Hi all
i am going to go join weight watchers on Friday. I am just wondering a few things. I am in lancaster, Pa and i called our local office and tried to get a few questions answered and the lady i talked to was NO help.

I was told i can join for free ( no activation fee right now) and it would cost me the 15.00 to join. and then 14.00 each week after.
I had asked her about Journals and a points calulator and she said alll of that is extra.
I am just wondering what does it normally cost to join weight watchers when you sign up? with the journals and calculator and plan? and on average what do people normally lose a week??

Thanks all for the help

gosh i'm probably of NO help here, but I'll just tell you how I did it.
I am doing WW online (no meetings, just e-tools) and I think it's about 15/month. I ordered my calculator from ebay. So, no other tools for me...

Whatever you end up doing, good luck and keep posting!

S

I join, but I paid for the WW at home. I did not like the idea of a weekly charge. I like one time fee. So I ordered the Deluxe at Home kit. You get a lot of good material but no support. So I am using this forum for the support. I am only on day 2 so I do not have any results to report yet.

You get a POINTSfinder, POINTS Calculator and all kinds of other stuff.
The link is stickied at the top of the At Home section.

Julie

You don't need to purchase a journal or points finder - they give you a journal each week and a points and activity finders in the week one stuff. All you really need is the weekly meeting fee. There are fancier journals and stuff but not necessary.

I joined WW last year and I must say that it has changed my life as I hope it does your, I find going to the meetings and knowing you have to weight in will help you mentally get to your goal faster. with that said, I pay 39.00 a month which it comes out of my account automatically every month and that includes your meetings and the WW etool. the first night when you get your introduction and weight in the first time they will give you a book that shows you how to track your point and the point counter. There are some other useful tools for purchase but I use Etools for anything that I don't know or need to figure out, no need in buying anything more then needed.

Good Luck

WHen i joined a few years ago, the calculator was extra because it is equipment, but the regular points tally thing that is a paper chart was free. In my opinion, you dont have to have the fancy calculator and all that jazz...i never needed it. I just used the cardboard chart thing they gave me. I would have liked the calculator, but no real need for it. And i paid $12 a week.

If you are going to go to meetings and join, there is usually a "sign-up" fee. You then pay a weekly fee every week you go. If you miss a meeting, you also have to pay a missed meeting fee, which is equal to the weekly fee.

Sometimes, there are offers where they will not charge the sign-up fee. That may be what they are doing right now.

There are weekly journals that you get at your meeting for free. There is only enough room in that journal for 1 week. There are other journals you can buy that hold up to 3 months. I think those are $10.

You will get booklets with information and a slider that you can use to figure out your points for free. There is a special electronic points calculator that you can get that does cost money.

I think most people start with all the free tools and some end up buying some of the extra things they can use. As for the losses, any weight loss is between 1 and 2 pounds a week.

The point calculator (at least the paper one) does not cost extra. The restaurant and food guide are optional, but I found them a great help, so would recommend them. You may be able to buy the previous edition at a discounted price in some Weight Watcher's locations. Ebay is also a possible source. There's usually a package deal that includes both the food guide and the restaurant guide along with a handy carrying vinyl clutch that holds them and any of your other WW materials. This was usually about $20 when I last joined. Again, it's not necessary, but it is nifty.

These prices may no longer be accurate as the last time I joined WW was about three years ago. When my husband and I had to go on disability, WW was no longer in the budget. It just wasn't an option, so we joined TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly) and are very happy with it (though admittedly biased). We were both able to join and our dues for the year were cheaper than one month at Weight Watcher's. My husband was hesitant, because he was familiar with WW, but not TOPS, but in TOPS you can follow any sensible food plan you wish, and about half our members are former WW members still following the WW plan.

I've switched to an exchange based plan, similar in many ways to Weight Watcher's plans prior to 1994. I always did much better on the old exchange plan than I did on points, and felt I had a more balanced diet doing so, so the exchange plan just works out better for me. I love that TOPS allows me to change my food plan according to my needs. Although the points plan is very flexible, and very easy to do mentally. I still revert to points on days that I might be away from home and unable to journal, because I have so many foods memorized from my days in Weight Watcher's I can keep an accurate tally in my head.

Thank you everyone so much for the help.
You all are so much more help then the lady from weight watchers.
I am going to join on friday and start saturday. I want to have friday night to be able to shop for what i need plus we are meeting our preacher that night for dinner and i dont think that friday would be the best day to start. So wish me luck, lord know i need it every day..LOL

Shannon - I believe weight watchers is still running their "Monthly Pass" program which is (I think) $39 a month for weekly meetings as well as all their online tools. The online tools are great because it includes a journal to keep track of your food as well as the ability to look food up by brand name to get points per serving. There's a weight tracker with charts and helpful tools and recipes. I would honestly be lost without my online tools. So you figure less than $10 a week and you get your meetins plus all the online tools. I think it's the best deal.

The cardbord points slider you get at your Week 1 meeting is all you'll need for calculating points on items when you grocery shop and fits neatly in your purse (and its FREE).

The online tools sound great..
I was told though because you get to sign up for free that you have to buy you journals and calculator??
Is there any instructors here that can clear that up for me??

No, there's no trade off for signing up free. They run this promotion regularly where the registration fee is waived for newcomers. You won't have to buy the cardboard slider Points calculator thing, nor will you have to buy the Week 1 materials which includes the whole general foods points values lists.

What you CAN buy (you don't HAVE to) are electronic points calculators and big books with more Points info. They're kind of redundant I find and I don't use mine much, but some people love them. Like I said, the general points values info is included free in your Week 1 materials. Any food you have at home you can use the (free) points slider to find out the values. When you go out to eat, you can look online for nutritional information or use websites like dwlz.com where there's lots of free points info for restaurants.

You won't be required to buy anything aside from your meeting fee. You can do the program without any of the special stuff they sell. Some people find it helpful, some don't, you'll find out which camp you fall into after the first week going "gee, I wish I had...."

Oh, forgot to mention the journals - like someone above said, you get weekly pamphlet things for recording your food intake FREE each week. You can purchase a 3-month spiral bound food journal.

... Or you can use a piece of paper at home to record what you eat


None of this pricing info is dependent on the free registration promotion. If someone said you have to buy stuff because you get free registration, they're simply wrong.

Hey
thanks for letting me know i appreciate that.
Hopefully all goes well friday.
Do you find that you eat alot of smartone products by weight watchers? I love them and find them great for me with portion control. Just wondering how other people make out since they are full of sodium..
Thank you again all!!

I eat them occasionally, when I find them on sale and am too lazy to make lunch that day. As for combatting sodium, I just drink lots of water