# Anybody on Weight Watchers?



## maxbetta

I joined their online program back in March and so far I've lost 15 pounds rather easily. I stay within my points each day, use some of my extra weekly ones, and then earn more by exercising.

Is anybody else on here following the WW plan?


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## Tinker

WW is an excellent plan. I reached goal & maintained goal for 2 years, then I slacked off, and gained about 30 pounds back. This was about 2 years ago, when they switched to Points Plus. This was my fault, and not a reflection on WW.

I no longer go to the meetings, but I am tracking points, and I am down about 16 pounds in the last 4 months. That is not great, but we had an all inclusive trip to Jamaica in there, and a lot of stressful things going on, so I am happy with it. I try to exercise, and I count my points, even on days I go way over.

WW is a good program. You are doing an excellent job---keep it up!


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## maxbetta

Yay! Finally, somebody answered!  Thanks. It's hard to keep going when I have SO MUCH to lose and I end up on a 3-week stall, but I'm still plugging away. I don't go to the meetings either, I just track everything on my phone. I have to say, it's by far the easiest diet/lifestyle I've ever had to follow.


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## Tinker

I loved my meetings & my leader, but after a while, I just wasn't loosing (because I stopped doing the plan), and it was ridiculous to pay when I wasn't really participating. It DOES work when you follow the program. I do notice I have much better results when I do cardio or dance videos then when I was just walking. 

You will have plateaus, and even gains, but don't let that get you down. Just keep on going. My niece lost over 100 pounds on WW about 5 years ago, and still looks great. She is the one who inspired me to join. There are a lot of WW success stories out there. Just hang in there!


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## ar_wildflower

I did weight watchers for a while and lost weight. It is a good program. I didn't like that it seemed to consume my life constantly counting points and thinking about what I would eat next. It is also expensive, I felt like I knew how to eat right, I didn't need to pay someone to tell me what to eat. However I concede, I am about 30 lbs over weight right now. Maybe I do need someone to tell me what to eat


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## offGridNorthern

I am currently using the online weight watchers program and I like it. I couldn't "buy in to" the meeting thing --- I had nothing in common with the people there, as a teacher, I was focusing on the instructor's horrendous grammar rather than the info and because I live in the rural area I. Didnt want to make a trek weekly to the city for a meeting. 

I laugh and say I spend 1/2 my time thinking about what I am going to eat and then the other 1/2 of my time figuring out the points of what I ate! But I am thinking if one keeps it up this will become second nature and not so time consuming. 

And it does work because it gets u looking at what u r eating and in particular, portion sizes. Some of the recipes are good and others use highly processed short-cuts (I think the recipes are geared towards people working FT who can't take time to do the slow cooking thing). So I just adapt those recipes.


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## saritamae

I am doing WW and I like it. Like offGridNorthern said, it gets me to look at what I'm eating. I KNOW what's good for me and what isn't....but its easier for me to look the other way if I don't have to log what I'm eating. This forces me to think before I eat and that's a really good thing for me.


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## Adirondackgal

I joined WW in January of this year. I have lost 36 pounds. The program does work. If I don't go to meetings I will slack off. My leader is amazing. Two weeks ago at our meeting we had members that lost from 50 pounds to 122 pounds. It was so inspiring. You can also get support from a WW discussion board, and there are recipes that help too. Good luck on your weight loss journey. Any questions, just ask.


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## d'vash

An aunt of mine lost 35 lbs, in a very short amount of time, using WW. She has kept it off for 4 years, so far.


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## Bkpkchck

My mother-in-law lost over 100 lbs on WW and I joined this week. I like the points system and don't find it to be that daunting. Also, I love the idea that technically I don't have to change what I eat, as long as I stay within my points. That will help with portion control. Portion control, not completely changing what I eat will help this be a lifestyle change.


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## wr

I don't attend meeting as often as I should but I lost very close to 100lbs about 25 years ago and so far, so good. 


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## karenp

I had good luck with it a few years ago, but when I tried again with the points plus I found it too much trouble to figure out the points. Things that had been listed before are no longer there. I might try again, but we don't have the money right now.


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## greenmcdonalds

I have been on weight watchers so much that I know the points without looking them up. There is acouple of web sites that might help. Bootcampbuddies.com, and Dotties. I like ww. but I always start a diet and never finish. Just yesterday I said I'm starting a diet, 2hrs. later I was eating popcorn with real butter. gre:


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## wr

greenmcdonalds said:


> I have been on weight watchers so much that I know the points without looking them up. There is acouple of web sites that might help. Bootcampbuddies.com, and Dotties. I like ww. but I always start a diet and never finish. Just yesterday I said I'm starting a diet, 2hrs. later I was eating popcorn with real butter. gre:


There is absolutely nothing wrong with popcorn or real butter as long as you fit it in your day and manage portions. 

WW tends to promote it's program more as a lifestyle than a diet because diets are restrictive and have a tendency to fail because people feel deprived.


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## krochetnkat

I am on WW now (Did it one other time and lost 50 lbs). This is my second time, wanting to lose weight gain from baby (6 mths old) and bad drugs that make me gain weight (prednisone). I love WW. It seems to make more sense than other diet programs. It teaches you what to LOOK for to lower points and change your lifestyle. Unfortunately it didn't stick with me the first time, but it did take me almost 5 years to gain weight back. That's way better than the other programs I have tried prior to going to ww.


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## homstdr74

wr said:


> There is absolutely nothing wrong with popcorn or real butter as long as you fit it in your day and manage portions.
> 
> WW tends to promote it's program more as a lifestyle than a diet because diets are restrictive and have a tendency to fail because people feel deprived.


I find there to be a problem with things like real butter. If you were to think about keeping under the amount of calories you have much as a person would about staying within the budget they set themselves, butter and all concentrates like butter are a real luxury item. One tablespoon of butter isn't going to butter much popcorn, and there are about one hundred calories per tablespoon.

Better to learn to love "Butter Buds" or buttery flavored spray oils. I like to spray that sort of oil sparingly onto my bowl of popcorn while turning it by hand in the bowl, then salt all of it with butter flavored salt. 

Works for me, and, knowing what that real butter can do to you over time, I don't really crave having it at all.


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## wr

homstdr74 said:


> I find there to be a problem with things like real butter. If you were to think about keeping under the amount of calories you have much as a person would about staying within the budget they set themselves, butter and all concentrates like butter are a real luxury item. One tablespoon of butter isn't going to butter much popcorn, and there are about one hundred calories per tablespoon.
> 
> Better to learn to love "Butter Buds" or buttery flavored spray oils. I like to spray that sort of oil sparingly onto my bowl of popcorn while turning it by hand in the bowl, then salt all of it with butter flavored salt.
> 
> Works for me, and, knowing what that real butter can do to you over time, I don't really crave having it at all.


 That works well too but then again, I don't think that WW allows for a monster bowl of popcorn in one sitting either so I have always struck a balance using the couple cups of popcorn and balanced by my butter out by using allotted optional calories. Everyone makes choices and since I'm not a fan of chemical enhancers and prefer a more natural product but that's the beauty of WW, you can eat what you prefer as long as you account for it. 

The program has worked well for me, I lost 100 lbs and have kept it off for about 25 years and even now, if I do gain a little bit, I just make a conscious effort to use the food diary and pay attention to trigger foods, emotional/bored eating etc.


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## homstdr74

wr said:


> That works well too but then again, I don't think that WW allows for a monster bowl of popcorn in one sitting either so I have always struck a balance using the couple cups of popcorn and balanced by my butter out by using allotted optional calories. Everyone makes choices and since I'm not a fan of chemical enhancers and prefer a more natural product but that's the beauty of WW, you can eat what you prefer as long as you account for it.
> 
> The program has worked well for me, *I lost 100 lbs and have kept it off for about 25 years* and even now, if I do gain a little bit, I just make a conscious effort to use the food diary and pay attention to trigger foods, emotional/bored eating etc.


Wow! I'm impressed. And here I thought my losing a measly 70 pounds was a big deal! That's great, and I'm glad you can keep it off.

I've found the VA's "MOVE" program to be very helpful for me. My wife was on WW for awhile, so I'm M/L familiar with that program, but the MOVE program varies from that somewhat even though, as in WW, every single thing we eat is written in a "daily food diary"; exercise (motion of all sorts) is stressed; and something else I've found to be so valuable were the lectures by a psychologist as to the inner workings of the mind about why we are over-consuming. 

It's challenging, but I think that now, rather than just eating whatever I want whenever I want I tend to think about what I'm doing and make better choices than before.


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## wr

WW is similar and also encourages exercise and does ask members to keep a record of activity as well. 

As a rule, I've been on WW so long that it's just how I live but I'm 1.5 hours to the nearest gym and this has been a harder winter than most. While I haven't gained weight, I feel like crap.


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## homstdr74

wr said:


> WW is similar and also encourages exercise and does ask members to keep a record of activity as well.
> 
> As a rule, I've been on WW so long that it's just how I live but I'm 1.5 hours to the nearest gym and this has been a harder winter than most. While I haven't gained weight, I feel like crap.


Yes, making it a lifestyle has become part of my life, also. I had the same problem this winter getting into the gym; while we don't live as far away from it, I didn't get in as often. So I have purchased a recumbent cycle and an elliptical and I use them when I can't get to the gym. That works well for me.


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## sidepasser

I joined ww in February and fooled around and didn't track points very well the first three weeks. Along with a vacation, a business conference and a trip to Ga. I gained the six lbs I lost back. So I decided I needed to get serious and in two weeks I have lost 11 lbs. I watch what I eat, started back at the gym three-four days a week and am riding my horse every day after work. Then I walk for two miles each day with the dog. I about died the first week, but last week was pretty good..and I felt crappy if I didn't go to the gym or do the walking.

The dog is ding dog happy too, she loves walking! So now off to walk her and I also quit: junk food, chips, ice cream, beer, and have limited my wine intake to once a week..so..I have 28 lbs. to go..I intend to be down to 145 by end of summer or a little less.

I don't think anyone should lose weight as that implies you are going to hunt it down and get it back. One should think of getting rid of weight, divorce it, drop it, throw it away..so that the thought becomes permanent.

I gained weight after I broke my leg and then a whole winter of blah, blah..weather did not make it easy to do anything.

I figure I had better stop spreading the wealth so to speak and become the lean me that I have always been. So..size 8 here I come...


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