Changing from Weight watchers to MFP

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deb19692004
deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I have been on WW for 6 months and loosing weight steady but because the the expense I have quit WW and joined MFP. I don't know how many calories I was on the WW as it is the point system but I have put my numbers into mfp and it is giving me 1550 cals to lose 1 pound a week. This is my first week with MFP and I have gained 4 lbs!!! Anyone else changed from WW and did you see a gain the first week?

I am writing this post for my sister (who has just joined us but doesn't know her way around the site yet)

Replies

  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
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    How does your sister track her food intake? Does she weigh her food? Because food labels often underestimate calories, and it's very easy to be eating more than one thinks. Also it could also be a scale issue/ hormonal weight gain tom etc Good luck!
  • deb19692004
    deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
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    Hi, her and I are on MFP together now and yes she does weigh her food and she does track her food everyday. You are so right about underestimating calories from labels and on here with the database. The only big difference she has made from the change is that she isn't eating as much fruit as she was with WW as it was a "free" on their plan.
  • deb19692004
    deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
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    I don't know her carb intake because of the point plus system. She has been trying to stay close to her macro's but I have notice her going over in the sodium. I know she has not ate that many extra calories but she is just upset to see the scales go up. I have never done WW only have used this site so I couldn't help her about her weight gain :( WW didn't really worry about sodium because she was and is eating their frozen meals. (but still lost with WW even eating the frozen meals).
  • deb19692004
    deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
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    Do you think that her calories at set to high? She is 43 years old weight is 236 and 4"10. We set her activity at secondary but she walks apx 5500 steps a day (fitbit charge 2) and she hasn't been eating any of her activity burned calories back. She started out on 1200 but was starving so used a external (scooby) calculator and got 1569 calories a day.
  • kmahly
    kmahly Posts: 39 Member
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    Just recommend some patience and faith. ;)

    My experience with WW 5 years ago was chronically undereating and high sodium from too many processed snacks, bars and such.

    I would also recommend measuring or weighing food if in a few weeks there is still no change.
  • deb19692004
    deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
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    Thank you so much Kmahly I believe you are right about the undereating and sodium!!

    Good idea Fitmom I will have her do that and see what numbers we come up with!! Thanks for you help :smiley:
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    edited April 2017
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    deb19692004 wrote: »
    Hi everyone, I have been on WW for 6 months and loosing weight steady but because the the expense I have quit WW and joined MFP. I don't know how many calories I was on the WW as it is the point system but I have put my numbers into mfp and it is giving me 1550 cals to lose 1 pound a week. This is my first week with MFP and I have gained 4 lbs!!! Anyone else changed from WW and did you see a gain the first week?

    I am writing this post for my sister (who has just joined us but doesn't know her way around the site yet)

    It's impossible to gain 4 pounds of fat in a week while eating 1550 calories per day. Possible explanations for a temporary water weight gain:
    1. Menstrual cycle - many women see a temporary increase at ovulation or premenstrually. I weighed daily for a year, noticed these trends, and stopped fussing about them.
    2. New exercise program - it is common to retain water when starting a new exercise program. I myself gained 7 pounds when I started lifting weights again.

    Issues that can cause weighing discrepancies:
    1. New scale
    2. Scale needs new batteries
    3. Weighing yourself under different conditions - different time of day, state of dress, floor surface, etc.
  • rolenthegreat
    rolenthegreat Posts: 78 Member
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    Are you weighting every day or just once per week? Also have you all been working out more lately? I weight a 2-3 pounds heavier a couple days after hitting the gym really hard. Your muscles can retain extra water when they are repairing themselves.
  • deb19692004
    deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
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    She hasn't start a new exercise program walks apx 5500 steps a day (fitbit). Yes she is weighing herself everyday and watching the scales go up but our weigh in day that we record is Wednesdays. She doesn't think it is TOM but hitting the age where TOM is all over the place so hard to tell that one. So you are saying the same as I told her that it is impossible to gain 4 pounds of fat in a week eating 1550 calories so she just needs to wait a couple weeks and see what happens. I think she needed someone other than me to say this to help her understand. Thanks so much for all the responses :smiley:
  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
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    deb19692004 wrote: »
    Do you think that her calories at set to high? She is 43 years old weight is 236 and 4"10. We set her activity at secondary but she walks apx 5500 steps a day (fitbit charge 2) and she hasn't been eating any of her activity burned calories back. She started out on 1200 but was starving so used a external (scooby) calculator and got 1569 calories a day.
    Yes, walking 5500 steps would still have her sedentary. on MFP go to the goal section enter her height information and see what information shows up if she wanted to lose 0.5 pounds a week. Let us know how it goes!
  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
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    If she still hasn't lost any in another couple of weeks, she could drop 100 calories and see where that gets her. I find that any time I change anything (diet, exercise level, etc), I hold on to a few extra pounds... then when life is "normal", those pounds woosh off.

    I've done WW before. I found that I often had a steady "down" trend when I did it (less with smart points, but whatever). Coming to MFP... I have a lot more ups and downs. Likely because I'm more likely the eat different things on MFP from day to day, whereas I would often eat exactly the same thing on WW every day.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,575 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Katiebear_81 wrote: »
    If she still hasn't lost any in another couple of weeks, she could drop 100 calories and see where that gets her. I find that any time I change anything (diet, exercise level, etc), I hold on to a few extra pounds... then when life is "normal", those pounds woosh off.

    I've done WW before. I found that I often had a steady "down" trend when I did it (less with smart points, but whatever). Coming to MFP... I have a lot more ups and downs. Likely because I'm more likely the eat different things on MFP from day to day, whereas I would often eat exactly the same thing on WW every day.

    Interesting. When I did WW I actually ate a much greater variety of things than I do while trying to lose on MFP. I think the points logging thing was much simpler with WW maybe. Or maybe I've just *matured* enough to be comfortable with just the few normal things that I eat. :)
  • bethanyka
    bethanyka Posts: 159 Member
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    I was on WW (probably back in 2000). I loved tracking my food so it worked for me. They had a calculation where you could figure out the number of points in something- obviously you needed to know the calories in it. So I got the calorie guide book (this was before info was so easily accessible), carried it everywhere, looked up everything. Eventually I would just track the calories and write it down in a memo book. I found it almost exactly the same, still worked when I stayed within points/calories and didn't work when I didn't. WW has changed a bit but I think the basic concepts of WW are the same as MFP -- MFP is just easier and free.
  • mlsh1969
    mlsh1969 Posts: 138 Member
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    xchocolategirl wrote: »
    How does your sister track her food intake? Does she weigh her food? Because food labels often underestimate calories, and it's very easy to be eating more than one thinks. Also it could also be a scale issue/ hormonal weight gain tom etc Good luck!

    This is very true
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    Interesting I had the opposite effect. When I switch to calorie counting I get a huge loss then stabilize and lose slower. As soon as I go back to Points I get a huge gain. I ended up eating over my calories to fill my Points.

    How does she weigh her food? I know WW allows for cups and ounces to get SP values, but to get the most accurate calorie counts weighing in grams on a food scale is best. Is she using one? If not, it's a helpful tool, and once the calorie count is more accurate things should improve.
  • kanikal1
    kanikal1 Posts: 5 Member
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    Yes,that happened with me. With their new program,sugar has a higher point value,so naturally i was consuming less sugars. Once I got off,I added some stuff back and gained. It stabilize after a few weeks.
  • deb19692004
    deb19692004 Posts: 34 Member
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    Thank you so much Kanikal1 :) I was really hoping that was the case!!

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