MFP vs WW

Sweettart
Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone tried the new ww program? What do you think of it and what have your results been? Did you like it better than MFP?

I am just debating if I should stick to MFP or move onto WW.

What is your adivce or opinion.

Replies

  • padkat
    padkat Posts: 62 Member
    I tried the new WW before MFP this but got fed up with having to convert everything into Pro-Points. I find that by simply counting calories (with a healthy nutrional balance) I don't have to 'overthink' and so don't get to hung up on the whole thing - Therefore, less pressure and more success :smile:
  • mocha76
    mocha76 Posts: 184 Member
    I lost 19 lbs in 3 months with WW before coming here. You can see my stats in my signature. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful to WW for helping me jump start my weight loss. Actually, I have been on WW several times before in past years and have always lost weight. But when I stop WW, I would always gain my weight back. I like MFP better because I feel like being able to track things like carbs, sugars, and sodium will help me reach and maintain my goals. I was eating whatever I wanted as long as I stayed under my alllotted points. MFP helps me to make healthier food choices and I believe that will help me be successful now and when I'm maintaining.
  • mrstyler
    mrstyler Posts: 43
    I did their free trial a couple months ago, and I certainly didn't hate it, but it was frustrating how limited their database was. So few of the restaurants I go to had numbers, so I was left guessing frequently. And literally none of the foods I had in my cabinet were listed. We shop mostly at Trader Joes and from what I saw, they did not have any TJs products put in. Since I was just doing the trial, I didn't do much to find a work-around for it, but I didn't like that I would have to try to figure it out--with MFP everything is already there.

    I also had no weight lost that week...I'm still a little suspicious about the way they calculate how much you should eat [I also did the old WW about 8 years ago with fairly little results.]

    I really like MFP, and I find it much easier than WW.
  • Sweettart
    Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
    A couple months ago I did join for 4 weeks and the main thing I liked was all your fruits and veggies are free! I had lost 6lbs but been bad and put it back on.

    Also with ww you get points for being active and it goes by low,med and high intensity well some of my workout videos its hard to judge what intensity they are. I just find that the most frustrating. At least when you are couting calories and you know how many you burn you know how many to eat!
  • chezmama
    chezmama Posts: 396 Member
    I was successful with WW years ago. I'd lost 25 pounds on it. But I found the meeting cheesy and condescending, so I stopped going and I ended up gaining back double that. I wanted to try WW online, but didn't want to pay that much for it in case it didn't work for me. Fast forward a few years and a friend told me about MFP. The price is right, the friends are motivating and the tools really inspire me, not only to watch my calories, but to consider making better choices. I have actually learned a lot about myself and how I eat as a result of being here. I much prefer MFP to WW.
  • ckdub428
    ckdub428 Posts: 453 Member
    I am currently doing both because my WW subscription is about to end and a friend told me about MFP about a week ago. I have only been on MFP for about 2 weeks and I was on WW for 6 months. And I really like MFP better for several reasons.
    1) its free and not 20 bucks a month.
    2) if you don't have a smart phone with the WW app then you are constantly wondering what the points value is and have to wait until you get home to a computer or whatever.
    3) for a whole week I logged everything in both WW and MFP and WW would tell me I was 10-15 points over on my day while MFP would tell me i was under calories. I think this is the reason I had not lost much on WW. I think I was not eating enough even though I was over my "points" almost every day.
    4) Being over points every day is very destructive to you motivation. And also 1200 calories just sounds much better than 29 points. :wink:
    5)MFP will tell you if you are eating to few or too many calories and gives you the "if every day were like today...." WW has nothing like that.

    I know it sounds like I was really harsh on WW but I have done it on and off for 4 years and when I was on it I would lose 10 pounds or so (and pay $$$$$$), but as soon as I would go off my bad habits would come back. For me WW is a diet, where you do it for a while, lose some weight, and when you go off you get all the weight back. MFP seems to already be curbing the bad habits, and I think of it not as a diet but as a way to journal my foods and exercise.

    I hope this helps. They are both good programs, but I feel like MFP is more sustainable.
  • ChloMonster
    ChloMonster Posts: 19 Member
    I was on WW all of 2010. I had great success. Lost 62 pounds. I started using MFP at the beginning of the year. I lost some motivation and was able to maintain my weight. Back at losing again now. Down 9.2 lbs this month and 4 in! I really like MFP tracking better than WW. For me having a high fiber diet is very important. I wasn't able to get that from the WW site. Since I started strength training, being able to watch my protein on MFP has really help also. MFP is also free! I learned so much from WW and would recommended it to anyone, but for myself, I am sticking with MFP.
  • Sweettart
    Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
    I think for 1 week I am going to do what had done previously and follow ww and then put the foods into MFP and see the difference.

    I am trying to eat lower sugar fruits which I think will help too.
  • hbrekkaas
    hbrekkaas Posts: 268 Member
    I tried WW first and didn't like it. I joined right after they came out with the Points Plus program and it just didn't work for me. I found that alot of things that we eat in our house were really high in points. Not junk foods, but things like whole wheat bread. Simple, basic things.

    And I had an issue with the "free" veggies and fruits thing....they still have calories and will still add to your daily total if you eat a ton of them.
  • go2grrl
    go2grrl Posts: 190 Member
    I bought 3 months of WW and have been in the negative for Points every week for 8 out of the last 10. While some of that is just my own doing (craft beers!!), I also find that I can be under calories for a week here. Also, very few of the brands I use are in the WW database. I have a good friend who is on WW and quite successful. This is her first attempt at loosing weight, but she also attends meetings and I think that might be the key to WW. For me the WW pro is the recipes. They really do have a lot of good ones. But they also rely on a lot of things that are "fat free" or processed. I've counted calories for so long in a little excel spreadsheet that I think that works best for me. And since joining MFP, I've found that I was underestimating many of my recipes. I have to do a lot less creating here. When my 3 months is up at WW, I'm fairly certain I won't be continuing.
  • eatingmysandshoe
    eatingmysandshoe Posts: 63
    Also WW is a program you have to follow, a group you have to join, weekly check-ins etc, which for me, as soon as I couldn't make it to a meeting or didn't want to continue paying out that money, meant that I'd stopped doing WW and then ATE ATE ATE. The mentality is just different with MFP - I'm not following a program, just learning about foods and counting calories, so I am responsible for my weight loss, not WW. Not sure I explained that very well tho.
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