When I already know that it's:

If Calories expended > Calories consumed
Then weight loss

paying a company to help me never even occurred to me.

I'm not trying to say that you're weak or stupid or any of that. What works for you is what works for you and that it works is what's important just like any other support group. My father stopped drinking 20 years ago, cut off all ties with his drinking buddies and still goes to 2 AA meetings a day. When he stopped smoking he stopped cold turkey with no group meetings and hangs out with smokers all the time. For the cigarettes he didn't need the group support for the alcohol he does.

Personally I'm not very social. I would rather spend my time after work going bike riding or playing with my nephew than attending meetings but that's me. I find more motivation in those actions.

Plus you have to realized that my own experience with WW is what I've seen my coworkers go through in the work club they started which included several team mates coming back from meetings upset because they were chastised infront of the group for cooking their own meals even if the used WW recipes as "It's not time for you to be cooking yet". While apparently that's not standard this group seems to be primarily focused on selling their products. If we had a different group that met at work and so I could attend without having to cut into my family time then I probably would. If calorie counting stops working for me and I need more support than I might. If I move somewhere where I don't get the understanding and support I need from my family and friends I might.

But for right now this is working for me. And that's what's important for me.

I like the free also!!
I personally wouldn't like meetings That WW has~or the point system.
Calorie counting is easy to me and works Great.
Plus I Wouldn't wanna use any of WW food~it's all expensive.
I am teaching myself to eat what I can afford in smaller healthier portions~if there was never a WW~Or any other diet~Or surgeries ~This is what everyone losing weight would have to do~Learn to eat what they have properly. I have heard WW Is similiar to calorie counting But see no since in spending money.

Personally, I prefer to count calories instead of subscribing to a manufactured diet such as Weight Watchers. I don't need a diet, a plan, or a programme that comes with a trademark, to get me to do something as normal and natural as living healthily and altering my body weight as a result.

That's just me. As this thread shows, it's different strokes for different folks.

Easier and free!
Also, when I did ww I found myself eating crappier food. My thinking then was as long as it fell within the points it was all good, but not so much. Eating healthier foods is truly key.

I would NEVER knock WW. I lost 60 pounds on the program and would recommend it to ANYONE looking to lose weight. The program and meeting taught me about nutrition and proper portion sizes as well as the importance of activity for weight loss. These stories of bad experiences in WW meeting are unfortunate and I want to think they are the minority, I had a GREAT WW meeting leader, and if it wasn't for the whining, talkative (but not helpful) members in the meeting I would have continued to go to the meetings... the leader was great, the members of the meeting I went were annoying at best. If it wasn't for WW I would still be 226 pounds and depressed.



That being said, I eventually did research and educated myself further about proper nutrition and health and fitness and decided to leave WW and try something else when I hit a plateau with WW and got frustrated. I like calorie counting for many of the reasons posted here. It's free for one, and I actually feel like I can eat more, and have a wider variety of foods because I'm no longer "hoarding my points" as I call it. I never wanted to eat the flex points and so I was pretty much starving all the time and the weight losses were slow. With calorie counting I feel like I can eat more, and I'm never hungry. Right now this is working for me, so I'm gonna stick with it. But I will forever be grateful to WW and for my meeting leader for the support and encouragement that I needed at that time.

This doesn't sound like Weight Watcher's at all. Are you sure it isn't another program? There are many programs which start you off on "their" food, but Weight Watcher's has NEVER been one of them. Also since the Weight Watcher's brand of foods in the grocery store are from a separate company from the weight loss program (who have only signed a contract with the Weight loss program, to use the name as long as they calculate the Weight Watcher's points and include the information on the label). The weight loss program has no reason to endorse the Weight Watcher's brand. The foods that are offered by the program have always been only snacks that you couldn't live on.

It's possible that Weight Watcher's is starting a new program and is experimenting in your area, but I find it very difficult to believe that Weight Watcher's would endorse such an extreme detour from their program (which for over 50 years has never required buying prepackaged meals or any food products).

In fact, it's so drastically different, that if the group is calling itself Weight Watcher's, I would wonder if the leaders aren't illegally using the Weight Watcher's name to push their own products. Or if someone hasn't developed an "off-shoot" without corporate authorization or knowledge (I believe Weight Watcher's is a franchise, so if the owner is deviating from the official procedures, he or she could lose the franchise if corporate finds out).

I agree! This is definitely NOT a WW meeting if they were telling members that they shouldn't be cooking. WW members aren't forced to eat any WW foods, in fact my meeting leader encouraged cooking and often handed out recipes during meetings...