Underreating on WW

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party_lots99
party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ive just started mfp after months of not losing on Weight Watchers. Currently dual tracking and am shocked at how few calories I was eating on WW. Today, as an example, my breakfast, lunch and morning coffee/biscuit has been 764 calories, leaving me with plenty for dinner tonight. I’ve tracked this on WW... and have zero points left for today. I’ve eaten all 30 of them. Seems like I’ve been under eating on WW for a long time.

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  • party_lots99
    party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
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    Sort of. I’ve gained and lost the same few pounds over and over again for months. I was finding that eating my “weeklies” on a weekend would mean that I’d gain 3-5 pounds over those 3 days. Then would lose that again over the next 4 days... and therefore no overall weight loss. I’m shocked by how few calories a “normal” day of eating on WW is though.
  • party_lots99
    party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
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    I’ve eaten much much more since switching to mfp (with dual tracking I’m daily over by 8-10 points on WW.)
  • party_lots99
    party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
    edited July 2020
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    Yep. I’m double checking everything on other calorie counting sites, weighing everything, tracking everything, making sure as accurate as I can be. And inputting the exact same into WW. I have no doubt that on WW I eat under 1000 calories on a “normal” day. Regardless of losing weight, that’s not enough.
  • party_lots99
    party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
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    Yes quite possibly. Without having been counting calories it’s hard to tell. I stuck within my weekly points though (deficit is supposedly built in) and earned but didn’t use fitness points.
  • AshHeartsJesus
    AshHeartsJesus Posts: 460 Member
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    Not all calories are created equal and our bodies react different to those calories.
  • jlsmith4439
    jlsmith4439 Posts: 53 Member
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    I tried ww and didn’t get along with it at all . The free food system never worked well for me . Hence why I’m now doing mfp
  • party_lots99
    party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
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    How are you getting on @jlsmith4439 ?
  • party_lots99
    party_lots99 Posts: 23 Member
    edited July 2020
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    AshHeartsJesus wrote: »
    Not all calories are created equal and our bodies react different to those calories.

    A calorie is just a calorie is just a calorie though. The nutritional value might be different but ultimately calories themselves are all equal.
    I found that WW disproportionately penalised “bad” foods. Yes you could count them in but it would mean you couldn’t eat much/ anything else all day. Whereas in terms of calories... those foods weren’t THAT high. Yes, choosing more nutritional food is the aim but I found that it was hard to do that and actually be eating enough calories. Double tracking shows that I was eating around and under 1000 calories.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
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    Weight Watchers point systems seem rather obsolete now. Back when they started, it was helpful because the alternative was to look up everything in printed databases and do the math. But nowadays, it's really easier to just use a tracker that does all the lookup and math for you, so you just have to enter the amounts by weight or volume.

    Alternatively, they could use the approach that Joel Fuhrman uses in Eat to Live. He has extensive lists of food options and just gives guidelines for target amounts each day, saying eat less if it's too much for you and eat more if you are still hungry. For example, his six week plan for people needing to lose weight fairly quickly for medical reasons includes daily guidelines such as:

    Minimum 2 lb of cooked or raw non-starchy veg/mushrooms
    Max 1 cup starchy grain or veg (such as rice or potato)
    Max 1oz raw nuts or seeds

    etc.

    He also has a list of foods to avoid for the six week period.

    He gives other guidelines for after the initial six weeks. He recommends basically eating vegan but makes suggestions for incorporating meat, eggs, dairy if you must. He says if 90% of your eating is high-nutrition, 10% low-nutrition will be ok. Also obviously he suggests a lot of veg (big salads not just at dinner) but they are actually pretty heavy so in practice it doesn't take that much to get up to a total of 2 lbs.

    The freebie foods on WW seem amazingly extensive today, and that probably gets other people into trouble also in both directions if they aren't eating freebies as expected (more than or less than).
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    jwoolman5 wrote: »
    Weight Watchers point systems seem rather obsolete now. Back when they started, it was helpful because the alternative was to look up everything in printed databases and do the math. But nowadays, it's really easier to just use a tracker that does all the lookup and math for you, so you just have to enter the amounts by weight or volume.

    [snip]

    Yes, I found WW useful in the 90s, before tools like MFP were available.
  • whoami67
    whoami67 Posts: 297 Member
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    I undereat on WW, too. I find it difficult to get to even 800 calories and remain within my Points so the last couple times I tried WW, I just ignored the Points they gave me, counted calories and used WW for the support system. I loathe the current incarnation of Points and think it is dangerous while I absolutely adored the first few Points plans they had. WW & I disagree on what a healthy diet is. I think fat is healthy and they penalize it heavily. I'm not a fan of sugar in any form and they really push those sugary fruits which does horrible terrible things to my blood sugar. Both WW and I love vegetables, however.
  • jlsmith4439
    jlsmith4439 Posts: 53 Member
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    party_lots99 wrote: »
    How are you getting on @jlsmith4439 ?


    Hey , pretty good so far . My gym also opened again which helps a lot . Hoping I can keep it up this time
  • tnh2o
    tnh2o Posts: 158 Member
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    Years ago I lost weight and kept it off using weight watchers. Back then you were supposed to eat a set number of servings of protein, of bread, of fat, of fruits and vegetables, and dairy. You had some free points and you could earn activity points. It led me to a very well balanced diet. Then they changed it so you could stay on plan by eating fritos and coke as long as you stayed within the point range.
  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    tnh2o wrote: »
    Years ago I lost weight and kept it off using weight watchers. Back then you were supposed to eat a set number of servings of protein, of bread, of fat, of fruits and vegetables, and dairy. You had some free points and you could earn activity points. It led me to a very well balanced diet. Then they changed it so you could stay on plan by eating fritos and coke as long as you stayed within the point range.

    I've still got that plan and with it a magnetic board which helps see how much of each serving I have left.

    I've been put on the current WW plan by my doctor but I'm already doing MFP.

    Today I'm out of points on the new WW plan but have only reached about 800 calories on MFP.

    I think the old WW plan was much superior to this one too.

    However, I'm going to stay on the points plan as there are workshops too, and if I get any grief from the one to one sessions I will point out the flaws.

    I had to put in 6 grams of flour today in a recipe as it would not give any points for 5 grams.

    Plus I could go a week without eating fruit or veg, and no penalties for that, or eat chips all day long.

    I love the macros on MFP and the nutrition figures which keep me on track. I've got high cholesterol and I'm prediabetic so I have to be careful with fats and sugars.

  • Raegold
    Raegold Posts: 191 Member
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    WW has been getting worse and worse in my opinion/experience. I was very successful with losing weight back around 2006 when the points somewhat correlated with calories. At that time, I found it was easier to think in the smaller numbers of points. The more and more they have messed with the calculation of points, the harder is it for me to be successful with it. Now I just can't anymore with it. I had the same experience a couple of years ago, when I had a relatively low carb day, I double tracked my calories and it was around 800. Ridiculous.

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