weight watchers - does it work?

galaxyminstrels

Ok i haven't got a lot of weight to lose, just want to tone up more than loose weight but i think i could do with losing about a half a stone.
Has anybody with not a lot of weight to loose tried weight watchers and if so did it work?
Thanks.

ntlbell

it's the same as everything else, if you put in the work it will work

Miap

It defnitely does work but you have to have the motivation to stick with it!! Good luck!!

unreggd

Its just calorie control

I dont know if they promot healthy eating

they just want you to stick to your limit, ie, u could just eat a Mars bar every day

Davei141

unreggd wrote: »

Its just calorie control

I dont know if they promot healthy eating

they just want you to stick to your limit, ie, u could just eat a Mars bar every day

I kind of agree, too much emphasis on fat and too little on sugar and salt. But in saying that the mars bar a day crowd will delude themselves no matter what that's not weight watchers fault.

I would say with only half a stone to lose just read up on nutrition there is loads available on the web and you should have the info to get rid in no time.

rubadub

Yeah just another form of calorie counting. However they do emphasis fat moreso. i.e. you could have 2 meals with identical caloires yet one could have 50% more "points" than the other, and in some cases I would imagine 50points of one food would make you put on far more weight than 50points of another.

e.g. nuts will have higher points per 100kcal than coke, and I expect coke would make you fatter, with equal calories, and almost certainly make you fatter with equal points.

Oryx

One of the reasons I found it worked was motivation. You have to turn up on a specific day of the week and get weighed. It makes you keep to the plan, so you do show a loss each week in front of the ww person.:)

The problem I had with it was that it didnt really change my eating habits. You could save points and splurge on something not very good for you, and with me that was the thin edge of the wedge. Left to my own devices, I lost the discipline and that kind of eating crept up on my belly again.

If you do want to just tone, maybe check out doing a yoga or exercise class as well.

Zamboni

Weightwatchers is to calorie counting as
BMI is to body fat %.

Its loose and non-specific but it has its uses.

EileenG

It has its place. The weekly weigh ins and the group support are exactly what works for a lot of people. They do emphasise regular exercise, even if not full body weight training, and things like drinking lots of water.

However, and for me, it's a big problem, their points system is based far too much on fat being bad. It doesn't distinguish between big macs and salmon, or doughnuts and almonds, they are all high fat, so all bad. My sister does WW, and she has a regular debate with herself about fish oil capsules. Her doctor has told her to take them, but they are a point each, and she'd rather use those points on food.

The one time I went along, I got into a heated debate with the leader, who was busy pushing all sorts of junky ready meals and sweets.

davyjose

It's not that it "works", but it can probably help. A few years ago my ex-gf was on it and she lost a decent amount of weight. I believe they've made changes since, but at the time there were some definite flaws.

The problem with calorie counting, is that it doesn't take account of the types of food you're eating. So basically it's possible to fill your daily points quota with very little protein intake. Which would be a definite problem IMO.

Edit: Actually, what Eileen G said is pretty much spot on.

AARRRGH

Why don't you just eat clean food and do a bit of exercise? I eat a high protein, low carb diet (combined with a weights routine) and I am in good shape with very little body fat. Eating healthily is easy - you already know what's good and what's bad. Just don't eat the bad stuff.

rubadub

AARRRGH wrote: »

Eating healthily is easy - you already know what's good and what's bad.

Many are completely ignorant about what is good or bad, some will just believe what the marketing people tell them is good or bad. Some have other ideas in their mind, bland=good, nice=bad. Many are shocked to hear bran flakes are 22% sugar. Or that a single pack of supernoodles can be 600kcal. Some might well know what truly is good or bad, but then get the portion sizes completely wrong.

Sangre

Indeed, with so much mis-information out there its not surprising that people are mostly clueless.

The other day someone offered me coleslaw, I said I didn't eat it. They said 'ah sure, its only carrots and cabbage'. Yeah, and a **** load of mayonaise!

pinkypinky

The WW Core plan is quite different to the points systems. It's based on GI diet and encourages you to cook all your meals from scratch and you only use points for stuff like bread, white rice. sweets, cake, alcohol (the obviously bad for you stuff). It hasn't had the publicity it should but is around about 4 years. And it does work. Perfect if you don't like counting your points.