Weight Watchers.... I can't really gasp my mind around it
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WW works on exactly the same principle as mfp.
The reasons I prefere mfp are: I was buying a lot of ww branded food when doing ww as working out points can be time consuming but if you buy branded products it's there on the label.
Mfp is free.
I lose more weight with mfp.
There's not enough emphasis on exercise with ww.
Other than those points, they are EXACTLY the same, my propoint allowance was the same as my calorie allowance on here.0 -
I know WW works for some people, a woman in my office is a "life time member" for having lost so much weight and keeping it off for a certain length of time. She swears by it...after she explained it to me though, the new system seems like too much work. It takes into account so many different variables to figure out the point value of your food.
In my opinion, learning the difference between garbage and good food is necessary to understanding the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. I get that it is essentially just another method of counting calories, but I (personally) don't think it highlights the necessary components requisite towards understanding nutrition wholly.0 -
As a Lifetime Weight Watchers member, it worked for me. Reminded me how to eat again (went off track there for a while) I used my points towards healthy guidelines that they recommended (daily servings of dairy, meat etc) just as it is on myplate.gov. Moderation IS key. If I loaded my meals with veggies (which are ZERO points) I'd be satisfied by the end of the day, no problems.
Just like any weight loss plan, if you choose to eat junk - your success of a healthy lifestyle will not be so successful. Fuel yourself with the macros your body needs! Just reading that she eats her points in junk makes me sluggish and want to nap lol0 -
LOL, "Free" really is the only difference.0
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OP, for weight loss you can put *any* food into your body so long as you are consuming less energy than you expend each day.
If you expend 2000 calories in a day, you could eat 1500 calories of pizza and ice cream or 1500 calories of fruit and veg, you would lose the same amount of weight. You may not be as *healthy* on the pizza and ice cream but you would still lose weight. Calories in vs calories out is all that matters in weight loss. "Health" is another matter entirely.
Weight watchers is just a bit of math that converts calories in food into points. That's all there is to it.0 -
All of the weight loss programs out there work IF you follow the "plan". This is great and I myself have lost weight on WW & Jenny Craig...several times. The key point here is "several times". I would lose the weight and keep it off for a while but the minute I stopped buying their meals and snacks or continued to buy them but not follow the "plan", I started to put it back on. I have found that with calorie counting (& my daughter has been singing its praises for years), you actually LEARN how to eat healthfully along with having the occasional breakout meal (or day) as well as actually learning how to choose better snacks! The key is moderation in everything. Enjoy what you like but in a smaller portions and regularity. Counting calories has conditioned me to look for better choices that will satisfy my cravings as well as my nutritional needs. I used to buy all frozen meals and veggies. Now, I am conditioned to buy fresh meats, fish, and veggies and this actually saves money as well as my health. No preservatives & only the extra sodium I choose to add. Bottom line is moderation and changing your behavior by learning how to shop for and eat good foods. I'll stop rambling, now. :-)0
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I am a weight watchers life time member. Which means I got to my goal weight and have kept all the weight off so I have a free lifetime membership if I continue to keep the weight off. So I really know both the ww program and MFP now. Both are based on the same main factor of counting calories and portion control. Weight watchers points system does factor in fiber and protein and such too which for overall nutrition is much better. You can track that stuff on MFP too, but you have to be very conscious of looking at your diary to make sure you are getting enough fiber, not eating too much fat, etc. WW does some of that for you. BUT having said that, I really like how easy MFP makes tracking, it's not quite as simple as WW so if you are disciplined enough to track all the nutritional stuff and make sure you are eating right (not just limiting your calories) MFP is great. The reason I really like WW though is because of the meetings. Unlike MFP you really get face-to-face support from leaders and other members if you go to the meetings. I know you can get some of that on MFP through message boards like this but it is just not the same. I developed a relationship with my leader and she kept me accountable. It really helped me lose the weight I needed too. SO now that I'm at goal MFP is great for me. The bottom line though is what works best for you. To be successful you have to find something that you are comfortable with and that you can make a lifestyle. Eating right and keeping the weight off is not about "dieting". It's about life choices that you can make habits and be happy with in the process. We all need to have our treats, but our total calories for the day can't be all treats. Just remember eat to live, don't live to eat!0
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"ok, do this and lose weight. When you're done, you're done" and the weight comes back for a lot of members,
When my wife reached her goal weight, they put her on "maintenance" and she continued paying the monthly fee to access the web site for quite some time. She finally got sick of paying it and bought a few of the expensive little gadgets they have that calculate points for you.
I agree that WW should teach nutrition, but they make their money off their users going to look up nutrition (points). If they taught their users how to calculate calories and manage a balanced diet, they'd lose massive amounts of money in user access fees. That's not going to sit well with their shareholders.0 -
Just remembered another reason I prefer mfp to ww.....I don't have to go to meetings once a week. I hated those meetings. So boring, just another way of advertising their products.0
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I'm a fan of WW.. I lost my first 10 lbs here, then my last 50 with them.
The points make sense if you really look at them.. And the extra 49 per week is calculated so that you can eat them and still have a deficit in calories.
They also have a different way to use them called the 'Simply Filling Technique'.. It urges you to eat cleaner foods. All the foods that they see as 'Power foods' will be 0 points and you only track the 'junk' type foods that you eat (that's the 49 points).. So, this way you'll choose to eat a cup of brown rice for 0 pts instead of a cup of white rice for 5 pts. I'm more of a fan of this program, but the meetings barely ever advertise it, unfortunately. I had to get my own booklets and stuff for that one.
And you definitely wouldn't be getting 22 pts, the lowest they will ever advise someone to go is to 26 pts per day and NEVER under that way you'll get enough vitamins for your body.0 -
I lost 35 pounds doing it! You can usually get in to a meeting for free...see if you get a good vibe and join if you like...it is a lot like MFP...I met my WW Goal and now I can go for free for life (as long as I maintain my weight within 2 pounds of my goal)...I like support of going to the meetings and I also like the day to day stuff here...the one negative is that WW, while it encourages exercise, it's not a really strong part of the program IMO...as soon as I got the FREE memebrship in WW, I joined the gym to help me get a good handle on the exercise part! That said...I don't count points like I did when I was trying to lose, but I did it for over a year and got it pretty much down.0
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I found success in indulging in junk, when I want it. Since I am no longer dieting, I know it I want chocolate one day, and an apple won't do the trick, I'll have to cut back somewhere else. This works for me because It keeps me level, and I don't have out of control junk cravings. The same thing when I know I will be drinking.0
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Weight Watchers is just teaching you portion control. You can have ANY food, but you have to limit portions. Like any "diet" or healthy "lifestyle". It's around for people who don't know what to do to lose weight and need a method to follow.
Diet's shouldn't be restrictive because as soon as you release the restriction (aka hit goal weight) and you start eating more relaxed the weight creeps back on. MFP shows you how to live a healthy lifestyle long term. Exercise, meet your calorie and macro goals, walha, healthy lifestyle forever.0 -
The main difference with WW is the exercise factor. They don't put much focus on working out at all. It's more of an afterthought IMO.
They do encourage working out because it's good for you, but the main focus it what you are eating since weight loss is more about what you eat than how you work out.
That said, I've been doing weight watchers since September 2011 and am down 39 pounds. It is about moderation and your daily allowable points is calculated by your height, weight and gender. You can't calculate it just by using your weight and they do not publish the calculation. I'm 6'1" and 233 lbs, my daily points allowance is 39.
I love WW and I love the support I get from my friends on MFP, so I do both.0 -
it is true that some people lose weight still eating smaller amounts of bad foods...but they aren't necessarily getting healthier, just smaller... WW members are supposed to follow Good Health Guidelines (GHGs) about things like fruits and veggies and whole grains, dairy, water ect...if you meet all your GHGs you don't have a lot of points to "spend" on junk!0
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[It wasn't meant to criticize anything. I was just wondering how it worked. I just don't see eating unhealthy foods and not exercising as a diet, that's all.
The problem, of course, is that WW and MFP allow you freedom of choice of your foods. Which is great, because if you spend some time working at a good meal plan you can learn about food. But it's bad if you have no interest in learning about food.
The problem is, without learning about food, she's on a diet treadmill - she'll take off weight on a diet then gain it back, then go back on the diet.
She might be better served in the beginning going on a "meal plan" type of diet (I believe Jenny Craig does this) where you must buy their food or eat very specific items. That way, she's at least being introduced to what reasonably healthy food looks and tastes like, and benefiting from somewhat balanced nutrition. None of the meals they offer are ideal, but they're better than wasting all your points on fluff that's not feeding your body.0 -
Last reason (I keep remembering more after I've posted).
The goal weights they give in WW are too high imo. I'm now 7lbs under what my goal weight in ww was, and I still want to lose anotehr 12lbs. 19lbs is a huge difference. My goal on here is 125lbs, which is not too low for my height of 5'4". Their goal was 144lbs. Way too high for me.0 -
I've never done WW but since I've started MFP I can honestly say that I haven't cut anything out of my diet and still eat fast food and ice cream and chocolate but use portion control to stay within my allotted calories for the day. I also eat back the majority of my calories and have consistently lost pounds. I know everyone is different but for me it's all about portion control so that may be all that your co-worker needs?0
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Also, people keep saying MFP shows you how to eat healthy....no it doesn't. You can enter McDonalds into your diary every day and still be under your calorie goal and MFP will say great job for staying under! This is what you would weigh in 5 weeks if you ate like this every day and it WILL be a smaller number! No where on this sites besides the forms tells you what to eat. WW is the same way. Yes, you can eat McDonalds every day and stay under your points and lose weight, but you aren't getting healthier.0
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When I did weight watchers I was younger and I saved all my points to go out boozing on Friday's0
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