SoulBliss mentioned that she was curious about being vegan on Weight watchers and wanted to start a discussion about it.
I have personally faced the fact that I can no longer lose weight without counting calories one way or another. I've tried using fitday or other means to count calories and it was always a frustrating struggle for me. I actually first thought about Weight watchers because meetings were starting up at my work. I did explore that option but decided against going to meetings. I tried their online tools for the one week trial and really liked it. I also liked the fact that I felt in control.
I was on Eat to Live for 3 months and I dropped weight fairly fast on it but I wanted to add things into my diet that just weren't compatible with Eat to Live. I wasn't gaining weight but I wasn't losing weight either. I had (soy) Ice cream today and it was on plan. That is not something that would go well with Eat to Live. Not to say it isn't a good diet but it is meant to be a short term plan because it is hard to maintain for really long periods (although not impossible).
There are 2 versions of Weight Watchers, Core and Flex. Both are very compatible with veganism. With Core, you 'eat until you are satisfied' a list of specific foods, basically overall healthy foods. No counting involved and reminds me somewhat of South Beach Diet. With flex, you count points. You can eat what you want, although it is recommended that you follow the healthy guidelines.
http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/a...1&art_id=21901
They do recommend dairy but they just want you to eat a good source of calcium, which can be various vegetables or calcium enriched products.
What I've been doing is following the flex plan for the past 3 weeks, but I have the Eat to Live guidelines in my mind. A lot of the foods I eat fall within the Core plan as well but it is important to me to keep track of my points. I don't find points tedious, I really like them. As I said, I'm doing the online plan which tells me if something is Core or not and also helps me easily track points of items I eat.
So yes, Weight Watchers is very vegan friendly. They even have a lot of recipes online which are easily veganizable if not vegan already. I think it is a lot easier than counting calories but of course you are paying for the convenience.
Also, I think it is important if you are counting calories or points to have a scale. My scale is invaluable and helps keep me honest with portions. I don't worry too much about veggies and even most fruits but high calorie items and stuff I can easily overestimate require my scale. I also don't find it tedious.
So that is my experience in a nut shell
Veganism and the commercial diet (Weight Watchers)
