Weight Watchers

I'm in my 15th week of Weight Watchers and I really like it. I've lost 42 pounds using a combo of WW, MFP, and, of course, exercise. I go to a meeting every week and track online. The meetings are a great community of people. The leader is awesome. There are some really inspiring folks there. I think the science behind it is pretty sound. It's all about: eat what you want, but in moderation. Be honest with yourself about what you're eating. Be aware of emotion-driven eating. Be active. Rely on healthy foods, but it's o-kay to have the foods you love. Ice cream? No problem. Cheeseburger? No problem. I haven't deprived myself of a single thing. Now, I will say that the foods they sell at the meeting are pretty yucky as far as preservatives, crappy ingredients, etc. But you don't have to buy those. I can't speak to the online only experience because I haven't done that; but, my experience so far has been great.

Personally, it did NOT work for me. I found it harder to count because of the point values (I think calorie counts are MUCH easier!)...I have lost 24 lbs. in 40 days on here! Good luck!!!!

I have never used it myself but I know people who have and it's always the best thing since sliced bread for the first few months. But personally I think it does nothing that yourself and MFP can't do. A massive waste of money in my opinion. Good luck. x

I have done weight watchers several times in my life. It is a very healthy program, but I just couldn't quite get with it. I didn't like having to carry around books to tell me how many points everything was. It was a whole lot of work. I am finding better success with just using MFP.

WW assigned me 30 points and that was actually more than I eat in a day and I gained weight in the most miserable ways. Furthermore, their online food database is pathetic compared to MFP--especially when it's something you're paying for. You aren't going to get anything terribly different there from here, just a hole in your pocket.

i lost a lot of weight doing that 2 years ago its brill im thinking of joining up again its that good goodluck with it x

I just re-signed up yesterday, because I needed the structure and the support.

WW works really well for me, and for many others. :flowerforyou:

Of course, so does MFP, but for some of us, WW is a slightly better fit.

I lost 76 pounds in about 2 years on WW, then tried to do "my own thing" for a few weeks and gained 9 pounds... then didn't want to go back to WW yet so joined MFP and lost 7 pounds in 9 weeks... and now am back on WW and will be tracking both places for a bit.

I say that if the wonderful free and supportive community of MFP is working for you, there is no need to try WW. But if you think that WW may be a better fit for you, go ahead and give it a try.

edited to add: I did/do Weight Watchers online only! I hate the meetings...

I love Weight Watchers, but I did Flex and Momentum.

I haven't done the new program, but I know a lot of people (mostly the less-to-lose crowd) are struggling on it, since it allows more calories than the older programs did.

I had great success with it, but you have to follow more than just the points and focus on the healthy eating part (the Good Health Guidelines) as well.

However, it boils down to a calorie-counting program dressed up. A lot of people really like the support group aspect, though. I know a few who aren't actually following WW, but attend the meetings for the support. You still have to pay for that.

I was on weight watchers..it works...I stop doing it because I found MFP for free.:laugh:

Exactly.

I was on WW for some time, and lost my first big lot of weight on it.
I found this site, and for two weeks logged in both places. When I felt secure that there wasn't a big difference, I closed my account with WW.

My only real complaint about WW is that the new points system isn't as vegetarian-friendly as the old one.

I've done WW several times and think it's a great program. However, when I started getting discouraged I'd quit going to meetings because I felt like I was wasting money and then I'd stop watching what I was doing and the weight would creep back on. I believe one of the main reasons MFP has worked so well for me is because it's free. I can always log my food and exercise easily and I can vent to my friends or the entire MFP community when things aren't going well. I don't have that guilty feeling of wasting time and money when I go for several weeks without losing anything.

My only real complaint about WW is that the new points system isn't as vegetarian-friendly as the old one.

I don't get that at all! I find the new program to be very vegan-friendly, so I don't see how it wouldn't be vegetarian-friendly.

I've been on WW since February. I've lost 32.2 lbs and am now 15.8 lbs away from my goal weight. I did plateau for about five weeks recently, but have bursted through. I think a combo of WW and MFP helps a lot...I've been using it since the end of July with WW.

I've done it many times over the years. They've recently changed the program to one that allows all the fruit you need to feel satisfied, without counting them toward your daily intake total. I had issues with the newest program and found my weight loss very inconsistent and painfully slow. I'd lose 1 pound/month but others around me were losing 5-10 pounds their first week and 2-3 pounds/week after. So, WW is a very good program for some but it wasn't good for me. I prefer counting calories, not figuring out points. I don't like having an ineffective, uninspiring leader and that's pretty common for WW. A good, motivating leader is a gem because they're hard to find.

Anyway, whatever you choose to do, good luck!

The fruit thing isn't quite accurate here. It doesn't count to your daily total, BUT you're limited to 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. This is the bit that I actually found really difficult as a vegetarian! I eat lots of fruit and veg. I ended up having to do silly calculations to work out what sort of point equivalent veg and fruit above this limit would be, and then had to quick add those. It just ended up messy and I found the mfp system easier.

I think you misunderstood the GHG. It's not a limit, it's a minimum. You should have a MINIMUM of 5 fruits and veggies a day, not a maximum.

Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't misunderstand.... When the programme was first introduced, the 'free fruit' thing became a teensy bit of a problem as people were going wild on it and stopped losing. So the leaders and the online community started talking about the five portion as a maximum. Five of each.

Perhaps the US is different, but this is certainly how the UK system was evolving.

Incidentally, I found that if I did treat fruit as 'free' without the portion limit, and still ate to my points... I stopped losing.

Definitely different in the US. But were they saying that as a guideline for those who were going overboard or were they saying it was a rule? There's a huge difference there.

That said, I seriously thought the free fruit was a mistake. Fruit is very healthy, but it's also pretty high in calories. It had points on the old system and should have had points on Points Plus. Veggies are different since the non-starchy ones are SO low in calories.