I feel in control now, and it is the most powerful liberating feeling!
I do not need a weekly meeting to keep me accountable-keeping that daily streak going is enough for a busy mom like me
I do not need a weekly meeting to share my success or challenges- HI MFP friends you all are ahhhhmazeballs!
I do not need to shell out money to ensure my weightloss efforts are productive- I pay for internet and data on my phone and that my friends is just enough for me!
myfitnesspal

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You have basically confirmed that it doesn't work for the long term.
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Different strokes for different folks really. Countless people on here are in the exact same situation when they get to their goal and stop tracking. Really no different than WW. So you could also say MFP doesn't work then long term? It's all about staying accountable to yourself and if you don't want to track then be damned sure you keep eating exactly as you were when you were tracking or else everything will be for naught.

MFP can be more complex in it's setup and execution....eat these macros, don't eat your exercise, eat your exercise, eat this much of your exercise, TDEE this, BMR that, too much sodium, too much sugar, too little carbs, too little protein. How many posts are their daily on "I'm tracking but not losing weight?" I love when people do the snide remark on the "free" fruits and veggies when the reality is sure they have calories but I don't know many people that eat fruit and veggies exclusively that are overweight. Nor do I know many of them that eat a LOT of them that find themselves in the same situation I suspect most here try hit the magic 5-9 fruit and veggies goal daily and when you do that the rest of complexity falls into line. If WW (or someone that is paying for the program) was smart they could make the commitment to get those fruits and veggies in and keep that commitment long term. Do that and the rest will generally take care of itself.

I like MFP more for what it's worth but from time to time will jump on WW for a couple of months as my spouse likes doing that program. I don't really see the sense of bashing one program or the other as they both work for a ton of people just as they both don't work for a ton of people.

Some years ago, I lost weight using the WW program. I didn't go to meetings but a friend of mine did, and she was kind enough to share the info with me. For whatever reason, I stopped following the plan and never did reach my goal weight. I have thought many times of joining the online WW program but I never could afford it. A friend told me about MFP, and I thought I would give it a try. It is amazing!! I like how easy it is to track everything..food and exercise...and stay within the guidelines for me. It is a sustainable program, and it is easy to commit to it. What I like most though is the support and encouragement I get from my MFP friends.

mom and I did WW online and I didn't do it so mom stoped the payments (had a hard time doing so!) and mom was mad at me because I owed her $200 for WW.

My husband and I both joined WW online when they first came out with Points Plus (early 2011). I lost 30 lbs and reached my goal, and he lost a good amount of weight too. Now it's a couple years later and we've regained nearly all that weight back. I don't blame WW for that; if you stop being accountable and allow yourself to consistently overeat, over time, you gain weight.

The thing is, I can't see spending $60/mo for the two of us to have access to tracking tools and a foods database when we can get both here for free.

I do think WW helps people lose weight and, unlike others, I believe I learned a fair amount about healthier eating through their program. They have a lot of good educational information on their website if you have the patience to find it and read it. They stress proteins vs carbs, fiber, and healthy fats and dairy. I did occasionally buy their frozen foods out of convenience, but that was just me being lazy. It's more convenient to buy their brands because the PP values are right on the front of the carton--and sometimes laziness won out. The fact that their frozen dinners taste worse and are less filling than other brands helped keep that to a minimum, and I often wondered why WW does such a poor job of practicing what they preach with their packaged foods--but whatever.

I did enjoy (but didn't abuse) the "free fruits" and started exercising 3 or 4 times a week, but I still had to lower my minimum daily PP to lose weight because of my age (over 50) and full-time desk job. I was far from alone in that. What bothered me was the diehard WW lifetime members on the forums screaming we were doing it wrong, forcing ourselves into starvation mode, maybe not recording all of our points, or eating excessive amounts of "free" fruit. I listened to my own body and what the numbers were consistently telling me, and lowered a few daily PP. I lost weight slowly and steadily, just like you're supposed to. And btw, WW has lowered their minimum daily points from 29 to 26 now--so there!

I also enjoyed WW's system of "weekly" (i.e., "splurge" points). It did make me hungrier on the weekdays. I find I can easily keep within my goals all week, even if I'm a little hungry, but I really NEED to take a break on the weekend and have at least one meal where I can overeat without guilt, and even have a drink or two. I realize I can do the same thing here--go under on weekdays and indulge in a splurge meal on the weekend--but WW made it easier to do that without guilt AND keep track of the overs and unders. "It's okay, eat your weekly points--this is part of the plan," vs "Based on your total calories consumed for today, you are eating too few calories"! (For being 39 calories under? Sheesh.) So far, that bugs me about MFP, and also I don't think the weight lost graph is as nice as WWs.

IMO WW is a good program--or it could be if they would stop being so greedy and grabby. They muddy the water with their "exchanges" or "points" (or "flibbits," or whatever they're calling their proprietary units of measurement this year) in a transparent attempt to keep people hooked. They could just as easily switch to calories and lower the cost of membership, and more people would stick with WW for life. Several times I've started to sign back up but stopped myself because it was too expensive. If it were $9.95 a month, I'd probably have let the membership ride, or keep coming back whenever I needed a tune-up, but now they've lost both of us for good.

I'm confident this will work for us, and the cost (FREE!) will make it easier to keep it up as long as we need to, take a break when we need to, and get back to tracking when we need to. No pulling out the plastic and signing up for membership to a system designed to keep you paying forever. We both like being able to monitor our sodium, fat and carb intake as well as just calories (or "points"). If MFP were to go away or start charging more than a little for their service, we could keep this up on our own. So, as far as I'm concerned, MFP wins.

Edited because it would actually be closer to $40/mo for the two of us on WW, not $60 -- but still. Ugh.

Paid for ww for a year before I found MFP completely agree this is soooooooooooooo much better, also perfect timing for me to dump them when they brought on Jessica simpson she makes me crazy...

Love it! :laugh: I did WW in person ( 2009) as my company paid for it at the time. I found accountability to be the biggest need of mine, but I can do the same thing here for free. I'm also not uneducated in terms of healthy cooking/ eating/ nutritional goals. I have chronic autoimmune disease and thyroid issues, so I have a couple challenges. Not impossible, and finding this site to be so helpful in terms of inspiration from REAL people, not celebrities who have an endorsement contract and negligible weight to lose. I've lost 15 lbs since Jan 1 and I haven't been fanatical about it. I just check my weight at the doctor's office; between my specialist and my PCP I am there probably once a month or so. Slow but steady- I don't want excess skin to deal with after my 100+ lb loss.

My husband and I just stopped Weight Watchers for most of the same reason. $40 a month for both of us, for what? To have to convert everything to confusing points and look at the same forum concept as we can here. I did WW in the past and had great success, I lost just over 40 lbs., but I don't know what I was paying for. Now that plan has changed, it's even more confusing as well. How can fruits and veggies be 0 points? Even a banana has calories in it! It's simple, burn more calories than you eat, and you lose weight.

"If every day were like today, In 5 weeks you would weigh X amount in lbs" That little thing motivates the hell out of me... Why?! Well I guess it's because I LOVE what 5 weeks of weight loss looks like. I love looking at it, it's what makes me work harder.

Amazing.

^This!

I am currently a subscriber to WW online but I can see it not being very practical after I reach my goal. I can't see myself at 70 still counting points but counting calories makes since. I have had some success, but why pay for it when there are websites for free like this one that actually teaches you something. I am quitting WW today!

I did WW online. Didn't work for me. I can't do the whole points system thing. However though, my friend tried MFP after I told her about it and she didn't like it. She did better with WW and points. So what works for one may not work for another

:drinker: You're totally right about the "0" point for fruits and vegetables. I was on WW many years ago and it worked. But since the zero point for fruits and vegetables, I tried twice online and hit a "plateau" after losing 10 pounds.

When I saw a dietitian a few weeks ago, we talked about this zero point thing and she said 200 calories of chocolate or 200 calories of apples, is 200 calories, period. Also, the "point" thing never lets you know just how many calories you're eating in a day. That's why I love MFP so much. You are what you eat and it works!

As a 'diet' WW works okay if you have plenty of time and money and don't mind forking over the money. What it doesn't do is teach you how to look at your food realistically. All the point counting is fine until you realise that it's not easy to do when you don't have access to the tools any longer.

I was a member for almost a year, but the weight I lost with it is the weight I ended up putting on again when I couldn't get to a meeting anywhere near me (as it was during the morning when I was expected to be available to my contracted employer) and then I couldn't afford it any longer anyway!

I think that people should try things to see if they work, but if they don't just come away better for the experience (albeit a few £ lighter in the pocket).

I find that the comment "It's worked for me" is very telling...it worked for me, I got down to 8 and a half stone, yet it didn't WORK because I have gained it all back (and then some)!