Weight Watchers?

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perkymommy
perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone here done WW along with MFP? I have been doing WW since Feb 2nd and lost 20 lbs on it. I started here a couple weeks ago after someone at WW referred me. What confuses me is I can log on my food here (I get 1200 per day) and have some left over sometimes but on WW I track my food (I get 30 pts a day) and will either meet my 30 pts or go over most days. Does anyone that has done WW know how many calories 30 pts is? or is that how WW decides on the daily points? Just a bit confused.
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  • 130annie
    130annie Posts: 339 Member
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    When I was doing WW... Some while ago.... 50 cals was 1 point
  • alvinlau316
    alvinlau316 Posts: 4 Member
    edited April 2016
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    In my humble opinion, the point system is a bit of a crutch. The essential skill you need to pick up to not just lose weight but also maintaining after achieving your goals is by educating yourself better with macronutrients and calorie counting. I'm not going to lie and say it's easy but I can promise you it gets easier. Eventually you will be able to eyeball food amounts and estimate calories etc. Also, get a food scale and read up on flexible dieting.

    If I were you I'd go into Google and calculate your TDEE which stands for total daily energy expenditure, then cut the calories by 10 to 20 percent. Log everything onto myfitnesspal and try to hit that number consistently, every couple of kilos you lose, you will need to recalculate your TDEE. Rinse and repeat. I would focus on getting enough protein to retain as much muscle tissue and resistance training. Before long you will lose as much as you desire and have the right body composition that you're comfortable with. Good luck!
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    As far as points I'm referring to the amount you are given per day and mine is 30 right now. They've changed their plan as of last year but I still don't get the difference between the two right now when I am tracking the same exact foods on both sites.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    Its because WW is a con. Better to stick to real life figures....
  • alvinlau316
    alvinlau316 Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm not sure how that correlates. By its very nature the points system will be less accurate than logging calories by weight directly. I'd just choose one and stick with it. Adherence is more important than accuracy I suppose.
  • rachelr1116
    rachelr1116 Posts: 334 Member
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    When I did WW a few years ago they had changed the way they calculated points and it no longer really took into account only calories. Since it accounted for fiber and I think protein some foods that were fairly high in calories but also high in fiber would be lower points than a lower calorie food that had less fiber. I personally prefer now to just track calories using MFP and save the money I'd be giving to WW.
  • Cheryl_in_AL
    Cheryl_in_AL Posts: 7 Member
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    When they calculate your points they probably hold back calories to allow room for the "free" point foods you can eat since they want to encourage eating fruit and veggies
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    WW points used to correlate fairly closely to a calorie amount per point. WW was an easier way to estimate your calories because there weren't the standardized nutrition labels and free calorie/nutrition tracking apps we have today.

    It's now actually easier to count calories than convert to WW points so they have to try to keep their business going in different ways. With the newer WW plans, "bad" foods that they want to steer you away from eating have more points per calorie than "good" foods. They say that you can still eat anything you want to eat but they penalize you with excess points for "bad" things that have the same calories as "good" things.
  • alyssa0061
    alyssa0061 Posts: 652 Member
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    alvinlau316 wrote: »
    In my humble opinion, the point system is a bit of a crutch. The essential skill you need to pick up to not just lose weight but also maintaining after achieving your goals is by educating yourself better with macronutrients and calorie counting. I'm not going to lie and say it's easy but I can promise you it gets easier. Eventually you will be able to eyeball food amounts and estimate calories etc. Also, get a food scale and read up on flexible dieting.

    You're absolutely right. Weight Watchers' goal is to keep you as a customer for life. Even at "lifetime", or in maintenance, you are still counting points. Every day. Forever. You don't learn how to eat or portion control without the points.

  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
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    I heard they consider fruits and veggies "free".... um those have calories so how can one lose weight w/out accounting for those calories.
  • chrislee1628
    chrislee1628 Posts: 305 Member
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    my younger sis has a fitbit and is with WW, she tried to get me to join WW, no thanks, if I need WW to help me lose weight then I am mentally not ready and as soon as I leave WW I will just put it back on
  • alyssa0061
    alyssa0061 Posts: 652 Member
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    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    I heard they consider fruits and veggies "free".... um those have calories so how can one lose weight w/out accounting for those calories.

    They are in the business of convincing their costumers that CICO is not the only way to lose weight. The longer it takes people to lose weight, the more money they make. $45 a month, every month, for however long it takes and however many times a person joins.

    Fruits and vegetables are free but the scarier thing is how many other things are 0 or 1 point as well.
  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
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    alyssawentland wrote: »
    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    I heard they consider fruits and veggies "free".... um those have calories so how can one lose weight w/out accounting for those calories.

    They are in the business of convincing their costumers that CICO is not the only way to lose weight. The longer it takes people to lose weight, the more money they make. $45 a month, every month, for however long it takes and however many times a person joins.

    Fruits and vegetables are free but the scarier thing is how many other things are 0 or 1 point as well.

    The banana I had the other day had was 95 calories... that doesn't sound free to me! Could you imagine a WW follower saying I'm just going to eat fruits and veggies all day cuz they're "free" thinking they're not consuming any calories... Unless they teach it differently, IDK, I've not been to WW.
  • alyssa0061
    alyssa0061 Posts: 652 Member
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    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    alyssawentland wrote: »
    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    I heard they consider fruits and veggies "free".... um those have calories so how can one lose weight w/out accounting for those calories.

    They are in the business of convincing their costumers that CICO is not the only way to lose weight. The longer it takes people to lose weight, the more money they make. $45 a month, every month, for however long it takes and however many times a person joins.

    Fruits and vegetables are free but the scarier thing is how many other things are 0 or 1 point as well.

    The banana I had the other day had was 95 calories... that doesn't sound free to me! Could you imagine a WW follower saying I'm just going to eat fruits and veggies all day cuz they're "free" thinking they're not consuming any calories... Unless they teach it differently, IDK, I've not been to WW.

    Haha, there are people who do that! They truly believe because Weight Watchers says it is "free" that it has no implication on their weight loss. I see it every day. I've seen many people freak out and lose it when they put the nutritional information of fruits and vegetables into the Weight Watchers calculator and see how many "points" they'd actually be eating if they weren't 0 points by default.

  • Linzon
    Linzon Posts: 294 Member
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    I was with WW about 10 years ago and it's definitely geared towards keeping you a customer for life. I had no idea how to eat without converting foods into points and using their calculators and stuff. If only MFP had been a thing back then!
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    But if you don't monitor calorie intake, don't you regain weight? I have family members who stopped logging here and regained weight, so how is it any different than regaining once you stop counting points? At least WW teaches better eating habits and the psychology that fits with it. Where do you find that here? In the case of the person I'm speaking of, that was something I guess she had to figure out for herself but never did. All she did was eat the same junk and count for it, and once she stopped counting the weight came back.

  • booksandchocolate12
    booksandchocolate12 Posts: 1,741 Member
    edited April 2016
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    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    I heard they consider fruits and veggies "free".... um those have calories so how can one lose weight w/out accounting for those calories.

    I lost 50 lbs on WW with "free" fruits and veggies. Because of this:
    Cheryl_in_AL wrote: »
    When they calculate your points they probably hold back calories to allow room for the "free" point foods you can eat since they want to encourage eating fruit and veggies

    Also, something people misunderstand is that fruits and (most) veggies are not "free", they're 0 points, and yes, there is a difference. WW is very clear that you are to eat fruit and veggies "to satisfaction", not gluttony. They're trying to encourage you to make better choices, but it's not a free-for-all.
  • rawley69
    rawley69 Posts: 49 Member
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    chnphillips wrote: »
    But if you don't monitor calorie intake, don't you regain weight? I have family members who stopped logging here and regained weight, so how is it any different than regaining once you stop counting points? At least WW teaches better eating habits and the psychology that fits with it. Where do you find that here? In the case of the person I'm speaking of, that was something I guess she had to figure out for herself but never did. All she did was eat the same junk and count for it, and once she stopped counting the weight came back.

    A person could still log calories without MFP. I did this a long time ago with a notepad and just nutritional label information. Nothing changes, you just don't have the handy software.
  • lls5111
    lls5111 Posts: 16 Member
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    I'm doing both going to ww and tracking calories here. I think ww has value because it's forcing folks to make good choices... I can have fruits, veggies that are '0' calories and lean meat is lower in points than fatty meat. I think it's a hook, of course, but most folks need that hook .
    Also meetings are very important as as the community here. Like minded people is important to keep you in the right frame of mind.
    Please don't disparage ww. It's helped a lot of people.

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