# Weight Watchers



## robousy (May 15, 2007)

I have been following a diet sculpted completely from this forum thanks to the wisdom of the people on here (you know who you are!!) 

Its been going great. I've lost 35lbs in 6 months and am very happy with my progress.

My wife is wanting to start a diet as she needs to lose a fair bit too. She is insisting on 'weight watchers' but I keep telling her to come on this forum and tell her to look at my progress as proof...but she insists. 

I don't really care for arguing with her but what is everyones opinion on the weight watcher diet?


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## Jodi (May 15, 2007)

The diet is a joke. It doesn't promote healthy eating.  It give each person a number to follow and then they have to stay within those points.  So a person can eat pizza or ice cream so long as they stay in their points.  Sure they tell the people that if you eat healthier you can eat more food but most don't care about that.  They just want to look good and then they never really learn how to eat healthy because they say "see I can eat pizza and still lose weight"

Personally any diet that doesn't focus on learning to eat healthy isnt worth it IMO.


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## P-funk (May 15, 2007)

there is 2 plans that people can do at weight watchers.  One is the points plan that peopel typically abuse the shit out of.  The other has to do with lists of healthy foods that you must stick too.  it is much better than the second plan.  I had a client that did it and he lost some good weight and he was eating all the right things.


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## Jodi (May 15, 2007)

Most of the centers don't use that 2nd plan unfortunately.  I think they promote it in their online weight watchers but not in the clinics/centers where they have their meetings and weigh ins.


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## P-funk (May 15, 2007)

the client i train was going to the center in Scottsdale and that is where he got it from.


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## Jodi (May 15, 2007)

That's great......most of the people that I've talked to that used weight watchers have only used the points and they never knew nothing else was available.


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## P-funk (May 15, 2007)

yea, i never knew anything was available either.  I had worked on him with his diet but he really needed a social support group.....that was the biggest part for him.  was to go to a place where there were other people going through what he was going through.  Sitting there talking to me wasn't going to do it.  The physical therapist recommended he check out weight watchers.  I don't like to refer people to there because the people running it are not licensed nutritionists or registered dieticians....they are just regular people who lost wieght on weight watchers.....and because I think the points thing doesn't teach people lifestyle changes.  But, he went, came back with that option B plan which I thought was actually pretty good and most of the things I wanted him to eat anyway, he got the social support he needed and he felt good about his progress.


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## Jodi (May 15, 2007)

Yeah, they call that plan The Core Plan and the points system is called the Flexible Plan of something like that.

The core plan focuses on much better lifestyle changes but the problem as you stated, is that none of the people there are actually nutritionist.  So what happens is they give everyone the points plan and rarely speak of the the core plan.


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## P-funk (May 15, 2007)

yea, the lifestyle change part of dieting is critical and not teaching it is doing a huge diservice.

He actually chose the 'core' plan himself.  he said he didn't think the 'flexibile' plan would work for him and he knew that if he brought it to me i would have yelled at him.


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## Jodi (May 15, 2007)

I completely agree!  That's great that he did that himself and that it worked for him.


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## vortrit (May 15, 2007)

I wonder what the bigger joke is weight watchers or slim fast...


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## robousy (May 16, 2007)

lol. Thanks for the feedback p-funk and jodi. 

I'm not sure if you know how much your info is appreciated but I watch your posts and follow and have seen nothing but progress, and its thanks to you guys.

I was expecting the responses actually, that its kind of a 'fad'. But its good to see it in 'black and white'.

I think its the whole 'support group' thing that appeals to her as she doesn't have the same sort of self discipline as I have. I haven't actually had a single 'cheat meal' in 6 months.   

Thanks again.


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## P-funk (May 16, 2007)

well, then tell her to go and chose the Core Plan so that she can learn to eat healthier and change her lifestyle and then she can have the advantage of the social support group.

IMO, that is the best thing about places like weight watchers.  people can come together and talk about their issues with food.  A lot of people are psychological eaters (check out the book Mindless Eating for more info....it is just tons of studies on peoples eating habits and why we eat how we eat), much like an alcoholic, they need to have someone there who knows what it is like to be in their position.

If I were lisencesed as a Nutritionist, I would try and run my own support group for people.  Hopefully after the next couple years, after I finish up my degree, I will be able to do something just like that.


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## danzik17 (May 16, 2007)

Another idea is also to maybe do some presentations on nutrition for maybe middle school to high school aged kids/parents?

I definitely wish I had some idea about nutrition back in high school, maybe I wouldn't have ended up being so freaking overweight until I starting learning stuff.  Our "health" teacher must have weighed like 260lbs if I remember right.

Programs for parents would be cool too.  I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that my parents thought that they were feeding us well, but in fact were feeding us complete garbage because they had no idea was nutrition was.


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## P-funk (May 16, 2007)

yup, it is a great idea!  the only problem is getting the parents to come to something like that.


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## tucker01 (May 17, 2007)

LOL Weight Watchers.

My mother-in-law and Sister-in-law were all hyped up about doing the core plan.  They were telling me just eat till you are satisfied,  I laughed.  You have a bunch of people who have eating disorders and you are telling them to eat till they are satisfied?

LOL


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## P-funk (May 17, 2007)

yea, they try and make it simple and in the process make it stupid.


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## tucker01 (May 17, 2007)

The problem is these people are just too lazy and retarded to learn a little about better eating habits.  A change in lifestyle will start with what you do, not joining some gay group, that is basically there for some moral support.  But ask anyone of them and it works, then they wonder why they are back there every year, still trying to make progress.


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## P-funk (May 17, 2007)

some of them may be lazy and retarded and some of them may have actual food problems (like mental issues with food).

they have to make a lifestyle change or it wont work at all.  that is the biggest problem with weight watchers.  A lot of them (the ones with the psychological issues relating to food) need someone that does food psychology who can talk to them and help them with their issue....not some dumb fuck who lost weight doing weight watchers and just stands there unable to offer sound advice.


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## tucker01 (May 17, 2007)

True.  Hard not to stereotype sometimes.  It is disgraceful that they can take advantage of some of these people, that seriously need help.


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## tucker01 (May 17, 2007)

P-funk said:


> some of them may be lazy and retarded and some of them may have actual food problems (like mental issues with food).
> 
> they have to make a lifestyle change or it wont work at all.  that is the biggest problem with weight watchers.  A lot of them (the ones with the psychological issues relating to food) need someone that does food psychology who can talk to them and help them with their issue....not some dumb fuck who lost weight doing weight watchers and just stands there unable to offer sound advice.



The majority don't though.  Either way it is shame people can't get the proper help they need, instead of falling for sham marketing.


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## dodgyone (May 18, 2007)

I always thought the Weight Watchers principle of points is quite good but it needs a little tweaking. Perhaps have the points separated out for carbs, protein and fats. That way you can get a more balanced diet. Also throw in that they must eat 4 or 5 meals every day and voilà, everything in check!!!


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## crazy_enough (May 18, 2007)

I did shed the first 100 pounds on the ww plan....I guess from eating crap like there was no tommorow to keeping it to a certain # of points or range obviously made me drop some weight. 

Then I started attending nutrition classes, seminars, presentations and actually learned a thing or two about feeding one's body with purpose instead of blondly hitting some # of points or calories. I have a far better body for it .


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## zonaguy03 (May 18, 2007)

Ya'll were talking about having mental issues with food, and making lifestyle changes...im one of those people.  I wish I would have made better choices on what I ate/how much I ate in one sitting.  I would eat junk food, drink soda until I could not eat anymore, and stuck with that mentality  all through high school.  At this point I really regret it, and as a result have drastically changed my diet in the last month and have seen results and felt better about it.  I still have constant cravings for Dairy Queen Blizzards, but I realize that I'm still young and my metabolism is still up and running hard, plus I exercise vigorously 5 out of 7 days of the week, so I don't get too down on myself for cheating every now and then.  But I also just wanted to say thanks to all ya'll for taking the time to respond to some of the crap I had posted on here.  It has really been beneifical.


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## robousy (May 19, 2007)

Well my wife went to her first meeting at weightwatchers and I was astonished that they have a 'weigh in' with clothes on.

I think thats a really innacurate indicator of your progress.

I weigh myself first thing in the morning, at the same time every morning to get a good idea of my progress. 

I can fluctuate by 5 lbs in a day EASILY. Water weight adds a lot, even taking a shower adds! There are so many variations that I think you need to be really consistent with how and when you weigh yourself. And especially NOT wear clothes.


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## P-funk (May 19, 2007)

how the fuck are they going to get naked in front of everyone?


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## tucker01 (May 20, 2007)

What does it matter if you weigh-in with clothes on?

Just be consistent with what time you and day you weigh in at, and wear similar clothing,  you should get a good idea of what is going on.


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## Yanick (May 20, 2007)

WW is crap IMO. My brother's GF did it and lost a couple of lbs from the kcal restriction. One and a half years down the road, she still eats like shit and has mostly gotten it all back.

Its pure stubbornness and laziness IMO, unless one really has a mental abnormality re:food. Most people i have met though just don't have the determination/willingness to change their lifestyle a bit. It takes a lot more work to get some egg whites, oatmeal and whey in the morning then getting a bagel w/butter and coffee from the corner deli in the morning and most people just don't want to 'waste' their time doing it.


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