Working from home and having unlimited access to my fridge and pantry 24/7 has caused me to gain some weight. As I’m trying to figure out a solution and lose those newly added pounds, I tried some different diets. One of them being Weight Watchers or “WW”. So, let’s talk about it. I tried Weight Watchers: here’s how it went.
I was really into starting WW and was so excited for all of the recipes and the community and the advanced platform. I downloaded the app, paid for the membership, followed some WW experts on Instagram, and started saving some recipes to Pinterest.
I stuck to it for a few weeks before it got really difficult and I realized I could do this same thing but for free…
I took a quiz to figure out my goal weight, how much weight I needed to lose, my eating habits, and my fitness level/habits. Pretty much the same as every weight loss quiz online that you can take for free. I was assigned to the Blue category, which means a moderate SmartPoints budget where veggies, fruit, and lean meat are all zero points.
They also sent me a “getting started guide” which just told me to download the app, watch a welcome video and learn more about Blue. I was also sent a “personalized meal builder”, which is pretty much just pairing veggies with lean meat and something low-carb. They also gave me a 5-day example menu but that was it.
I felt very lost and confused and unsure of what to do or how to eat. The 5-day menu was great but I can’t eat the same exact menu for the rest of my life. I would go out to eat with my boyfriend or friends and spend 30+ minutes looking through the menu and adding it into the WW app to see what the best option would be.
I wasn’t losing any weight and I just wished that it would be easier to put a full day of eating together to stay within my SmartPoints budget.
I also realized that tracking SmartPoints is the same thing as counting calories, which you can do for free. I’ve had the MyFitnessPal app for YEARS and there are so many similarities between the two apps, except MFP is free.
So let’s say I was allotted 25 SmartPoints a day. That’s the same thing as saying I’m allowed to eat 1,400 calories a day. Or 1,200 calories a day, whatever. There are so many free calorie calculators out there to find out how many calories you should be eating to reach your goal weight.
Vegetables, fruit and lean meats are zero points with Blue, so the app would only count if I ate a tortilla or a piece of cheese or a granola bar, etc. which is very similar to counting calories. Obviously a cup of broccoli is going to have very little calories compared to a granola bar. As someone who has used the MyFitnessPal app to count calories for years, this all felt very redundant and a little scammy to me.
I wasn’t sure why I needed to pay $21.95 a month to count calories when I could just do that for free, you know? I could also find a ton of Weight Watchers recipes on Pinterest or Instagram (for free).
Basically, WW just wasn’t for me. I didn’t lose any weight and I was doing all of the same things that I was already doing.
If you are someone just starting out with dieting and are unfamiliar with counting calories, planning meals around veggies, lean meats, and a small carbohydrate, finding healthy recipes that fit your diet needs, then WW would probably be great for you! I have seen a lot of amazing results for people who have done WW. But I think they were at the very beginning of their weight loss journey and didn’t know where to even start. So WW was a great starting point for them, and it could be for you, too if you are at that same point.
I am very familiar with dieting, counting calories and macros, planning balanced meals, eating healthy recipes, etc. so it was just a waste of money for me when I knew that I could do all of that for free. I guess I was looking for more structure and a further dive into dieting than what WW had to offer. Make sense?
I ended up cancelling after my 3 month commitment plan ($65 later…) because I didn’t lose any weight and it was all the same stuff I was already doing and knew how to do. It was like going all the way back and starting from the beginning.
I hope this information is beneficial to those who need it. If you are already counting calories, know how to plan out healthy meals, know where to find healthy recipes, and/or know what you need to do to lose weight, I don’t think WW would be super helpful. You can already do all of that for free, you just have to be resourceful and do some research.
If you are just starting out, have a lot of weight to lose, don’t know what to eat or how to plan a healthy, balanced meal and need someone to walk you through everything, then I think you WOULD benefit from WW.
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