Does Weight Watchers Work?

Hi C.-

I am currently doing weight watchers online. No meetings, just tracking what you eat online to make sure you stay within your daily point allowance. I have lost 65 lbs since January on the plan.

When you first sign up you'll fill out a short questionnaire (maybe 5 questions). Based on your answers about your current age, weight and activity level you will be assigned a daily point allowance. You can then eat anything you want but you need to try to stay within your points. At that point it's all about learning about portion control and eating filling foods that have a low point value. The online tools make it really easy to find out how many points different foods are and keep track of them.

As far as cooking, you can still cook anything you want but will need to take a little bit more time figuring out point value.

Good luck,
K.

I used www.sparkpeople.com to lose my 20 pounds of baby weight. It is free and pretty much like weight watchers...tracking your food and calories...portions are much smaller than you think. Spend your money on a kitchen scale instead of fees for the diet service.

I did join a gym and go four to five days a week.

Good luck you CAN do it!!

I have never done Weight Watchers myself, but I have known a lot of people who have and it has worked for all of them. Basically, it is portion control along with a calculated way to eat the right amounts of the right foods. It is THE only diet out there that makes any kind of sense to me in terms of maintenance and lifestyle change. I don't consider it a fad diet and if you do what it says, the weight will stay off. The great thing about it is that you can truly eat anything you want to as long as you stay within your points for the day (or week). Honestly, it may not be worth the money to join for just 15 lbs, but if that is what helps you to stick with something, then it may be worth it to you. Like I said, I've never had to do it, but I know many people who have and they all swear by it. I've never heard anyone say that it didn't work for them. Good luck!

Oh, and my Aunt did the online one so that she didn't have to go to meetings I don't think. I guess it all depends on how much you need the support of others.

I did it several years ago online and then again after my first son was born. It totally works:) It was like $60 or so to sign up online for three months and then like $15 for every month after that. It is very self explanatory and you will totally be able to cook. The points system gives a point value to every food, if it isn't in the database there is a calculator where you plug in the calories, fat and fiber and get the point value per serving. I can just look at food now and be almost dead on for the points value. I liked the online feature because I am on the computer at night anyway and could easily log my food. You also get a weekly bank so there is room for a little treat here and there. There is a huge restaurant guide so eating out is pretty easy. Plus now with so many light menus it isn't nearly as tough as it used to be. The only catch with WW is you have to do it!! The first time I did it I lost 30lbs and kept it off for about 5yrs until I got pregnant with my first child. After that I haven't been too faithful! But yes the program really does work. You can also order a home kit that is like $100 if you prefer to have everything in hard copy, it is nice too. You just write your stuff down and they send you the special calculators for food and exercise. Whenever you exercise you can put in what you did and for how long and you get to deduct that many points from your day!! So great, bc you can eat a little more when you work out;) Anyway, hope that helps, I say go for it! 15lbs will melt off in no time!

Just an FYI...
I know you asked about WW....however, I have never done WW. I did start South Beach Diet ten days ago and I've lost 11 lbs. The recipes are good and the only real cost to you is purchasing a book or two. Again, just wanted to point out that alternative.
Have a great day and good luck in whatever you decide!!!

Margaret :)

I went a couple of months ago to Weight Watchers to lose 15-20 lbs and they told me I wasn't overweight and I told them "this stomach and cellulite don't agree". They told me I could lose 10 lbs and then I couldn't attend anymore.

I did Weight Watchers succesfully several years ago. Once you figure the points out for your food several times you can pretty much tell what to eat and what not to eat without calculating anymore. I tried it again and because I didn't have that much weight to lose they didn't give me very many points and I was starving. My friend has a lot to lose and she has a lot of points and said she can't eat that many in a day. I think she was trying to eat strictly low calorie foods and she needed to eat some "bad" stuff to get enough points and was having trouble putting that into her body. I would not have that problem! I also went on the South Beach Diet. It was the healthiest I had ever eaten. I don't think it should be called a diet. We should all eat that way. It was great for me because I could have Caesar Dressing (not diet either) and real manyonaise. It was a lot more work because you have to cook a lot but if you cook a lot anyways it wouldn't be bad. I am going to go back to the South Beach way soon because I need to eat healthier and I have a fish recipe that I LOVE and it has Mayo and I want to eat it guilt free (hehe).

Both will help you lose weight. I just didn't eat as healthy with Weight Watchers. I could go to McDonalds and still get a small burger where with South Beach all I could get there was a salad. If you go on one of these plans keep in mind that Jack in The Box has a good Chicken Fajita Pita that is made with whole grain pita bread.

Good luck!