New Weight Watchers Freestyle or Myfitnesspal?
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angelb1983
Posts: 160 Member
I keep bouncing back and forth on programs. I have lost over 20 pounds but sometimes feel deprived on weight watchers. I have a fitbit and I always struggle wondering how much to eat. I need to give it a chance when set to sedentary for it to tell me how much I burn. It is just so scary trusting a program. What has worked for you all? Obviously if you are here, maybe its MFP for you. Do you eat your fitbit adjustment?
Has anyone else tried the new weight watchers? Whats your opinions? I just feel so stuck....even though Im losing, it is taking forever because I seem to have a week on and a week off because when I don't allow myself to eat certain foods I end up just binging.
I think starting tomorrow I will set MFP to sedentary and eat exercise calories and see if that actually works. Sometimes Im skeptical that I can eat that amount and still lose because sometimes it is 2000+ calories when I am very active.
Has anyone else tried the new weight watchers? Whats your opinions? I just feel so stuck....even though Im losing, it is taking forever because I seem to have a week on and a week off because when I don't allow myself to eat certain foods I end up just binging.
I think starting tomorrow I will set MFP to sedentary and eat exercise calories and see if that actually works. Sometimes Im skeptical that I can eat that amount and still lose because sometimes it is 2000+ calories when I am very active.
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Replies
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Using My Fitness Pal and tracking my calorie intake has worked best for me to manage my weight. I have tried various diet plans over 15 years and just counting calories is easiest and most sustainable for me. It is also free and calories do not change every couple of years.
I do not have a fitbit. If I log exercise I eat some of my exercise calories.
I have never tried weight watchers.10 -
WW's new zero point foods makes little sense no matter which way I look at it. I can't get behind any program that supports an idea like that. Chicken/Veggies/Fruits have calories, and they need to be factored in.
At the end of the day, WW is a corporation that wants to keep you paying as long as possible. The new zero point foods seem to aim to do just that, hidden calories to slow your weight loss.
MFP is free and many people have success here. Weight loss is simple math, count your calories, eat the right amount, and you'll lose weight. Seems like an easy choice.28 -
As for fitbit:
I used a fitbit one for a long time and lost 40 lbs using the estimates it gave me and tracking as accurately as I could on MFP. The one is a step based tracker, and did not have the 24/7 hr monitor feature. When I tried a garmin watch with that feature it gave me absurdly high calorie burns, which prompted me to do some digging. My readings indicates devices monitoring hr 24/7 from various brands all then to estimate high. So I would say if your fitbit estimates off steps alone you can probably trust it, if not I would bet it is giving you pretty high numbers. Ultimately, you have to just make a plan, stick to it for 4-6 weeks, track your progress, and adjust from there. It is impossible to calculate the exact numbers you consume or burn, you just have to do the best you can.it is taking forever because I seem to have a week on and a week off because when I don't allow myself to eat certain foods I end up just binging.
alot of people have success finding a way to fit treats into their calorie every day instead of trying to restrict. maybe that is something you should try too?
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I hear you. I lost 100 pounds with WW and even worked as a leader for almost 2 years. I am not as skeptical as those who say that WW just makes changes so they can get your $$. They truly are science-based, and they are always doing research to find out what works the best for most people to lose weight. That being said, I have a sweet tooth, and Smart Points was just too restrictive. Freestyle isn’t any better for me because the treats still cost too many points. I learned how to make healthier choices on WW (e.g., eat more fish, eat the grapes and string cheese instead of the pretzels), so I feel confident just tracking calories with MFP. I also wear a Fitbit. I set MFP to sedentary and I use most of my exercise calories but not all. It seems to work. But it is sometimes hard to trust it! Good luck!12
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WW vs. MFP is just about (1) does it help you sustain a deficit long enough to lose the weight you want to lose, and (2) does it put you in a good position to maintain that weight loss for the rest of your life? I have found that using MFP has helped me learn about portions, nutrition, and balance, all things that I hope will help me maintain my loss. I find starting from a strict CI/CO standpoint really simplified things for me and made me feel like I was in control of my body and my weight. That doesn't mean that WW doesn't work, I'm sure it does for many people. But can you see yourself doing WW for the rest of your life? If not, what's the plan once you've lost weight? If avoiding certain foods is leading to binges, then it sounds like the wrong strategy for you, no matter which program you use.7
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I lost weight on the old Weight Watchers program, Points Plus. I quit Weight Watchers when the original Smart Points program rolled out, and started counting calories here on My Fitness pal, and lost another 25 pounds. I stopped trackign awhile back and regained almost 20 pounds, so I needed to do something to shake things up. I have to admit I was intrigued by the new Weight Wathcers Freestyle program, so i signed up, but also double tracked here.
I followed Freestyle for 4 days before I decided it wasn't for me.
Although Freestyle fixes some of the problems with Smart Points, there are still inherent problems in the program. The diet skews very heavily to high protein/low fat, and penalizes even the good carbs. You don't meaure or track the zero point foods, which include fruit, lean proteins like chicken and fish, and legumes like lentils and chickpeas. that would give some people license to seriously overeat.
As for my experience...I under-ate. No, really. I chose the same foods I'd eat if I were tracking calories, foods that are healthy and balanced. I exceeded my daily "points" allowance every day -- in fact, I exhausted my weekly points allowance halfway into the week -- but there were two days where my calorie intake was under 1200 calories. That scared me.
so here I am, back to counting calories.16 -
I've had great success here with MFP. My sister-in-law claims to have lost weight on the different Weight Watchers programs, but gains it back then loses then gains. This new system where there are zero points for food that obviously has calories has resulted in a twenty pound gain for her.4
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I've been stagnant for a long time now and have been trying the WW freestyle program for the last month and i have dropped 6.5 pounds. I don't feel deprived at all. Easiest program I've done to date. Hoping it continues but I have been struggling for a long time and this is definitely working for me. Ultimately I like not living around a calorie count - healthy eating seems to be the trick for me. For the record I don't understand the under eating comments. There are "free" fruits, veggies and proteins. The new program hits sugar hard and leaves room for regular carbs. I'm rolling over points but I'm eating more than i did when i was calorie counting because the quality of what I am eating is better. Carbs like squash, carrot, veggies in general are all free. I have 27 points a day and WW bread is 1 pt a slice, potato 1 cup is 6. Lots of room to eat healthy.3
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I'm feeling like a WW refugee over here (not to make light of actual refugees!). They are very strongly opinionated about their program over there! I did well on SmartPoints but Freestyle has been terrible for me. It was a really hard choice originally for me between MFP and WW and I just leaned slightly to WW. So now it's back to MFP! I like tracking everything I eat. On WW there were days where I'd wind up consuming under 1200 calories or eat boat loads of "free" food and still feel starved. I just like knowing my numbers, I feel like I can ignore that hunger feeling much easier if I know I've had my "fair share" of food for the day!2
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I've been doing WW Freestyle for a few weeks, and it has been working great. However this week I seem to be hungrier, even with the extra protein. I have rolled over points a couple days, and used 28/35 of my weeklies. I checked my calories on MFP today, and some days this week I was only getting 850 - 900 calories! Way too low!! I did have a couple days of 1700 & 1300, but my overall week average is 1150. Still too low given that I work out 3x/week. I won't be rolling over points anymore and will eat all my weeklies. It will take time to get adjusted, I guess. I did awesome on Smart Points, losing 55 pounds in 2016 and have been at goal for a year. Just working now towards my personal goal weight.3
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I've been doing WW Freestyle for a few weeks, and it has been working great. However this week I seem to be hungrier, even with the extra protein. I have rolled over points a couple days, and used 28/35 of my weeklies. I checked my calories on MFP today, and some days this week I was only getting 850 - 900 calories! Way too low!! I did have a couple days of 1700 & 1300, but my overall week average is 1150. Still too low given that I work out 3x/week. I won't be rolling over points anymore and will eat all my weeklies. It will take time to get adjusted, I guess. I did awesome on Smart Points, losing 55 pounds in 2016 and have been at goal for a year. Just working now towards my personal goal weight.
I've noticed I'm hungrier this week too even though my calories are the same. Plus I'm getting bored with food choices. I did horribly on Smart Points, but lost 7 lbs on Freestyle so far.0 -
I hear you. I lost 100 pounds with WW and even worked as a leader for almost 2 years. I am not as skeptical as those who say that WW just makes changes so they can get your $$. They truly are science-based, and they are always doing research to find out what works the best for most people to lose weight. That being said, I have a sweet tooth, and Smart Points was just too restrictive. Freestyle isn’t any better for me because the treats still cost too many points. I learned how to make healthier choices on WW (e.g., eat more fish, eat the grapes and string cheese instead of the pretzels), so I feel confident just tracking calories with MFP. I also wear a Fitbit. I set MFP to sedentary and I use most of my exercise calories but not all. It seems to work. But it is sometimes hard to trust it! Good luck!
Yes this! WW, 20 years ago, had a terrific program. They have changed it so many times since then, today's program barely resembles that one. Although nothing is off limits in WW, it now really steers low carb. At one time only veggies were free. Fruit had a point value but it was generally very low. At some point, they decided to make fruit free and to make it possible to lose weight eating as much fruit as you want, they made all carbs and sweets very high. I found the punishing. Even a very healthy sandwich became very "expensive because of the bread, even if it was a very good whole grain bread. Very small sweet treats became expensive points-wise too. I don't like to feel like I am off program. It is also $40 + per month.
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4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »As for fitbit:
I used a fitbit one for a long time and lost 40 lbs using the estimates it gave me and tracking as accurately as I could on MFP. The one is a step based tracker, and did not have the 24/7 hr monitor feature. When I tried a garmin watch with that feature it gave me absurdly high calorie burns, which prompted me to do some digging. My readings indicates devices monitoring hr 24/7 from various brands all then to estimate high. So I would say if your fitbit estimates off steps alone you can probably trust it, if not I would bet it is giving you pretty high numbers. Ultimately, you have to just make a plan, stick to it for 4-6 weeks, track your progress, and adjust from there. It is impossible to calculate the exact numbers you consume or burn, you just have to do the best you can.it is taking forever because I seem to have a week on and a week off because when I don't allow myself to eat certain foods I end up just binging.
alot of people have success finding a way to fit treats into their calorie every day instead of trying to restrict. maybe that is something you should try too?
OMG! Thank you for posting your thoughts on this. I used the fitbit one and lost all my extra weight eating fairly close to what it said I burned. When my "one" died and I upgraded to the charge with HR monitor....the calorie counts were much higher. At first I thought "yay! I can eat more?". Nope...using the counts from the new fitbit I gain.1 -
I'd go for the free option. Lots of people lose weight on here without paying one penny. I lost over 50 pounds on here just logging my calories. I read on here to not eat back all of my exercise calories. I find that when I do, I gain or don't lose. If my elliptical says I burned 600 calories, I put in 400.2
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amyniceneasy wrote: »4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »As for fitbit:
I used a fitbit one for a long time and lost 40 lbs using the estimates it gave me and tracking as accurately as I could on MFP. The one is a step based tracker, and did not have the 24/7 hr monitor feature. When I tried a garmin watch with that feature it gave me absurdly high calorie burns, which prompted me to do some digging. My readings indicates devices monitoring hr 24/7 from various brands all then to estimate high. So I would say if your fitbit estimates off steps alone you can probably trust it, if not I would bet it is giving you pretty high numbers. Ultimately, you have to just make a plan, stick to it for 4-6 weeks, track your progress, and adjust from there. It is impossible to calculate the exact numbers you consume or burn, you just have to do the best you can.it is taking forever because I seem to have a week on and a week off because when I don't allow myself to eat certain foods I end up just binging.
alot of people have success finding a way to fit treats into their calorie every day instead of trying to restrict. maybe that is something you should try too?
OMG! Thank you for posting your thoughts on this. I used the fitbit one and lost all my extra weight eating fairly close to what it said I burned. When my "one" died and I upgraded to the charge with HR monitor....the calorie counts were much higher. At first I thought "yay! I can eat more?". Nope...using the counts from the new fitbit I gain.
I have been wearing a Fitbit One for 4 years now, and have also been very happy with it and gaining/losing/maintaining as expected using it. It isn't as flashy as the others, but it needs more recognition for sure!2 -
They advertise 200+ 0 point foods. What foods are they? Is it just Veggies and Fruit? I thought 200+ 0 point foods is a lot to chose from.0
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amyniceneasy wrote: »4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »As for fitbit:
I used a fitbit one for a long time and lost 40 lbs using the estimates it gave me and tracking as accurately as I could on MFP. The one is a step based tracker, and did not have the 24/7 hr monitor feature. When I tried a garmin watch with that feature it gave me absurdly high calorie burns, which prompted me to do some digging. My readings indicates devices monitoring hr 24/7 from various brands all then to estimate high. So I would say if your fitbit estimates off steps alone you can probably trust it, if not I would bet it is giving you pretty high numbers. Ultimately, you have to just make a plan, stick to it for 4-6 weeks, track your progress, and adjust from there. It is impossible to calculate the exact numbers you consume or burn, you just have to do the best you can.it is taking forever because I seem to have a week on and a week off because when I don't allow myself to eat certain foods I end up just binging.
alot of people have success finding a way to fit treats into their calorie every day instead of trying to restrict. maybe that is something you should try too?
OMG! Thank you for posting your thoughts on this. I used the fitbit one and lost all my extra weight eating fairly close to what it said I burned. When my "one" died and I upgraded to the charge with HR monitor....the calorie counts were much higher. At first I thought "yay! I can eat more?". Nope...using the counts from the new fitbit I gain.
I have been wearing a Fitbit One for 4 years now, and have also been very happy with it and gaining/losing/maintaining as expected using it. It isn't as flashy as the others, but it needs more recognition for sure!
Don’t lose it - Fitbit has discontinued them - I am so mad! I lost 2 of them in 2016 and luckily managed to hang on to my latest one but if it goes I will be lost. I dress up for work and don’t want to wear a fitness watch during the week. I switch to my Blaze for workouts and on the weekends and the calorie sync is pretty spot on!3 -
I’m sticking with MFP now as it seems the Freestyle program for WW seems a little off with making some foods 0 points. Smartpoints was too restrictive and Points Plus didn’t work as well because I didn’t have much weight to lose. MFP is also free which works with me being on a student budget as I’m in grad school.
I’m more of a fan of the Momentum plan as everything had Points and I was really good at it.
Plus, the online community here is fun to discuss things with.2 -
They advertise 200+ 0 point foods. What foods are they? Is it just Veggies and Fruit? I thought 200+ 0 point foods is a lot to chose from.
Beans, eggs, chicken (white meat), turkey (white meat), all fish, plain non fat greek yogurt, fruits, corn, peas... lots of stuff on the 0 points list
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