Ditching Weight Watchers and doing just MFP? Is it possible ;)

i was very successful on WW. I think I joined and joined again several times and each time I lost weight. I put the weight back on not because I left WW but because I went back to my old eating habits after I lost. It is a good program that works but it is too expensive. MFP works as long as you work. Counting calories or counting points it all comes down to Calories in and Calories out. Accurately weighing and measuring food, exercise and a positive mindset will help you to lose weight. Do what works for you and good luck!!!

I had only bad experiences with WW. I recommend switching.

I also left WW this week, for the same reasons you did. It makes me so angry that they tell us we will fail if we leave. If that is true, why do they sell an online-only membership plan? Are they intentionally setting people up to fail if they believe it won't work? Like you, I got nothing out of the meetings, and yet I felt that leaving would be "giving up." There is no magic in just paying them and going to the meetings. What matters is keeping our minds in the game, and really working our plan. Moving from points to calories, and using this fabulous new (to me) tracking system, is enough of a change to make me feel it is brand new. I am so psyched! I love the data we get on MFP. It gives us so much more information -- macro and micronutrients -- which is helpful to me. I love being able to just check things off once I've entered them the first time. The database is so amazing, too. Love it, love it, love it. Today is only four days for me, but I've followed it almost effortlessly. I've joined LA Fitness and am going to work out every day -- either at LAF or at home or a combination of the two. Maybe you can use the blog and friend features on MFP to give you the support and accountability you need. I love the motivating comments on MFP -- "If every day were like today, you'd weigh xxx in five weeks!" Even though I know the exact amount of weight lost will vary, I feel I'll have everything I need here on MFP. It's up to me to live the plan.

Did you mean to say "happy to pay $50/year for MFP"? I don't pay anything--?? I did WW years ago as well, but quit because of the costs. I like MFP because of the APP and on-line abilities. Easier to track than WW.

Skip WW. Pay the trainer/ join a gym.

Be sure to weigh food, track food, weigh yourself weekly. Be accountable. Review the week, adjust where needed. Repeat. It is helpful to join groups here on MFP and ask questions.

WW did not work for me. I've lost over 40 pounds with MFP. Good luck and welcome!

slimzandra wrote: »

Skip WW. Pay the trainer/ join a gym.

Be sure to weigh food, track food, weigh yourself weekly. Be accountable. Review the week, adjust where needed. Repeat. It is helpful to join groups here on MFP and ask questions.

WW did not work for me. I've lost over 40 pounds with MFP. Good luck and welcome!

Excellent advice!!

I think your mind is telling you it is time to be self-accountable which is great. Take some time to learn how the body reacts to all foods. Learn about each type of carbohydrate, learn about fatty acids, amino acids, maybe pick up some fish oil pills once you learn a bit more about the omega3's. Play with some intermittent fasting and see if that makes eating easier for you. My best days are a 200cal hemp/whey protein shake in the morning with coffee, then lunch is a coffee, then I eat like a champ from 6-11pm. I love going to bed stuffed which makes up for the fasting all day. Of course sometimes I need an additional shake/food mid-day, but I'm just stating my best days are big fasts. Find out your best strategy. Don't worry too much about the glycemic index, but do track your calories as that is the default method to keep track of the molecules you stuff down your throat. Remember, you are eating carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and then you breathe off those molecules after a reaction in the form of carbon dioxide. If you eat more of these molecules than you breathe out you will gain weight

Hooey! I started WW when I wasn't overweight but thought I was. It was in 1970 when it was so restrictive and the food so awful, actually starving seemed a better alternative. So, yes, I quit them then. Went back two or three times over the years, quit them each time because I didn't like the meetings and didn't like the program. I even tried it a couple years ago when it was okay to eat whatever as long as it was within the 'points' range. Keeping up with all the points in this and that was a total pain. I'm sorry if you are a WW devotee and I'm stepping on your toes. They are just not for me. Nor were any of the other 15 DIETS I tried. I lost weight on each of them, but gained it back every time because it was a diet. WW is a diet, in my opinion. I came to MFP by way of the nutritionist/dietitian at the bariatric surgery center I went to because I was so frustrated I was considering gastric sleeve surgery. The nutritionist gave me the MFP app, which I figured I would never do because it surely would be another failure. But I did try it and I have lost 43 pounds and didn't do the surgery. It's taken me a year, but it's off. I'm fighting it now because of the holidays. But it's easier this time. I just do not feel like I am on a diet anymore. I eat pretty much anything, but watch the calories for the day. I do limit the carbs. I know I would lose more if I limited them more. But I AM NOT GOING TO DENY MYSELF ANY FOOD ANYMORE! I have done it long enough. I use portion control and exercise. I have just over 60 more pounds to lose and if it takes me another year, then it does. At least I know it will be gone for good. I think I started this little story to begin with to tell you that I partially blame WW for me gaining 100 pounds! I went to them when I most certainly was not overweight and not one person there bothered to tell me so. I'm 5'9" tall and weighed 150 pounds. That is not fat. I wore a size 10/12. In today's world, that is 'plus size,' but it is not. I look at pix of myself from then and I could cry because I was not overweight and the folks at WW assured me I was and needed to lose 30 pounds. Really? Had I aspired to be a high fashion model, probably needed to lose 30 and more. But I was a wife, the mom of an 18-month-old, and going to college five days a week. I thought I was overweight because I had lost all but 8 pounds of my baby weight. Anyway, not a fan of WW. Rant over.

I think you will be fine just using MFP and having your trainer.

U can def eat more here than weight watchers didn't like meeting at all. Think u should eat foods u enjoy. Have ur treats. Stick to ur calories. I walk my dog at the minuet that's it. I use to exercise to Rosemary Conley DVDs. Just got them out again. I loved them as u can do short workouts r the whole workout.

I have been an on again, off again member of WW for almost all my life. My first time I went I was in my early 20's...I am now 60. I have reached "goal" and " lifetime " twice while on the WW plan.
I am not slamming the WW plan, it is just that I think it is great for when you want to loose weight, but there is little support and infrastructure when you have reached your desired gosl ( I.e. no longer have to pay). I have been on MFP since last Feb. They offer great support through the community forums, and an infrastructure that helps you both loosr and maintain through friend, and food diaries, with lots of a food database. I have recently list 10 pounds, which puts me back in the normal bmi range through MFP, and walking using a fitbit flex. I love using both if these tools in tandem. And for me right now, this is working, and I am not going back another time to WW, unless they change the way they support lifetime membership.