I need honest opinions about Weight Watchers

OT That's a cool incentive but not fair to the normal weight employees who lose out on the $100 bonus

Hi
I tried WW some years ago. My main complaint with it is the point system. It was way to easy to eat only junk and still be good for points but be eating unhealthy in terms of needed nutrients.

You may have noticed I am here now.

As for the foods, their foods do not scare me as I think in some ways the entire do not eat processed foods thing is overblown. I sometimes eat their foods and I also eat Some Lean Cuisine and A brand called eating healthy from the Acme Grocery store. I lost the weight I needed to lose and have been maintaining since February at or below the weight I decided to stop at. Currently I am 2+ pounds lower than that weight.

I eat a mix of Processed foods and other foods. I will eat cereals with Sweeteners or Frozen waffles/pancakes/french toast for breakfast as an example and today I had a LC Frozen Entree and will likely have another one for dinner to save time. I also eat a Banana every morning, and two other assorted fruits with lunch and Dinner. Also with Lunch and Dinner I eat 6 ounces of frozen vegetables at each of the two meals. The Cereals would be things like Multi-Grain Cheerios or Oatmeal.

Cutting to the Bottom line WW did not work for myself or my sister long term and we both gained back what we lost plus some extra

Can it work, I believe so, I also believe that Atkins and Jenny and NutriSystem can work, what works for one person will not necessarily work for another person. What Works for losing weight also needs to work to teach You how to eat so You do not put back what You lose and in my case WW did not do that for me. Currently with the 3+ miles per day I walk I am eating around 2000 calories.

Despite eating a mix of Fresh & processed foods I have more energy ans stamina and my Blood work is great, my BP is great and my Blood sugar levels are great so for me this is what works and I can see myself eating ;like this for many years to come as I do not feel deprived. I eat some Ice Cream for dessert too, Skinny Cow for me is Ice cream for other it has to be Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream since that is all natural ingredients such as this from their website
Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Coffee and Green Tea - still have only five ingredients. Cream. Milk. Sugar. Egg Yolks. Plus the very best ingredient to bring that flavor to life The Strawberry is flavored with Strawberries for example and they also say "MILK & CREAM FROM COWS NOT TREATED WITH THE GROWTH HORMONE rBST†"

A premium product that You pay a premium price for too. The Densest Ice cream I have eaten also. Can You tell I like it?

Good Luck , Try the Weight Watchers the worst that happens is that you lose a little time and it does not work, However it could work for You, As I say there are many paths to the same destination.
Roger

I am counting calories I will choose the snack size Snickers instead of an apple (close to same calories). On WW the snack size Snickers is 6 points, the apple is 0 so I eat the apple. If you are someone who will make healthy food choices without that then it's probably not helpful. For me it is. I do WW on line only, would love if they had it at my work with the extra incentives.

And for me personally that's why the WW thing is problematic. I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables throughout the day, and if I just decided not to count them, that's easily 400 calories or more unaccounted for in my diet. In my case, with so little to lose, it more than wipes out my calorie deficit.
The bonus idea sounds nice. You could probably sign up, still lose weight your own way (who would really know how you did it, after all?), and still get the comraderie and $100 bonus.

My mother and my best friend's mother have both committed to weight watchers on and off for what must be well over 10 years. From observing them and their friends I think the approach can work if you already have your wits about you nutrition wise and have a good idea of healthy choices. My own personal opinion is that it doesn't necessarily promote the healthiest attitude, for example some of the ladies now have a morbid fear of fruit. Fruit! Nature's goodies! But they will still have a slice of cheesecake as a treat? You sound like you know enough about nutrition to not be scared of fruit so I'd say go for it if you like the whole social side of it :-)

Technical Alert: Weight Watchers Loses Gains From Tuesday's Rally

http://www.benzinga.com/node/8411571?utm_campaign=partner_feed&utm_source=marketwatch.com&utm_medium=web_click&utm_content=ticker_page

They use points because it's 'easier' (more like easier for them to make money).

They are able to make fruits & veggies 0 points by cutting down the calorie goal. For example when I was on WW I would average 1,000 calories before adding in fruits and veggies.

lauractemple85 wrote: »

<snip>My work is offering WW to it’s employees with a full reinbursment plus $100 bonus if we lose 8% of our starting weight.
<snip>
The only reason I’d consider joining is for the accountability and camaraderie. <snip>

Do they force you to buy their food? If not, it sounds like you could sign up for WW, use the accountability and camaraderie part, use whatever food plan you prefer, like basic MFP CICO, lose 8% of your weight, and collect $100. If you have to have proof that you used a WW system, you could log points even if you're not really using them.

I liked the points plus system at WW. I liked counting points, it made me less "aware" of the calories (I obsess easily and go to a bad place easily). When they switched to Smart Points, they made carbs and fat worth more "points" than the same calorie amount of lean protein, and that's when I switched. I logged what I was eating into MFP and discovered I was eating 1000-1200 calories a day... which is how they "cover" the free fruits and veg (which are only supposed to add up to 5 servings, by the way, if you have more than 5 you are supposed to log them). They also made a few other changes that made it really hard to fit Smart Points into my lifestyle, and I ultimately quit (because who wants to pay for a service they don't want to use?)

I didn't really buy the food much. I used their frozen meals at lunch because it was easy, but they weren't very filling. Their desserts were devoid of actual flavour (you know, sugar and fat), so I stopped buying those. I did like their bagels, because I knew I could have half a bagel, it was filling, and the points were easy to calculate.

If I were you, I would do the challenge because it's free and because I might win $100. And it might be fun to participate with your coworkers.