THIS is better then weight watchers

amyjthomas
amyjthomas Posts: 35
edited September 30 in Introduce Yourself
I stopped using my fitness pal and tried weight watchers to see if the weight would come off any faster. Well, it was a month wasted. In 4 weeks, I barely lost 5.4 lb. I'm talking gym 5x a week for 45 min -to an hr on elliptical and stair stepper, measuring all my food and eating all my daily allowed points. Come to find out, my 34 daily points equal out to about 1700 calories a day plus, with the new point plus program fruits and veggies are free so I was consuming over 1700 calories. I am back on track with My fitness pal hoping that a 1200 calories a day, high protein, low sodium and sugar diet will work. I am having troubles figuring out how much sugar I should consume in a day. If any one can help, I would greatly appreciate it. Good luck to all. Looking to help encourage others and they encourage me as we get healthier one day, one meal at time.

Replies

  • Alacey88
    Alacey88 Posts: 486 Member
    I'm currently doing WW and MFP. I just go to the meeting for support but follow the plan on MFP more then the plan on WW..... I just go with my mom as she likes WW just to keep in line with her weight.
  • mssweetjay
    mssweetjay Posts: 142
    There is nothing better than " home" !! welcome back and good luck!!
  • amymeenieminymo
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
    Good luck....however keep in mind, 5.4 pounds in 4 weeks is pretty healthy (1 pound a week). Shooting for more than that can really stall your weightloss. We didn't put it all on overnight, so it cannot come off overnight either :)
  • Becky1971
    Becky1971 Posts: 979 Member
    Thats why I quit WW the beginning of this year. I was just gaining with the new program. I had lost 40 with the old. After coming here I realized how rediculous it is for them to make fruits and vegies free. If anyone does okay with the program it's thats that are heavily overweight, and change their eating drastically. But when they get closer to goal, it's likely going to back fire.

    Mfp gives a suggestion for where your sugar should be, you can make that show up in your settings. Some people including me don't count fruit sugars, others including mFP count it all.
  • Laurayinz
    Laurayinz Posts: 930 Member
    The sugar allotment on MFP gets a lot of flack because it seems really low. A couple of pieces of fruit and breaf can put you over for the day. It's probably meant to indicate "additional" sugar, like from a donut or candy, but "naturally occurring" sugars get lumped into it, too. Probably the best way to find out is to do a general internet search on it.

    From answers.com:

    Answer
    12 teaspoons added sugar for a 2000 calorie per day diet


    No more than 40 grams per day for a 2000 calorie diet.
    Remember that the daily limit of 40 grams refers to refined/processed sugars only. There seems to be no limit on natural sugars, however. So, if it's fruits and sugar cane, for which, you're craving, sweet deal.


    Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_daily_recommended_intake_for_sugar#ixzz1TKGtUPTU
  • mnsmith83
    mnsmith83 Posts: 128
    Sugar is a tough one. I try to stay under 30g a day (which is the amount MFP "says" I can have, FDA guidelines I think), but one medium banana has 27g. If you stay away from refined, processed sugar, you should be ok as long as you stay under 50 or 60g. I saw a report a few weeks ago that says the average american consumes over 120g of sugar a day! YIKES! No wonder we're so moody! That's quite a blood sugar spike and drop!
  • becca0211
    becca0211 Posts: 250 Member
    I don't worry about the sugar that is coming from natural fruits and veggies. I try to look at the sugar in anything processed or baked. I don't know if this is good or bad, but I like fruit and cannot be worried about going over on the sugar because I am eating lots of it :smile:
  • Pynkklady
    Pynkklady Posts: 51 Member
    Welcome back! I follow the daily sugar intake that MFP provides me. My daily caloric intake is 1300 and I'm allowed 27 grams of sugar daily. I've done pretty well at staying under, although there have been a few times, I've gone over. :)
  • MissMarthaGrace
    MissMarthaGrace Posts: 227 Member
    I've done WW for about 3 years now and just recently got SO tired of "points". MFP came recommended to me by a couple friends from another site so I thought I'd give it a try and see how what I'd eat on a "good" day with WW would compare to my calorie intake on MFP. In the [near] week that I've been here - I've not had but one "good" day :ohwell: but am anxious to figure that all out soon. My prediction: what I thought was a GREAT day thru WW is going to be well over my allotted calories thru MFP. (And looking at your post was confirmation of that). Best of luck to you!
  • ornumc
    ornumc Posts: 23
    You can add me if you like.
  • ornumc
    ornumc Posts: 23
    Totally agree with you.
    I don't worry about the sugar that is coming from natural fruits and veggies. I try to look at the sugar in anything processed or baked. I don't know if this is good or bad, but I like fruit and cannot be worried about going over on the sugar because I am eating lots of it :smile:
  • evesacks
    evesacks Posts: 94 Member
    I just had a disagreement on a chat board with someone doing WW saying that a meringue nest was a good diet dessert as only 55 cals and 1 pro point. I was a bit :noway: because even when not dieting I wouldn't want to eat all those processed sugars.
  • amyjthomas
    amyjthomas Posts: 35
    How can a 55 calorie dessert be healthy?? I am more sure now that WW is wrong and MFP if the way to go. As my husband kept stressing to me a calorie is a calorie. He couldn't understand how fruits, that have calories and calories add up to pounds was free. It makes me sick that I wasted my money but more my time.
  • laurad8911
    laurad8911 Posts: 99
    eat your exercise cals
  • RobinV_Seattle
    RobinV_Seattle Posts: 191 Member
    To give WW some credit, it works well for some people. I lost my first 30+ pounds on it. It made me adjust my thinking about food, got me into the habit of tracking everything I eat and the amount of exercise I was doing.

    Where I didn't like it is that it's almost too simple. It really didn't give me guidelines on WHAT I should be eating. For instance, if I wanted to eat my 29 points in B&J Chunky Monkey, WW would say that was fine. I need more structure and MFP gives us that.
  • jenlikesfood
    jenlikesfood Posts: 27
    I've never done weight watchers but my husband has in the past and from what I remember, he didn't care for it too much. I have to say that I love the tools here on MFP. I love the ease of it and how it calculates things for me. The motivation from others is a huge plus, too.
  • boomboom011
    boomboom011 Posts: 1,459
    Good luck....however keep in mind, 5.4 pounds in 4 weeks is pretty healthy (1 pound a week). Shooting for more than that can really stall your weightloss. We didn't put it all on overnight, so it cannot come off overnight either :)

    This!
  • Strive2BLean
    Strive2BLean Posts: 300 Member
    I started Weight Watchers in April 2010 and lost 20 lbs but it took me a year. I started MFP in May 2011 and have lost 10 lbs in 10 weeks. I still go to weight Watchers for support aqnd cammeraderie but I don't count points. 1250 calories per day has given me a steady weight loss which I'm happy with. I also changed my eating plan to clean eating or as weight watchers calls it "power foods" only. I never knew how many calories are in 29 points plus but that was what I was consuming.
  • treehugginpam
    treehugginpam Posts: 1,129 Member
    I agree with the people who said that 5 1/2 pounds in a month isn't bad at all. I'm not sure how much you weigh but you might find 1200 calories to be too little for you. I originally set mine to 1400 and didn't eat my exercise calories but I was losing very slowly (if at all), then last week I bumped it up to 1580 and started eating most of my calories and BAM, I lost 4 pounds in 1 week! So you may have to play around with the amount of calories before you deceide on something.
  • tlarmentrout66
    tlarmentrout66 Posts: 9
    Thanks for posting this. I have been on weight watchers for 9 weeks and have been so discouraged.
  • kjpollard
    kjpollard Posts: 68
    I think a lot of depends on you! My mom has done well w/ WW. I tried it (successfully) b/f I got married 10 yrs ago, but now, the system seems ponderous. It's much easier for me to account for my calories and not go over it. I also LOVE the recipe/caloriecaculator as I don't eat much processed foods and it's hard sometimes to figure out calories when you cook from scratch.

    5.4 lbs in 5 wks is not bad! :happy: Hang in there and welcome back!
  • Goal4Good
    Goal4Good Posts: 115
    I'm a former WW too. I lost 28 pounds with the "old" program. Then the new program came along and I gained back a lot of it and was well on my way to gaining back ALL of it! So I kicked WW to the curb and joined MFP. I didn't do anything on WW for the last 2 years but yoyo. I've been on MFP for a month and have already lost 10 pounds!!! That calorie tracker was a BIG eye opener!!!
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