Weight Watchers to MFP. Lots of points left.
Options
Replies
-
I tried WW and had the same problem with the "free" foods. I was eating way too many calories. I DID lose after I corrected that problem but I had to quit WW because I couldn't afford it when I lost my job. (This was a few years ago.) It's a fair program but they're not for everybody, that's for sure.0
-
I'm actually doing ww and mfp as well. For now anyways. Trying to decide which one to stick with. The problem I have with ww is that whenever I scan a product it never comes up or when it does come up, it's wrong. That's very frustrating. If i pay for a service I expect for it to work. Sometimes I'm too lazy or too busy to actually do that stupid calculator. The scanner on ww just blows. I'm liking the idea of mfp because I'm loving the scanner. I get 32 points and 1500 calories. I tracked both and was spot on. I even counted the free fruit on mfp. I lost about 15 lbs on ww in 2 months. I was thrilled but my laziness kicked in with that damn scanner and now here i am again. Idk what to do.
I'm confused with mfp as well. I was playing around with my goal weight and first it said 1500 calories to lose 60 pounds but when I put it to lose 20 pounds it dropped me to 1300. That's odd to me0 -
The thing I like about ww is that if I use all my points for the day and I get hungry I know I have that weekly surplus or I can have a piece of fruit and not feel punished.0
-
I had to get out of the mindset of 'diet' and understand that this is a lifelong commitment on my part to be healthy. I did WW for 2 years on and off and lost weight but when I went for my last annual physical with a new doctor, he was not happy when I said I could eat all the fruits and veggies I wanted on this plan because they are 'free'.
Basically he told me WW is a great program and he endorses them but.... nothing is 'free'. Everything except water has calories. He encouraged me to rethink my 'thinking'. And I did. I found MFP through co-workers when we did our 'Biggest Loser' contest at work. I love it here. The only problem I find is the database is often inaccurate so I am very careful to compare some items and keep my own food list here for all fruits and veggies based on the USDA site. Also, eating anything with a label, I make sure when I choose that item here if it doesn't scan that it's accurate as well so that works fine for me.
The funny thing is, on WW I was overloading on 'free' foods to keep full and it wasn't working out well. I felt hungry most of the time. Fruit and veggies usually only stay with me for short periods of time and then I'm hungry again. I didn't want to eat too much protein because it took too many of my points. Counting calories is easy, free, very do-able for me and I enjoy the basic simple math and knowing where I stand on a daily basis for my food intake. No issues. I'm losing weight.
I'm so over giving other people money to lose weight. Ultimately it's me who will win the battle or suffer the consequences. I am happy that I did that plan because it was the first time in my life that I stopped and really analyzed what I was eating and how food effected me in various ways from mood to sleep to gaining or losing weight. But now I am satisfied with MFP and have benefited from it since February of this year.
0 -
I, like so many others on this site, started with Weight Watchers and had some success, but I didn't like the cost involved! So began my journey with MFP (years later.) I have lost 42lbs in 6 months so far on MFP alone, but have slowed way down on the loss with maybe only 10 lbs lost in the last 3 months. I have only 30 more lbs to goal weight! I hoped maybe switching to a free on line "version of weight watchers" would help jump start my weight loss to previous level of success--along with adding some exercise (I work at a desk and lead a sedentary lifestyle,) So I've begun tracking both, but trying to use only WW. My problem is that I'm finding HUGE discrepancies between calories and points. Yesterday, I maxed out on points, but had only 996 calories, so I wonder.........how does everyone feel about going too low on calories--is that diet sabotage? I'm finding WW generic program much harder to use than MFP, so wonder if I should drop WW altogether.......Thoughts---tips anyone?0
-
After all this talk I have decided to quit weight watchers. I can see how it is helpful to some. If it works for you then more power to you. I just prefer doing the math. I also think that MFP does a significantly better job in keeping my nutrition balanced. Thanks to everyone for their comments.0
-
I am going to start the Points plus plan and I have no intention of paying for anything. There are point calculator apps all over the internet for computer and phone which is what I am using. It told me how many points I get and calculated the points of each food. I tend torwards lower carb, so I think I will like this plan very much. Years ago I did the OLD weight watchers points system and loved it. Some said that WW doesn't take macros into consideration but I was surprised to see that the Propoints calculator doesn't take calories into consideration at all, just Protein, Carbs, Fiber and Fat. I am very excited to start. MFP fits perfectly with WW because it is so easy to find the macro info in your diary and plug them into the calculator. The 2 of them are great together.
0 -
I did both for a while too. I actually found the opposite as you. I would have eaten my 26 daily allotment for points but only be at about 1000 - 1100 calories for the day. I actually found I had to distribute the weekly points to each day to make sure I got 1200 calories.
If I'm being honest, I'm not sure how well MFP works. I know it does, I've seen success, but my motivation has nearly disappeared so I self sabotage all the time. Not good.0 -
Chiming in - I have been "double tracking" WW and calories for about 4 months. I had attempted restricting calories in the past, and couldn't stick. WW alone was great until I started a lifting program and upped my walking throughout the day to 4-5 miles, and soon realized that I needed to pay attention to macros and also eat more. Currently with points plus - 1 point is 38 calories. WW "rounds" so 100 grams of something might be 2 points, but 200 grams in one sitting might be 5 points. At the minimum, which is where I started (age, gender(, 26 points only comes to 988 calories - way under what a person needs to live. So having fruits and most vegetables count as zero makes more sense. In addition to "daily" points there are "weekly" points amounting to an additional 1800 calories to use as one wishes. In addition to the points program, there is also a "simply filling" program that doesn't involve any kind of counting but does require menu choices within a particular group of foods that are mostly whole, natural foods (with some notable exceptions - low fat cheeses, non fat other dairy, and "light" breads, for example). So, I guess the bottom line is that one does what works - I will be discontinuing WW next month.0
-
WW takes the "work" out of calorie counting for you. I think it's a good program, I was just too cheap to keep it up. I think "free" fruit is a big mistake, though.
Nope, because you still have to count the points. If I go to a restaurant I still have to look up the points, the same as looking up the calories (and their Scanner,app,and website SUCKS!!!).
The WW program gave me Way more calories then MFP..like 900 more, but WW is a business why would they want me losing 2lbs a week? Their program is set up to lose .5-2lbs a week but my results were always closer to the .5,then 2lbs a week.
What I do like about WW is the meetings, I really enjoyed that time to just discuss dieting techniques with others, my man and friends sometimes get tired of me talking about weight loss, so its a place where people understand the struggle.
0 -
Currently with points plus - 1 point is 38 calories. WW "rounds" so 100 grams of something might be 2 points, but 200 grams in one sitting might be 5 points. At the minimum, which is where I started (age, gender(, 26 points only comes to 988 calories - way under what a person needs to live. So having fruits and most vegetables count as zero makes more sense. In addition to "daily" points there are "weekly" points amounting to an additional 1800 calories to use as one wishes.
If you've been double counting you know that 1 point isn't 38 calories. It varies a lot, based on macros. If it's roughly 38 or 40 on average, you're at a base of about 1000 calories a day PLUS your 7*40 weekly points per day (if spread evenly) = 1280, PLUS unlimited fruit/veg of 300-400 more say = 1600ish, PLUS activity points, so maybe 1800 calories a day for many women. It's pretty dang generous. And that's the minimum, it's much more for men and larger women.
0 -
I love MFP and it will always be my go to site. It is much more user friendly than WW or any other program I have used. However, I am planning to return to WW next week because I need that extra push to get me motivated and on track. Folks on here are wonderful, but I still need that accountability of weighing in each week, listening to a motivational speaker, and being around people that are in the same boat. Sometimes you just need that face to face time. Once I feel stronger, I won't need it, but I sure do right now. Good luck.0
-
I am (was) a lifetime member of WW way back in the day where there weren't any points. I remember making an "egg salad" sandwhich using cottage cheese and mustard... lol. That was waaaaay back in time. Anyway, just wanted to comment on the "zero" points for fruits... Before MFP, I tried WW online and was excited about being able to eat fruits and not have them count as anything. I LOVE my fruits! Unfortunately, zero points does not calculate into zero calories. I found out on MFP why I wasn't losing weight like I thought I should. Using the macros, my fruit intake was throwing me way over the sugars limit. I have since switched out sugars for fiber... and have cut my fruit intake down to an apple/maybe 2/ a day and fill in the rest with veggies. Noticed a BIG difference almost immediately.0
-
I don't like weight watchers. I've been on and off them multiple times, and the last time I did lose 50 pounds (and it was their newest way of counting points). What I didn't like was the fact that they seem to try to drill it into your head about having accountability and that you absolutely must track every single bite that goes into your mouth. I always felt horrible whenever I had a bad day and overall it ended with me jumping off the bandwagon, gaining all my weight back, and then some. I think it's a good system if you've only got like 20-30 pounds to lose, but not more than that. It doesn't really have much to help people who have true disordered eating problems.0
-
What I like about Weight Watchers over MFP is the in person weigh-in's and meetings. I feel more accountable to something that is in person... right now I am tracking on both sites because I also love MFP!0
-
My advice would be to start counting your fruits and Vegetables on WW. The Old system
that I did in 2003 you had to count your fruit & vegetables because they had points.It never made sense to me that the fruits & vegetables had no points. I know that not all
of them are 0 only certain ones.0 -
I have going to WW since January. Unlike others, I found the meetings helpful for the first couple of weeks. Then it became a burden to go and always listen to the individuals who took control of the meeting. Just saying, it's not therapy. Did not like that. I lost for many weeks and then just stopped. I work out a lot. Their advice, eat more dairy. So I decided to try sparkpeople and found out I was eating WAY too little calories, ahem...why I stopped losing. SP is a bit too time consuming for me. So did some research which brings me back here to MFP. I am paid for another month of WW...but I choose to pass. Am excited to continue my journey here. Only 20 lbs to go. If I feel like I need to weigh in with someone, I will bring my scale out...lol. Anyway, happy to be here. And this certainly makes sense for me.0
-
I just made the switch to MFP from WW recently after about a month of double logging. I also had a fair amount of points left on the table after I reached my MFP targets, and I think that can be chalked up to the percentage of 'free' fruits and vegetables they have built into the WW program for you to eat per day.
Because the WW points are based on the macros and not the calories, it might also be due to what you're eating to reach your calorie totals. If your meal choices are lower in carbs and higher in protein, that might skew the numbers your getting too.
I admit I liked the WW program, and felt successful on it, but I'm just as successful with the MFP program, and it costs less, so here I reside.
0 -
I have, and will never, do WW. I've known many, many people who have and either they (1) lose weight then gain it back plus some when they quit or (2) continue to yoyo and quit and gain more weight. I prefer to count calories and exercise, and MFP has been a great inspiration for me. Programs like WW, etc., are making a small fortune on people trying to lose weight, just as Nicorette, etc., are making a small fortune on people trying to quit smoking. I just can't buy into any of it. When I quit smoking, I did it cold turkey - one miserable day, one partially miserable day, and one day of feeling like a ton of weight was lifted from my shoulders. That's a lot easier than losing weight accumulated over 11 years! But I'm doing it, and am NOT stopping until I reach my goal. CICO rules, and MFP helps me tremendously in that respect.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.9K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 399 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 979 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions