My experience with Weight Watchers Online

[crimsonblue]

I started Weight Watchers Online after making a $100 bet to see who could lose the most weight by the beginning of March. We have since extended the bet through the first weekend in April. Anyway, I have lost 12.5 lbs in 7 weeks. I have never really dieted before trying WW, and wow does it work! I never feel like I am starved for foods, and it has talk me the value of fruits and vegetables. I have probably eaten more f&v's in the past 7 weeks than the previous 2 or 3 years combined.

Has anybody else here tried WW? If so, what is your own experience?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. I think highly of WW - joined last Jan (we went to meetings) -

lost a total of 50 lbs - allowed some time to stabilize - then joined the Engine 2 28 day Challenge this January - down another 10.

To me, the two MAJOR take aways from WW - learning how to convert food to points....and writing down everything I eat every day (it doesn't take long - I do it as a Google calendar entry each day) as points, so I can keep track of my daily points.

I am 6 feet - from 258 last Jan, I am now 199....my goal is to hit my healthy BMI, which is 184. At 56 years old, with bad knees, this has made an incredible positive difference to my quality of life.

[auntAgonist]

2. Good for you !!

I have never had success with weightwatchers but my sister has. She's maintained a healthy weight for years using their plans.

I have to add that NO diet ever worked for me though.

I'm glad this is working for you and, I hope you win the bet


aA
kesha

[Goblinmonger]

3. I started WW last June

Have lost almost 60 pounds. Went from 337 to 279 as of yesterday's weigh-in. After going up and down many times in my life, I like that this is about doing something you can do for the rest of your life and not a restrictive diet. It's slower than the restrictive diets, but that's fine with me.

[auntAgonist]

4. That is really good news and so good for you !!

to continued success.

Your attitude goes a long way in making this a successful life change.

aA
kesha

[AngryOldDem]

5. It's working for me.

Sorry I'm a little late to this thread, but I was just poking around DU and found it.

I was in WW back in the '80s when they were using the diabetic diet formula of exchanges. I lost about 60 pounds on that program.

Lately my weight started to creep up, no matter how much I denied it. After looking at myself in the mirror one morning in March, I made up my mind to rejoin. SInce then, I have lost about 11 pounds, and have about 13 more to go until I get back to where I want to be. I am nearing 10% of my goal. I'm just glad I joined when I did.

At first I wasn't particularly thrilled with the new program, but now I love it. I don't feel deprived at all. (I'm at the lowest end of the daily points scale, at 26). Keeping a daily food diary is becoming second nature again, and I'm finding I'm making overall better food choices.

I go to weekly meetings, but to be honest, I don't really find them useful -- I'm not a particularly social person, so I don't find a great deal of support in the "caring and sharing" every week. I mainly go for the weigh-in because for some reason I prefer stepping on the scale there than at home. (Don't ask me why.)

I can't recommend this program highly enough -- it's true what they say. If you work the plan, it works for you.

[Odessa123]

6. Do Weight Watchers work?

I feel ok about my legs but I'm not satisfied with my belly size. I want to loss weight,too.
I'll try WW.

[auntAgonist]

7. Welcome to our group Odessa123. Please keep us posted on how you're doing. Good Luck to you!!!

[Goblinmonger]

8. Keep us up to date.

Let me know if you have WW questions. I am down 82 pounds on WW as of last Thursday.

[auntAgonist]

9. Good for you Goblinmonger! That's quite an accomplishment.

kesha.

[Goblinmonger]

24. I passed the 100# mark today.

And that is only WW weight lost. Makes my grand total 125.

[auntAgonist]

25. YAY! Congratulations to you . That's quite an accomplishment.

to your good health!

aA
kesha

[AngryOldDem]

26. Good for you!

[ellie]

10. Weight Watchers is awesome

I have done it both online and in person. The last time I did it online I lost 40 pounds. It really does work. I still make their recipes.

[spinbaby]

12. But did you get back those 40 pounds?

I've lost weight with WW so many times I can't count. You can probably measure all the weight lost in tons, but yet I weight a lot more than when I started WW in 1986.

[Goblinmonger]

13. Is that a problem of WW

or that you didn't change the way you thought about food. WW isn't a diet. If you approach it that way, you will go back to eating the way you did beforehand, which is the problem with all diets. WW is just a formalized approach to limit caloric intake while placing emphasis on making healthy decisions in the way you eat. If you do the first without the second, then things probably won't go well.

[K8-EEE]

15. In my case, it's more my psychological issues with yoyo dieting than the actual diet

But I have to say that the meetings kind of fed that in me. If I had an "on program" week, wrote everything down, and still didn't lose any weight it just crushed me. My one problem with the WW meetings is how much they focus on that scale - it really stressed me out!

[Goblinmonger]

16. Maybe it is a meeting leader difference

but I've had the opposite experience. WW seems to be about the long haul and not the short term. I have personally felt bad when I've had a no-loss week but did not get a lot of pressure from the meetings but rather a "this is a long haul and it about getting healthy" attitude.

[ellie]

21. No, not at all

WW helped me look at food differently.

[Goblinmonger]

11. Here's more of what it has done for me.

I am down about 110 from my high (about 85 of that on WW). Went to the doctor today and she pulled me from my triglyceride meds. All of my labs are in the normal range. Some in the "really good" range. I haven't felt this good in decades.

[K8-EEE]

14. I am a multi-time WW drop out!

It's not their fault really -- it "works" in the sense I lose the weight but I always gain it back. I went after each of my pregnancies and I think the last time I went was 8 years ago. It was coming off a lot slower (age) and I just couldn't deal with the boring meetings and the $13 a week, losing .5 lb!

My mom lost 35 lbs on WW 10 years ago and didn't gain any back.

[Goblinmonger]

17. Hate to sound like a shill,

but 0.5 lb loss is right in what they advertise they want you to lose. It's not like they are telling you that you will drop 5 pounds a week and then you only lose .5. They tell you it should be .5 to 2 lbs a week. Which is a healthy rate of loss that will preserve muscle mass.

[K8-EEE]

18. Understood but

the "advisors" who weigh you in if you don't lose any weight at times treat you like a child who has been "bad." In reality women's body weight does fluctuate throughout the month and especially if you are very close to your goal weight, you might be doing everything right and still not lose any weight. I do better measuring the food constantly, but not myself! The last time I quit, I had been trying to get to "goal weight" (tip: set it HIGH because you don't have to pay when you maintain it!) for a month, that particular day my jeans were so loose from the previous week I had to get a belt to keep them up, but the scale showed a slight gain and I got the tsk tsk and immediately felt like a failure.

[Still Blue in PDX]

19. Sounds like you might just need a different group.

I lost a bunch of weight on Medifast (which I gained back and then some) and got spoiled with the quick weight loss. I am impatient, but I'm starting WW again today and am going to have to just keep telling myself that the only way to keep it off is to lose it slowly and steadily.

Did three weeks of WW and quit for three weeks. I just have to stop STOPPING.

[AngryOldDem]

20. Your treatment isn't right, and the leader should know about it.

(Hope I'm not butting in -- I've had a long layoff from DU and am trying to reconnect, and I'd like to become more active with this group, since I'm also in WW.)

You should not be belittled if you gain or are made to feel like a failure. Some weeks are like that. You should feel able to talk to the staff and get your daily points rearranged, if that's why you're not seeing a consistent loss, and you think you should be seeing more. It's really disappointing to hear that you feel you get treated that way by the staff.

I was in WW back in the '80s (totally different plan then) and I remember being really close to my goal when I hit a plateau for what seemed like forever. I think I may even have gained a pound or two during that time. The people who run these meetings should be well aware of this, which I why I think perhaps a friendly reminder to the leader may be in order.

[auntAgonist]

22. well said AngryOldDem!! A hearty WELCOME back to DU and our little family here.

I hope to see more from you in days to come.

aA
kesha

[AngryOldDem]

23. Thanks!