MFP Vs WW

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  • AussieNikki
    AussieNikki Posts: 168 Member
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    here is the dope:


    1. WW has a 97 % failure rate. did you get that 97%. most gain it back after leaving the program.

    2. it costs money. This is a business geared twards selling you stuff and keeping you with them.

    3. Do you really need someone else to tell you what's healthy to eat and what's not? No. You know what's right.. you just aren't doing it.

    4. Do you really need someone else to tell you when to work out? again, No

    Lastly, Why do YOU want to do WW instead of doing it on your own? What is appealing about it to you?

    Do you actually have a source for #1? Also if you leave the program of course you will gain weight back, It's for LIFE!

    Also they don't tell you what to eat or when to exercise.
  • AussieNikki
    AussieNikki Posts: 168 Member
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    I have lost over 50lb with Weight Watchers. It's the #1 weightloss program in many countries.

    I love it. But it's not for everyone. There is no need to bash it though.
  • Diary_Queen
    Diary_Queen Posts: 1,314 Member
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    I do a hybrid of WW Points Plus and MFP. I always did WW online, so this is just another part of it for me. I lost a ton of weight with only one plateau on WW's whereas I've plateaued a ton just on MFP alone. I wasn't making good choices on MFP alone and liked the WW Points system better. WW helps me keep my carbs more in check and I like that. I just log my food here and then calculate points based on my macros. It seems to be working pretty well so far. I don't have that constant feeling of starvation that I did when I was just going on calories alone (I tried low calories, recommended calories for each weight loss level, i.e. 1/2 pound a week, 1 pound a week, 2 pounds a week, I tried eating back none of my exercise calories or eating back all of them and eating back some of them - none of these things worked as well, for me, as WW Points Plus). I love MFP though. It's super easy to make recipes and track here. So, I'm doing both.

    Oh and I don't pay for the WW system. I have a calculation system in a spreadsheet that tells me how many points I get per food item. I also started keeping a list of everything I ate when I was doing the system online that you have to pay for. So, I go by those points a lot. I also find foods that have the points listed on them. So, all of my stuff is free. No, I don't need to pay for it. No, I don't need someone telling me what's good and what's bad. No, I don't need someone telling me when to exercise or what exercises to do. I use the resources that work for me.
  • AussieNikki
    AussieNikki Posts: 168 Member
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    I just left WW. I had some of the same issues as others. If I messed it up on Monday, I felt like quitting for a while. They are adding stuff like 'take a day off' and stuff to make it more flexible but it's so costly and so geared towards business rather than my success... So they refuse to automatically include lean cuisine, which is crap because people eat those. They made it hard for me to enter the foods I actually ate so that they could encourage me to buy a certain brand that was included. That was frustrating for me. And here, I've just started but it's more about me than about MFP. That's important because I am the important one in this, I am the one accountable for my success, rather than WW which is kind of all about them.

    I have never felt pressured to eat anything I didn't want to with WW. I honestly don't understand what you mean by that? If a food I am not eating isn't in the database I just add it. It takes 1 minute to do so.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    Well. I did the old style WW and boy was I hungry while doing it. It felt too much like a "diet" to me. I have to admit that I was disgusted one day when I had a tuna (with 1/2 tblsp of light mayo) on wheat bread and used up more than 1/2 my points for the day. Yet, I could eat a piece of cake and only use a couple. It seemed a wee bit skewed to me. I like the concept - but it just didn't work for me. (I'm not saying it won't work for someone else - it just didn't work for me)

    I much prefer calorie counting. It is just easier to manage.
  • Legalchica
    Legalchica Posts: 462
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    I've done both... WW a couple of times. I think MFP has a weath of knowledge, however WW did help motivate me cause I was paying.... what a waste of money if i didnt follow the plan!!! but in reality the community and help I find here is much better.
  • SamBuck123
    SamBuck123 Posts: 90
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    free is good to me :) Although ww does work and u can get a free year through your insurance usually..,...i did before but i like this site.TONS of support
  • LindseyDD
    LindseyDD Posts: 160 Member
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    Stick with MFP - I have been doing this for 7 months and have lost 80 pounds my cousin has been doing weight watchers and although she is having success she doesn't have the daily interactions with people supporting her goals so her progress is much slower.

    But you have to go with what will work for you because in the long run losing weight is the most important thing!

    Good Luck!
  • gwennypink
    gwennypink Posts: 26
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    I've done WW several times and it always worked great for me in the past as far as losing. But I was never able to maintain the full weight loss. The first time I joined (around 5 years ago) I lost 45lbs. Gained about half of that back. Lost it, then my husband and I found out we were expecting. After I had my daughter two years ago, I lost all of the 40lbs that I had gained during my pregnancy with WW as well. But after the recent switch to the Points Plus program I decided to leave WW for good. It became difficult to track and calculate points, and like many of the previous posters have mentioned, if I would blow all of my allowance points earlier in the week then I would just give up after seeing the negative number and restart next week. The best thing that I love about MFP is that if I have a bad day and go over my calories, I can just start over fresh the next day. I also feel that this is a lifestyle that I can adapt to forever, I'm not having thoughts about this being a "diet." I can see myself finally being able to maintain with this system. And you cant beat how easy it is! And free of course :) Hope this helps!
  • Thomasm198
    Thomasm198 Posts: 3,189 Member
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    MFP = Free
    WW = $$$$$$

    MFP = Count every calorie
    WW = some "free foods", eat as many as you like? (everything will make you gain weight if you eat enough of it).

    MFP = :drinker:
    WW = :indifferent:
  • cygnetpro
    cygnetpro Posts: 419 Member
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    WW is too much messing around in my opinion, it works, i know... but i love the fact this site it so black and white... make the right choices and you will lose weight... these are habits for the rest of your life too

    xxxx



    I totally agree. I belong to both sites. The social support there is unbeatable. But the points are purposely complicated enough that you need their calculator or to belong to their program. This is simple. I can calculate calories on the fly. As for the "free foods", I agree that having fruit be "free" isn't a great idea. But I have no problem with having veggies be free. It does encourage me to eat more of them (as opposed to a low-fat granola bar or something).
  • Miss_Chievous_wechange
    Miss_Chievous_wechange Posts: 1,230 Member
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    All the cool kids are on MFP :glasses:
  • Marig0ld
    Marig0ld Posts: 671 Member
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    I think WW is good for the group support and teaching portion control, and I also liked the fact that you had "Weekly" points you could use to go over on splurge days....I carried those concepts with me to MFP. I ended up leaving because it was hard for me to wrap my head around the Points system. It's also kind of a "cult" mentality...with all the lingo and the gold stars and stuff. Kinda freaked me out :laugh: I have a lot of coworkers on it, though, and they have been super successful!

    Personally, though, I've learned a lot more about nutrition and exercise from people on MFP. Not that it's medical advice or anything, but I learned that there are many different ways of making a healthy lifestyle work.
  • beccadaniixox
    beccadaniixox Posts: 542 Member
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    I tried WW when I was 13 and 18. I got really bored both times.. I spent so much time trying to figure out the points for every little thing I wanted to eat.
    I guess that's one way to not eat food.. get annoyed enough at the points to just say FINE I WON'T EAT IT! haha.
    I like MFP better because it's the calories. They are right there!! :)
    If you miss the calories well then.. just.. I don't know, haha. :)
  • Elfinmajic
    Elfinmajic Posts: 20 Member
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    I've never used WW, but essentially you are doing the same thing. I hear the long term success rate with WW isn't very good. People don't seem to become educated on the kinds of foods they eat, their different components, etc. and when they don't have an arbitrary number system that is only unique to WW, they struggle. I'd say count the calories, learn the food, and have a better long term success rate.
  • LastSixtySix
    LastSixtySix Posts: 352 Member
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    In the end, the biggest asset to one's excess loss success is oneself. MFP is great because it requires SELF-determination and SELF-organization. One's SELF has to set the rules to abide by such as reading posts daily, logging in, communicating with friends, and of course logging food and exercise.

    With WW or any other outside of SELF program, someone like a mother, teacher, or other than SELF authority figure is telling you what to do to be successful. That's okay when one is just starting and needs guidance and instruction. However, as time goes on, that crutch or "Mommy" becomes harmful and can actually sabatoge success. Any failures can be blamed intentionally or unintentionally on one's leader, like "she/he had an attitude this week, doesn't like me" etc. Same with a trainer and I use trainers now and then; however, I'm of the mindset that the trainer is there to help me be a better me, not to lose my excess for me or build my muscle for me. It's my sweat and tears when I'm working with them.

    MFP forces one's SELF to be in charge at all times and not give over authority or power to some outside entity. In that respect, it reinforces needed maturity, growith and individual responsibility.

    -Debra (the "Last Sixty")
  • kmcgrath1
    kmcgrath1 Posts: 175 Member
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    I have been toying with the same thought. I was a former WW member on the old "CORE" program and lost most of my weight on that. Then the new Points + system came and I gained. UGH, it was so confusing. Ok, now light bread is considered a simply filling food. It was getting too complicated.

    But now they're rolling out the new Points + 2012 program and I just don't see it working for me. I am one of those people that yes, if I see Im in the negative already it puts me in a negative mood all week.

    On MFP if I have a high calorie day, so be it...the next day I'm back at square one and I truly like the ease of counting my calories. I figured one salad I ate which came out to zero pts on WW was almost 700 calories! OMG...it was a big salad but was loaded with chicken, beans, eggs, etc. It all adds up...

    Oh and I love the support here on MFP, I never got that online with WW. I would post something and no one would answer it or if they did it was snooty like I should know the answer. Here, I get so much support, I love my MFPs! And of course it's free!!! Figure even the biggest loser people count calories..not points.

    WWs works for some, it just doesn't work for me anymore. I'm sticking with MFP.
  • lrichardson2360
    lrichardson2360 Posts: 225 Member
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    I am currently doing both. I don't really see the difference between traking my points on WW vs. tracking what I eat on MFP. I've been on MFP for a couple years now and had gotten stuck for 6 months. I was working out like crazy and eating healthy and nothing was working. People would tell me "oh you're not eating enough so your going into starvation mode and that's why you're not losing", or "you're eating too many carbs and that's why you're not losing", or "you're eating too many fruits and your sugar is high and that's why you're not losing", and a bunch of other reasons. I felt like I was being pulled in various directions so I decided to join WW this past September and as of today, I'm down 24 lbs. I find that that it helps show me portion control and which foods will give me a bigger bang for my buck. Best of all I have the meetings that hold me accountable for my actions and that is a great motivator. I still love MFP for the support of all my MFP friends!
  • janny4jc
    janny4jc Posts: 2
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    I believe WW is a good, sound program - I lost quite a bit of weight on it in the past (about 5 years ago). I did gain most of it back, though - my own fault. I began using MFP seriously this past October and am finding that it is successful for me for most of the same reasons I lost weight with WW. The food diary - tracking what I eat - that is essential in both programs. Weekly weigh-ins - and accountability and support. The huge difference is that MFP is free!!! I can save the $40.00 a month I would be spending on WW and buy a new wardrobe when I reach my goal!!
  • OnWisconsin84
    OnWisconsin84 Posts: 409 Member
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    here is the dope:


    1. WW has a 97 % failure rate. did you get that 97%. most gain it back after leaving the program.

    2. it costs money. This is a business geared twards selling you stuff and keeping you with them.

    3. Do you really need someone else to tell you what's healthy to eat and what's not? No. You know what's right.. you just aren't doing it.

    4. Do you really need someone else to tell you when to work out? again, No

    Lastly, Why do YOU want to do WW instead of doing it on your own? What is appealing about it to you?

    I totally agree, except I managed to lose 110 pounds AND keep it off by going to WW. Personally, without the face-to-face support I received weekly (and the praise I got each week when I lost) I don't think I would've been so successful in losing it within 13 months. What I found, however, is that it is NOT a viable way to maintain the weight loss LONG TERM since WW guidelines are still pretty outta whack. And all of their endorsed products are heavily processed. I hated that. I struggled for quite a while to find my place with 'dieting' (vegetarian, vegan, ETL, Paleo, etc.) but when I found MFP I seemed to be in a much better place. So much easier to balance things & look at the big picture. I got SO sick of counting points, and it started messing with my head. Some would argue counting calories is the same thing, but I've been much more successful mentally with this route. Plus I can focus on other equally important goals on MFP too - sodium, carbs, sugar, etc. Plus the support here is much more amazing, even though you're not getting it face-to-face. Whatever you choose, good luck :)

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