WW vs. CC...Save Your MONEY

I saw an article that explained it best.....I thought i'd share so some of you could maybe SAVE SOME MONEY in this...

If anyone out there does weight watchers or is thinking about doing weight watchers Please read:

When you go to weight watchers they weight you on a scale and get your weight.. The program it into a formula and say ok... now you can only have 40 points a day.(EXAMPLE) So you go home and look up what your eating, and marking down your points..... Paying a membership fee, and hopefully losing some weight. Congrats..

HOWEVER:

Lets look at this: You go into your bathroom and weigh yourself... you go online and look up your BMR (basal metobolic rate) and you get a #. That # is the # of calories you should eat in ONE DAY. You eat that # of calories and Hmmmm. WE LOSE WEIGHT....

So if we change the word "POINTS" to "CALORIES" we are doing the same thing, and its free..........

Just thought I'd share.....

I wouldn't think that Weight Watchers is about the actual formula rather than the consciousness and effort put into it.  I know quite a few people who have done really well on WW, but then others would just rather count calories.

To me, it seems like it's up to the person - as long as you're doing something, that should be all that matters.

WW is more about the support group than the actual numbers though, isn't it?   We're just lucky to have CC.com for free, IMHO.

Oh, yeah, I completely agree with you. I guess some people find it easier to have all their food ready to go and already added up.  I like calorie counting, though, it's cheaper!

I do both. I get weighed once a week at the meeting, and that spurs me to do well. I ignore the 'advice' they give, and stick to calorie counting.
With this method i have lost 30.5lbs since i started on May 27th.

That could be true, but Im talking about saving money..... I was looking for ways to lose weight raising a family, working daily, and I ran into an article that said what I typed above. I wanted to join WW, no money or time.... Im glad I saw that article, I thought it may help others that know someone that was successful on WW. Im NOT BASHING WW... Just explaining the jist of both plans are the same. But one is FREE!!!! Thanks CC

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GOOD JOB...... Can you be self rewarding just getting your own scale and weighing yourself and posting it on here?  Just asking.. 30.5 lbs.. Is a great achievement!!!! May is when I platueaed..... Im finally off that :-) Keep up the good work... What ever works for you..

Haha, I was just thinking about this yesterday. I know a bunch of people on WW. Partly you're paying for convenience. It's easier for most people to remember a 5-point muffin and subtract it from 40, than to remember a 210 cal. muffin and subtract it from 1475 daily cals. Also like the other posters said, there's a built-in support group with WW. If you decide to count calories, you're more on your own as far as research and finding a support group.

I feel like I've had to put in more effort with calorie counting, but have learned a LOT more about nutrition and how the body functions than if I had just been told "Here's your weight, here's your 40 points". I have a better understanding of anything if I have to figure it out myself. I know that I could have done the same research if I had joined WW but I just don't think I would have done it as long as I had someone telling me what to do.

And YES - CC is FREE and I LOVE THAT!!

you gave me another out look to this as well. Once your knowledgeable on calories.. Its with you for life. HEALTH is the ULTIMATE GOAL!  ALSO.. maybe with WW you get smaller #'s.. you think that plays into people's mnds? Im sure it would mine? only 40 instead of 210.... But that to me just sugar coats the truth of the fact. a muffin isn't HEALTHY?

lol that's true too. I feel slimmer eating 40 points than 1400 calories. You get conditioned to anything though, someone on WW for a long time would probably have an immediate negative reaction to hearing "10 points" whereas I'm like hey there's only 10 of them! But definitely the smaller numbers make it easier to start with, which draws new people in.

I don't know very much about the WW system so I'm hesitant to say that they don't emphasize healthy eating as well as just points. From the outside it seems like the emphasis is just on points rather than a balanced ratio of carbs, protein and "good" fats, and exercise. But I really don't know. Also there are plenty of calorie counters who just go by the number and aren't so concerned with total health.

Part of the attraction to counting ww points is that  the math is easier... same way with counting fat grams.  But you can do a similar thing with calorie counting.

I had to work out an easy system because I am severely math challenged... once took an aptitude test where 50 was average and scored a 10. No kidding. Numbers make my head spin.  This is how I do it.

A large apple is about 100 calories, give or take depending on which calorie book you read.  But there really is no exact number for an apple, they all vary slightly. The same works for most foods. So if you are picking an arbitrary number, why not pick a round number? Why not round things to 100s... like a whole grapefruit, a banana or an apple.

Other foods that are about 100 calories are 1/2 cup of 0 fat cottage cheese, or 1 cup of 0 fat yogurt. If you add a little fruit or jam, serve yourself up slightly less cottage cheese or yogurt, so the total with fruit/jam is 100 calories.

Say you got a smaller fruit, small orange or apple... those are about  75 ...  munch on a few raisins too, so you have another even 100.

1/2 slice of whole-wheat bread with some peanut butter is also about 100.

1/2 cup cooked legumes with salsa is about 100 calories.

hot cocoa (1/3 cup powdered milk, tsp cocoa, 1 tsp sugar) is 100

Four cups of air-popped popcorn is about 100 calories (this number varies with manufacturer packaging, I finally gave up and decided 4 cups was my portion, devised a scoop from a prescription bottle with a line marked,  so it would pop to the right amount)

So mostly try to count things in increments of 25.. and combine them to make even 100s. I also specifically engineer some portions so they work out to even numbers:

Smoothie (1/3 cup powdered milk, 1 cup frozen fruit, smidge Equal, squirt of vanilla, plus water) is 150 calories.

One time I decided to make up salmon patties to freeze for my lunches, used egg whites, bread crumbs... I had to tinker with the math... 100 too small,  200 too big, so I made them 150 calories.

I had had been using a number of 125 calories for a small muffin, because I got that from a calorie guide. But one day I added up all the ingredients, made a batch, divided the total calories by the number of muffins and decided my muffins were more like 200 calories.

Oatmeal, with a little sugar, fruit and skim milk is about 200.

When I sit down for a meal, I specifically serve myself in a plate of food that I estimate to be 300, 350 or 400 calories.  1/2 cup of most starches is about 100.  Vegetables are either 25 or 50.  Meat depends.

This is as accurate as WW points. How well does this work?  Nearly every day that I step on the scale I am within 1/2 pound of my goal weight. It works as long as you don't always under or over estimate. I would have to underestimate 35 days in a row to gain a pound.



 

40 grams (1 hand full) of oats is 145 calories, and that's without the skim milk (87 calories for 1 cup)
How do you reckon oats + sugar + fruit + milk is 200 calories?

I hear you. I cannot deal with weight watchers but know it works for many. I also feel like I have learned the inherent values of foods using CC where with weight wtachers you can't count points forever. That being said, I don't think it's exactly the same. Maybe someone who knows more can chime in but I believe the WW algorithm for points is more than just counting calories. They take nutritional value/fiber etc also into account (I think).

Basically, 50 calories is 1 point. But each gram of fiber (up to 5g in a serving) reduces the calories by 10, and each gram of fat increases the calories by 4. I don't think there's an actual weight loss reason behind the adjustments, I think they're intended simply to drive the users toward higher fiber and lower fat foods, which will be healthier choices in general. Hopefully that leads to less cravings for fat and sugars when the goal is finally reached and they stop counting points so dilligently.

The formula above may not be exactly what they do - it was reverse-engineered. Somewhere on the web you can probably find their allowed point values, which vary according to your current weight and are intended, I believe, to result in roughly 1.5 pounds/week of weight loss. And with point values printed on nearly all prepackaged foods, it's an ideal system for folks who want to lose weight without doing lots of math. I don't think it's really worth the money they want for it, though.

I guess its all about would you rather count points or cals? I did WW I did the points I like counting the cals better........I know what im sticking in my mouth now based on cals and fat not just a point. I could be eating twinkies if they fit my points same as if it fits my cals but with the cals you actually get an idea of what your sticking in your body You can see if something isnt good for you or not. If its a point you really dont have any idea what the nutrition factor is on it. I find myself reading way more now and figuring out what is actually good for me and whats not. Im not sure I would of ever done that on WW

According to my calorie book, a half cup of dry oatmeal is 145 calories, a quarter cup of frozen blueberries is 20, a teaspoon of brown sugar is 17, plus a splash of non-fat milk.  Actually I usually skip the milk, doesn't add much for me. Maybe your calorie source varies...  different books say slightly different things.

I actually make up a big can of mix, mostly oatmeal, also bran,  steel-cut oats, bulgar, ground flax seed, etc... gives it better texture. I add in the little salt, cinnamon and sugar.  So in the morning, I just scoop out a half cup, toss in berries, and add water, and microwave until it just threatens to bubble over. In my microwave it's 2:45... so I go take my shower while it's cooking... it needs to sit for a few minutes after. If too watery, I microwave 30 seconds more.

It's easier to start my day with something healthy if all the work is already done for me.

Just want to throw in that at my recommended 18 pts/ day, I was only getting about 900-1000 calories, which put me into starvation mode.  Counting calories is a lot healthier and better.

Thanks for the good comments.. I thought people would like to see the HEALTHIER side of counting calories, and its FREE!!!!!

I personally am not a fan of WW points because it doesn't make you take accountability for what you eat. You can eat many days worth of crap. This is hands down the BEST site to log your foods and I have tried them all. I think this site is briliant.

Good way of stating it....