Sammy: I have never been to a WW meeting. But coming from a family, where most are morbid obese I have heard about some of their experiences. I also understand that WW have more programs and ways to loose weight than they did earlier. Over the years it has been a constant struggle for me to keep my weight down. (6 month of mindless eating and I have gained 50 pounds!!!). Over the years I have studied treatment of obesity, both because of my personal interest in keeping my weight down, but also because of my former profession (I was a medical doctor ... had to stop because of brain damage that caused complex partial seizures). It is not loosing the weight that is hard!!! Any change in ones diet and exercise habits that causes one to be in energy deficit will make a person loose weight. Many sort of diets will make people loose weight. Some are more healthy than others. But all research shows that more than 98 percent who looses weight on any kind of diet will gain it all back + more. So yes people can loose weight ... but keeping the weight off is the problem. If Weight Watchers can help you to loose the weight and make the lifestyle changes needed to be constant vigilant about eating and exercise habits I certainly support people going there. Many do however only go to WW meetings to loose weight. Maintaining the weight loss is really important and for most it is a life long challenge. Many mention the social support going to meetings provide. It does help during the weight loss phase, but remember that most will need to keep up the lifestyle changes the rest of their lives. Getting more knowledge about nutrition, physiology and exercise will help. But even those who know it a lot about these subjects will become overweight anyway. Knowledge do not necessarily lead to action ..... People over eat for many reasons. Psychological, sociological and cultural factors also play their part. It is highly individual what will help different people to loose weight and keep the weight of. A good place to look for online support is this forum: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/ I also recommend learning to use this site: http://www.thedailyplate.com The sad truth about many of our efforts to loose weight is that the body actually try to counteract these efforts. Many who want to loose weight eat way too little and loose too much lean body mass and actually ends up slowing their metabolism down. Many loose weight but they actually only become smaller softer versions of what they look like now. I am not saying that people necessarily should strive to reach their ideal weight. I hate that term ... ones ideal weight is highly individual. Some can carry more weight than others and the "Ideal weight" as 25 yo is different than 50 yo. The most common mistakes in loosing weight are: - People eat to little ( the body will counteract that by slowing the metabolism down) but the worst part is that people do get enough nutrients (macro and micro nutrients). It is important to get enough protein. - People are not exercising enough and in the right way ( Aerobic exercise and weight exercise). I think I better end my rant here. There are many ways to loose weight that is for sure. Keeping the weight off and actually live healthy and build a better body is the real challenge. I sure wish all of you well in your pursuit of your goals to loose weight and get in better shape. And gardening is great exercise!!

I am quilty... tried slim fast and did lose weight on it a few years ago.. it does work. I am quite sure it is not the healtiest way to go. Weight Watchers to me is pretty hard to beat... I really like it now that it's online, you don't have to attend meeting's if you don't want to. There are all sorts of recipes available and They have a smart phone app....I love the smart phone app. It is super handy to keep track of your points on and when you are out you can pull it up and check the points for foods at different restaurants. I also like the way you can figure points for a food that doesn't have points listed. I think Weight Watchers online is something like 17.00 a month, that's a pretty good bargain, in my opinion. I have also tried other liquid protein diets and after a while they made my stomach hurt and I had a nausating (sp) feeling after drinking them.

I wish just once I could experience that dieter's "high". Seriously. I just recently came off a 3.5 year quest for weight loss and extreme fitness. During this time, I trained for and completed a 5-day bicycle trip averaging 100 miles per day, a half-marathon (I don't like running so not doing a marathon), and a summit attempt on Mt. Rainier. OK, didn't summit, long story, but made it a good way up. All of these activities required a LOT of exercise including both strength (heavy free weights), aerobic fitness, a strong core, etc. A typical week included a minimum of 15 hours of exercising to a maximum of about 30 hours, depending on how long my hikes/bikes were. I also had 70# to lose. Less weight is certainly easier to carry both on a bike and up steep mountains. Especially when you're also hauling gear. I did Weight Watchers and, after 4 months of diligence, including weighing everything and inputting it into MyFitnessPal so I was tracking calories, nutrients and points, and lost a total of 4#. I then tried a series of other plans averaging about 3 months on each plan to give it a fair go prior to switching it up. These plans including the Fuhrman Eat to Live, The Leptin, 5:2, Durkan, just plain eating low-fat vegetarian/sometimes vegan meals, green smoothie fasts, low carb. You name it, I think I tried it. I felt great and could have probably done an Iron Woman competition at the fitness level I had attained. Oh, I would have been in last place but I think I could have completed one. And my attention to my diet's nutritional components also made me feel great. At the end of these 3.5 years of extreme effort and meticulousness, I lost a grand total of 15#. Before you say that I built a lot of muscle which weighs more so I must have lost a lot of inches. Well, I went down a pant size. So, no, not a big inch loss. I took a break and am having a hard time getting back on track. I miss being as fit as I was and I feel myself getting weaker and losing endurance and that bugs me a lot but that much exercise just isn't sustainable for me right now. I have too many other obligations that I was neglecting in order to work out that much. And since I worked that hard and didn't achieve my weight loss goal, I just don't know what I can do to lose the weight I still need to lose. I really don't. And it's difficult to muster the commitment to try again when nothing worked before. And, yes, I have had medical tests run. While my thyroid is on the slow side of normal, it's still in normal ranges. Consequently, everybody seems to think I'm lying about what I'm eating. Heck, I went to weighing food with a digital scale because it's more accurate than measuring spoons/cups. I'm not fudging my intake. And I don't even understand how some people can eat so much. When I eat in restaurants, a fairly rare event, I typically take half of it home for another meal later because I'm stuffed just eating the first half. Even when I was gaining, it was thus. Frustrating. Those of you who have had success, great. But don't presume that what you did works for everybody.

I find the program very healthy. I eat a lot of protein, veggies, and fruit. No junk food at all. I agree that they sell a lot of over priced packaged stuff, but I've never once bought a WW product. Of course they want to make money with those convenient foods, but the leader of my meeting doesn't push them and honestly I think maybe only a couple people in the meetings I've gone to buy them. I get 30 smart points per day and I spend them wisely on healthy food that fills me up. There any many days I struggle to eat the full 30 points. If you are hungry, veggies, fruit, or lean protein are the key. The advice to fill up on these things is the same across many diet theories these days. I think a lot of people used to junk food, sweets, fatty foods, or high carb foods who stick with WW quickly find that these things use up points too quickly and they are hungry. By contrast healthy foods are very low in points so you can eat a whole lot of them for the daily 30 points, and thus are never hungry. At least that has been my experience.