I tried Weight Watchers and just couldn’t stick with it. Anyone else?
BlessedMom70
Posts: 124 Member
I found it too restrictive. I know that it is supposedly the #1 weight loss diet in the country, but wow...how? A Luna bar is almost half of my daily points allowance. A piece of carrot cake? More than an entire day’s points plus half of my weekly points allowance. A trip to Dairy Queen? Forget it.
How do people stick to this program? I eat healthy foods, but I like my treats too. I do envy those that can do this program...maybe I just lack the willpower that they have (?).
Counting calories is so freeing. I can eat what I want as long as I stay within my calories budget. I just can’t see WW as a sustainable life long plan. I’m glad I cancelled my subscription. Calorie counting makes so much more sense to me.
How do people stick to this program? I eat healthy foods, but I like my treats too. I do envy those that can do this program...maybe I just lack the willpower that they have (?).
Counting calories is so freeing. I can eat what I want as long as I stay within my calories budget. I just can’t see WW as a sustainable life long plan. I’m glad I cancelled my subscription. Calorie counting makes so much more sense to me.
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Replies
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I JUST made a post about this as well! I loved it at first but found myself not wanting to track certain items, because my morning bowl of oatmeal with a tsp of brown sugar shouldn't be 1/3 of my daily points when it's so low calorie! Welcome back!3
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I JUST made a post about this as well! I loved it at first but found myself not wanting to track certain items, because my morning bowl of oatmeal with a tsp of brown sugar shouldn't be 1/3 of my daily points when it's so low calorie! Welcome back!
...and so healthy! And thank you!
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My daughter is doing WW right now and she is in Chicago and I'm in Tennessee. I signed up online for a month because I thought it would be fun to to do it together. One week of the freestyle program was enough for me. Too punishing for anything that is not a zero point food. I like the simplicity of CICO .4
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I am a life time member of WW, I think what people struggle with on the new point system is that it pretty much makes it impossible to eat crap. I've handled this but at first I did struggle. So far on WW I've lost 25kg and I've never been healthy.4
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I have never been on weight watchers, but i had some family on it years ago. I remember the older point system. This new one kind of perplexed me. I see with the "free" food system pushes people to eat more whole foods, but I could gain loads of weight on point foods.0
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psychod787 wrote: »I have never been on weight watchers, but i had some family on it years ago. I remember the older point system. This new one kind of perplexed me. I see with the "free" food system pushes people to eat more whole foods, but I could gain loads of weight on point foods.
The thing is you could eat 12 eggs a day or 20 chicken breasts but I don't think you would!
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psychod787 wrote: »I have never been on weight watchers, but i had some family on it years ago. I remember the older point system. This new one kind of perplexed me. I see with the "free" food system pushes people to eat more whole foods, but I could gain loads of weight on point foods.
The thing is you could eat 12 eggs a day or 20 chicken breasts but I don't think you would!
Ohh... only 12 eggs? Lol I could eat More! 5 grams of fat in a large egg.1 -
have never tried it and never would.
i find any diet that restricts what you can eat, is one that fails.9 -
I'm not restricted I can make choices, I just choose the right ones.10
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I've had success from WW in the past. I've had many friends that had success in the past from Atkins. I have friends that had success on Keto. Almost any plan works if you can follow it as designed.
I enjoy looking at recipes from each of these plans and incorporating them into my diary on MFP. For my eating style, I could likely be successful on WW as its currently designed. But, MFP is free. I like free. I know what to do, and MFP is the tool I am using to achieve a caloric deficit.7 -
psychod787 wrote: »psychod787 wrote: »I have never been on weight watchers, but i had some family on it years ago. I remember the older point system. This new one kind of perplexed me. I see with the "free" food system pushes people to eat more whole foods, but I could gain loads of weight on point foods.
The thing is you could eat 12 eggs a day or 20 chicken breasts but I don't think you would!
Ohh... only 12 eggs? Lol I could eat More! 5 grams of fat in a large egg.
Lol why not add some legumes in there as well. Can you imagine that mix : )
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I have been logging on WW for 2 months just to get me to think about what I am eating. I wasn’t losing weight with calorie restriction because I wasn’t being honest about the number of nuts, avocado’s and the amount of olive oil I eat. It initially helped me to lose 12 pounds but I have been stuck for the last month because the number of points they give on top of the “healthy foods” that are 0 points is simply too many. I have been logging on mfp at the same time in order to ensure that I restrict the calories because I found that if i ate as many 0 points foods as I liked I was eating in excess of 1500 calories a day. I have never eaten the weekly points. When I tried to address this with the online coach they weren’t interested and just cut me off when I ask for advice. The things that WW has helped to educate me to change are, in my book spurious to say the last.
Low fat yoghurt instead of whole
No kefir it is too high in points
No steak or pork it takes a whole day’s worth of points
No nuts - no way Seeds are a no too.
No avocados in salad
Low cal chemical spray instead of olive oil
Sugar free aspartame sweets to raise my mood
Diet sodas are great to fill you up even though they rot your teeth
I can eat as much mackerel as I like yum - who cares that it is 250 calories a filet. I like 2 or 3 for breakfast.
I can gorge on fruit. Yes please a cooking bowl full I can happily manage 2 bananas, half a pineapple, a punnet of strawberries, a punnet, a punnet iof raspberries and a punnet of blueberries in one sitting.
Eat eggs, lots of eggs. In theory this would be good if that didn’t include having a 4 or even 6 eggs at a time.
Thou shalt not eat 2 squares of chocolate (not even dark 85%) because if you do you won’t be able to eat a meal that day.
Buy sugar substitués, poor gut (has anyone tried erythritol) - no dates just 3 of those will cost you half a day’s points
I could go on.... but I don’t think that my skin and hair will cope.
What have you learnt from it?
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You_Can_Be wrote: »I have been logging on WW for 2 months just to get me to think about what I am eating. I wasn’t losing weight with calorie restriction because I wasn’t being honest about the number of nuts, avocado’s and the amount of olive oil I eat. It initially helped me to lose 12 pounds but I have been stuck for the last month because the number of points they give on top of the “healthy foods” that are 0 points is simply too many. I have been logging on mfp at the same time in order to ensure that I restrict the calories because I found that if i ate as many 0 points foods as I liked I was eating in excess of 1500 calories a day. I have never eaten the weekly points. When I tried to address this with the online coach they weren’t interested and just cut me off when I ask for advice. The things that WW has helped to educate me to change are, in my book spurious to say the last.
Low fat yoghurt instead of whole
No kefir it is too high in points
No steak or pork it takes a whole day’s worth of points
No nuts - no way Seeds are a no too.
No avocados in salad
Low cal chemical spray instead of olive oil
Sugar free aspartame sweets to raise my mood
Diet sodas are great to fill you up even though they rot your teeth
I can eat as much mackerel as I like yum - who cares that it is 250 calories a filet. I like 2 or 3 for breakfast.
I can gorge on fruit. Yes please a cooking bowl full I can happily manage 2 bananas, half a pineapple, a punnet of strawberries, a punnet, a punnet iof raspberries and a punnet of blueberries in one sitting.
Eat eggs, lots of eggs. In theory this would be good if that didn’t include having a 4 or even 6 eggs at a time.
Thou shalt not eat 2 squares of chocolate (not even dark 85%) because if you do you won’t be able to eat a meal that day.
Buy sugar substitués, poor gut (has anyone tried erythritol) - no dates just 3 of those will cost you half a day’s points
I could go on.... but I don’t think that my skin and hair will cope.
What have you learnt from it?
About the fruit, I have had fruit salads that racked up close to 500 calories. I have eaten half of a watermelon. I gained weight dating my hubby because his favorite meal to cook was grilled chicken breast, grilled shrimp, and corn. All zero points right? But that fruit alone can result in a theoretical 1lb or more gain per week. So just when you and your leader think your doing everything allegedly right, it's not.3 -
I tried it years ago.. thought i'd faint. hated it beyond words.2
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I'm surprised at the posts. I hit goal and lifetime on Weight Watchers this year and found it not restrictive at all. At this point, I have more goals fitness wise than WW takes into account, but overall, I find their eating plan sustainable over a lifetime. Where I find it a bit of an issue is zero point items can be very high cal if you don't limit yourself to one serving size, so I decided to count calories. I also think WW is a little tough on the good fats. But overall, for most people, I think it's totally do-able and sustainable. I do still go to my weekly meetings and once a month weigh ins.4
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I am a life time member of WW, I think what people struggle with on the new point system is that it pretty much makes it impossible to eat crap. I've handled this but at first I did struggle. So far on WW I've lost 25kg and I've never been healthy.
But as pp pointed out-how is a bowl of oatmeal 'crap'?6 -
I am a life time member of WW, I think what people struggle with on the new point system is that it pretty much makes it impossible to eat crap. I've handled this but at first I did struggle. So far on WW I've lost 25kg and I've never been healthy.
But as pp pointed out-how is a bowl of oatmeal 'crap'?
And how are some of the low fat diet youghurts etc I see my WW or SW friends eating not? (Oops - sorry - pet hate showing
) 2 -
I am a life time member of WW, I think what people struggle with on the new point system is that it pretty much makes it impossible to eat crap. I've handled this but at first I did struggle. So far on WW I've lost 25kg and I've never been healthy.
But as pp pointed out-how is a bowl of oatmeal 'crap'?
WW doesn't say oatmeal is crap. If you use 1/2 cup oats, that's 4 points. A cup of unsweetened almond milk is 1 point. That's five points. I'd get 23 in a day. That leaves plenty of "pointed" food. If you mix the pointed foods with the zeroes, for me and many others, that's plenty. Then you get the additional weekly points. In no way is 5 points high or "crap." If you add sugar, you'll have additional points there.
I've been with them a long time and it's not really a diet--it's a sustainable way of living if you plan your meals. I don't track WW, I track calories here now, but I lost 96 pounds on WW and I did it slowly, healthy, and am in great shape.6 -
allisonlane161 wrote: »I'm surprised at the posts. I hit goal and lifetime on Weight Watchers this year and found it not restrictive at all. At this point, I have more goals fitness wise than WW takes into account, but overall, I find their eating plan sustainable over a lifetime. Where I find it a bit of an issue is zero point items can be very high cal if you don't limit yourself to one serving size, so I decided to count calories. I also think WW is a little tough on the good fats. But overall, for most people, I think it's totally do-able and sustainable. I do still go to my weekly meetings and once a month weigh ins.
I made goal and lifetime on Points. When it switched to Smart Points I struggled and found double tracking necessary. Otherwise I have a creeping gain. Which is what some members report on Freestyle, and exacerbation of binge eating tendencies.5 -
Zero point foods are designed to be eaten when hungry. The plan is not designed for gorging, only eating until satisfied.
If you enjoy eating nuts/seeds as snacks I’d encourage you to look at the portion recommendations for your calorie range in the DASH diet. (Designed to stop hypertension). I am really enjoying this outlook to plan my meals and use MFP to track calories and keep me accountable. I eat lean pork weekly and small servings of nuts almost daily.3 -
Personally WW was a great as a starter plan for me. It was great at first because it made me look at portion size and food choices. I lost about 10 lbs in the first month but then I started training to run a marathon. For me, the new point system did not allow me to stay within my points and eat enough carbs to fuel my body properly (running 50 miles per week). I actually starting gaining back weight and went to MFP at the beginning of March. With just using my Garmin and MFP I have lost just over 30 lbs while gaining muscle. For me MFP and counting calories just worked better.
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My husband and I did WW last year before they switched to Freestyle. I lost 30 pounds and the hubs lost almost 50. We ended up stopping because of some family issues that got us off track. When we got back in the game it was freestyle and we didn’t like it. I stumbled across MFP and absolutely love it. And the best part is it’s free!! I like the simplicity of CICO. I’m allowed to have a treat when I want to. I can spend my calories in whatever I want. But I usually eat very healthy. But if I absolutely have to I can eat a small blizzard for dinner and not be punished too badly2
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@Tracydhc It's the answer for me, too. I was throwing my $$$ down a rathole with no results.1
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WW is a business, first and foremost. They change their plans every other year to keep up with diet trends. Over 10 years, something that is now 0 points was once 5 points, then 2 points, etc. It doesn't make any sense. I did WW for 6 months and went nowhere fast. When I was within my points, I was only eating 1000 calories on a good day.
Also so many people abuse the 0 points. I saw recipes where people would make a "cheesecake" with like 6 eggs, a box of sugar free cheesecake pudding, and fat free greek yogurt and the whole pan was 3SP. Lets just ignore the fact that it's also like 800 calories? No thanks.8 -
My heroes are those who've found their pathway to weight stability. Right here. Their successful strategy is data points and stats. They're thinking long term success and gentle changes for the permanent WIN. There's no mind warp. I'm hyper aware of what good choices are but I have the freedom to enjoy any food. I just pay as I go, every day.3
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I got obese because I'm rarely satisfied. I could eat that mixing bowl full of fruit and then be looking for another snack in an hour. zero points food won't work for me.emmamcgarity wrote: »Zero point foods are designed to be eaten when hungry. The plan is not designed for gorging, only eating until satisfied.
I think it's a know your self, and current WW won't work for me but calorie counting with MFP (i actually macro count, but same thing) works because I learn my limit but I can fit different things in.
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I did WW for 3 months (Jan 2018 - March 2018) and ended up gaining weight. At first I didn't understand because I stayed under my daily/weekly points. It wasn't until I started back tracking on MFP that I realized while my points was low the calories was extremely high. I've been on MFP again since April 2018 and have lost 12 pounds. I wouldn't recommend WW to anyone.1
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Back to the fact that I will never knock WW. I think it is good. I just see, like people above, that the "free" foods can be abused.3
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I was with ww and attended the meetings; people were struggling not losing weight with freestyle they were eating zero points foods and shred away from nuts avocados olive oil because they were too high in points. Most of the members did not know what a balanced meal was and the meetings focused on eating food jello with food Greek yogurt and 2 ingredient mug cake: I left1
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I lost all the baby weight after my first baby doing ww classic, but freestyle was horrible. I eat way to many of those “free” foods and enjoy them. So they said you should be monitoring your servings. I am not going to double trac so I came back here.
My parents have had great success with WW. I do think the points system makes things easier for some to use without getting overwhealmed.
I do agree with others that WW counts healthy fats to high.1
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