Anyone here doing Weight Watchers and MFP?

skelterhelter wrote: »

londoneye wrote: »

I mix Weight Watchers, Atkins, low fat and MFP, so I don't count the calories of fruits, veggies, bacon, sausages, eggs, steak, pasta or bread. I find it a lot more 'freeing', too

Thanks for your 'helpful' advice. If you feel the need to be snarky, don't even reply.

You asked for it.

I do agree with the others that calories are the most important thing and ideally, you should count the calories in everything you eat because they all add up.

However, if you want to try giving yourself some foods you don't weigh/count, I would suggest doing it with vegetables (except avocado and potatoes) but still counting your fruit. If you have a banana, an apple and a glass of fruit juice that can easily be 300 calories. Do that every day gor a week and you have consumed 2100 calories more than you thought. That can reduce your weight loss by more than 1/2lb per week.

Depending on the size of your deficit (which in turn depends on your current weight and activity level, as well as how many calories you eat in other foods) you might get away with not weighing and logging veggies. Be aware that as you get closer to goal weight that might become more difficult though.

About 10 years ago I lost almost 50 pounds using WW's Core program. It sounds an awful lot like this Freestyle program. I didn't track anything because I'm not all that disciplined a person. I've kept all the weight off except for about 12 pounds in the last year due to extreme stress and emotional eating from losing both of my parents last year. Good luck to you.

I think you’re smart to be paying attention to which method feels more freeing for you, if that feeling makes calorie counting more sustainable for you long term. People often talk about losing weight in a way that you can sustain forever. If meticulously counting calories for the rest of your life (or even the rest of this year) makes weight loss more arduous than it needs to be for you, then I say congrats to you for noting that about yourself and experimenting to find a way that’s better for you.

A key point to make this successful though is for the free foods not to erase a consequential part of your deficit. So if you’re set to lose 2 pounds a week, for example, that’s a 1,000 calorie deficit a day. If you adhere to that calorie limit for what you do count, based on your own experience and eating habits, do you think you’ll consume more than 500 calories a day in your chosen free foods? That level would drop you to a 1 pound a week pace. Would the slower pace be worth it for you? This is just one hypothetical way it could play out though. You might eat more or less in the free foods, or drop your base calories lower in reaction to increased free food consumption. No serious harm imo in testing it out and then adjusting.

If I were doing your experiment, I’d probably limit fruit to 2 servings a day (bc its calories can so easily add up) and would be sure to count any add ons like oil or butter (which sounds like you would do).

Good luck!

Like others have said, it's nice to find things that feel good or are freeing to you while you find the right balance of healthy lifestyle, but at the same time it's good to live in reality.

Nothing is really free.

I've seen people both succeed and fail with WW, the thing is it's a little to fuzzy for some people so that is why success is hit or miss. It's hard to tell if you are on a calorie deficit or not.

The science behind all of the diets that actually work is always based on calories. It is the scientific measurement of food energy, everything else is merely making it look fuzzy, or feel good, or freeing.

Another way to approach this (and cheaper than a WW membership) is to get a nice journal and start writing down your favorite meals and all the values in it. Then make some nice tabs and use it to make yourself some meal plans. Have meal plans for all of your favorite traveling, road trips, at home, typical parties, holidays, etc. With a little bit of creative work you have something nice you get to keep for life, and it's a legacy that will stick around, a part of your life - your healthy lifestyle.

No matter how anyone dresses it up. Calories are the science. Macros are the substrates that make up calories. One gram of protein equals 4 calories. One gram of fat equals 9 calories. One gram of protein equals 4 calories. One gram of alcohol equals 7 calories. Nothing changes that. The law of thermodynamics won't ever change. Calories are the energy currency your body uses and nothing is free.

I hope this helps clear that up.

sgreer29 wrote: »

Ww logic is based on the fact that different foods are metabolized differently. Items higher in fats and processed sugars are more likely to be converted to fat whereas lean protein (known for building muscle) and veggies/fruits is metabolized mostly into components that provide nutrients to your muscles and basic life functioning components. Very little of those is stored as fat. However, an excess of anything beyond what calories you burn each day, no matter what type of nutrients are in it, will still be stored as fat. So I do both WW and MFP. I stop eating at whatever I hit first my calorie goal, or my points limit. Which one I hit first depends highly on how much sugar I eat.

Can you cite these facts? I'm not saying you're wrong, but ...ok, fine...I'm saying you're wrong on some of your points.

Members have been complaining about the concept of free foods ever since the point free foods concept was first introduced.

Weight Watchers just keeps doubling down, not listening to those happier with earlier programs where all food was counted and logged.

I was one of v those many members who sent letters to weight watchers. I lost a large amount of weight before the stupid free point programs came about.

Honestly, one is better off counting calories and logging them. And logging excercise also is helpful. MFP is free to use, and is in your face clear (points for food takes away from understanding how much you are eating).

Point system is there to get and keep active members. It is about money for ww.

londoneye wrote: »

I mix Weight Watchers, Atkins, low fat and MFP, so I don't count the calories of fruits, veggies, bacon, sausages, eggs, steak, pasta or bread. I find it a lot more 'freeing', too

What do you count? Of course it's "freeing", you don't count like 2/3 of all foods.

I've never been in WW but have a number of friends who have tried it over the years with very little success. There was a time when I would skip logging foods or small snacks, a piece fun-size candy here with the thought process of "how big of a difference could it make?". That was until I felt like I was spinning my wheels not losing, took a hard look at my logging and actually logged all of those omissions; I found I was missing a few hundred calories per day just being lazy and logging very sporadically Friday-Sunday. Tightening both of these up made a huge difference. Essentially it took that demonstrative exercise to full realize that 'all calories count so I should count every calorie.'