Has anyone ever tried Weight Watchers?

Question

What results did you get?

For what reason did you try it? (To lose a few lbs. or were you overweight?)

How long did it take you to see results?

Did you continue to subscribe to Weight Watchers after you learned how to eat the right way?

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

My daughter and I joined a couple of months ago.  We're both averaging somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4 pounds per week; she's losing a bit faster than I am, but she's younger, more active, and has a 22-month-old to chase around!

We love the program.  It's easy to follow and has a lot of flexibility built in.  You learn the general nutritional guidelines, but how you satisfy the guidelines is up to you.  For example, I don't like milk or yogurt, so I drink a lot of smoothies made with milk and frozen fruit and I eat a lot of sugar-free, fat-free pudding.

My daughter wants to lose about 30 to 40 pounds, which will put her back into her wedding gown if not even smaller than that.  I need to lose a whole lot more.

Making changes in your lifestyle isn't easy.  Weight Watchers helps you focus on making one small change at a time.  They also teach you skills to cope with emotional eating, and eating just from boredom, and recognizing when you're truly hungry versus those times when you just want something to eat out of habit.  The meetings make a huge difference, because then you are with other people who are sharing your journey and they have some wonderful ideas to share.

There is a lot of information at http://www.weightwatchers.com that is open to anyone.  If you add /science to that url, you will go straight to the section that talks about all the newest research about obesity, nutrition, health, and weight loss.  This research is unbiased, done by scientists who aren't connected with Weight Watchers, so you don't have to worry about them presenting only the "Weight Watchers gospel."

Whether or not a particular member continues to follow her new eating habits once she reaches her goal weight is something only that member can control.  Someone who lost weight to fit into a wedding dress or because of a high school reunion might not have any motivation to stick with good eating habits once their goal has been achieved.  Since their goal wasn't to make a change for a lifetime, they never really bought into the reasons for permanent lifestyle changes.  These are the members (of ANY weight loss program or gym or whatever) who sit around and gripe because they don't get cake on their birthday or they can't drink Coke and they haven't had a McDonald's french fry or a Starbucks mocha latte in months.  They feel deprived, and they intend to go back to their eating habits.

The people who WANT to make this a lifetime change, will do so.  But they make that change because of something they find in themselves.  It's a conscious decision on their part.  Of course they struggle.  And sometimes they choose to eat that large order of fries.  But again - they CHOOSE.  If they make a bad food choice, it was still their choice, they own the choice, and they move on.  Back on program with the next meal.  

I'll let you know in a year or so how easy or hard it is to stick with it.  Right now, it's easy.

Answer 3

I did weight watcher's last year.  I lost 21.5lb in about 2 months.. the first week was great because I lost 5lb; but the rest of the time it was around 2 lb per week.  Weight Watchers is a life style change so it helps to continue going to meetings  periodically and logging onto the website for a year or so.

Answer 4

Hello! I've been on the weight watchers program and I loved it. I wanted to  lose 30lbs and I did rather quickly. I did find it is more productive to me to attend the meetings than to just subscribe online. You learn alot of good tips and suggestions in the meeting and its very motivating.

Answer 5

I did try it.  I have nothing negative to say about it only it didn't work for me.  Honestly, though I don't fault the program itself.  I just had a hard time keeping up with the whole 'points' thing.  It became too difficult for me to figure 'Ok, is this 6 or 8 oz of chicken.  Is this good or bad oil?  Is this too many points, or since I ate half is it half bad?'

Things like this just got too intrusive into my life.  Although I do not use WW any longer, I still keep in mind what I am eating (although this week I have been eating very badly!) and I expect the repercussions or the benefits from doing so.

My weight has not changed but I have noticed a sharper mentality on what kinds of foods I should probably skip and which I should get.  I eat a lot more fruits and cook at home almost nightly.  

I would suggest that if you want some key tips to try it out.  Their online message boards are really nice and most people there help each other out.  

Good luck to you!

Answer 6

Weight Watchers is a really good program.  I highly recommend it.  If I remember correctly, I lost 3-4 pounds within that first week, and continued losing 1-2 pounds every week thereafter.  So, yes, the results are pretty quick, especially if you incorporate daily excercise as well.  I didn't do it for very long, as I have terrible will power and love to go out and eat.  But, I still incoporate my learned eating habits along with my eating out (I no longer see the need to subscribe, as you kinda figure out how much of everything you should be eating in about a month- two month's time).  I've kept the 10 of the 15 pounds I lost off.  My co-worker was my original inspiration, and she looks amazing (she has lost 35 pounds, down to a size 6).  She's reached her goal, though I still have 20 lbs. I'd like to lose.  :(  But she is still subscribed, that's probably why she's doing so well.  

Answer 7

Yes, I lost 85 pounds about five years ago because I was FAT!  It took about a year.  I lost 10 pounds the very first week and about 23 the first month, and then it was slower, of course--generally 1-3 pound per week.  It's a great diet because they teach you to eat healthy for life and you'll learn proper food portions, etc.  Good luck!