Myfitnesspal vs Weight Watchers

I did WW for several years and that is DEFINITELY not the company philosophy. People need to educate themselves before trashing something they don't understand.

Direct quote from their website:

"The ProPoints plan is a fantastic counting system that allows you to eat what you like, when you like..."

Where does that say, "Eat small meals and reward yourself with a big piece of cake"? I don't see that.

Weight Watcher teaches healthy eating. The nine Good Health Guidelines are all about nutrition. You're supposed to fulfill those before you have a "treat." And how in the world is that any different from calorie counting? You're still eating "what you like, when you like," aren't you? Just tracking it in a different way.

Like I said, EDUCATE YOURSELF before spouting off.

I was making light of some of the previous adverts shown by WW on UK tv, that certainly had people tucking into cake... not spouting off or trying to offend.

However my main point was they are endorsing parts of McDonalds menu, is this really a good policy for a company concerned with healthy eating?

I certainly don't eat what I want when I want, I think, plan, eat and make gains and losses I require.

So I guess you never eat cake or ice cream or chocolate?

You have a set number of Poiunts with WW that you are not supposed to go over. The "what you want, when you want" means that you can eat the foods you like and eat when you are hungry. You still plan.

You've taken one line from the website and decided you understand the program. You don't.

I've eaten cake but usually after a workout, I actually ate ice cream yesterday as wanted more fat in my diet (good for the hormones) and I regularly eat 85%+ chocolate for much the same reason as the ice cream but also has similar characteristics to dark green veg.

It's just my opinion that their philosophy is flawed.

Like I said, you don't actually know what you're talking about. You are DOING WW if you're calorie-counting. You're just counting differently.

As for McDonald's, there are actually healthy foos on the menu. Sometimes people are in a place where they have to stop and get something quickly and don't have an option other than fast food. At least WW is making a point of giving people guidance on what's best to choose in that situation.

McDonald's has NEVER been my first choice for dining, but there have been times in my life where I didn't have a choice. I'm glad I had the tools to know what to choose during those times.

ok, I guess I can say I don't know that ww doesn't teach about what foods you should be eating and how to get proper nutrition on a calorie restricted diet, but I can say that the people I know that are on it, don't seem to have a clue.

There are people on MFP who don't have a clue. Plenty of 'em. There are people on MFP following crazy fad diets, doing HCG and promoting eating disorders.

Does that mean MFP is a bad site?

Let me explain WW and please tell me where it differs from MFP:

Based on height, weight, age and gender, one receives a daily minimum number of points to use towards food. On top of the daily minimum, a WW receives a weekly allowance of 49 points to use at any time within that week, either to eat more each day or to have a treat or go out to dinner or a party or whatever (or not use at all). Then, when one exercises, one receives "activity points," which are used (or not used) exactly the same way as the weekly allowance points.

If following the WW program correctly, members are encouraged to follow the Good Health Guidelines and use their points towards those first before eating foods that do not fit in the guidelines. The nine are:

1. A minimum of 5 fruits and veggies each day
2. A minimum of 6 eight oz glasses of water each day
3. Take a multivitamin
4. Eat lean protein
5. Choose whole grains whenever possible
6. Exercise 30 minutes a day
7. Two teaspoons of a healthy oil (some of these are canola, flax or olive)
8. Avoid sugar and alcohol
9. 2 servings of dairy per day

All weekly and AP points reset at the end of your week.

Hi Rachelle, my husband and I are doing kind of a combination MFP and WW system right now. I love MFP because it makes you conscious of what you are putting in your mouth. We eat the Smart Ones meals, just to help with portion control and to have an exact caloric count. So far, we love it!

I've never done WW. Simply because i'm a poor college student and MFP is free

WW has the advantage of the real world meetings if that's the type of membership you're enrolled in. Real world support is great, so MFP can't beat that. If you're talking online only, and need to make a choice, MFP is free, allows for more flexibility, has a wider range of perspectives (WW is one, and a great one, but will tend to attract folks who go with that model only) that expand learning, and more user friendly IMO.

Hi I am a college student just starting out. Friend and motivators are awesome.

I have been here a week and I LOVE IT! I havent done WW simply because I am TOO lazy to track points. I like just entering what I have in the food diary and being done with it.

This all looks perfectly fine, but can I ask a few questions regarding these 9 guidelines;

1. Large majority of people out there don't like veggies so they are going to eat 5+ servings of fruit a day, which will surely
contain a lot of sugar? -- So? I eat a lot of fruit and have lost weight and am very, very healthy based on lab work done over the years. Fruit is very healthy.


2. A larger person is going to need a fair amount more water than this a day, looking in the toilet to guage water consuption
would maybe be a better idea? -- It's a minimum, first of all. Second, the current research is that we don't need nearly as much water as many WL programs insist we drink because there is a lot of water in foods.


3. Most multivitamins need to be consumed with fat to allow absorbtion of all the contents otherwise it's coming straight out the -- See the oil guideline.

4. Why only lean protein? -- Why not?

5. Don't many people have gut issues with gluten in grains? -- Some do. It's a current fad and a FEW (very few) people actually have an issue with it. But brown rice is a whole grain, among other non-gluten containing grains. Also, if you have a problem with gluten, you shouldn't be eating white bread, either. Just sayin'.

6. Exercise 30 minutes a day... with proper rest and 7+ hours of sleep? -- Huh? Now you're just being difficult.

7. Wow, I can actually agree with this one - though they should also be including coconut oil. -- I didn't list all the oils, but the benefits of coconut oil are disputed still.

8. Won't sugar be fine post 30 minutes exercise to promote recovery? -- Above, you complained about too much sugar in fruit and now you're piscking apart the limit sugar guideline. And it's "limit," not "avoid." And it's mostly referring to refines sugar.

9. Don't many people also have intolerances to dairy? -- There are other options. The list of dairy products includes items for those with an intolerance and vegans. There are more details than I gave, but this is a high-level overview of the program.

Lastly thanks for educating me on the finer points of WW.
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Bottom line is, the vast majority of people who want to lose weight don't care about nutrition, they just want to be skinny. So if WW can at least give some of those people a high-level education on proper nutrition and allow them to form the habit, what's wrong with that? Those who want to know more will pursue that knowledge. Just like MFP people do.

I have yet to see an official MFP guideline on WHAT to eat.

I have to agree with pp... I tried the meetings and did extremely well but since becoming a mom I can't find a meeting that fits my working and baby schedule... I've always excelled when there's a group of people doing the same thing as myself. I've observed and noticed the website doesn’t hold meetings online, (I think A weekly group that logged on around the same time would be neat!) and I never really see anyone on there. But MFP is free and I'm trying to save all I can in this tight economy.

going to sound like a broken record but ww is over priced and only really helpful if you do online and the meetings , also you have to always worry about adding up the points and dont count fruit or veggies ???!!!??? questionable i love mfp its free and you have great support group and the money toward ww use it toward sgym or something like that you know ...

The weight loss secret:

Calories in < calories out, low fat, high fiber. It doesn't matter if you count points, calories, euros, beans, whatever. You have to burn more than you take in. Tada!

I have done WW successfully in the past. I really liked it, but I was easily able to ballpark the points in my head and found it easy to follow. 1 point was 50 calories, and I would round up if it were particularly high in fat, and round down if it were particularly high in fiber. I couldn't really do that with the new system, so I decided to just track calories (which was really all I was doing anyway!) and found MFP through the recommendation of some others (ironically, on the WW site). So far, I really like MFP.

I don't really understand the comments about how WW doesn't promote eating good/healthy/whole/unprocessed foods. How does MFP promote that any more? I could choose to eat small meals all day and then a huge hunk of chocolate cake at the end of the day just as easily on MFP as I could on WW. It's just a matter of choosing how you spend your points or calories.

I think the new Points Plus system is designed to encourage you to choose healthier foods, putting more of an emphasis on the protein/carb/fat ratio of what you eat than just calories and fat like it used to. Whether you choose to follow that philosopy, or eat small amounts of crap is up to you. Just like it is on MFP.

All I can say is be glad you're on a weight loss journey in 2012 and NOT in the 70's- did you guys ever see the WW guidelines for the 70's? What a HOT mess that was:
http://www.dwlz.com/WWinfo/old1972ww.html

The weight loss secret:

Calories in < calories out, low fat, high fiber. It doesn't matter if you count points, calories, euros, beans, whatever. You have to burn more than you take in. Tada!

And there it is in a nutshell :happy: