Hi,

About 6 years ago I joined online Weight Watchers and lost a fair amount of weight (can't remember how much now but went from my size 12 jeans being muffin tops, to wearing size 9 jeans in the 4 months I did it online). I kept the weight off until I fell pregnant with my first son, who is now 2 and a half.

I have started WW (the old system) a few times since having DS1, and each time I lose around 2 kilos the first week then it's about 1 kilo a week. But I haven't ever stuck to it for more than a few weeks at a time, so I'm thinking it might be time to join up for 3 months again and see if that's the motivation I need.

Obviously now it's the new WW, just wondering for those who have done both systems, whether the new one is as good (i.e I wonder if I'll lose weight at the same rate as I did/do on the old system). I know all the values have changed and the points you're allocated as well, but have read on forums that breastfeeding (I have a 5 week old baby) I'll get something crazy like about 40 points a day as well as the extra weekly points. That seems really odd, that seems like a LOT of food to eat in one day!

I am tempted to just do it the way I've always done it, on the old system as I know that works so well for me, but really do need the motivation, but I will be really annoyed if I don't lose much weight on the new system.

Anyone with experience of this??

Edit: I lose 2 kilos in the first week I meant to say...

Anybody?

I have tried both.

While I did lose weight on the new ProPoints Plan is was very, very slow. Some weeks nothing, some weeks 200gr. If you check out the Weight Watchers Community Forum you can see that most people are losing weight very slowly. Google the same thing and you will see very slow weight loss is the trend. Not saying that this is bad, it is what is recommend - slow weight loss.

I ended up going back to the old Point system and had consisent good losses every week. I stick with the old Points plan when I want to lose weight. I find it much more motivating.

Consistent good losses keep me going strong when I am trying to lose weight. I need results to keep me motivated and ProPoints just wasn't giving me those results.

I prefer it.

I'm a repeat offender with WW but pro points I really stuck it out. Sometimes it was slow going, but that was ok. I felt like it was easier to stick to because I truly never felt restricted and I was still able to go out to dinner and pig out now and then.

I reached my goal weight on pro points, and have been maintaining it since September of last year. I'm a life time member now (so I go for free).

I find its important to eat all of your weekly points. The weeks that I used up all my daily points, and ate my 49 weekly points I did better. I also make sure I walk every day - around 40 mins to an hour of walking per day. I never eat the extra exercise poitns earnt, but I always eat my weekly points. I can pull a 1.5kg loss if I do that.

I have done ww a number of times over the years, and have had success on both the old plan and the new one. Like the others said, under the new plan, the weight loss tends to be slower but I find that as long as you are willing to stick at it for the long haul, it is actually really easy to sustain as you are still allowed treats and that sort of thing. I think the new plan is also aimed at making healthier choices in food, not just weight loss which is also a good thing. Good luck with it.

OK thanks for that. That's what I was afraid of - slow, slow weight loss. I need to see some immediate results to continue with something and if I lost only, say, 100 grams in the first week or something, I'd be discouraged and less likely to continue.

I love that I can lose 2 kilos in the first week, that really does motivate me. Might have to find my own motivation then, to do the old system on my own. My DH did say if I got to my weight loss goal, he'd buy me the bracelet I've been lusting after! Hopefully that will keep me motivated.

thanks again

Ooooooh glad this was posted as I have started WW for the first time as of today and I am currently using the old system as a woman in my Tafe class has loaned me her WW shopping book and point counter book.

I am doing 18 points and I was curious if it is worth signing up to anything or is it Pro points or nothing?

I was previously going to go to the paid meetings but I think I like the old system, if that's the case should I just buy the old books or would the internet paid membership still be useful?

Thanks for any advice

Actually I just read a review Choice magazine did and they were pretty scathing of WW.

Because?

..

I've lost 18 kg in 6 months on the new WW. If you lose weight too fast your milk may be affected so slow and steady suits me fine It feels more sustainable too.

I did the old WW and it suited me. Lost 30kgs.

It swapped over near the end and I hated the new one. I think it encourages you to eat too much fruit and I didn't lose any weight. I swapped to calorieking for the last 8 kgs but followed the type of eating I was doing under the old WW plan.

I did 1 year under the old plan and got into the habit of eating that way. The new plan was to low in savoury carbs like bread and pasta and too high in fruit. So now I just stick to calorie king on weekdays eating in the style of the old WW and eat and drink whatever I want at weekends and that works for maintainance.

edited to add: caloriking is free. Buy yourself something nice for $30 per month.

Join My Fitness Plan.com, it is calorie counting and free! I am a convert from WW Online

I think it did not get a good rating from Choice as WW dont ask at the registration if you have been cleared by a doctor or what medication you are taking, which I think it is silly as it is nowhere near as extreme as the other diet clinics they were referring to.

Having said that though I liked the old system better OP as I was the same as you as I would lose 2kgs a week and it is great motivation to keep going so when I rejoined after my last baby all excited for same results with the pro points I was very disappointed to only lose a few hundred grams the first week and then I had some good weeks after that but it has been all a bit hit and miss and dont think I will renew my 3 month membership as I found the meetings soooooo frustrating and confusing as some of the old birds are flat out refusing to follow the new plan but sit in the meetings asking all sorts of questions on how they can convert the new points on things back to the old system IYKWIM then you have the women that are bummed about small loses but then you let them speak they tell everyone they are eating up to 7 pieces of fruit a day 'cos its free of points'

so in my opinion this free points with fruit and veg on pro points is not teaching people about will power or portion control as I found alot of members said they just grazed all day

I like both plans and have lost weight on both plans.

I have been losing a lot slower on the current plan but that is because I am not super motivated so not sticking to it 100%. If I did stick to it properly I would be losing similar to the old plan.

I have been on the propoints plan for about 6 months. To the PP saying about too much fruit... that is really not correct. You are only supposed to eat 2 pieces a day which I don't see as excessive. It is 0 points because in the past people were having a freddo frog rather than a piece of fruit as they were the same points. Whereas now WW has made it so fruit is 0 to encourage people to reach for that as a snack rather than a piece of chocolate.

Anyway I like both plans. I think this one encourages eating of more protein, smaller portions of carbs as the points are quite high of carbs sadly.

Good luck

Gosh, I don't really know what to do!!

Was *supposed* to start old WW on Monday...well, it's thursday and I still haven't started! There's 1 plus for the new WW - motivation to keep at it and do my weigh ins etc.

In my defence though, I only just found my old books yesterday so couldn't really start properly anyway as I can't quite remember all the points for things. I have a folder FULL of recipes so really should just do the old one. Everything I've found online says you only need 300-500 calories extra a day when breastfeeding, 1-2 healthy snacks. So I think I'll just do 21 or 22 points for now (I used to be on 20 points when I did it originally) and see what happens. So annoyed I didn't find the books to start on Monday though, I'd be halfway to my first weigh in now...and hopefully my first 2 kg loss! Oh well, will start on Monday next week (I have to start on a Monday - stupid I know!!)

As to the PP who was asking about joining but doing old WW, I don't really think you'd be able to as all the points values etc online will be on the new system now so you wont be able to find points values. Not sure where you'd be able to buy the old books from either, maybe ebay? WW only sell the new pro points ones obviously.

I am fed up with the new WW system - they have made the art of loosing weight too complicated.

The weightloss is slow - I have too many points to eat that I don't feel like I am making a difference.
0.1 or 0.3 per week isn't cutting it with me.

I am finding that I am eating too much fruit and veg and it's not making a difference.

So I have just cancelled my membership and taking a different approach. I've joined my fitness pal and will start to look at calories instead of points! It will be hard to retrain myself after all these years but it might just be the kick I need.

Good luck!

I was also thinking about joining WW, but decided to try My Fitness Pal first. I've managed to lose around 4 kg in 4 weeks. So, after reading the above comments, I think I'll stick with My Fitness Pal for the time being.

Edited for spelling

Don't blame you!

Think I've made my decision - old WW it is! Have to try to motivate myself so I'm going to get an exercise book and draw in a table each day - so each Monday I record my weight, and measurements (bust, waist, hips, thighs) and make sure I fill it in each week.

Have also just worked out (on the WW webiste hehe) my 10% goals, so will find a reward for each one I hit - first 10% will be a trip to the hairdressers, second 10% {not sure}, third 10% {not sure} then goal is the bracelet I've been wanting a while, DH said he'd buy me when I got to where I wanted. If I've made it that far, I should be ok as there's only 3kgs between my third 10% goal and my final goal but ssshhhh I wont share that with DH

Same here. All those extra points, honestly it works out to 5 almond magnums (I know, I was pre-menstrual one week and used them all for magnums) a week on top of my normal food intake, seriously no-one trying to lose weight needs to eat so much extra.Plus my daily intake was really high too as I am 100 kilos these days. Does my head in all the extra stuff, but I am a bit of an all or nothing person with chocolate and will eat it every day once I get hooked on it.

They sent in someone posing as a new customer who was bordering on underweight. WW should have advised her she didn’t need to lose any weight, instead they said she could lose at least 5kg more which would have put her well below the healthy BMI minimum of 20. So essentially they were prioritising their profits over someone’s health. They should have turned her away.

ProPoints didn't do much, it was a lot of effort for little loss. The old points system worked much better for me, and my friend who joined said the same thing.

I am really annoyed, as I don't know what to do about my weight and WW was always a fallback when things got out of hand.

Call me a cynic, but maybe they think that by slowing the w/l down with the new points, they'll make more money because it'll take people longer to reach goal.

Me - it's just sapping my motivation when I'm only losing 200g or so a week, despite my best efforts.

And damn, I think I threw out all of my old ProPoints materials last month. I had a few copies of them.

I'm signed up for a ww at work program, so have 6 weeks left that I've already paid for. I might keep going to the meetings for the weigh ins, but do Calorie King or similar for the food.

It did take me a while to really get my head around the propoints program, but once I got into the swing of things I really found it great. Those who have only just started on it and aren't so keen, I'd be giving it a bit longer before you switch.

I think out of all the programs it is the most sustainable long term. Yes it took me longer to lose the weight, but I've been able to stick to it through maintenance and have been maintaining over 6 months now. I never would've been able to do that before.

Anyone that is wanting to go back to the old Points system - you can get the old Points books and the old Points calculators off Ebay, that is how I went back to it.

There are also cookbooks from the old Points too.

ETA there is also an iphone application that will allow you to do either the 'Classic Points' or 'Pro Points' - although this app is not endorsed by WW.

I am doing the new one at the moment but I definitely don't like it as much.

I lost 20kg after the birth of DD using the old system. I found it really easy to use and began to be able to estimate how many points would be in something. This meant this is was easier to keep the weight off once I had reached goal weight.

The new system is much slower. I lose about 500g per week which if fine but not exactly high motivation! I'm also not sure how I will go once I've reach goal weight this time.

On breastfeeding and the old points system - I did it with DD2 (started when she was 3 months old, fully breastfed), I did it the 'old fashioned way at meetings, and I had 32 daily points. it did seem like heaps, but I consistently lost approx. 1kg a week (and I didn't exercise). 21 or 22 points would be way too low when BF'ing a newborn. Try 32 and see how you go, I was amazed I lost weight after being on 20 points pre-baby. And I was someone who put on weight in the first 3 months of BF'ing!

Oh really? What's it called? Or just search for weight watchers??



Hmmm yes maybe only adding 1 point will not be enough extra points - I certainly don't want to do something that will jeopardize BFing! Will try it for a week or two and see what happens...

It's called MyScore Plus, here is the link:-

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/myscore-plu...d409395695?mt=8

Thanks!

I've started back on the old Points system - managed to find two sets of old materials.

I've quickly seen the difference in terms of how much more food you eat on the ProPoints system.

I've started working my way through my list of regularly eaten foods, so I have a column with the ProPoints value and one with the Points value. Interesting reading to compare the two.