Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers has been around forever it seems. I know many people who have lost weight on it and kept it off, many who have lost weight and gained it back, and many who couldn't stick with the program long enough to get any results...

This program is actually an excellent programs. But...like many others, it's up to you to make it work. It works by breaking foods down for you and assigning them a point value. You get a certain number of points to eat in a day and then you plan you meals accordingly. What I loved about this program is that you really could eat anything. Maybe not an entire pizza or pie, but a slice at least. And you get a few extra points per week for splurge days, or if you just need an extra snack at night some time.

I used their online option and did not attend meetings. It worked fine for me that way, but a lot of people would do better with the extra support the meetings give. The online set up (which does have a monthy fee) gives you all the information you could ever want. It also has a blogging section where you can talk to other people on weight watchers and get answers to questions, advice and moral support. It has an area for you to track your weight loss as well as a points calculator. You can switch back and forth between the points system and their core plan.

Since I have yet to mention their core plan (mainly because I didn't have enough will power to use it) I will add in what I know about it now. I used it for 2 days and realized that I wasn't going to lose weight on it. It is basically a program where you have limited foods, but you can eat as much as you want. But...the foods are supposed to make you full so you will not eat and eat and eat. I, however, was not satisfied with the limited foods and tried to get satisfied by eating non stop. And we all know that eating anything non stop will prevent you from losing weight. So, while the core option may work for some, it didn't work for me.

Another thing I did that helped was purchase a points calculator and some point and core food books (all made by Weight Watchers) off eBay. These items really helped me and after a while allowed me to be able to do the program on my own without the online service or going to meetings. I do miss the support from the website at times, but I have found help elsewhere during my times of poor willpower.

I would love to hear from people who have tried Weight Watchers or are thinking about trying it. How has it worked for you? Were you able to stick with it? What would you suggest to others, etc.