I'm friends with 2 sisters.... the 1 sister has been doing WW for a year and had great success... her older sis is doing it now. Honestly though they are both well under 200lbs.... I'm pushing 250lbs...... I'm wondering if I can do this on my own or is WW really worth it. I've already heard some great success stories... IDK I really want to give trying to get my own plan together a shot... money is tight, if I can save I'd like to..... what are your thoughts oh wise WW'ers?
I lost 48 pounds in 7 months on WW and it worked hands down for me, i started at 242 and really haven't worked out much to lose the weight either... and..i have never went to a meeting....honestly if you have the motivation and you can get ahold of a points finder and you've got the internet you can find everything you need online (even a points calculator)...
I would come home from the grocery store and write the points value on everything and write out weekly dinner plans (not breakfast or lunch i just worked around dinner) and like iv said i have had great success....my husband has also lost 60 without exercising or going to a single meeting.. it can be done!
I cant highly recommend it enough, i wish you luck and i hope you can figure something out that works for you
You can do a lot on your own, but if you are serious about losing, many people find the meetings inspiring and supportive. Ask yourself, what is more important than your own health?
If you purchase just 3 months you will get a lot of information that will get you started. If you can't do that, hang around this site for good support and information.
Honestly, you'll have to find out for yourself if this is the plan for you, but yes, just because you're a higher weight doesn't mean anything. I have been following WW since last May and have lost over a hundred pounds, starting at a weight much higher than yours, if that tells you anything.
I do go to the meetings, as I find the support and accountability helpful. However, my husband follows the plan along with me but has never been to a meeting - and he's lost more than I have. So whether or not to go to meetings will be a personal thing, too.
I can't say enough good things about WW. If you follow the plan it WILL work. I love the flexibility and not having to cut anything out of my diet. When I started at my high weight, I even found it hard to eat enough! Crazy right? This was using online planning and no meetings (I came here for support... every. single. day.
However, you have to be ready to do it. You have to be ready to change your life.
Unfortunately, many people think WW is just counting points. That is so wrong but you have to go to a meeting to find that out. WW teaches you how to make permanent lifestyle changes as well as changes in your eating and exercise. The support is great there - here you get general support but at the meeting you make friends and help each other on your journey.
Why do people think its okay to steal the WW plan? Would you steal a new pair of jeans?
Comparing sharing WW information to stealing jeans would be like saying that you have no right to give away or sell your used jeans (that you paid for). With that logic, it would be wrong to teach someone a crochet or other craft technique you learned in a class. Or that if you take a college class you're not allowed to tell anyone what you learned in the class. You could make a stronger case that selling a used textbook is stealing from the author (but you still would be wrong - it's perfectly legal to sell used books and text books - and likewise to buy and sell WW materials, so long as you're selling the originals and not copies).
As I understand it, information cannot be owned in most circumstances. Written materials about information can be owned, but the infomration itself cannot be. You can use and teach the information you learn from any source (unless you signed a specific nondisclosure agreement, and the circumstances and wording has to be very specific). I don't know that it would be legal even if WW did have you sign a nondisclosure agreement (I've heard that there are circumstances under which such agreements are are not legally binding).
If you join WW and quit at some point, you are not obligated to quit using the information you learned in those classes - or from teaching that information to others. Just as you are able to use and teach information you obtained from a college course, a cooking class, a craft class.... When you pay your tuition, you get the information and the right to share it. Anything you publish on what you learned, must be appropriately credited, or you're guilty of plagiarism and/or copyright infringement (depending on the circumstance), but that's a different issue.
Unless Weight Watchers now requires members to sign a non-disclosure agreement (and assuming the agreement is legal), using and even teaching WW information to others is not stealing (unless you're getting paid to do it - I don't believe you can teach the WW plan components in exchange for money, but you certainly can give the information away - as long as you're not illegally copying the information from WW materials. You can lend out or even sell your WW materials though - again unless WW now has nondisclosure policies). Even if they now do, it would not cover materials published for direct sale to consumers (for example the information in Weight Watcher's magazines and cookbooks because those are sold to non-members of the weight loss club). You can't protect information that is commonly available.
Using published information isn't "stealing" anything. You aren't stealing from the American Diabetes Association or the American Dietetic Association when you use an exchange plan, and you aren't stealing from Weight Watcher's by using information published in WW materials (especially those sold directly to the consumer).
If using information provided by one source were "stealilng" then you could argue (and much more strongly) that Weight Watcher's (before 1997), TOPS, Richard Simmons, Joanna Lund and all creators of plans based on exchanges "stole" them from the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association (the creators of the first exchange plan, upon which all subsequent exchange plans have been based), but to my knowledge there's never been a copyright infringement case (perhaps because both non-profit organizations creating the exchange plans WANTED the information to get out there, but possibly also because the general information cannot be "owned"). If WW isn't guilty of stealing the exchange plan from the American Diabetes and Dietetic Assoociations (especially since they DID make a profit, and a huge one at that, from the "borrowing") then private individuals certainly aren't guilty of stealing in sharing information on the WW plan.
I think the meeting are well worth it. For one, my leader should be a stand up comedian. Two, knowing I have a weigh in coming up keeps me motivated, and as dumb and childish as it may sound, I really like earning stickers and other motivating things. I can't wait to earn my key chain.
On the other hand, when I messed up about 6 weeks ago, I didn't go to the meeting because I didn't want to see the number on the scale. I could have used my no weigh in pass, but I didn't. That is all my fault though, not weight watchers. I need to have a better attitude about it. Part of me feels ashamed that I wasted the last 6 weeks. As it turns out, I haven't gained anything, but knowing that I could have lost and didn't really bothers me, though it is motivating. At least I am back on track starting today. Have a great day everyone!
Friends are talking me into WW with them...
