Has anyone here done Weight Watchers? (Exercising etc)

[Jo]

I’m feeling so discouraged.


I am active, exercise in some form every day, good at stuff like drinking my water and making semi-healthy choices, but it always seems to fall apart. I try to plan but get thrown off by so-so choices (example, my soup, crackers, apple and hard boiled egg lunch ended up well over 700 calories, not the 450-500 I had planned for. The soup was higher calorie than I expected and I ate too much. Which sort-of threw me off for the day.


I’m not gaining weight, but I can’t quite seem to get organized to lose weight. And I don’t know what I need to fix this. I just want someone or something to tell me how to eat in a way that is sustainable for the long-term, helps me keep going with my fitness and activity goals, and gets my weight back down to a happy level (like 40 pounds down, not 5 pounds. I’m actively overweight).

this isn’t a “I don’t know why I can’t lose weight” post - I know where I go wrong, I just can’t seem to fix it. So I’m trying to figure out a solution.

would weight watchers work? Or something? Anything? There are places near me that offer nutrition and activity plans, but I suspect that some of them are scams, promote unhealthy choices, or otherwise not a good idea.

so.. weightwatchers. Worth trying? I think I have the exercise part down, I just don’t seem to be able to figure out how to eat. Would WW work?

thanks.

[ilovecandy]

I can't speak to weight watchers hut I have started tracking my food through my fitness pal and it has helped me in learning how many calories and breaking down the general macros of those calories. I have definitely been eating less sweets in general and being more mindful about what I eat.

[vcubergirl]

I have done weight watchers in the past, and I think it's a good place to get started if you don't really have a good idea of what you should be eating. The support and discussion at meetings can be very helpful!

However, I have found that it's not right for me. Now I also use my fitness pal to track my calories and make sure I'm, getting enough protein, and that works better for me now. In the beginning, though, I would have been completely lost and discouraged trying to do it on my own.

[Jo]

Thank you both. I clearly need something more than just doing it on my own, so I’m researching and trying to decide between noom and WW

[vcubergirl]

Mar 9, 2019 10:06:54 GMT -5 Jo said:

Thank you both. I clearly need something more than just doing it on my own, so I’m researching and trying to decide between noom and WW

The only person I know who has done noom was not impressed. She said it was actually not very helpful/supportive and was really frustrated.

[goldengirlz]

I’ve done Weight Watchers in the past, and I agree that it’s a very livable program. I like that it gives you a bank of weekly points that you can use for special occasions and treats — or just because you accidentally had too much soup with a high calorie count. I like that fruits and veggies (and now lean protein) are “free,” meaning you don’t have to track those items and you have something to grab on those days when you’re extra hungry or saving your calories for a nice dinner.

I used to say it gave me a lot of outs so I didn’t have to be so strict in order to follow the program.

The two major downsides are cost and that it still rewards a low-fat diet. In older versions of the program, for example, the calculator would give more points to things like nuts and avocados than junkier food like frozen yogurt and sugary cereal.

They’ve made a lot of changes to improve that (and I haven’t done the most recent iteration) but I’ve heard that listed as one frustration.

[Jo]

A little more digging and googling shows that lots of people don’t love noom and their cancellation policies and customer service are pretty shady, so no noom. And I think WW is geared to a more sedentary crowd.

I think I’m just going to go back to MFP, recommit to more precise planning (not just “soup for lunch” but 200 calories of soup, logged in advance), and maybe invest in a smart scale and get on it every damn day,

I’ll give it a week.

[goldengirlz]

Mar 9, 2019 11:10:01 GMT -5 Jo said:

A little more digging and googling shows that lots of people don’t love noom and their cancellation policies and customer service are pretty shady, so no noom. And I think WW is geared to a more sedentary crowd.

I think I’m just going to go back to MFP, recommit to more precise planning (not just “soup for lunch” but 200 calories of soup, logged in advance), and maybe invest in a smart scale and get on it every damn day,

I’ll give it a week.

I’m not trying to sway you to WW, I promise, but you can link your Fitbit or Jawbone to the app and it gives you exercise points that you can use if your bank of weeklies isn’t enough.

[Jo]

Mar 9, 2019 11:13:09 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Mar 9, 2019 11:10:01 GMT -5 Jo said:

And I think WW is geared to a more sedentary crowd.

I’m not trying to sway you to WW, I promise, but you can link your Fitbit or Jawbone to the app and it gives you exercise points that you can use if your bank of weeklies isn’t enough.

I’m more concerned about the macro balance. I do better with more fat, and I suspect my muscles and fitness benefit more from a higher fat/protein eating plan. I know google is a bad source for stuff like this, but WW seems to be geared to people who are more sedentary, not training for a HM and a Kilimanjaro climb.

I did WW years ago to lose the baby weight after ds was born. I remember enjoying it, and I loved that I could eat all kinds of sweet, low-fat snacks with ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. I wouldn’t eat like that today.

[memenee]

Mar 9, 2019 11:39:16 GMT -5 Jo said:

Mar 9, 2019 11:13:09 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I’m not trying to sway you to WW, I promise, but you can link your Fitbit or Jawbone to the app and it gives you exercise points that you can use if your bank of weeklies isn’t enough.

I’m more concerned about the macro balance. I do better with more fat, and I suspect my muscles and fitness benefit more from a higher fat/protein eating plan. I know google is a bad source for stuff like this, but WW seems to be geared to people who are more sedentary, not training for a HM and a Kilimanjaro climb.

I did WW years ago to lose the baby weight after ds was born. I remember enjoying it, and I loved that I could eat all kinds of sweet, low-fat snacks with ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. I wouldn’t eat like that today.

If your body does better with fat, as you say, WW is not going to be a good fit for you. I would track macros instead. Good luck, I know how frustrating it is but it just sounds like you need to follow ‘something’ to keep your calories in check. You’ll get there - you just need to find something that works for you. Give macros a try - you can do a low carb/high fat/high protein.

[vcubergirl]

You can set your macros in mfp to, whatever levels you want, which makes it a lot easier to keep track. I know a few people who are active on the message boards and do the challenges and stuff, but that's not really something I've done.

If you want a mfp friend, my name on there is vcubergirl818!

[secretlyevil]

Mar 9, 2019 10:06:54 GMT -5 Jo said:

Thank you both. I clearly need something more than just doing it on my own, so I’m researching and trying to decide between noom and WW

I tried Noom and it’s not anywhere near WW.

[bostonmichelle]

I’ve done WW in the past and have lifetime status but haven’t gone to a meeting in years. I lost a good chunk of weight (15-20 pounds). I think they are good at getting you to look at portions and get your head in the right place. I stepped it up after staying that weight for a while with MFP and tracking macros to fine tune down to the weight I wanted at the time. I think it’s a good program to get you down to a healthy weight but if you want to get below that weight you will need to supplement.

[Loco Coco]

Yep, with that and exercise I lost 35lb. It’s been about a year since I stopped and I’ve mostly kept it off. I’m a mindless eater so it helped me keep track of how much I was really eating!

[emilyj]

I have done both WW and Noom. WW was a long time ago, and it stopped being useful for me once I started working out and training. When my meeting leader told me to stop exercising so much, I was done.

Noom was ok at first, but it rapidly went to unhelpful and annoying. I also had a bitch of a time cancelling. I’m still fighting them over it.

[gt7301b]

It sounds to me like you are looking for a little direction with your eating and using a program like WW will give you that structure. Is it perfect? No, but if I was in your shoes I'd try it for a month or two and see how it goes.

[allez]

I re-started WW in February and, so far, I like the new program. Down 11 pounds in the first four weeks and I think that is because it is helping me re-think portion sizes and budget my food (stuff that I knew to do, but didn't). The one issue that I see that some people have is over eating the zero point foods (like your apple and hard boiled egg are zero points) and that's where some people aren't losing weight. I limit myself on those as well so that is why I think I have had some success so far. I also don't eat any of the WW products but those are a bit better than what they used to be (ingredient wise). It seems like it is more difficult to eat out on the new plan - you still can, just higher point values than the old plans. I have to go to meetings (they call them workshops now) because I need the accountability of the scale each week. I think that the new WW emphasizes movement much more than in previous plans (I did it over 10 years ago and there was no mention of exercise or movement at our meetings) and it has taken a much more holistic approach than what it was. WW is the only commercial plan that has ever helped me lose weight.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[itsme]

I track macros and use a template from Renaissance Periodization to help me figure out what to eat, how much and when.  If you follow the templates there is no tracking since the macros are already laid out for you for each meal.  They have templates geared toward people who are very active with lifting and some that are geared toward people who want to eat healthy and isn't based around workouts. It helped me lose 55lbs a few years ago and I've been able to maintain it with loosely following. It helped me get a better idea of what I should be eating whereas calorie counting wasn't working for me long term.

[sassystace]

I would disagree about WW being for the sedentary. I lost 15 lbs last year and have kept it off. I'm quite active and there are many others on WW Connect that are too. WW gives you extra points for activity. You can use them if you want. I think if you want to keep doing what are you doing (you mention NEEDING to eat a lot of fats) you'll get the same results you always got. WW is good at teaching balance. Might help your weight loss goals to try something different.