Musings of an ex Weight Watcher (very long)

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  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
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    I never expected anyone to hand me my weight loss. I went there becuase I have no support at home, and so many of those people ther helped me. My leader has helped me too. I am also intelligent. Also my company pays the majority of the cost of ww.
  • Cordy_in_CT
    Cordy_in_CT Posts: 134 Member
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    bump
  • OnlyGodCan
    OnlyGodCan Posts: 91 Member
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    Wow. Thank you for that comparison and break down of WW. I was considering joining at one point, but glad I didnt. I want to learn what makes my body tic. You answered a lot of my questions regarding WW. Thanks again.
  • ajanmillie
    ajanmillie Posts: 241 Member
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    I definitely think it is what works for an individual. I work with alot of women who do ww and have lost alot and also workout like crazy. I tried ww and for some reason hated it. I prefer mfp because I actually look forward to logging calories and exercise and it is free. I tried to get some of my co-workers to try mfp but some of they hated it because they are used to ww and didn't like that every single calorie counts on mfp. We all decided each to his own but still support one another.
  • Kathy_Noring
    Kathy_Noring Posts: 143 Member
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    To me, WW always seemed like a scam designed to take money off people that simply want their weight loss to be handled for them, or who aren't that bright (no offence to anyone who's used it). Reducing everything to a simple points system kind of reinforces this.

    MFP is all about taking control of your own destiny. You benefit most if you know what you're eating and understand the nutrition and the role that exercise plays. It's a more complete system and one that is more likely have life-changing effects.

    You can succeed or fail with either, but for me, knowledge is power and MFP is also cheaper.

    I don't know about having your weight loss "handled for you" or not being bright enough, but the beauty in WW is its simplicity. And the group support, if you go to meetings. Honestly, I can see why someone new to weight loss (or even those who aren't) would find WW appealing after reading how complicated some people try to make weight loss. Are you standing on your head while drinking water and eating precisely 83% of your exercise calories? No? You are in STARVATION MODE! Lol, obviously I am being facetious, but it does seem like it can become overly complicated if you allow it to.
  • xjlishey1
    xjlishey1 Posts: 286
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    Wow! You said it all. I joined ww's twice. Although it works the free food is still calories and it did stall weight loss after using MFP. Counting every calorie works so much better. I got tired of losing and gaining the same 5-6 pounds every other week. I have only been with MFP for 2 weeks and have loss 6 pounds already...counting calories and calories from exercising. I told a friend of mine who lost 50lbs with her own version of atkins that I was tired of paying a company to lose weight when I know what to do. I've studied nutrition and I am addicted to exercise. That's when I found MFP and I am here for life.
  • keiraev
    keiraev Posts: 695 Member
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    I have never done but have friends who have lost quite a lot on it- think it was the old system though.

    Apparently bananas are now a "free" food which imo is ridiculous as a large one can have 120-150 cals and is laden with sugar! One a day is more than enough.
  • bex879165
    bex879165 Posts: 121 Member
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    Bump for later! School run beckons!!
  • pitbullmama
    pitbullmama Posts: 454 Member
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    I have been a WW member a few times. I did lose weight slowly on the program. Had my good weeks and bad weeks of course. The meetings were always huge and as someone else mentioned there would be times when I was still weighing in while the meeting had already started. I started to get very discourged when I would see the scale moving that .5 after I felt I had killed myself to stay on track and I was paying $$$ to be weighed. SO for me it came down to dollars and sense. (not a typo). I am actually doing better usung this site than I ever did at WW and holy cow its FREE! The only monetary investment I made was in buying a good food scale. Eating well forever is the goal here. Having said that, I have been on other programs where you buy your meals and that was even more expensive and obviously since the weight piled back on, I didn't learn anything about healthy eating. To each their own but I am happy to be a part of MFP.
  • mags2504
    mags2504 Posts: 275
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    I done WW a few times and always gained plus extra, last time I couldn't get on with the new pro points. 2 weeks in a row i stayed the same and what she said to me was ridiculous. I said that i had stuck to my points and that i had been to 6 exercise classes that week and i must be building muscle. She told me a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle so basically it doesn't matter. She said losing weight is 95% diet and 5% exercise. I have now realised since joining MFP that she was talking b-ll-cks. I am sticking to calories with MFP and losing, exercising more than ever and loving it.
  • Summer_Rose
    Summer_Rose Posts: 24
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    Weight Watchers has a very good program, before a 100 calorie banana and a 100 calorie cookie were interchangeable, But with the new program the banana is a free food because of the higher fiber and nutrition value, and also stimulates metabolism and keeps you feeling fuller longer, So, the newly revamped system encourages smarter choices. You can modify the program by allowing yourself 1200 to 1400 calories daily taking the place of the points, and still allow yourself unlimited fruits and non starchy veggies. MFP is a great site and I think Mike is a genius by giving the people something for free but at the same time benefiting so well. Not sure what I would do without it, but I'm basically on the WW's plan, and logging my cal's here.:wink:
  • healthyjen342
    healthyjen342 Posts: 1,435 Member
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    You must have read my mind! This was my next blog post!! and my points are almost the same as yours!! and you are right..I was a WW member and joined twice (I stopped going the first time b/c I got pregnant and that is not encouraged)...
  • PersianFlower
    PersianFlower Posts: 27 Member
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    I've been off/on WW since 2005, I had a lot of success when I started, then I got sick from my at the time undiagnosed thyroid disease. I gain everything I lost BACK and MORE!

    I know the program works, even picked up the new one at the end of May but for me I think it has come down to a mind set. I kept trying to do WW while sick and it messed me up "mentally" in this game. I blame the whole thyroid thing, sucks to been 'on point' and exercising 3-4 days a week and GAINING weight! It wasn't WW fault or my will power but a stupid lil glands lol!

    Still doesn't make it feel any less than failure. I lost a lot of hope in me losing weight, so I turned to MFP at the end of last year to try and get into a new mindset. I lost weight and gained weight. It's been a process than I am learning to deal with. I take ever loss as a success and ever gain as a bump in the road instead of a absolute failure.

    I did miss the WW system for a bit but MFP keeps me more honest since its easy lol! Wow long winded tell huh? :D
  • perne11
    perne11 Posts: 46 Member
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    I joined WW Feb 1 of this year. I lost about 21 lbs on WW in 3.5 months. I joined MFP about 7 weeks ago and I have lost about 9 lbs. Here is my take on it.

    I like them both! In my opinion WW encourages you to make healthy choices and so does MFP, however ultimately it’s up to you. I eat pretty much the same on MFP as I did on WW. Also both WW and MFP encourage exercise, but there it is again, it’s up to the individual to decide if they are going to lose weight by exercising or not.

    My determining factor in choosing MFP over WW is that MFP is free! WW is great for those that are just getting started on their weight loss journey and need that one on one attention. But once you realize that WW is just CC, and that you do not necessarily need a point system to track food it’s kind of liberating. I still sometimes cross check my calories with WW Points Plus just out of habit and curiosity to see if I’m staying within my daily points. I do this by dividing my calories by 40 and then rounding up to the nearest whole number. This is accurate 99% of the time, unless you are calculating alcohol.

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