Why pay for Weight Watchers Online?!

I went to weight wathers (twice for 6 months each), and paid for a year online. At the meetings I wasn't interested in learning how to make low calorie candy bars or foods people missed most. What I did develop was scale anxiety, and focusing on getting a low scale reading.
On MFP I can concentrate on getting nutrients in, and can choose how to use my scale (recording numbers I will never see again!)
Feeling much healthier, physically and mentally!

I was a WWer for ages and had considered going back, but it is SO expensive and their website hasn't been updated since the 90s! Their forum is also very quiet and boring because they don't promote it as a tool at all.

They have a real preoccupation with selling you their processed (expensive!) crap, too.

I notice their prices have gone up again, too. I'll stick with MFP.

I too am a weight watcher lifetime member from back when I was 20 years old. I always felt like weight watchers did a good job of teaching healthy eating and really focused on portion control. I have went back twice and been successful. Lately though it seems like they are really pushing their products and that I'm not interested in. With teenage children and a child in college I'm also not interested in paying every month to lose weight that I know exactly how to lose. For me MFP does exactly what weight watchers does . . . makes me accountable. But this time I'm accountable to my friends and to strangers. So glad I found this site and I hope to be a lifetime member of MFP Good luck to you all!

I'm glad you're excited by it... just don't get disenchanted if you don't end up weighing "XX lbs in 5 weeks." Weight loss is rarely linear so you may not see that number 5 weeks from now. That's my only advice. Now, carry on!

Very sage advice--

Done !

Hi everybody,

I am also trying to figure out the pros and cons of WW vs MyFitnessPal. The issues seem to be price and features, but its also important that WW has worked for so many people over the years.

After thinking about it, I actually decided to do a study on Weightwatchers for a class in my university.

Can you please fill out my super-quick survey on Weightwatchers versus MyFitnessPal?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RRMG73S

I promise it will take less than a minute and I will share the results when I get enough replies! smile

Thanks so much!
Brian

I agree,I am so mad I wasted all that $$$.This site is way better!

I started out with WW Online. It worked really well for me, because it simplifies things a lot. It's true that there comes a time when you need to make a more balanced and educated look at nutrition, but a site like MFP would have been too overwhelming for me at the beginning. And while the huge database is great, the downside is the huge number of duplicate & incomplete/wrong user-created entries.

And the weekly points take a lot of stress off of a beginner and make it easier to budget for a bigger than usual treat.

I think.. .much like most other things in life.. if you want it simple, you'll pay for it.. WW boils it down to the easy, here's your points and a burger, etc is XX points.. they do the work/calc's for you, but you'll pay for it.

MPF, here's a burger, figure out your own cals, protein, fats, etc and enter it in, but its free. you need to do a bit more legwork and educate yourself on what your doing, but you're saving money.

I love MFP for all the reasons you listed.

In fact, it bothered me that MANY many years ago, WW was more focused on what servings you had of what food groups - how man proteins, how many carbs, etc. etc. When they severely veered away from that to try to make it more "friendly", that's when they lost me. I know - oxymoron - make it simpler, and lose the people who liked it being complicated! LOL Anyway - I never knew enough about nutrition to really grasp why lower fat, higher fiber, higher protein sorts of things were important - or that that meant you got to have more quality food by focusing on that. Don't know why - but I guess being really stubborn had something to do with it! LOL

I also love that it syncs with my Fitbit.

I do have a membership to WW only for the "social" aspect of it - to actually be around "real live people" who are also trying to lose weight. You never know who might have a tip you haven't considered before.

It's also an extra measure of accountability to go weigh in once a week - to actually have another person do the "weigh-in" who likes to see people lose weight.

One other thing: on WW, you actually get a little more food than MFP gives you...the range is a little higher. That way I know I have my low (MFP) numbers to high (WW) numbers, and if I hit in between, then I'm going to lose weight.

It's all just a matter of perspective.

The problem with Weight Watchers is it doesn't teach you how to eat well and maintain your weight after you reach your goal. After WW, I got down to my skinniest ever, but it was unsustainable and I didn't develop better eating habits, so I quickly gained it all back and more. I love MFP's emphasis on maintenance and nutrients.

EX-ACT-LY!!!! But you can't tell the WW people that. They get all in a tizzy. I'm learning to shut me mouth.