Weight Watchers or MyFitnessPal??

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countrylove12
countrylove12 Posts: 53 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Looking for some positive input!
I joined Weight Watchers (WW) in January. I was doing WW and MyFitnessPal (MFP) previously last year. Decided I'd give WW a try again (I'm only do WW online) because instead of eating whatever I wanted for the calories, maybe I'd eat more fruit & veggies since it's free. WW has a recommended Good Health Guidelines they want you to meet each day, 6 cups of water, 2 servings of dairy, 5 servings of fruit/veggies, 2tsp healthy oil etc. I never meet those daily goals. No two days are the same and I'm always doing different things. I recently (this week) started tracking on MFP again. The free fruit and veggies and weekly allowance points keep me interested in WW. However, MFP is wonderful because I can see all the macros I'm eating. I also feel WW uses a lot more points for healthy foods (full protein, nuts). Even things like quest bars are 5-6 points....when your day consists of 26 points it's almost as if you don't want to use them on that. On MFP nuts and a lot of protein are better for you and not too many calories so you want to eat them.
The whole point of all of this rambling is I don't know which would be better. I have a list of pros and cons for both WW and MFP. I'm hopefully looking for some input from people who do WW or have done WW and now only do MFP or track on both. I'm seeing if I could add some outside opinions/pros & cons to my list to make a final choice. (My month with WW is almost up and if I'm going to cancel I'd like to before I get charged again).
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Replies

  • amf0324
    amf0324 Posts: 46 Member
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    I just quit weight watchers because I stopped losing without tracking all of my calories. Nothing is "free."

    Since I switched to MFP I've lost 15.

    Also, their tools suck. They have made zero substantial improvements to the site for years and yet increased the price late last year. Couldn't justify it anymore.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    At their core...both are based on the same idea. Carefully monitoring what (and more specifically, how much) you're eating.

    Personally I like MFP (obviously). The whole "free fruits and veggies" thing - while understandable meant to get people to eat more fruits and veggies - seems completely counterintuitive to me. And I love the app for monitoring macros throughout the day, in addition to calories.
  • ibamosaserreinas
    ibamosaserreinas Posts: 294 Member
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    I did WW a few years ago and had success. When I signed up for MFP I actually did both at the same time for awhile. However, I don't feel like WW really taught me to eat healthy. I basically ate low point foods in large quantities. It did produce a calorie deficit so I did lose weight but it was not the healthiest or best balanced diet.

    For example, potatoes were low point for the quantity you got but meat was very high points. I would eat ridiculous amounts of potatoes and veggies, but was actually anemic and iron deficit because I was not getting enough protein.
  • jnv7594
    jnv7594 Posts: 983 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    Fruits and veg aren't free. A large apple has over 100 calories.

    ^^^This. I don't understand the idea that some foods are free. I tried weight watchers in the past without much luck. I've lost 75 pounds on MFP, and for the first time ever, I feel like I have found a sustainable eating plan.
  • countrylove12
    countrylove12 Posts: 53 Member
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    Thanks for all the responses so far - great suggestions/comments! :)

    Those who are more experienced with MFP, is it really calorie in/calorie out? I have a fitbit and it is linked to MFP, so it tells me throughout the day how many more calories I can eat, should I choose to.

    I'm also looking for some new friend requests for continued support! :)
  • Drewlssix
    Drewlssix Posts: 272 Member
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    jnv7594 wrote: »
    herrspoons wrote: »
    Fruits and veg aren't free. A large apple has over 100 calories.

    ^^^This. I don't understand the idea that some foods are free. I tried weight watchers in the past without much luck. I've lost 75 pounds on MFP, and for the first time ever, I feel like I have found a sustainable eating plan.

    I consider a few things like broccoli to be "free" in that the calorie hit is tiny while the good stuff is significant. In stregnth circles the common line is "eat as much broccoli as you want". My wife did WW a few years ago and did well but couldn't justify sticking with it and dealing with the contorted diet it produces. Eating good stuff in a deficit beats picking random items from a list and being unhappy.
  • GoPerfectHealth
    GoPerfectHealth Posts: 254 Member
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    Weight Watchers is great if you like the support of face-to-face meetings. I started Weight Watchers around the same time as I started MFP. I logged at both sites for a while, but found the overall MFP site better and dropped WW since I didn't really want to go to meetings anyway. Many people are successful with WW, so I think it what ever works for you.
  • mulecanter
    mulecanter Posts: 1,792 Member
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    Done both. MFP.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I prefer to know how many calories are actually in the things I eat, not some random allotted points. I think it's stupid to call fruits and veg "free" and then jack up the points on other things that are also healthy and good for you.

    I will never understand why people are drawn to WW and I will never understand why you'd want to pay good money for something that is otherwise free and provides you with actual nutritional knowledge.
  • katiecramey
    katiecramey Posts: 7 Member
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    It sounds to me that mfp would foster a more sustainable lifestyle change than ww. Everything has calories so the free thing doesn't make much sense. I think it'd be easier to count calories than points anyway.
  • aprilhinegan
    aprilhinegan Posts: 2
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    I have been to weight watchers a number of times and lost with them, last time was last January but I only lasted 3 months but lost nearly 3 stone with them. The only thing is the cost when this is free. I started to use MFP this week and i,m finding it really good, I love the app,s it's so easy to track your calorie,s. I got onto MFP when my daughter suggested the NHS Diet which is all about calorie counting. I came across this app and use it all the time. I've a long way to go and would love some friends to help me on the way.
  • SexyKatherine73
    SexyKatherine73 Posts: 221 Member
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    do both if it's working for you :D I would be doing WW now if I could afford it. they have far better tracking system and there food diary was awesome you could add one off food and not get stuck with random foods in your diary lists.

    I loved the idea you could make your own lists of common foods you eat and add and remove them as you please. :smiley:
  • magairlin
    magairlin Posts: 93 Member
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    I have done Weight Watchers Meetings in the past with great success and WW works for a lot of people so I don't want to disparage it. I haven't done it online. I lost my pregnancy weight with them more than twenty years ago. Many people like the support of a weekly meeting and the advice of a leader. However I wouldn't go to WW now as they are suggesting to people to have as much fruit as they please and it is "free". If I ate an apple, banana and orange that would amount to at least 200 calories and probably more. I feel it is silly to eat that amount of calories and call it "free". I also feel (and I am not an expert on nutrition) that the sugar in fruit, although they call it natural sugar, can cause sugar cravings and for me it is better if I don't eat so much of it. If you like the support of face to face weekly meeting stick to WW but if you are doing it online I would suggest that MFP is better. Whichever you choose don't consider fruit "free". Best of luck!
  • alabella
    alabella Posts: 36 Member
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    I've tried both. I liked WW but I stalled on it (probably all those weeklies) and I couldn't justify the expense when MFP is free. Ultimately the best combination for me has been my fitbit and MFP.
  • alleycatblue1982
    alleycatblue1982 Posts: 10 Member
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    Whatever works for you :) I lost 5 stone on weight watchers, but I've lost my momentum with it so have been doing mfp and feel really focused for the first time in ages. I don't think it matters which you do, as long as you actually do it! Both work!
  • jellybelly803
    jellybelly803 Posts: 5 Member
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    I think the old WW was great. I liked that the points gently steered you toward healthier foods. But once they changed it (like 4 years ago?) and made fruit free, it just didn't work for me. As other have said, fruit is NOT free and if you eat too much of it, you won't lose (ask me how I know
  • SwankyTomato
    SwankyTomato Posts: 442 Member
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    I prefer MFP because I like to track everything, the good, bad, and the ugly.

    Bottom line, do what works for you and not me. If WW is something that is going to help you then do not discount it. :)
  • tekkiechikk
    tekkiechikk Posts: 375 Member
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    Did them both, I think MFP is the more realistic of the two (calories are calories, no such thing as "free" foods). No special formulas needed, it's just plain calories in, calories out. The tools and resources for counting calories and tracking exercise are universally available (meaning you can look up calorie and nutrition info on a zillion websites and track what you eat), but WW tools and formulas are specialized and require a paying membership to get them. And WW is constantly revising their program, which means a new way of tracking Points all over again. Just MHO.

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