Thinking about starting Weight Watchers...any advice??

have you set up your MFP stuff yet? it gives you a calorie allotment - i use sedentary even though that's no longer the case, btw.

Weight watchers is just a complicated form of counting calories. Why not cut out the middleman and use mfp which is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee????????????????????????

Thank you! Exactly, and by cutting out the middleman you also save $$ so you can buy food to eat properly and maybe a membership at a gym, or a bike, or a treadmill etc.

I lost 70 lbs on WW about 6 years ago and then I gained it back. Over the last year or so I tried to start it back up but kept quitting. That is when I checked out this program and I think it is a lot easier. Overall when comparing the WW points to my calories they are pretty similar. I like this website better because it is free, I don't have to attend meetings, and I have daily support. Overall, either one is great. It just depends on how you prefer to keep track of everything.

I don't have any experience with WW but I have a long standing relationship with MFP. I find that I have an amazing support system here and so many outlets of information in the forums. Everyone is generally helpful and I would recommend this site not only because it's FREE but it helped me get healthy. I know my ticker doesn't represent it but MFP helped me lose 140lbs from my highest weight and it probably saved my life. There's my sales pitch.

Keep trying different things till you find what works, not giving up is the most important thing. I thought about WW to keep myself in balance, but decided to just start logging here. Illness and extreme pain has keep me on the couch for the last 6 months, and I gained 15 of the 55 libs I lost back. Stopping myself here and getting back on track. Taking today to warm up to this and prepare.

My mom tried it and said the food tasted horrible.

My mom tried it and said the food tasted horrible.

You can eat whatever you want on ww's. All it is a support system and an easier way to count calories in terms of points. You don't have to buy their food

I used WW back in the 80's (before the point system or the internet for that matter). I loved attending the meetings and the great support network. However, I hated the ridiculous and inflexible system of determining goal weight. I'd lost 80+ lbs but was still 10 lbs from where WW wanted me to be. My dr said I was healthy and didn't want me losing more weight. My body finally said "enough" and I started gaining. I never made lifetime member and it still irks me. Today, weighing 5 lbs more than I did in the 80's, I would be within goal weights for WW standards. Go figure...

I'll stick to MFP and the gym

Hi,

In my opinion slimming clubs are out there to make money, you lose 1 or 2lb a week and have to pay £5 for the privilege.... Save your money and log your food and exercise on here, ask questions, chat and generally join in the MFP community, it's free and you don't have to go anywhere at a particular time, on a particular day.....

I have never believed in slimming clubs, I never will, but obviously you're asking for peoples opinions and you don't have to agree with them - it's your body, your journey and your money.... Good luck with whatever path you choose to take.

xXx

I lost 107lbs in 14 months following weight watchers. I highly suggest the program. But as with anything it comes downt ot he effort and time you are willing to spend. I have gained back about 25 lbs. And have been using both tools to track and monitor what i am eating/exersize. I love WW and think its a great program. By no means do you eat their food. They actually tend to discourage the frozen meals in the meetings because of all the sodium. I never ate these meals as i lost my weight. I think either way you go ab0ut it it is very similar. For me having the accoutnability of having someone weight me in really helped. as well as hearing others praise and support. But at the same time, once i got to maintenance, I found the classes pretty suseless. I was in a differnet staeg in my journey and had differnt questions, topics i wanted to discuss that werent part of the class. I thin kthey need meetings for maintence people. Either way, i love both tools and think that using them together is very effective. !

Mid MFP I tried WW's, I gained weight on it. I found out later after returning to MFP and a new trainer that the "all the fruit you can eat" is actually way bad for you because of the carbs and sugars. SO this is what the case was for me, it may be different for you but just to let you know, this is free WW's is not, spend the money on a trainer once a week instead.

I have had success with WW in the past. The program does work well.

But so does MFP if you use it daily and engage with others is helpful.

I decided to use MFP this time since its free and I dont have to attend meetings. I have 4 kids so time and money need to be used the best I can.

But I did like the WW meetings, I enjoyed meeting people and the encoragement you get.

I lost 35+ lbs with in 14 weeks on WW but it all came back after 2+ years. WW was great but expensive. The meals made watching my calories easy but didn't break my patterns so when I stop doing it, the weight slowly creep back in. Can't say MFP is better other than easy accounting of my daily caloric intake/expenditures. In some sense this is a game changer as it forces a life style change which I was not prepared to make/take previously. This is actually my second round on MFP. I had a ten months hiatus and is back to midway where I left of the first time. The only thing I can advice is to do what made the most sense for you, make and commit to the life style change required, and stick with it (I'm relearning that lesson).

I think it depends on what kind of support you need. Weight Watchers offers a plan for you to follow that can be helpful if you are having trouble getting stared and need a little more hand holding. I always lost weight when I did WW, but meetings and such wasn't for me. When they started the online program I had the most success, but once my 3 month trial ran out I didn't want to pay the money to continue. This was a long time ago when weightloss almost always cost a lot of money.

Now there are lots of free options. MFP being my current favorite because I find the database the most complete and the fitness advice (particularly heavy lifting) goes far beyond any other place I tried. It is serious exercise--not just "take the stairs and go for walks" advice you see in other programs, but it is still accessible to beginners and not intimidating like body building sites.

Before MFP I used another free website called Sparkpeople (if it is an issue to post the name I will edit and delete, just let me know) which I think is similar WW except with calorie and nutrient tracking rather than points. But it has a 4 week start up plan and you can choose to use their set meal plan or to just track your own foods like MFP. I think it is a good place to start because it gives you some step by step guidelines to help you get started. You get weekly emails to help you along and you take the program one step at a time (which I find to be the most effective way for me to stick with a plan). I didn't like how the recipe builder was separate from the website, and I feel like MFP app is better for logging in general. However, I like how SP gives you a range of calories for your goal rather than just the one amount. I think WW kind of worked the same way. You have range, and you don't eat back your exercise calories. I was surprised when I started MFP that my goal calories (1200) was the same number as what I learned was the least you should ever eat. But MFP allows you to eat back fitness, something I don't fully trust. So I try to stick to my range from SP and vary my week with high and low calorie days. I think that the eating back calories information is useful when you get very serious about the fitness end of your weightloss program. If you are working out a lot and noticing you are not satisfied on your calorie range then you probably need to increase your calories to make up for the extra burn. But if you are just doing moderate exercise 3-5 days a week, you are probably just fine sticking to a range of calories. At least that is what has worked for me. I also like to look at my week as an average daily intake rather than hitting my target everyday. If my daily average is within my range then I don't feel guilty about being over one day, or being under another. One day of over doing it does not blow my diet, I just make up for it in the days the follow, or if I know it will happen I prepare for it on the days before.

MFP is a great place to log and the fitness advice is the best I have come across. But it is far more flexible and I think unless you already know what your plan is, it can be confusing to get started and see a lot of different and often contradictory advice. You can follow any plan and adapt MFP to help you with tracking and meeting those goals. But if you need help deciding what works best for you, or you really don't know where to begin it might be easier to start with something like WW or SP since they provide some hand holding in the beginning. Of course with WW you will have to be converting calories to points to calories if you use both a free online tracker and WW. Seems like so much extra work to me, and at a significant cost. I guess if you feel like you would benefit from live support groups then it is the way to go, but if you like online there are free options that are just as good (if not better).