Keep Falling Off....Weight Watchers?!?! I need some advice\opinions!!! PLEASE! :)

[speedygt03]

Hey All!

I've been having a rough time keep on this WOE since the begining of the new year, I cant believe how fast time has flown by and from all the back and forth that im doing, im now bigger than my biggest!!! (make sense?)

Its hard to stick to it. period. But also working for a group of doctor's who are against it (we all eat together) and alot of the people that I work with are on Weight Watchers and tell me all types of good things about that program.

I'm just wondering if anyone has tried WW and if you had any success? What are the ups and downs of that program??? I've just been figureing that if I cant manage to stay on track with Atkins WOE while losing the weight, i'll never be able to maintain it once it happens. I'm just scared of gaining it back if I lose it.

Any advice would be helpful!!! Thanks very much!

*Krystle

[BizBee]

Re: Keep Falling Off....Weight Watchers?!?! I need some advice\opinions!!! PLEASE!

Dear SpeedyGt03,

I have been on and off Weight Watchers for years. It used to be a much lower carb program than it is today. The idea now is that you have exchanges, ie fruit, bread, protein, etc. and you are given a limit of how many of each kind of exchange you can have each day. Recently they have assigned a point value to foods and you can have a limited amount of points per day depending on how much you weigh currently, and how much you need to lose. You must weigh and measure each food you eat in order to know how many exchanges or "points" you are taking in. When I was on it, it was what I consider a "low-fat" diet. You must pay a weekly fee (here it was about $13.00 five years ago) and you weigh in every week. You get ribbons as you pass certain goal weights on your way to your final goal. Once at your final goal, you can stay on their maintenance program for free as long as you maintain a weight within 5 pounds of your goal weight and weigh in once a month with them.

After starting and restarting over a fifteen year period, I never reached my goal weight with them. The older I got, the higher in carbs the program became. I should mention that once a year they "revamp" their program with new materials and sometimes change the "rules". There are a lot of program "tools" you are encouraged to buy as well as cookbooks, etc. You are supposed to write down what you eat every day.

The lectures are good and it is a good place to discuss weight loss problems and find buddies to diet with. I just found that the older I got the harder it became for the program to work. When you follow all the rules and it doesn't work it is frustrating to have to pay the fee every week for the same information over and over again. I began to feel that it was too expensive for the lack of results I was acheiving. I wish I had a dollar for every week I was on Weight Watchers.

That being said, I have a dear friend who swears by their program and has lost over forty pounds on it. She is apple shaped and I am pear shaped but I'm not sure if that is the difference.

If motivation is your problem, however, Weight Watchers is much more rigid and has much more limited choices when dining out or with friends. You can get the frozen dinners, but I don't think they are very healthy or filling because they are generally low-fat. I personally think that it is easier to be on Atkins, and to maintain on Atkins. I can generally go to a party and find something that I can eat and not be ravenous. In weight watchers, once you have used up all your points, you can't eat anything else that day. On Atkins I always know that if I am starving, I can have some chicken or an egg, etc. You can have fruit on Weight Watchers but you are encouraged to use low fat products and once you are at your limit, you can't eat anything. You still can't have anything you want to eat on Weight Watchers because you don't want to use up all your points on a piece of cake. for example. Also I have a hard time stopping the sweets once I have eaten my allotted small portion. I think it is much more rigid than Atkins. Once you lose your weight, you still have to keep careful track of what you eat.

I hope this information helps. I know that Atkins is much easier for me to maintain even if I slip a bit now and then but you are the only one who can decide what is right for your lifestyle and body.

Good luck with your decision!

[Desertthorn]

Re: Keep Falling Off....Weight Watchers?!?! I need some advice\opinions!!! PLEASE!

I started and stopped on Weight Watchers about 10 times and finally gave it up because it just didn't work for me. You have to find a plan that works for your lifestyle and I also have a friend who lost 100 pounds on WW and that was 8 years ago and she is still with them and swears by then also. Atkins makes sence to me and so I stick with it. You will find something that works for you.
The one thing that I can tell you about WW and this board is that we give you the same advise and support and we don't charge 10 bucks a week. LOL

[speedygt03]

Re: Keep Falling Off....Weight Watchers?!?! I need some advice\opinions!!! PLEASE!

Thanks for the advice.

I figure that the people I work with are so successful because they stick to it. Which I would be to with Atkins if i could manage to stay on it. I love the food we're aloud to have and the way that i feel when im on it. But its just been SO hard to stick with since the begining of the new year. i know that if im strict on it and follow everything correctly then i will see major results, but im just struggling right now.

i've been apart of ABDD since june of 05 I think and have been back and forth ever since then! i cant seem to stay on it for a long period of time and its so frustrating!!!!! like the quote in my siggy says "a year from now you'll wish you'd started today" well....coming up pretty soon here is gonna be a year and i have nothing to show for it.

i was real good for about a month and lost like 30 lbs and felt WONDEFUL, but once I slipped it was all over.

I want to continue with atkins, just wanted opinions about WW because listening to the group at work started to get under my skin all the doctors tell me things like "why dont u let us do some blood work and see how all that meat is treating you" which i wouldnt mind if i was on the wagon like before and it made my BP and cholesterol go down, but being on and off...im sure its terrible!

no sure where im going with all this rambling. LOL! Sorry guys! just stuck and sad about it.

thanks again!

*Krystle

[Analog6]

Re: Keep Falling Off....Weight Watchers?!?! I need some advice\opinions!!! PLEASE!

You need to analyze WHY you are slipping up all the time. Until you work out whay you do that, you will not succeed on any plan. Is it emotional, time of month, whatever? I have found this really easy to stick to and the weight losses are such a reward that I am in no danger of straying.

[*Emma*]

Re: Keep Falling Off....Weight Watchers?!?! I need some advice\opinions!!! PLEASE!

I feel for you, its hard work... at my last job (when i was on atkins) i had people around me that would go on and on about me havin a heart attack eating all that fat, yet i ate the healthiest out of them all!! i would go to work with a chicken salad smothered in mayo! while they were eating pie and chips, it used to be hysterical when they would say i was playing with my life! but there were also a few people who thought what i was doing was wonderful and stuck by me 100% and even when i was havin a bad day they would say... "Come on Emma, ya dont wanna do that, it'll take 4 days to get you back into that keto-thing" and they were right!

but ya know what made me stick to it the most?? the cynics... my mom, whole family... work... friends... all those cynical ones, cos i just wanted to prove them wrong and let them know it DOES work...

so i stuck with atkins for about... 6 months.... i enjoyed the WOL and of course loved the results i lost about... 70ish pounds i think in total... when i came off atkins, and i dont know why i did... it was just that after christmas new year thing and i could just not get back on the wagon i gained about 20 pounds back, now i knew i looked good, everyone told me all the time, i'd been big for soooo long and it was so nice to be alnost normal again!

so... where am i heading here, i dont half go on with myself!!

ok the point to my post.... i couldnt get back on, my working hours had changed dramatically, my free time had literally disappeared.... i just couldnt carry on... so i turned to Slimming World... its a meeting thingy like WW is... you weigh in each week (tho i dont, i know the diet by heart and i do have a good amount of will power!) that suited my life style, it was so easy to do everyday... i will go back to atkins one day... i miss it... i miss the healthy glow in my skin... the feeling bright n breezy every morning... but right now my weight is under control in a way that fits in with my life...

And thats all you need to do, find that something that fits in with your life, if that is WW for now then sure go for it... if your just doing it cos of the cynics, sod 'em.... prove em wrong.... thats what spurred me on every minute of every day.

so now ive lost that weight i put on, okay not as quickly as i would of with atkins but its gone, and im still controlling carbs