My fitness pal & WW

Nope. I don't like the idea of 'free' foods. I could eat an awful lot of them, not be in a calorie deficit and therefore gain weight. I also don't see the point of paying someone to weigh me when I have scales in my bathroom.

LukesGreenMilk wrote: »

The reason I don't recommend WW is because it's a calorie tracking system... but it puts benefits or disadvantages on certain foods. It's like MFP but with random, arbitrary rules! My thought is, if you're gonna put in the work of counting calories, then you might as well ditch weight watchers and just count the calories! It's a more true honest system anyway.

I agree completely!

HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »

Having done both WW and MFP over the years, MFP has certain advantages. One, it's free -- and even if you pay for the premium membership it's dirt cheap, especially compared to WW. It has no weekly meetings which get repetitive after awhile. You get to develop your own eating habit, sustainable eating habits, based on your own increasing understanding of nutrition and health. You are encouraged to have internal rather than external rewards whereas in WW it's all about following the rules and achieving someone else's goals.

AND for some of us, the idea of "free foods" as defined by WW is goofy. Celery is not free. It has calories. Darned few of them but they are there. The idea of including celery as a food of consequence is not because of its calories but because of its other benefits. Celery may be low in calories but it is high in fiber and other nutrients. Instead of viewing vegetables as "free" they ought to be viewed as award winners. "Look at this," my diary says. " You got rid of your afternoon hunger with only 30 calories of raw veggies! And it was good for you, too!"

So, if one is totally new to weight loss, one might find the weekly meetings and other rituals of WW help with getting one's mind focused but once you are beyond needing them as a crutch, they can become more of a burden -- both on your wallet and on your understanding of your own nutrition.

Yes, yes, yes, all of this! I started WW in 2004 when it was still Weight Watchers and I was coming in super green. I was raised in a super clueless household with parents who taught me super bad habits and an extremely warped idea of which foods are "healthy." I just did not have a clue. At the time I started I was a young military wife far from home, and the weekly meetings were definitely beneficial at first. I learned portion control and got into the habit of tracking food and exercise. As a result, I lost 90 lbs in 11 months and kept it off for several years. Back then I didn't have access to fast internet and fitness information galore, so swapping recipes and other tips with other members was helpful.

When I had kids I ended up gaining about half of that weight back and went back to WW, but it was tricky with two toddlers and a husband who worked very long hours, and having to pay for the program while getting back to goal was painful as a young family on a tight budget. A friend told me about MFP in 2013 and I gave it a go. I cancelled my WW membership and never went back. Once I started counting actual calories I realized how very little I was actually eating on WW, to the point that it probably wasn't very healthy for me. I am only 5 ft tall, and my points target often had me eating under 1200 calories depending on what I ate. I love MFP and over the years I have enjoyed discovering which foods actually work well for me and help me feel satiated and energized throughout the day. Then when the MFP forums introduced me to the idea of BMR and TDEE, that was gamechanging! I have never paid for the premium version of MFP in the 7 years I've had it, and that's pretty cool. I can't imagine how much money I would've spent had I stuck with WW that whole time. There are just way too many quality resources I can access online for free to ever pay for that again.

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