Anyone on Weight Watchers

I'll tell you what, though - some of these WW members are OUTRAGED.  I was reading the forums earlier.    People don't like change, that's for sure!

Although it's funny, some that are outraged are also the people that use the forums as a way to bypass paying for the online tools or the meeting, so when they say that WW doesn't care about them, I have to say...that's probably true!  They aren't a source of revenue!

But we'll see.  I really do like how it's calculating the points in a healthier way. 

I'll tell you what, though - some of these WW members are OUTRAGED.  I was reading the forums earlier.    People don't like change, that's for sure!

Wow, they really are furious.  It's really amusing to read actually.  It's because they have to eat healthy (i.e all things in moderation!!) now and not just waste their points on crap!  Funny 

Wow, they really are furious.  It's really amusing to read actually.  It's because they have to eat healthy (i.e all things in moderation!!) now and not just waste their points on crap!  Funny 

Did anyone read the twinkies diet thing? It basically (it's not a very scientific test) indicates that the old WW hypothesis is right, in as much that calorie counting is really the only thing that matters in weightloss not the nutritional value of the food.
Which is interesting really, especially to me, I eat really healthily but my portion size is too large, which is causing the weight issues, I always took comfort in my balanced, vegetable rich diet, but I may need to rethink and really start adding up the calories in every banana, apple, stalk of celery I'm consuming.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

All of his markers went down, he lost weight etc.

So basically you can waste all your points on crap and still lose weight.

But don't you feel like crap when you eat that?  (Not you specifically, of course).  But I remember losing a bucket of weight on the US WW, and I did rely heavily on the prepackaged food, but I didn't have much in the way of energy.    And I had pretty big mood swings, I think, due to all the sugar.

I don't think anyone doubts you can lose weight by just eating fewer calories, but part of weight loss is that you have to be able to continue the weight loss (motivation, dealing with cravings, dealing with health issues, dealing with food addiction).  

It really beggers belief that people think that fat people just willingly make themselves fat as a willing exchange for eating a few comforting foods.  Fat people would rather be thin, and I am sure most (not all but most) would be willing to sacrifice their favourite foods to do so.  The problem is, that sacrifice involves a continual sacrifice.  It's not a one off thing.  The sacrifice also involves willpower, one that thinner people usually do not need to make because they don't think about food the same way as fat people.  They don't think about it as often either.  Part of this is psychology, but part of this is in no doubt due to physiological response to some of the foods we eat.  I am of the firm opinion that fructose and HFCS in particular (known as glucose/fructose syrup here in the UK) is one of the contributing causes of the rise of overweight and obesity.  It changes our physiology and that in turn changes part of our mind's view of food.  I forget who posted it, but someone posted a very long, but very good video about the differences in sugar metabolism and fructose's contribution to obesity in the Shrinker's thread.

What does this have to do with the Twinkie diet?  Losing weight isn't just about taking weight off.  If it were, I would have stayed thin one of the first times I lost significant amounts of weight.  It requires a lifetime commitment to monitoring your health, weight, diet.  It requires a change in attitudes towards food and eating a diet exclusively of something made with HFCS and highly refined stodge is going to do nothing but change that for the worst over the long term.

I also read somewhere that this guy had to keep cutting calories to continue to lose.  The "starvation mode" that people talk about generally doesn't last that long.  However, when you deny your body the essential macro-nutrient of protein, your lean body mass suffers, and this reduces your BMR.  You will be in a semi-starvation mode until you regain that mass.  

His numbers look great now, but almost all weight loss, no matter the method (including total starvation) will initially improve things like serum cholesterol levels. I'd like to see this guy stick to this a year, go back to eating normal food (even a better diet than he was on before the "Twinkie diet") and let us see how he is about 6 months after that.  

Again, you can lose weight by being calorie deficient.  Losing weight in itself doesn't make a successful weight reduction diet for people with real weight problems.  

ETA:  Jennette Fulda, coincidently, posted something along the same lines about obese people being different than non-obese:
http://pastaqueen.com/blog/2010/11/obesity-as-an-illness-of-metaphor/

Stuff like this guy's experiment doesn't make us understand obesity more, but less.

I'm in search of a way to lose weight again. I lost a fair bit through the 'relationship FAIL' diet but am starting to put it back on as I'm a stress eater.

I did WW for a while in the UK and had some success but didn't like the meetings. In the first place I joined, there were lots of Uni girls there using it to manage their eating so they could drink more.

At another place I did it, a whole meeting was devoted to how to make water 'taste better'. A third was about the portion of porridge you could have - the whole meeting was about that!

Anyway, I've been toying with doing it online here in the US because I do know that my portions are out of control and I think I could use that wake up call. But I'm not sure how much the US version encourages packaged foods and artificial sweeteners, both of which I tend to avoid (actually, I don't use any artificial sweeteners at all).

*sigh*

The whole thought of this just makes me want to go eat a cupcake!

Do they still run a version of the Core plan in the US?  I think they might.  I found that was a good way to avoid the sweetners, since you really did have to prepare a lot of food.

I also avoid the sweetners, and I can't say enough about how much better I feel.  My stomach would cramp within minutes of having any fake sugar, and I couldn't figure it out for like..years.    I just thought I couldn't eat certain foods.  But now that I watch the fake sugars, I don't really have any adverse food reactions anymore.

Do they still run a version of the Core plan in the US?  I think they might.  I found that was a good way to avoid the sweetners, since you really did have to prepare a lot of food.

I honestly don't know. I've had a quick gander at their site but not got very far yet.

Ah, I see now that the US WW has not changed their system yet.

http://www.examiner.com/weight-loss-in-national/weight-watchers-set-to-unveil-new-plan-on-nov-29-will-it-be-propoints

ah, sounds like then.

I think you'd like it, then - definitely less of a focus on fake foods/sweetners, etc.

Although huh, what will that Hungry Girl website rely on?  She does a whole lot of switches, but I feel like half of them contain splenda, or really low-fat/fake cheeses, etc.  Hmm, that'll be interesting to see how she adapts.

I can't be bothered with her. I am totally opposed to 'fake' food. I'm more of a Michael Pollan fan than anything. I know what I need to do: eat less and exercise more. Or, exercise a lot more so I can eat more of what I like.

Just. Have. To. Get. Off. ars*. And. Do. It.

Back in my mid-20s, I lost most of the weight I needed to lose by diet alone, and by counting calories alone - on Weight Watchers.  But I wasn't very healthy, I wasn't physically fit, and my body wasn't getting the nutrients that it needs to stay healthy.  Plus I was obsessed with counting everything, and planning my next meal & my next & my next, to the point that it was driving me insane.

Through a lot of life stress afterwards, I gained it all back and then some.

The modest weight loss I've had after moving to England was through generally healthier eating (no counting) and increased activity.  Do I need to lose more?  You bet I do.  But my overall health as a result is actually pretty good, compared to what I did back then.  So...

I have a great WW group, a great leader.  Her whole point is healthy food and new foods... and real life. 

I think it depends on the WW office and the people.

Overall my group is great and we have a lot of people that are lifetime that come back for needed pick me ups and visits.... so that helps too!

I tried it here for 5 weeks and left... for some of the very reasons that others have already said here.

1) I found myself obsessed with food and was always hungry.
2) Horrible leader who:
               a) Told everyone in the group that they could add cream cheese as flavor to        whatever they were cooking and not have to count the points.  
               b) Made weekly comments about "American-sized portions" and as the only American in the group, I felt she was making personal digs at me because I refused to hand over my food log to her for inspections.  
3) I'm now making healthy homemade meals instead of relying on wee portions of WW microwave crap.

Yeah.  On the one hand, when I'm on WW, I do track and I'm more aware of what I'm eating, which helps me lose, because I realize where I'm mindlessly snacking and where I might have some room for improvement.

But I initially left it here because they were just overselling their products and not talking about "real food".  So, I'm going to track online for a while with the new program and see where it gets me.  It's not making me change my diet too much right now, just cut down on the portions. 

I am definitely more along the lines of trying to follow the Michael Pollan food rules, I just like to incorporate that with the portion control.