WW or MFP?

em030
em030 Posts: 11 Member
edited November 13 in Getting Started
Weight watchers or my fitness pal?

Replies

  • DeficitDuchess
    DeficitDuchess Posts: 3,099 Member
    WW'll work to help you lose weight but unless you plan on using their program, for the duration of your life; you'll gain all of the weight back & usually 10 pounds more. If these companies were successful at helping us keep the weight off, nearly everyone who previously used them; would still be at their goal weights & these companies would've gone out of business. They're actually designed to help you, gain more weight; then they helped you to lose! They do this with a limited variety of food choices & under eating via a caloric deficit, that's lower than what's healthy/sustainable; which then results in bingeing & quitting, for awhile. The client (victim) then gains all of the weight back, plus more but doesn't forget that the weight loss company (legal criminal) helped them lose weight, like a loan shark helps 1 pay a debt; only to create a larger debt of their own. So the victim obtains Stockholm Syndrome & keeps returning to their abuser (weight loss company), for more help; worse off than before each time!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    I love free as well. I also love numbers. I'm a nerd, it's okay. I like watching macro and micro numbers. Progress charts, data from FitBit added to CICO. Good fun!
  • hotasfire36
    hotasfire36 Posts: 235 Member
    Mfp
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
    Mfp.
    I can weigh myself at home for free
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    The latest ww program is super restrictive. Far too restrictive for me. MFP is free and I can eat foods I enjoy.
  • k8eekins
    k8eekins Posts: 2,264 Member
    For me/my sister/a few of my 1st male cousins: Myfitnesspal.

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    MFP is free, offers more food variety freedom, more accurate because all foods count, and you don't have to do any convoluted point calculations. I vote MFP.
  • Arizona_C
    Arizona_C Posts: 1,476 Member
    MFP.
    You are in charge, you are responsable.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    MFP. Weight watchers is too complicated. MFP is simple life rules - eat less, move more, etc.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    This is myfitnesspal - you can expect some response bias - but MFP is better than WW in all aspects: Flexibility, transparency, price, independence.
  • dccalv2
    dccalv2 Posts: 28 Member
    I have struggled with that same question myself several times. I have done WW and had success. The new plan is more restrictive but it helps in weaning you off sugar. I think either will work it just takes sticking to it - something I struggle with. MFP is free and unless you take advantage of the WW meetings (for extra accountability), I would stick with MFP.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    They are, fundamentally, very similar programs. WW, though, is designed (to the best of my knowledge) around a points system. Points are assigned to foods and the idea is you can eat whatever you like, just within your daily allotment of points. If you exercise you get more points to eat as activity points. The foods with higher caloric values, normally, have more points assigned to them.

    MFP is designed around calories. And so you can eat whatever you like as long as it's within your daily calories is the thinking. And if you work out then you can eat more because you've burned more during the day, same as activity points.

    The difference is this: if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day but if you teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime. WW is giving you a fish, MFP is teaching you to fish. If you have someone telling you exactly what to do and holding your hand then you're going to fail eventually unless you plan to use WW for the rest of your life. It's like the companies like Body by Vi . . . it's based on you using this product for the rest of your life. If you use MFP and figure out how to eat for yourself and substitute food A for food B or food T then you learn and you know what you're doing. If you use WW they give you pamphlets and brochures and basically tell you how to do it - there is very little thinking for yourself or growing.

    It definitely depends on your preference and what you want, WW can be helpful to get the ball rolling but long term there isn't much you do for yourself and they're taking basic principles of CICO and putting a points system spin on it. Also, I know they promote meetings/community but MFP has these message boards . . . these are our meetings and you stay in your PJs when you attend :)
  • canadagyrl
    canadagyrl Posts: 2 Member
    WW was good in teaching me all the wrong choices I was making in my eating patterns. Although I vote MFP!!! In the long run it is much easier to track and FREE always wins!
  • lannabelle
    lannabelle Posts: 85 Member
    I've done both and I decided to cancel my WW membership in early 2016 and stay with MFP. WW taught me how to make better food choices and gave me enough structure that I really could not fail as long as I followed the system. I made WW lifetime in 2006 and I've maintained that (give or take 10 lbs here and there) ever since. I find that ultimately tracking is key, whether you are doing WW or tracking via MFP.

    As to which is better... it really depends on where you are with your nutrition knowledge. WW provides a lot of help for people who need guidance and I would definitely recommend it to someone who is just starting out and feels overwhelmed. On the other hand, MFP is free and is excellent if you are diligent about tracking everything you eat, measuring portions accurately and conscious about selecting food from the database that has accurate nutrition information.
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
    I had a very successful run with WW back when they first debuted PointsPlus. I loved how easy it was to track my food and I lost about 60lbs doing it, over the course of about a year. When they switched some things over and they did Simply Filling, I tried that. Gained 12lbs. Then they switched to SmartPoints, and it's terrible. Little things I used to enjoy as a light snack suddenly ate up about a fourth of my daily points. As a vegan, a lot of the food items I rely upon to provide me with protein, were horrendously high in points and I was starving.

    I love that MFP allows me to eat flexibly, adjust things as I go if I see my progress isn't going as quickly as I'd like, and that it is free. The mobile app also works way better than the WW one ever did.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories