Weight Watchers transplant

weightwatcherjoan wrote: »

I am a former WW leader who made lifetime on the old Points Plan (Momentum). I never really liked Points Plus, but was able to maintain my weight on the plan. When I left my job with WW in February 2012, I gradually yo-yo'd my way up 25 pounds, just 7 pounds from my starting weight. I bounced around between MFP, Spark People and doing WW on my own. My weight bounced around too. This past July, I began attending meetings again and the weight slowly started coming off. Since Smart Points began , the weight is dropping a little faster. I LIKE that the new plan is getting me away from sugar. I feel so much better. Desserts are supposed to be for special occasions; not everyday. I NEED the motivation, support and accountability of WW meetings. MFP has the best data base; I use it when I can't find a food in the WW app and then I put it into the smart points calculator. If you cannot afford WW, MFP is a good substitute; but WW is the only thing that I have had success with.

I am glad you were successful (as was I). I am glad that you like the new plan, a lot of people do. Where is that rule written about desserts only being for special occasions? THAT is what I do not like about the new WW plan... they're telling ME when I should and should not have food. Isn't that really up to me? Is there an approved list of "dessert worthy" special occasions, or do I get to decide that for myself? People that are watching what they eat are doing it with a mind toward health, they don't need their knuckles rapped with a ruler every time they reach for the cookie jar. It's pretty common knowledge that saturated fat and sugar are unhealthy in large amounts. I am still going to meetings until my Monthly Pass runs out later this month. I am also not a big fan of the new meetings. The ones I have been to are more like cheerleading sessions than learning how to navigate the world while trying to eat right. It's gone way too much toward support group and less toward motivation and utility for me. Weight Watchers always took mental/emotional and social factors into account as well as the nuts and bolts of healthy eating. NOW they decide to use the feel-good buzz-word "holistic." It was always holistic, they're actually skewing more toward emotions now than being actually holistic. Works for some, not for me so much anymore.

denese1026 wrote: »

Right there with you! I've been on and off WW since 1991. I did the very best when they came out with the first version of points...after only a few days on MFP, I'm thinking its a lot like that. I'm such a picky eater, so this smart points program was killing me! Not to mention my SKINNY latte went from 3 to 8 points! I have always been die-hard WW bc of the freedom it gave me. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to jump ship.

I will say it's scary for me to step away from WW, but hoping this will work for me too

It was scary for me to walk away from WW as well, having been a member for >10 years and lost 120lbs on it. I was very successful my first week on MFP, so I feel a lot better about it. My weight loss had stalled. The biggest reason that I think this will work for me because I enjoy having the social media support system. My news feed is very positive and uplifting, and people try their best to help people having issues with diet and life. I jumped around to different leaders, I never just stuck with one meeting,unless geographically there was no other choice. People could be negative there the way they aren't on here. I am fine being accountable to my online friends/myself, so the need for meetings isn't there for me anymore. I wish you luck with your new journey on MFP!

Last week was the first week I had a gain using MFP. (MFP showed a loss, not sure why, now I just have more ground to make up). I went over my calorie target every day, and didn't make wise choices in what I did eat, so I knew a gain was coming.

When I stepped on the scale, something different happened. Not that I didn't gain weight, but in how I felt mentally about the gain. I was just like "all right, moving on…" and considered how to retool my diet for the upcoming week. When I had a gain at the scale at WW, I felt like a failure. I felt defeated already about the upcoming week. I discovered that being accountable to someone else was not a positive for me anymore, it was a detriment.

I noticed people in my news feed had public diaries. I thought "whoa, I don't want people seeing what I eat," but then I read a few. It's not only the people who eat super healthy and don't go over their calorie goal with public diaries, it's people who go over and eat fast food and pastries sometimes as well. When I was at WW, the meetings helped me feel like I was in the same boat as a lot of people, sharing their challenges (and sharing mine out loud) and it fostered a sense of support and belonging. I wasn't feeling that way anymore. I wasn't getting much out of the meetings. They were actually making me feel bad and hopeless. I stayed because it was always beat in my head that the only livable and sustainable way to lose weight is with WW. US News & World Report's best diet for all those years. I read that, and yes, it beat out the other diets, but not by very much, and it outlined negatives that were present in the plan as well. People who go to meetings lose 10 times as much and keep it off longer was a mantra, etc.

There are a lot of people on MFP who are successful at losing and maintaining. I will be one of them. I am making my diary public (to friends), because I think THAT is the accountability I need. My online friends here are the kind of support I need now. I have moved past what WW was providing and I am glad they came up with a plan I didn't like, because it made me see I needed a new start… elsewhere.