I've Just Deflected From Weight Watchers!

This topic contains 13 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by  hermajtomomi 11 years ago.

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  • Hello everyone!

    I am now a refugee from Weight Watchers. I’ve learned about this new way 5:2 way of eating, and I knew immediately it was for me. Heck, I can do anything for two days a week. I feel a little foolish, because I just joined Weight Watchers last week, but oh well. Counting to 500 two days a week is so much easier than counting points every single day.

    I am now officially on-board.

    @bluesapphire
    ” I just joined Weight Watchers last week, ”

    Hilarious.

    My wife used to go to WW and made little progress.

    Glad that you discovered 5:2 quickly and may it serve you well.

    Yeah. When I REALLY make up my mind, it’s done!

    I never should have joined Weight Watchers in the first place. I should have listened to my inner doubts.

    Hi bluesapphire and welcome. I’m a lifetime member with WW. Became a Gold member in 1995 and found it really great and effective while I was motivated to lose weight. However I went back a couple of years ago after almost inevitably putting on lots of weight due to stopping smoking and being on heavy duty meds whilst acutely anxious for a while.Dieted under the new(ish) Pro Points and could not lose weight on a regular basis, got no support from the Group Leader, paid the dues only for a brief weekly weigh-in and got the feeling it was more about selling a mountain of WW products than anything else. It could be that I’m in my 50’s and don’t lose so easily as I had done under WW previously? Was not working either way which was a shame – I’d always sworn by WW.
    I started the fast diet in July this year and have lost 24 pounds and 23 inches overall. This really suits me. Overall health/energy improved, get lots of support and inspiration from this forum. As you say – counting and abstaining for 2 days a week is do-able. You’re not a calorie-slave for 7 days (although you have a healthy overview for the 5 non-fast days). I know one size does not fit all but this fits me and I can only talk from my own experience. Lots of conflicting info about weightloss and nutrition just now but I’m keeping this simple. This works for me and as long as it does I will keep at it. Best of luck for all your journeys. Success all 🙂

    Time, thank you very much for your honest reply. I really rejoined Weight Watchers on impulse, and also because it’s really been the only decent diet I’ve known my whole life. But you are right. The new points plan (we call them Pointsplus here in the U.S.) is far different from past plans. Although I lost 1.4 lbs. my first week, I dare not admit to my WW cronies that deep down inside I do not think living like this (counting numbers every single day) is sustainable.

    I plan on being mindful on my 5 “eating” days, but not counting calories. Do you count calories on your non-fast days? After some searching on the net, I’ve read some do. But I just won’t.

    P.S. Most importantly, congratulations on a wonderful weight loss!

    Hey Blue! I laughed out loud when I read you were a WW refugee after only being a member for a week. My colleagues were staring at me all funny.
    I think 5:2 is more sustainable than WW. I’ve done WW before and lost weight (in High School… ages ago). But has no-one ever realized that one point in WW is just 100 calories? So it’s just counting calories (and they make tons of money off you for it).
    I think as long as you keep in mind to eat healthy you don’t have to count cals, points, carbs of whatever on non-fast days. Just eat what feels right.

    Research shows that anything where you have to be accountable for your weight loss (or not as the case may be) has a better success rate than going it alone. This is why people usually do well on WW or Slimming World etc. However, as stated above, it is not realistically sustainable lifelong (and it’s bloomin’ expensive!). I think IF is a happy medium where you are accountable if you want to be, but it’s also a long-term lifestyle that is easily adaptable to suit everyone and doesn’t cost a penny to join. It’s a win-win situation as far as I’m concerned 😀

    And the support (and even accountability if you want) can be found on places just like these 😉

    Thank you very much for your responses. I got one good thing out of rejoining Weight Watchers – a very nice potato recipe that I will use tomorrow. Ha ha!!! Today is my first fast day.

    How’d it go, blue?

    I’ve always been a bit suspicious of WW and have chosen to avoid them. Too public, too gung-ho, sometimes a tad patronising and obviously out to make a fast buck. Probably says more about me than about them. So be it. As far as 5:2 is concerned, so far so good and I can see myself continuing well into the future – with the occasional off-the-wagon day or three here and there. After all, nobody’s perfect.

    A warning. This is a rave!!!

    I too am a life time member of weight watchers. I left when I finally got it into my head that it is just a huge marketing scam with the leaders and above benefiting by the amount of product they sell. My friend who is clinically obese was told that she would never be given life membership ( and therefore not have to pay for weekly weighins) until she had reached their recommended guideline for her height. She had done extremely well and had lost 30kg but needed to get down another 10. She looked good and was well and that surely is what matters. But no, it was not enough. She suffers from depression and the lack of encouragement and refusal to accept someone’s personal goals, did not help and consequently she is almost back to square one.

    Hopefully she will see what this life plan is doing for me and become part of this community.

    Thanks for the forum to let of steam

    Well said, lizy! You confirmed my suspicions about the ethos of WW. Part of my objection was to the ritual humiliation like that which your unfortunate friend suffered. It is so sad that while she was succeeding she was being bullied by a leader who sounds to have been short on people skills.

    I had a similar experience at a so-called health and slimming club when living in mainland Europe. I had been dieting carefully, swimming three times a week and walking considerable distances between the homes of the children to whom I was teaching English as a foreign language, as well as doing pilates-type exercises at said club. As a result, I had lost quite a bit of weight and only needed to lose another 5 kilos or so. One day, because, then as now, I was slow to lose – 1 1/2 kilos in six weeks – I was subjected to a public telling off and accusations that I was lying about what I ate. I never went back!

    Having gone through this experience I never, ever wanted to attend WW or any similar organisation.

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