Weight Watcher Members?

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gwendyprism
gwendyprism Posts: 222 Member
in Getting Started
Anyone out there going to Weight Watchers but tracking calories with MFP?

I've just come back to MFP. I've been a member of Weight Watchers for a couple years now. Before joining WW, I lost about 50#s on a 1200-1300 calorie diet and tracking with MFP.

Since joining WW I've been struggling to lose any more weight tho I am tracking pretty consistently. I just think the Point system isn't specific enough. Its too easy to over or even under eat using points depending on your food choices. I understand the purpose is to steer people to better choices such as fruit, veggies and lean meat. However, I've been a dieter for many, many years and know what healthy eating looks like. For me I think it's more important to have a detailed account of what I'm eating using calories and macros.

Would love to connect with anyone doing WW. I'm going to stay a member because I know I need the support group and accountability of weekly meetings.
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Replies

  • LoveMusic4Life
    LoveMusic4Life Posts: 34 Member
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    Hi Gwendyprism

    I started weight watchers for the very first time last week, like you i don't get the points system at all.....but i do have 3 apps on my phone (MFP, WW and Fitbit also change 4 life food which is great for tracking how much sugar is in food) and all have scanners so i can scan food yet that tell me different things so i get confused. I try not to worry to be honest and just make sure i portion my food, and one trick i always do is close my eyes when i put the food in my mouth and concentrate on the flavours (it doesn't work for everyone but it works for me lol ).

    Would like to connect with you on this as i am a long way of my goal and maybe with some encouragement from others the journey won't be so bad, share food and fitness tips along the way :)
  • cmdmedia
    cmdmedia Posts: 21 Member
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    gwendyprism wrote: »
    Anyone out there going to Weight Watchers but tracking calories with MFP?

    I've just come back to MFP. I've been a member of Weight Watchers for a couple years now. Before joining WW, I lost about 50#s on a 1200-1300 calorie diet and tracking with MFP.

    Since joining WW I've been struggling to lose any more weight tho I am tracking pretty consistently. I just think the Point system isn't specific enough. Its too easy to over or even under eat using points depending on your food choices. I understand the purpose is to steer people to better choices such as fruit, veggies and lean meat. However, I've been a dieter for many, many years and know what healthy eating looks like. For me I think it's more important to have a detailed account of what I'm eating using calories and macros.

    Would love to connect with anyone doing WW. I'm going to stay a member because I know I need the support group and accountability of weekly meetings.

    Sort of doing ww. Been weighing in for more years than I care to count.
  • LoveMusic4Life
    LoveMusic4Life Posts: 34 Member
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    Ive only just started WW and find it easier to track calories than the smart points. Im a bit scepticle though because im suppose to consume at least 1200 a day which is fine, yet when its converted into SP it takes me way over the amount so im confused?
    It will be interesting though to see how it progresses over the next 12 weeks, ill use it as an experiment lol
  • cmdmedia
    cmdmedia Posts: 21 Member
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    LoveMusic4Life wrote: »
    Ive only just started WW and find it easier to track calories than the smart points. Im a bit scepticle though because im suppose to consume at least 1200 a day which is fine, yet when its converted into SP it takes me way over the amount so im confused?
    It will be interesting though to see how it progresses over the next 12 weeks, ill use it as an experiment
  • cmdmedia
    cmdmedia Posts: 21 Member
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    How did you convert calories to smartpoints?
  • LoveMusic4Life
    LoveMusic4Life Posts: 34 Member
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    To be honest i didn't, i just typed in the food i was going to eat on MFP, Fitbit, and WW, and all are in within my 1200 cals a day thats including my breakfast too, but when i type it into WW it puts me way over that intake, its very strange how it works and still trying to workout how the points system works.

    But i think counting cals is a little bit better for me because otherwise i would hardly eat anything, plus i work out everyday so i burn a lot of it off anyways. I would be happy to learn more about the points though then at least i would be able to understand them a lot better!
  • cmdmedia
    cmdmedia Posts: 21 Member
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    LoveMusic4Life wrote: »
    To be honest i didn't, i just typed in the food i was going to eat on MFP, Fitbit, and WW, and all are in within my 1200 cals a day thats including my breakfast too, but when i type it into WW it puts me way over that intake, its very strange how it works and still trying to workout how the points system works.

    But i think counting cals is a little bit better for me because otherwise i would hardly eat anything, plus i work out everyday so i burn a lot of it off anyways. I would be happy to learn more about the points though then at least i would be able to understand them a lot better!

    Well, the general rule of thumb was that 50 calories roughly equalled a point. But I did find that ww seems to penalize foods they deem unhealthy. They seemed to be more than the calories. Yellow cheese for example, I found varied in points, but not in calories per slice.
  • LoveMusic4Life
    LoveMusic4Life Posts: 34 Member
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    Thats interesting to know!
    Im on a 12 week programme so will see how it goes, im sure ill get the balance right :)
  • rsj7799
    rsj7799 Posts: 74 Member
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    cmdmedia wrote: »
    LoveMusic4Life wrote: »
    To be honest i didn't, i just typed in the food i was going to eat on MFP, Fitbit, and WW, and all are in within my 1200 cals a day thats including my breakfast too, but when i type it into WW it puts me way over that intake, its very strange how it works and still trying to workout how the points system works.

    But i think counting cals is a little bit better for me because otherwise i would hardly eat anything, plus i work out everyday so i burn a lot of it off anyways. I would be happy to learn more about the points though then at least i would be able to understand them a lot better!

    Well, the general rule of thumb was that 50 calories roughly equalled a point. But I did find that ww seems to penalize foods they deem unhealthy. They seemed to be more than the calories. Yellow cheese for example, I found varied in points, but not in calories per slice.

    The original points system was 50 calories a point. The newer "smartpoints" system is around 35 calories a point and is then adjusted up for saturated fat and sugar content, and adjusted down for protein content (e.g. some protein shakes are 145 calories but only 2 points due to the high protein content, while things like ice cream will be disproportionately higher in points due to having both sugar and saturated fat).

    I still do weight watchers for the weigh ins but track with MFP, because I get more predictable results. My problem with the current "freestyle" plan is the bulk of what I eat are now "zero point foods" so I feel like I'm not really tracking at all.
  • gwendyprism
    gwendyprism Posts: 222 Member
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    LoveMusic4Life wrote: »
    Hi Gwendyprism

    I started weight watchers for the very first time last week, like you i don't get the points system at all.....but i do have 3 apps on my phone (MFP, WW and Fitbit also change 4 life food which is great for tracking how much sugar is in food) and all have scanners so i can scan food yet that tell me different things so i get confused. I try not to worry to be honest and just make sure i portion my food, and one trick i always do is close my eyes when i put the food in my mouth and concentrate on the flavours (it doesn't work for everyone but it works for me lol ).

    Would like to connect with you on this as i am a long way of my goal and maybe with some encouragement from others the journey won't be so bad, share food and fitness tips along the way :)

  • gwendyprism
    gwendyprism Posts: 222 Member
    Options
    cmdmedia wrote: »
    LoveMusic4Life wrote: »
    To be honest i didn't, i just typed in the food i was going to eat on MFP, Fitbit, and WW, and all are in within my 1200 cals a day thats including my breakfast too, but when i type it into WW it puts me way over that intake, its very strange how it works and still trying to workout how the points system works.

    But i think counting cals is a little bit better for me because otherwise i would hardly eat anything, plus i work out everyday so i burn a lot of it off anyways. I would be happy to learn more about the points though then at least i would be able to understand them a lot better!

    Well, the general rule of thumb was that 50 calories roughly equalled a point. But I did find that ww seems to penalize foods they deem unhealthy. They seemed to be more than the calories. Yellow cheese for example, I found varied in points, but not in calories per slice.

    WW points are designed to get you to eat healthier foods. The problem is points just aren't an accurate reflection of how many calories you are eating. I compared 4 foods that have about 161 calories each (2 slices rye bread, 2 T chocolate chips, 1.5 T butter and 5.4 oz chicken breast.) But their WW points are very different: rye bread= 4 pts, choc. Chips =5 pts, butter =8 pts and chicken =0 pts. You can see how you could stick to your points each day (I get 23) and could be over or under eating depending on what foods you ate.
  • Josh_From_Louisiana
    Josh_From_Louisiana Posts: 42 Member
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    I have been on ww for a while now and I have flat lined. I am maintaining my weight but the last 15 pounds are the death of me. A good buddy of me told me not to worry bout the scale just as long as your pants still fit!! Lol I will work these last #15 off some how!
  • gwendyprism
    gwendyprism Posts: 222 Member
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    I've basically maintained for the last 2 years. I still could stand to lose 30-40 pounds. It's time for another big push!
  • looopyloops
    looopyloops Posts: 84 Member
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    I do weight watchers, mostly use mfp to track my weight, although I will put in my foods ocaasionally when I have trouble losing to see where I am going off track by seeing how many calories I am eating
  • Debala63
    Debala63 Posts: 1 Member
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    I double log, in WW and in MFP. Well really, I triple log, as I also use LoseIt! and have done so for years. I like certain things about LoseIt and certain things about MFP. As to WW, I love my meeting so I stick with that also. I put more stock into the calories than I do the points, because I've been out of points and still need to eat approximately 600 calories to even be near my calorie goal. The weight I log into MFP & LI is my home scale. The weight in WW is their scale, as there is about a 2 pound difference.
  • radnun6
    radnun6 Posts: 1 Member
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    I joined WW almost 2 years ago and have only lost 49 lbs because I go up and down constantly. I joined here today because I'm trying to kickstart with a 1200 calorie diet. I lost 3 lbs. in 3 days so I'm going to continue it awhile longer. I'm still going to WW meetings though because I really like the leader and group of people and find it motivating.
  • LoveMusic4Life
    LoveMusic4Life Posts: 34 Member
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    Ive also been tracking and logging food and exercise on my fitbit as well as MFP and WW, i am over on my points on WW but on MFP and my Fitbit i am still within my calorie goal. I think the WW meetings are useful and for sharing ideas and recipes and just getting to know people.

    I would be happy for anyone to add me as a friend on here and share the weight loss journey

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