Is weight watchers a bit of a scam?

Thumpette

Hey Guys,

Let me first say that I think the ww ethos and way of working is very balanced and healthy and I find it in itself good.

I've joined now for 4 weeks and have lost 7 pound. I am happy with this, however when I look at my pattern on my wii fit at home, it shows the same starting weight but actually that I have lost 11 points.

I would have put this down to the wii not being accurate, but a friend of mine who also goes, and another friend of hers from a different class all experience this 4ib ish difference between all types of scales (including the ww one) and the weekly weigh ins. Last week I went straight home after weigh in (20 mins or so drive) and weighed myself wearing exactly the same clothes and was 3 pound less! Nothing had gone in or out in the meantime!

Although I intend to stick with it- I wonder if anyone else has their doubts about weigh in?

Thanks!

doctorwhogirl

I think when you go to WW you have to just take whatever weight they give you. A lot of scales will be different because of different floor surfaces, even how you get on the scale can affect your weight.

I only take the WW weigh in to be accurate. Sometimes I go on my scales at home and there is never more than .8 of a pound's difference in them. (I'm usually .8 more at home).
I'm always lighter on the Wii fit because of the clothes thing I think! I usually select light clothes option! But if you select the "no difference" option then I don't know where the discrepancy might be!

WW isn't a scam in terms of weigh in as you are still losing! If you're unsure of WW then I'd say go but my advice would be pick one way of measuring yourself and stick with it. That way you have just one to go on and won't be worrying about what different scales say!

I love WW. Sure, it is expensive on the whole. But I intend to maintain doing it until I hit my goal weight, then go once a month once I'm maintaining.

I just love having a structure and a plan to follow and it has really worked for me.

Mellor

WW has it flaws, but the scales is not one of them.
Wii fit isn't that accurate, the WW scales is likely not perfect.


The real scam with WW is their products. They completely mislead people and its a bit of a disgrace.

pinkypinky

Other things that make your weight variable would be the clothes you are wearing, the time of day you weigh at, if you've been to the loo. All scales will have a variance, what you want to look at it is one scales only and notice whether you're going up or down on that scales. I am WWer myself and I always wear the same clothes to the weigh-in to try and more accurately read the weight. As long as the weight is going down though, don't worry about it.

rubadub

If a scale is battery operated then it can vary when running low on power. I would recommend salter as a decent brand.

Mellor wrote: »

The real scam with WW is their products. They completely mislead people and its a bit of a disgrace.

My main concern is the points system bias against sat fat. I was disappointed to hear my mate started on WW, he was saying "you can eat what you want", he is going to classes but looked at me blankly when I was talking of points and fat. The points system will tend to steer people towards carb dense foods.

I have said many times.
600kcal portion of coconut is 21.5points
600kcal portion of sugar is 8.5points

I have no doubt 8.5points of sugar would make me put on more fat than 21.5 points of coconut. This seems utter madness to me and I would like to hear a WW leader explain if they thing 600kcal of sugar will make you 2.5 times as fat as 600kcal of coconut, since to me this is what it infers.

My other issue is that they focus solely on weight, I remained 12stone for over a year while losing fat & building muscle at the same rate -so it is not very suitable for people doing resistance training, esp. men who would be putting on more muscle than women. "Founded in 1963 by Brooklyn homemaker Jean Nidetch" it does seem aimed more at women and has a "fat makes you fat" ideology.

Millieboo

Have to agree with previous posts, if there's one thing that remains correct and consistent its the scales. Wii is not accurate at all, varies hugely. Can totally understand your frustration though!

EileenG

rubadub wrote: »

I have no doubt 8.5points of sugar would make me put on more fat than 21.5 points of coconut. This seems utter madness to me and I would like to hear a WW leader explain if they thing 600kcal of sugar will make you 2.5 times as fat as 600kcal of coconut, since to me this is what it infers.

I pointed this out (well, I was using salmon and avocado as my illustrations) and I was politely asked to leave.

Transform

IMO it keeps people locked into another DIET mentality when there are better and more productive methods available. With better testing also

tscul32

thumpette - did you weigh yourself at home before you went to class aswell, that probably would have been 3 lbs out too. I agree with others who said pick one method of monitoring your weight and go by that. My scales at home actually gave me within a half lb of my ww weighins. But that was with the scales at home being on teh same tile in the kitchen every time, in the same clothes every time. I used to wonder at times watching people in the queue at ww. One week they'd be there in flip flops, shorts and tshirt and 2 weeks later they'd be in a suit with boots on and look distraught that they'd put on 2 lbs, or the other way round and they'd be celebrating their 'loss'. I always wore the same clothes and shoes for this reason.

Making out that as long as you stick to say 18 pts you should lose weight is a bit much considering you could make that up out of crisps, sweets and biccies and probably lose nothing. But I think that depends on the leader you have. I had an ok one, she left, was replaced by one who I really thought wasn't great. She seemed to know the system well, but I'm not sure she understood it. So I moved class and the new leader was brilliant, a lot more realistic I thought and she seemed to push the common sense aspect of it too.
The WW food though is terrible, over priced and cannot be that healthy. A lot of it seems to push you to 'have your treats' as long as they're ww ones, whereas I thin ka much healthier approach would be to have a decent home made treat but just less frequently.

Jwacqui

I am a member of weight watchers and I absolutely adore it!!

My starting weight was 17st 1lb and I am now 12st 5.5lb, a loss of 4st 9.5lb so far! I have lost that over about 15 months.

As our weight watchers leader always says you have to work the plan to make it work for you! She always emphasises how it is NOT a diet but a lifestyle change! I think this is down to the members and if people view this as another diet it is because they are not working the plan and do not have the right mind frame.

For me I have tried to lose weight many many times and have never had this much success or felt so great about myself! Weight watchers motivates and encourages me so much. I think people need to do what works for them and it is so well suited to me and I know I could never go back to what I once was and this is for life for me! I even want to go on and become a weight watchers leader when I reach goal.

I love the structure of points and tracking everything I eat. The weekly weigh ins keep me focussed and the meetings educate me, motivate me and encourage me so much. It makes it all personal. Everybody is there so the same reason and I personally find the support helps so much. Weight loss is not easy and it a struggle at times.

Regarding the scales I think WW scales are accurate. I have a digital scales at home and it weighs the exact same as in weight watchers. Only get weighed once a week and stick to the same scales. The WW scales are quite accurate and are calibrated unlike scales at home.

For me it works and I am definitely better off from it! It has well and truly changed my life.

ergonomics

Hi Thumpette,

This quote is something I wrote in the WW thread at the top of the forum a couple of weeks ago:

ergonomics wrote: »

So I'm just back from WW tonight and I am not impressed. Despite the Wii Fit and Biggest Loser both saying I was down exactly 2kg last night, the WW scales only registered half a pound. I know a loss is a loss, but a kilo is also a kilo so all scales should be registering the same weight. My friend said maybe it is cause I wear lighter clothes working out but last week I weighed myself at home, in my gym clothes, less than an hour after WW so that isn't the reason.

I have found the Wii Fit and The Biggest Loser to both show 4lbs more of a loss than the WW scale and I also got weighed by my doctor and their scales showed a 4lbs difference too. When I noticed this I felt very disheartened but then I started thinking that once the WW scale showed a loss, it's not the end of the World. If my weight went up that would be a completely different issue and I would really be questioning it then.

jam_mac_jam

Its a complete scam, so expensive to be told things you know already, fair play to you if it works for you but for the money they were charging i can weigh myself at home. I think their no count diet is a good idea, however their low fat crap that they sell just turns me right off them, its just smaller portions in most cases.

tscul32

Anyone can weigh themselves at home, you go for the motivational factor, the camraderie of others going through the same thing. I lost 2.5 st by going and staying for the meetings. I don't think I ever learned anything from those meetings, all stuff I knew already but just by giving that bit extra of me, of my time, motivated me more and I got to goal.
It's one of those things that will appeal to and work for some but not all. It's great for people who want to be given a list and told eat this and only this and you'll lose weight. For those who love to cook it gives you all the tools you need to redo your recipes and work out what corners you can cut and what ones you can't.
But it's all about balance and common sense. I disagreed in class one day to the christmas dinner suggestions. I said it's christmas day, I'm in ww cos I love food too much, and christmas dinner with all the trimmings is once a year and I'm not giving that up. Didn't go down too well. Neither did my comments the time the leader said she went to the cinema with her husband on her birthday and he got minstrels and freshly popped popcorn but she didn't mind out cos she had her ww fruities and a small bag of manhattan popcorn. I said if my husband sat beside me devouring chocolate on MY birthday knowing that I couldn't have any I'd kill him.
I switched meetings then and had a new leader who had an approach more in tune with mine. She loved cheese, so do I, but instead of telling everyone to live on low low she said that if you really like the real thing then have it, just a lot less. I find that with baked goods too, I rather one real, full of flavour muffin to 4 low fat tasteless ones (or god forbid one made by WW).

I think those who have been to ww and call it a scam are those who it will never work for. If you believe you know it all and can weigh yourself then do it, but if you're that able to do it all for yourself then why do you even need to lose weight in the first place.

We all know we need to cut out the junk, eat more healthily and exercise more to be healthy and fit and the right weight. It's not knowledge that we're lacking, just willpower and motivation, and that's what ww provides.

Pembily

tscul32 wrote: »

Anyone can weigh themselves at home, you go for the motivational factor, the camraderie of others going through the same thing. I lost 2.5 st by going and staying for the meetings. I don't think I ever learned anything from those meetings, all stuff I knew already but just by giving that bit extra of me, of my time, motivated me more and I got to goal.
It's one of those things that will appeal to and work for some but not all. It's great for people who want to be given a list and told eat this and only this and you'll lose weight. For those who love to cook it gives you all the tools you need to redo your recipes and work out what corners you can cut and what ones you can't.
But it's all about balance and common sense. I disagreed in class one day to the christmas dinner suggestions. I said it's christmas day, I'm in ww cos I love food too much, and christmas dinner with all the trimmings is once a year and I'm not giving that up. Didn't go down too well. Neither did my comments the time the leader said she went to the cinema with her husband on her birthday and he got minstrels and freshly popped popcorn but she didn't mind out cos she had her ww fruities and a small bag of manhattan popcorn. I said if my husband sat beside me devouring chocolate on MY birthday knowing that I couldn't have any I'd kill him.
I switched meetings then and had a new leader who had an approach more in tune with mine. She loved cheese, so do I, but instead of telling everyone to live on low low she said that if you really like the real thing then have it, just a lot less. I find that with baked goods too, I rather one real, full of flavour muffin to 4 low fat tasteless ones (or god forbid one made by WW).

I think those who have been to ww and call it a scam are those who it will never work for. If you believe you know it all and can weigh yourself then do it, but if you're that able to do it all for yourself then why do you even need to lose weight in the first place.

We all know we need to cut out the junk, eat more healthily and exercise more to be healthy and fit and the right weight. It's not knowledge that we're lacking, just willpower and motivation, and that's what ww provides.

Well well said!!!!! Its also about the right frame of mind and if you think WW is a scam you obviously don't truly want to loose weight!!!!

I would also kill my bf if we went to the cinema and he ate all around him and I had ww fruites!! Each to their own though... It changes your thoughts to eating!!

Kasha.

I've joined WW about four weeks ago and lost 10 lb so far.

I had my concern when I noticed my scales at home is showing NOTHING! No loss at all. Now, I KNOW I've lost weight, u can actually see 10 lb difference in weight.
I asked my leader about it and all I got was "my scales is different, don't weigh urself at home". And that got me thinkin: how's WW scales different???

Anyway... I'm sure they have their "secrets". If we all knew everything about their system there would be no need to pay and - let's face it - they r a business, so they're tryin to make profit.
At the end of the day - it's a service. Dieticians charge as well, so do personal trainers.

But it works for me, I'm eatin healthy, feelin great and loosin weight. That's all I wanted from them.

alpha2010

Kasha. wrote: »

I've joined WW about four weeks ago and lost 10 lb so far.

I had my concern when I noticed my scales at home is showing NOTHING! No loss at all. Now, I KNOW I've lost weight, u can actually see 10 lb difference in weight.
I asked my leader about it and all I got was "my scales is different, don't weigh urself at home". And that got me thinkin: how's WW scales different???

Anyway... I'm sure they have their "secrets". If we all knew everything about their system there would be no need to pay and - let's face it - they r a business, so they're tryin to make profit.
At the end of the day - it's a service. Dieticians charge as well, so do personal trainers.

But it works for me, I'm eatin healthy, feelin great and loosin weight. That's all I wanted from them.

i recently made a post about their weighing scales, they had me at a stone lighter than what i was when i first got weighed. before i went to weight watchers, i was 14 stone and on my first day i was 13stone there and i knew i hadnt lost a stone in a week but in my head i was hoping that the other scales was wrong at home but i decided to go get weighed in a chemist and it too had me at 14 so at that stage i was confused so i went back and talked to the leader, my main one wasn't there that week and the other leader said 'emmmmm your actually 14 stone, i think you misheard the other leader, i was like ehh no she told me straight out that i was 13stone and i asked her to repeat it ' and by the next week, i was back at 14stone, they had changed me back

its definitely a scam.... i just go because of the people and it makes me wanna keep going at the diet because there are others in my situation but everyweek after i get weighed i go get weighed in the chemist because i dont believe what they tell me, im either 3 pound in difference every week, so say WW say i lost 3 pound i really lost 5 and when they say i lost 5 i really only lost 3.... its confusing, i like WW but its horribel that the scales are messed up, because its 10 euro a week for it

fatewatchers

alpha2010 wrote: »

i recently made a post about their weighing scales, they had me at a stone lighter than what i was when i first got weighed. before i went to weight watchers, i was 14 stone and on my first day i was 13stone there and i knew i hadnt lost a stone in a week but in my head i was hoping that the other scales was wrong at home but i decided to go get weighed in a chemist and it too had me at 14 so at that stage i was confused so i went back and talked to the leader, my main one wasn't there that week and the other leader said 'emmmmm your actually 14 stone, i think you misheard the other leader, i was like ehh no she told me straight out that i was 13stone and i asked her to repeat it ' and by the next week, i was back at 14stone, they had changed me back

its definitely a scam.... i just go because of the people and it makes me wanna keep going at the diet because there are others in my situation but everyweek after i get weighed i go get weighed in the chemist because i dont believe what they tell me, im either 3 pound in difference every week, so say WW say i lost 3 pound i really lost 5 and when they say i lost 5 i really only lost 3.... its confusing, i like WW but its horribel that the scales are messed up, because its 10 euro a week for it

Its unfortunate for you that you are having problems with different scales, but the WW scales consistently have me at 3lbs heavier than my scales at home. The home scales and the WW scales always have the weight loss more or less identical each week. I asked my leader about the WW scales and she said that they are electronically calibrated after every session. I would imagine WW scales are more accurate than home scales which could be on an uneven surface, or have a low battery etc.

Darkginger

Scales do vary - my doctor's scales were different from my home scales, which were different again from the scales at work. The treadmill at the gym weigh me heavier than the static scales in the same room! I don't think WW would be out to scam people via scales...lol. They provide a support service for people who want to lose weight, and whilst I don't agree with their food recommendations, nor their points system, I see they are of use to many people. I think they're honest in what they do.

The best scales to use (I think) are those ones with the weights that move back and forth along a balance bar - not easily portable, and they'd need recalibrating after every move. Best to just stick to one set of scales and go with that.

Mellor

Darkginger wrote: »

The best scales to use (I think) are those ones with the weights that move back and forth along a balance bar - not easily portable, and they'd need recalibrating after every move. Best to just stick to one set of scales and go with that.

THey are, these are what is just to weigh fighters before a bout.
Not really suitable for home or WW. I wouldn't care about a few pound fluctuations between scales, as long as it was decresing

Drapper

I'm a fan too!

went from 97kg at Christmas to 81kg now. Target 76kg.

WW works but you need to exercise too!

littleredspot

Myself and 4 other family members have lost lots of weight recently with ww. I think it can be a very usefull tool to help lose weight.

A lot depends on both the leader and the class. I've tried a good few different ones and there really is a huge difference. (Wednesday 10.30, Abbey st in Dublin, is my current fav.) I've had lots of issues with them over time but for me the fact remains that if you do exactly as they say, you will lose weight.

To address the OP's original question I've found that there's even a vast difference between different class's scales, one I came across was weighing on a fluffy carpet! I also wonder if we're all aiming for a certain weight, to fit into a certain BMI bracket, then surely that should be a naked, first thing in the morning weight, so at least a few pounds should be subtracted for clothes, which of course would mean that everyone would reach goal weight quicker (and spend less money)

I've often wondered are the scales calibrated by the appropriate body, AFAIK scales in shops have to be, as they are used for commerce, so surely the ww ones should be too.

StandardAngel

Has anyone bought one of the WW scales??
Seen them in Tesco, theres two different ones, one is €24 and the other is €31

Drapper

dont get to caught up on what scales! its not just about the weight loss, but clothing size reduction, good feeling and food changes (that you'll proably take throught life, unless you fall majorly off the wagon). For me dairy was the big problem, now WW has helped me to choose more wisely and avoid bad fats, believe it or not, I'm eating more now than before I started WW and I've lost more 16kg since Christmas, all by right food choices.

Was almost 98 kg
This morning I weighted 81.5kg in me birthday suit.

rubadub

Drapper wrote: »

now WW has helped me to choose more wisely and avoid bad fats.

What fats do they teach you to avoid? The points system is biased against sat fats, which are not necessarily bad, my diet is fairly high in sat fats. The points system says nothing against trans fats, which I avoid, do the WW leaders?

Drapper

Let me rephrase, to avoid bad fats in large amounts. saturate fats.

EileenG

Saturated fats are good fats. They've got an unfairly bad rap because they were getting blamed for the problems caused by transfats. You need saturated fats to keep your bones strong, your immune system healthy, and (if male) to keep your testosterone levels high.

In fact, I reckon the bad fats are tranfats of all sorts, and refined liquid vegetable fats. Yes, even the polyunsaturated ones.

Drapper

I'm lost ;-) . But I trust you on that! must read up more on the transfats!

Guess the main thing is that WW works for me and I've tried a fair few diets that I could not stick too! its so simple. Even a veg like me can get results.

EileenG

Transfats are evil. They are the ones that will clog your arteries and give you heart disease. The RDA for transfats is ZERO.

They are found in baked goods, processed food, deep fried food, and "low fat" and "healthy" spreads. Watch out for anything which lists hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable fat as an ingredient.

imitation

Id just like to point out a few things that I have found when weighing myself in general.

1. Not all scales are the same, there is a boots scale and some other brand of scale in my house and they rarely match each other. Infact my weight has varied by a few pounds each time on the boots scale ! its worth getting a decent scale for your own morale, who wants to stick to a good diet for a week only to be told incorrectly at the end of it that your weight has gone up. Remeber, theres a reason shops have to buy "legal" scales that are correct, so you dont get ripped off.

2. Your weight varies every day based on a number of factors, some external like what your wearing, and some internal, based on what you have eaten, drunk, and ahem processed. I`m fairly sure water plays a big part in this too. I can weight 1-2 pounds less in the morning that at the end of the day.

If I was being scientific (and anal about it) Id measure myself a few times each day (around the same time every day) with the same clothes and take the average of them.

stripysocks85

I bought one of these in Tesco, think it was €35 when I did, and I find it good. You can get an accurate weight as it's digital, but like all scales, they vary. Generally, it weighs me the same as the one in my gym though, although they have a non digital one also in the gym which makes me appear about 2kg lighter than the digital one they have - weird!

imitation

stripysocks85 wrote: »

I bought one of these in Tesco, think it was €35 when I did, and I find it good. You can get an accurate weight as it's digital, but like all scales, they vary. Generally, it weighs me the same as the one in my gym though, although they have a non digital one also in the gym which makes me appear about 2kg lighter than the digital one they have - weird!

The aforementioned boots one was actually digital as well, so I think its just as easy for a digital to be dodgy. Some scales seem to have an offset dial somewhere, so maybe some wag in the gym moved it.