Thinking of doing freestyle WW instead of counting calories

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  • thisPGHlife
    thisPGHlife Posts: 440 Member
    edited October 2018
    sarahbums wrote: »
    tbh i've never understood the appeal of weight watchers. From what I understand, you're given a goal # of points to aim for, and you do the math throughout the day to stick to that #. But Calorie counting is exactly the same, so why not just track calories? It's much more reliable, straightforward and (in my opinion) less confusing than having to figure out the 'smartpoint' value for every single thing.

    plus, calorie counting won't cost you a dime!

    This. Plus, at least when I had done older versions of WW, it makes you feel guilty for living a normal life because the treat items that you should be able to fit in are SO MANY points. It eats up a higher percentage of points than it would a percentage of calories. I felt way more restricted and you still have to count. YMMV. I know some people do great with it.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited October 2018
    justinefirmalo wrote: »
    I’m a WW Lifetimer, meaning I’m on the program for free, as long as I stay within my WW goal and I attend one meeting a month. It’s a good program... ‘was’ a good program until Freestyle (for me, that is). I did lose 30# while on the previous program, SmartPoints. Once they changed it to Freestyle, incorporating zero point foods, I started struggling. One day, I tallied the calories on the zero point foods I ate and they came out to 661 calories. That’s a lot for zero points!! I decided to ‘chat’ online with one of their coaches and she disconnected me, when I brought this to her/their attention. I’m doing much better tracking on MFP. I think calories from fruits, veggies and protein should be counted. Again though, that’s what works for me. Good luck on your weight loss journey!

    I have no doubt I could eat 661 or more calories worth of 0 point foods :)

    She hung up on you. Wow, just wow :o
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    WillingtoLose1001984 wrote: »
    Meetings and an in person weigh in really help me. I am not a fan of paying 45 a month but the benefits seem to outweigh the cost for me. People on Mfp are very against WW but you need to do you.

    Not against WW per se. I've lost weight on their earlier programs. The thing is, I don't have the same income I had before and I can't afford WW. MFP is free. And I lost my weight on their earlier programs. From what I've seen, Freestyle isn't a good fit for me. Granted, I haven't actually tried it, just read the overviews/reviews. But MFP is working for me for free and I get support here and in the groups.
  • Its_Haleeyyy
    Its_Haleeyyy Posts: 39 Member
    I was in weight watchers for a few months and I personally like MFP better. Some people like the meetings for WW but as far as strictly online MFP has been easier for me so far. Especially if youre like me and still like your snacks and treats sometimes, WW is really restrictive with those things.
  • LBeekman2017
    LBeekman2017 Posts: 52 Member
    WW is also shifting from weight loss to "welness" and from meetings to workshops. It is a business and keeping people more wellness focused and not weight loss focused is something they are choosing to do now...
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/09/24/weight-watchers-to-rename-itself-ww-shifts-focus-to-overall-health.html
  • sbrooks0387
    sbrooks0387 Posts: 167 Member
    I quite WW after gaining/losing the same half pound for weeks on freestyle. You still have to watch calories and portion size, and if I am going to have to double track I am just gonna do calories.

    I eat a lot of the “free” foods. And I would consume 500+ calories at breakfast, but it would only be like 4 points. Same with a salad, like 800+ calories on that.
  • carrieross733
    carrieross733 Posts: 27 Member
    I tried WW..failed miserably.
    It really depends on what you want..this app is free, where as with weight watchers you're going to pay a monthly subscription. With mfp you count calories, with WW you count points.

    I personally found WW more restrictive as far as how they label "good" and "bad" foods
  • yweight2020
    yweight2020 Posts: 591 Member
    emmamcgarity wrote: »
    Weight Watchers is a good program if you are willing to be restricted by what you eat. But Freestyle still requires counting points instead of calories. If you are truly tired of counting calories their Simply Filling plan might be good for you. In the end it still boils down to calories. But Simply Filling restricts your menu more and allows less tracking.

    I personally like the nutrition info provided on myfitnesspal and my budget does not allow a monthly fee for WW. I incorporate many recipes that look interesting to me from WW or low carb sites. I just count calories for them.

    I totaly agree, I did weight watchers to many times to count and most of the time it worked for me except for the last couple of program changes they made.
    My budget doesn't allow for me to pay for any program either and counting calories to me is better than counting points, because you still have to convert calories to points to count them to much work. And the program of not tracking or counting never worked for me because I need to be held accountable and not counting throws my weight loss and maintenance totally off. Do what works best for you, different things work for different people, based on your needs, lifestyle and eating personality.
  • Will_Run_for_Food
    Will_Run_for_Food Posts: 561 Member
    It didn't work for me, but it's worked really well for my mom, sister and aunt. My thing is that I like point killers like cheese, sweet potato, avocado, beer and wine. I found that I'd go over my points if I had just two beers on a Friday night. I'd rather enter my food in MFP to see its nutritional value. I also didn't love the online culture. With WW, I found that people were...well, too nice. For example, one woman posted something saying she just ate a whole bag of frozen corn but that it was "ok" because corn was zero points. And everyone was like, "yeah totally fine!" but the ONE person who called her out and said no, it wasn't fine, clearly she has issue with portion control, got booted from the group. Like what? I like that MFP's online culture is honest and tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

    All that to say, I did get some good recipes!
  • gvizzle74
    gvizzle74 Posts: 123 Member
    if the freestyle program has you counting points - what's the difference? points or calories, counting is counting. I also think it's misleading - there are no "free foods" everything has calories - too much kale or too much chocolate, too much is too much

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