Should stay with Weight Watchers or Leave for MFP

I have never done WW - just couldn't see paying for a program - but have friends who have done both. Personally I could never convince myself to pay for a program. I tried Sparkpeople, used it for a while, but always had the cycle of doing well for a while then life getting in the way. Consistency was an issue. And perhaps the goals I set and my thought process were also problems for me.

I've used MFP since early this year and its worked well. I'm almost to that mythical (maybe not?) land of maintenance. I think the 'key' is that we have to figure out what works for us individually. For me, its logging accurately & honestly. And there MFP is a wonderful tool. I use the website and the phone app. I have a smart phone, and MFP goes with me. Easy! And no payment needed. My other 'issue' was realizing that if I don't make an effort, my life is very sedentary and lazy. While you can't exercise away a bad diet, I think it is important for me to set activity level goals and make sure to move during the day.

In the past I always had success initially but never got far enough to really envision a 'final' goal. Now I'm practically to the point of just needing to tone, strengthen and maintain. I'm going to continue logging thru MFP for a while - and then at some point may go off the reservation and just log occasionally to make sure my daily calories fall into my needed maintenance range.

I lost 40something pounds on WW too but am enjoying MFP much more. It's free, you don't have to sit in meetings, and the support is better, in my opinion.

You are in charge of your program with MFP and in my case, I started working out MUCH more later on and therefore needed more calories, not less. I thought WW was too restrictive. I feel much healthier now!

Good luck! Just track, track track...

I switched from WW to MFP in 2010 when weight watchers changed their tracking system for the millionth time. I was sucesfull with them, but felt like it was too "one size fits all" for me. I wanted more accurate nutrition.

I prefer MFP, and here's why:

- FREE
- Huge database of foods
- More insight into micro/macro nutrients VS calories alone
- More fitness minded buddies, love the "wall" system with updates.

That said, it's not any easier. In fact, more effort is required to make sure you are planning correctly and meeting your macro/micro goals.

I personally feel they're the same thing. If counting points is annoying, so is counting calories....
I liked the WW online tools better, plus I worked harder at it since it costs money. But in the end I still got annoyed myself at counting point too. I switched to MFP. There's a more active community online here... but counting calories is still annoying :P

There are many resources out there so you can do Weight Watchers for free, so it doesn't HAVE to cost anything. (Unless you want the meetings, obviously).
It really boils down to what works best for you. I did WW for years but just kept losing and gaining, losing and gaining (my own fault, not WW's). So I decided to move over here for something different.

I prefer MFP for a lot of the reasons already listed here..but somepeople need the support of meetings, if you do, then WW would probably be better for you.

I have done Weight Watchers a few times, even working for them. So I use what I learned from WW (like getting your fruits, veggies and water in) but use MFP. You get the same support from members here that you do in WW and it's FREE.

I have been doing weight watchers for it seems half my life and guess what i lost weight but gained back more. I now use MFP, changed the way i look at food and have lost 63lbs. I would never go back to WW, i have learned so much about food and exercise in the past year.

I lost 32 lbs. on WW and never gained back an ounce. I love the program but love "free" even better so here I am on MFP. Both programs are great but neither is going to work if you don't hold yourself accountable whether it is tracking points or counting calories. It takes me less than an hour to populate my food diary for the week ahead of time. If I decide to change something, it takes less than 5 minutes. My advice is to cancel WW and buy a food scale, water bottles, and comfortable exercise cloths.

I was always starving on WW (did it 3 times) -- I was successful but it was not sustainable (which is why I had to do it 3 times). The weight came off quickly but i found the points system nebulous and hard to understand. I think MFP's database is better and easier to use. It's something I can see myself sticking with for a long time (and I've realized that I will always have to track my calories, even once I reach goal, because I just have no sense of portions any more).

I've done both ww online and MFP.

I was exclusive with ww online first, and had success. But a friend talked me into trying out MFP, so for a while I double logged everything.

The advantages of MFP began to make themselves more apparent.
Yes, its free and thats a huge benefit. But even if it it wasn't, I would still choose MFP.

Calories are so much more predictable and universal. If I'm in the grocery store trying to make the best choices in types of granola cereal, I know right away what 220 calories means to me and where it fits into the MFP program. With weight watchers, I'd have to look it up online before I could buy it, because I had no concept of where it fell into my points.

I'm also a big snacker. With ww points being in a range of around 30, its easy to let rounding issues affect total points. So many items were listed at, for example, 5 points. But go ahead and have two of them, and it becomes 11, not ten. But ww won't tell you that that 5 point item was really 5.5. As a snacker, several half point rounding errors in a sample size of only 30 can really add up.

I like the precision and level of specificity with MFP much better. 120 calories is not the same as 180.

I quit WW 2 months ago and haven't looked back.

I hav3e been a lifetime WW member for about 13 years. That being said, I have gone back more times than I can count after having regained and lost the same 7 pounds. I just got tired of paying for it! So, I bought a fitbit which WW did not support (I have read something recently that they are supporting fitbit data and turning it into activity points now). I love the fitbit and how it interacts with MFP so, currently these are my tools of choice. Why pay for something you can get for free? Either way you are tracking points, calories and activity.

MFP > WW
Why pay for a weight loss program when there is a better source for free?
I have lost 43lbs with MFP and counting. I've tried some weight watchers products and the points system seems kind of iffy. The amount of sodium and carbs in their frozen food is frightening.

I don't know if I have a lot of insight but I tried WW for 6 months and lost over 55 lbs on the core plan (like simply filling but a few changes) and then had gall bladder surgery. After that I struggled to get back into the rhythm of it. I eventually gained it back. I tried for the next few years and then took a break and tried again. Both times doing points and weighing my food. It was never successful. I tried again in 2013 with very little success. I quit in december and that's when my SIL told me about mfp app for my phone. I didn't realize it was available on the computer too until this past week. On my phone only I didn't do well but since I've been online here I've had 5 days of dedication . I am still getting used to how to use the journal and how it effects my food but I'm getting better. I might go back to WW some day but a change might be what I need. Ending your WW membership doesn't need to be permanent. I have a friend that has lost over 80 lbs that has been switching from one weight loss program to another over the last year or so and feels great. She looks great too. Some people need a change as long as it's healthy.

Personally speaking, regardless of what you stay with, you still have to "keep track" of something.....whether calories or points.....it can still be tedious and difficult. However, with that said, I have tried WW before, lost some weight but fell off after my points started to drop. With MFP, I have found that it tends to reform how you consume food! You start to look at not only calories, but carbs, sodium, sugars, fat, protein and MORE!

For me, it completely changed how I eat. I never really looked at food that same way with WW....it just forced me to look at "points" and I was not really changing my behavior.

I hope that helps!