a question for current and past Weight Watchers members

I stopped going to WW because I couldn't afford the meeting fee once DH lost his job. However, at my meetings, they never tried to push any WW products. The whole emphasis was on better food choices, portion control and, yes, exercise. I think it really depends on the meeting leader.

I have to agree with you, my leader never pushes WWer products, and in fact, I don't think she eats them either. I think there is a meeting and leader out there for everyone, you just have to find one.

WWer is what saved me and I was able to lose 80 pounds and keep most of it off (except for this 5 pounds I gained from exercising )

After attending my first Weight Watchers meeting last night as an observer from the public, I came away feeling the supportiveness of the group and the willingness to help by the team leaders, but also felt that the focus was very much on the food, the products they sell and diet.
I didn't feel that they put a lot of focus on the fitness and activity element of weight loss and after blogging last night it appears that other past members feel the same way. I feel that without the fitness and exercise element I can see how many people aren't successful once they leave WW as they haven't trained their body to be active during their WW time.
What to other MFP friends think of this? Do you think that there is not enough focus on the exercise and fitness within WW?

I'm a lifetime WWer Member and I think it depends on the leader as to whether or not they promote the WWer products and food. My leader is fantastic and is a retired nurse, and focuses more on activity and healthy lifestyles, she doesn't promote the WWer products, but she does bring in "food finds" from other stores, which is great! Try and find a group and a leader that you like, I have had some leaders in the past that sounded like robots, and really didn't care for their meetings.

I totally agree with this. Your WW meeting experience depends on the leader. My mom is a lifetime WWer, but she only got to her goal weight and made "lifetime" after she found a leader she liked. Her leader definitely promotes exercise as being part of the program.

I did weightwatchers to lose my first big lot of weight. I have no complaints about the programme. I did it online, not via meetings (I can't stand the AA feel of those kinds of 'support' groups). The programme is fine. I think I did learn healthy eating as pointing isn't really dramatically different from calorie counting. I did lots of exercise when I was on WW and thoroughly enjoyed it. Exercise is pointed and the incentive to 'eat back' points is still there. The online community in the UK is very supportive and very well informed.

For me the only big reason for the change was financial. I struggle to justify spending money each month for ww, when this resource is not dramatically different, and is free.

Also, the new points system doesn't suit a vegetarian lifestyle as well as the old system did, and I found myself getting annoyed with that aspect of it.

I am currently using WW and I think it depends on the facilitator. When I was working a group of us did the at work program for 16 weeks, and all of us lost weight, and our leader did emphasize exercise, and drinking water. I don't particularly like water (don't know why, had a jug in fridge all the time when I was growing up). She loved our wellness center. and after work we would meet and work out together. Now I'm doing WW on-line, and I think I need to change to actually attending meetings. It's hard on your own.

I've been much more successful here than I ever was at WW.
Educate yourself on how to eat healthy and then count your calories on MFP and you will do very well.
The way WW displays and emphasizes all those crappy candy bars and other unhealthy snacks is disgraceful.

I am a Lifetime Member at WW and was even a receptionist there for a time.

I did WW many times until finally in 2007 I had enough when I reached an all-time high of 265 pounds. I was able to get to 145 but then I couldn’t get the scale to budge any longer so I switched to maintenance for a few months. Then when the new Points Plus program rolled out I tried the weight loss plan again and again the scale didn’t budge. I started to track calories on Spark and lost 10 pounds.

I think WW is a great program. No, it does not focus intently on exercise however that is because there are so many people at there who either refuse to exercise, or are unable to physically. I always thought this was an area that WW could improve upon. Calculating Activity Points via WW methods was just ridiculously inaccurate.

In my experience the meetings vary from each meeting depending on the leader and the dynamics of the group. A good leader has a feel of the group and knows what will fly and what won’t fly in the meeting. I’ve worked at meetings where there were scheduled walks as a group prior to the meeting. And some centers organize bigger walks for all of the meetings combined. With one group I worked with, we all did a walk together as a group for an Autism Awareness group (one of the member’s son has autism). The main priority as given to a leader by WW is retaining membership. A leader is not going to push exercise if they think their group does not want to hear it. Great thing about WW though if you are not getting what you need out of the meeting, you can switch to another meeting. Even if it is ran by the same leader, the members will be different and thus so are the dynamics of the group.

I worked with one leader who would seriously push products. And yet worked with other leaders who did not. Keep in mind that leaders and receptionists both get a commission on all products sold during their meeting.

I’ve grown from WW now. I sometimes will switch back to counting points, but I seriously do not like the new Points Plus Program. It does not work for me. And I don’t agree with some of the changes they made.

I've been a Lifetime WW member for years, but I track my points using the system I'm famiiar with, so can't speak to the newer plans.

I do recall that for new members, the emphasis for the first few weeks was on food and getting adapted to changing your eating habits. Then the exercise focus began and continued on from there.

I totally agree with the above posters when they say it depends on the group and the leader. Some are better than others. I'm fortunate that I have multiple WW locations in my area, and have found one that is really great. Our particular group is quite focused on walking/running, both on an individual basis and as a group (March of Dimes, Race for the Cure, etc.) There are also group challenges from time to time where members can challenge themselves to complete a certain number of workouts, run/walk more miles, etc. If you're interested in continuing, keep trying until you find the group that works for you.

I would agree that the main focus at Weight Watchers is the food, for sure. I lost 76 pounds at WW and now have gained 20 back. Now on MFP to get that off. I am not much of a fitness buff at my age of nearly 66, but I do like water aerobics and swimming a lot. Also do some walking as well. I am trying to get the weight back down to maintain my present state of health.:flowerforyou:

This isn't a reply this is a question- I am a current ww member and have been for years- Im thinking of switching to this program My question is with the extra calories you gain from excercise- do you have to use them the same day or can you bank them for the weekend for something special?????

their program is more sent on food control which is very helpful
but if your are into working out like i was every day on my elliptical and burn calories
you would have to way up your protein, very frustrated
Working out was great and I was into it but it did not work with their plan. They would never say you are working out too much;
you need to add more protein in to compensate for the calorie you're burning
And yes it would depend on the team leader, try different ww in the area
And yes my leader wanted me to buy their products and stop using other for no reason?