Weight Watchers vs Calorie Counting?

I too have joined Weight Watchers recently but I did it so I can have access to the online recipes. By having the recipes I can get inspiration and more ideas on the types of things I can eat to get more variety in my diet (need to put it into practice now). The whole 'free food' just doesn't work for me and the app drove me nuts. For me WW doesn't work well but MFP does, that said we are all different and need to find what works for us. I think the closer you get to goal the more challenging WW is likely to be because all food will have a calorific value and 'free' won't take account of that

xjessicaxrx wrote: »

Thanks everyone A bit more behind my way of thinking... The reason I chose WW over Slimming world is because I feel they are more realistic with the Zero point methodology (for fruit and veg) as oppose to SW where fruit, veg, potato, pasta, rice, meat, fish etc. are ALL "free" foods which seems ridiculous and very misleading to me. I am under no illusions about what I am trying, I just feel like it will make me choose more wisely. For example; Eating a banana instead of a cereal bar- even though they have the same amount of calories, the banana is more filling. Also eating more vegetables with my meals instead of the usual pasta / rice / potatoes which in turn will be more filling and nutritious for less calories (if that makes any sense?).

You'll have to figure out what works best for you as an individual. For example, *for me* if the calories were equal, I'd definitely choose the cereal bar over the banana because that would be more satiating to me.

I used MFP successfully to lose 45 lbs, but gained some of that back after a surgery. I was having trouble getting back in the swing so I signed up for WW thinking that if I was actually paying for it, I would stick to it.

I lost about 5 lbs the first week on weight watchers, but then gained it all back, plus 3 more pounds the following three weeks. I stayed in my daily points and used only about 3 weekly points a week, never touching my 100+ exercise calories a week.

I was eating way more fruits and vegetables than I was before, heck yeah, free points! But when I finally decided to plug my calories into MFP along with WW, I found that I was eating a ton of calories still!

Plus, the point system did not sit well with me. My cereal bar was about 7 pts. and was 130 calories. A banana was 0 points and about 100 calories. That just did not compute with me, and it was giving me a bad relationship with food and making me miserable.

Finally, because I ate SO much fruit, I had a not so pleasant experience at work. Thankfully I had a dress with tights on, but leaving work naked from the waist down and having to profusely apologize to the custodian repeatedly still gives me nightmares!

My mother did fantastic on weight watchers. It was convenient and the group meetings and friends she did it with were very motivating. But in the end, it got expensive when it was no longer a work perk for her. If she were to try something to lose weight again, i'd probably suggest calorie counting on MFP over weight watchers again.

I lost 55# on WW last year...started May 1, 2016, hit goal August 20, made lifetime October 1. I've kept it all off.

I think WW is great for weight loss, not so great for weight maintenance, imo, particularly if you're very active. I found it difficult to adjust my points to meet my needs. I switched to MFP on March 1, 2017 so I could monitor my macros & I like it much better. I like working with calories & macros because they're the units used in all nutritional information charts. I can look at them & know what I need to know without converting through some strange smart point algorithm.

I still weigh in weekly & attend meetings for accountability & socializing (free at Lifetime), but I don't track with smart points or the WW app anymore.

My 68 year old mother has lost almost 50# in the last year on WW & she loves it. She tried MFP & didn't like calorie counting. Just gotta find what works best for you.

I spent a year attending WW meetings. I liked having the face-to-face accountability of attending a group in person weekly.

Except I absolutely HATE the Weight Watchers points system. Through double tracking both on the WW app and here on MFP, most of the time if I stuck to my WW points I would only be eating about 1000 calories a day. If I ate my WW points I would be under eating and starving hungry.

Also I find tracking the points to be overly complicated and less accurate. The formula to calculate the points is much more complicated than just tracking calories here.

So I continued to attend WW meetings just for the accountability. And reached my goal weight counting calories here. In that year I was the only person in my group to actually get to goal. Which spoke volumes to me about how useless the points program is. No one in my meeting who actually followed their Points program actually had much success. Most people gave up after a few week - probably because they were either under eating and starving, or not losing weight because they overate the "free" fruit.

I did WW (online) to lose 20 lbs before we TTC. That was way back in 2007 so I know the system has changed since then. It worked well for me. After having twins, I used it again to lose some of the post-pregnancy weight. I plateaued after a while and ended up having success with another method. Points Plus didn't seem to be as effective for me for whatever reason. I've never tried their current system but I know people who have had success with each version of their program. I think it's definitely worth a shot if the Points idea appeals to you. Some people find the IRL meetings great for accountability.

My wife had a baby 2 months ago and wanted to do WW to have the accountability. A 'date' with the scale every Saturday morning is a powerful motivator. I'm doing it with her for support. Recently I've been logging in WW instead of MFP. I hate double tracking and wish they would share, but I understand why WW only wants to accept step data from FitBit instead of food.

Points are just something they made up, but I'm a big fan of it. At the end of the day, you will gain or lose weight based on calories in vs calories out. But points represent calories, or more importantly, the macro nutrient makeup of food. In WW, not all calories are equal (something that is very touch on MFP). But the idea is teaching you how to successfully make trade offs. A 12 oz coke has 140 calories but that's 9 points on WW. Meanwhile, 4 oz raw chicken breast is 134 calories but only 2 points on WW. While these have the same calories, you will have to cut back on soda much more quickly on WW than counting calories. Even if your body sees 140 calories as the same. I think that's good because the chicken will keep you full longer and beyond weight loss, I'd argue it's a 'healthier' choice (I understand healthy is a bad word on MFP). Fruit and veggies are 'free' because they NEVER want you feeling bad about choosing fruit or veggies.

I double entered today and my 40 points in WW appears to be about 1500 calories. Adding in some fruit and veggies, that's 1800-2000 which is around where MFP tells me to be. Plus some activity points / calories and it's all more or less the same. WW has a theory about the kinds of foods you should eat during the day to be full and lose weight. The points are designed to shift your behavior to get you making 'healthier' choices that are sustainable long-term. I don't see that as a crutch at all, at least not for people who really don't understand nutrition and need some help learning about how to maximize use of the calories they need to stick with to lose weight.

My mother lost about 30 lbs using WW back in 2012. Came back to it last year, but since they made all fruits and veggies "free" she didn't lose like before. Came here and has lost weight. She got me to join here seeing her success.

DrifterBear wrote: »

My wife had a baby 2 months ago and wanted to do WW to have the accountability. A 'date' with the scale every Saturday morning is a powerful motivator. I'm doing it with her for support. Recently I've been logging in WW instead of MFP. I hate double tracking and wish they would share, but I understand why WW only wants to accept step data from FitBit instead of food.

Points are just something they made up, but I'm a big fan of it. At the end of the day, you will gain or lose weight based on calories in vs calories out. But points represent calories, or more importantly, the macro nutrient makeup of food. In WW, not all calories are equal (something that is very touch on MFP). But the idea is teaching you how to successfully make trade offs. A 12 oz coke has 140 calories but that's 9 points on WW. Meanwhile, 4 oz raw chicken breast is 134 calories but only 2 points on WW. While these have the same calories, you will have to cut back on soda much more quickly on WW than counting calories. Even if your body sees 140 calories as the same. I think that's good because the chicken will keep you full longer and beyond weight loss, I'd argue it's a 'healthier' choice (I understand healthy is a bad word on MFP). Fruit and veggies are 'free' because they NEVER want you feeling bad about choosing fruit or veggies.

I double entered today and my 40 points in WW appears to be about 1500 calories. Adding in some fruit and veggies, that's 1800-2000 which is around where MFP tells me to be. Plus some activity points / calories and it's all more or less the same. WW has a theory about the kinds of foods you should eat during the day to be full and lose weight. The points are designed to shift your behavior to get you making 'healthier' choices that are sustainable long-term. I don't see that as a crutch at all, at least not for people who really don't understand nutrition and need some help learning about how to maximize use of the calories they need to stick with to lose weight.

And this proves that different people see things differently.

Because what you describe as a benefit of weight watchers (being forced to make healthier trade offs because of how the points system is valued) IS the main benefit of MFP!

If you want to stick to your calories you will soon be substituting more sustainable choices for other more fleeting ones.

As to never discouraging people from eating fruits and vegetables? I have friends on MFP who eat more than 1600g of fruits and vegetables a day. You sure these should be free for them when trying to achieve a caloric deficit?

I lost 100 lbs on WW about 10 years ago. I did gain it back, but in fairness to WW, that was because I went back to my old, bad, habits of overeating and eating junk instead of paying attention to my diet and exercise. I think it IS a good program and yes, it does work as well as calorie counting does.