Weight Watchers: yes or no?

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  • New_Heavens_Earth
    New_Heavens_Earth Posts: 610 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    My mom used to be an instructor for Weight Watchers. My mom is also obese and has yo yo dieted her entire life.

    I have two issues with Weight Watchers: first, the food selection and diet plan is very silly. If you like fish and fruit you can easily become obese eating “free” food. Not to mention, if you are diabetic, it can very nearly kill you - as happened to a diabetic member here who found his blood sugar shot way up from following their diet of “free” fruits and vegetables.

    And second, there’s the social aspect of it. It sounds great to have accountability buddies and support, but what you are getting is actually the input of other fat people and their bad habits. One of the strongest predictors of whether someone will become obese is whether or not their friends are obese. You don’t need the comfort and support of people who think it’s normal to be obese, you need the comfort and support of people who think it’s normal to run 5k, or go rock climbing, or play tennis. I’m probably going to get dissed for this opinion, but it’s based on watching my mother and her friends the entire time I was growing up, all telling each other it was “hard” to lose weight and “normal” to backslide. It’s not that hard to lose weight and it isn’t inevitable to gain it back. And I say that having lost 125 lbs and kept it off for two years so far.

    There are plenty of people in WW community who are rock climbing, playing tennis, running marathons, Crossfiting, dancing etc. Plenty have realized that obesity is not normal, acceptable, and is reversible. Plus they know backsliding is a real problem and act fast to reverse it. Those are the members who have lost weight on WW and kept it off for decades (I follow a power lifter who has kept her weight off for almost 25 years). Those are the members who I take advice and comfort from, as well as those who aren't at goal yet but are doing the dang thing despite adversity. Any bad habits you pick up are truly your fault. Not because you listened to someone less than thin.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    Nope.

    I've said it before and I'll say it again. WW is a scam designed to milk people of their money.

    First they hook you.
    They obscure simple calorie counting behind their WW plan and foods. This way you only know the WW plan and foods rather than how to do it yourself. So, in order to continue to lose weight you have keep paying them money to use their WW plan and foods.

    Then they ensure repeat business
    Since they only teach you the WW plan and foods as soon as you stop paying them and stop using the WW plan and foods you no longer have the tools to continue with losing weight (since you were never taught anything other than the WW plan and foods) and will gain it back again. Then then you think "Oh I need to lose weight and WW worked last time. I'll do that" and you start paying them money again.

    They're a business that makes money from people 'weight loss progress' not weight loss success and the longer they can keep you on the weight loss cycle the longer they can keep making money.
  • cleatusk
    cleatusk Posts: 1 Member
    I had lost 30 lbs here 2 yrs ago. Recently I joined WW online. The only difference between this program and WW is the monthly fee. One is pts one is calories. Both are good.
  • melanie_589
    melanie_589 Posts: 2 Member
    I did WW for a few months earlier this year. Why I quit, and what I did not like, was one day I had a stomach virus and had half a ginger ale, some crackers and some chicken noodle soup. My calories came to 500ish, but I was over my points. They over inflate points to compensate for the free foods.
  • chavala24
    chavala24 Posts: 2 Member
    Danp, I think your perceptions are based on an ancient version of WW, maybe? There is no need to eat WW foods and as an online user I have no idea where I would even find such foods. I do pay for their online program, but as I mentioned above, that works for me. I have no intention of paying for it forever, only as long as it takes to internalize the habits their program teaches, which for me is much easier and more sustainable than tracking calories. It's not hard to continue tracking on your own without access to the program once you have experience using their point system. A lot of people benefit from the social aspect and are willing to pay for it. More power to them if that's what works.

    Melanie, if you had a stomach virus, why not cut yourself slack that day and not track? The point is to encourage and habituate healthy eating, and there is plenty of flexibility to take a break if you're sick for a few days. Personally, when I'm sick I don't give a *** what an app on my phone thinks about my food choices that day.

    The programs are different strokes for different strokes, but I'm surprised by some of the funny misconceptions in this thread. Shouldn't someone who's diabetic be getting advice from a doctor about their diet? If someone is nearly killing themselves by eating too much fruit, is that the program's fault?
  • phred_52
    phred_52 Posts: 189 Member
    For me, I would say No. Maybe I should read about it, but I do see one must pay to join.

    I only say no because why pay for something one can do for free.

    As some have said, MFP is free, and Lots of support is available here for those needing such.
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