Thursday, February 10, 2011

Thanks for Nothing, Weight Watchers

I used to love Weight Watchers.  Well, not love it exactly, but found it the perfect program to lose weight on.  I was happy with my weight loss; I rocked the Points system.  But I gained a bit of weight back; some of it due to junk food, some of it due to meds.  I knew it was time to get back on the program.

But they changed it.

Now they have Points Plus.  Everything you eat is now higher in Points, but you also get more Points per day than before.  And on the old program, you had to count the fruit you ate.  Now it's free.  

I tried Points Plus for over a month and lost less than four pounds.  I gained and lost the same half-pound for the last couple weeks.  I followed the plan to the letter, but had no success.

I decided to try Spark People, a free online weight-loss site.  I started it this past Monday.  I've lost THREE POUNDS since starting it.  I realized that the new Points Plus system is giving me too much food and expecting me to lose weight.  And after researching online, discovered that a lot of people are very unhappy with this new program, but Weight Watchers isn't really listening.

So if you're having success with the new program, that's great.  But if you're frustrated like I was, and having no progress, give Spark People a try.

4 comments:

Monica said...

Yup -- I hear you! I usually lose weight VERY quickly. This is week three for me, and so far I *gained* 1.6 pounds! I HATE the new PointsPlus system. My mother (who is doing WW with me) has a theory that the last program was too successful and they had too many people who lost weight too fast, so WW wasn't making enough money on people having to return. I'm starting to believe this too. I am getting really sick of being hungry all the time and not losing weight! Though just yesterday, as I added (WW lowfat) cheese to a WW entree ... and got very full from it, I discovered the missing key for me is PROTEIN. There's a reason I love Atkins (but find it too limiting): protein is filling! Tonight I made a WW recipe, jambalaya, and it called for chicken and shrimp and brown rice, and I am *still* full from dinner 4 hours ago. So maybe that's the trick. More protein. Screw the points -- I'll follow their program but I'm upping the protein. Call it a modified Atkins/Weight Watchers plan. :)

Mary C said...

I thought it was just me... I'm not so faithful but I am having a hard time making progress too. By the way. Love the pic of the girls!!!

Anonymous said...

I've been losing/gaining pretty much in the same pattern with the new points system as with the old one. But I can totally see where the new system could be frustrating. They're trying to point you in the direction of more fiber and lean proteins and less carbs and fat. I do better when I stick to the high-fiber, high-protein foods and keep my carbs to a minimum, and I don't always eat all my points. Those are the weeks I lose.

(This is Meghan, by the way. HI SHERRY!)

The Drama Mama said...

I hear a lot about SparkPeople. I really do need to lose about 100 lbs at the very least. Maybe i should look into this.