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    clockworkandcameosJE Reich
    2/25/16 10:30pm

    I hate to say this, but the rainbow portion containers from a certain weight loss program have helped me more with portion control and losing weight than weight watchers ever did.

    Also I only had to buy the containers once and the app is free to use.

    With all the weight loss programs, free apps, and free support groups...they've fallen behind in the times and their formula is not going to make them money anymore.

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      Honeybeaclockworkandcameos
      2/25/16 10:36pm

      Now I’m curious about these containers.

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      Miss Pooslieclockworkandcameos
      2/25/16 10:37pm

      what program?

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    PoodletimeJE Reich
    2/25/16 10:32pm

    This Oprah/Weight Watchers thing really has me disappointed and bamboozled. 1) Oprah is an exemplary human being; 2) Oprah does not seem to have any significant health problems at her current weight; 3) Oprah has a grunt load of money. 4) Weight Watchers and almost all other diet programs do not work. They just don’t. Statistics are our friends when we are trying to live our best life, and the statistics do not lie.

    Why can’t Oprah let it go and love and accept herself the way she is? If she ever needed to make any additional contributions to the happiness and advancement of humanity, this would be a way to do it. Of course, she has also given us enough, and if she wants to continue to torque herself, she is, of course, entitled to do that. Does anyone else ever think about this? It interests me. She is a very smart woman. Has she not figured this out yet?

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      HoneybeaPoodletime
      2/25/16 10:43pm

      Why can’t Oprah let it go and love and accept herself the way she is?

      Why can’t any of us? I totally hear what you’re saying but all evidence to the contrary, Oprah is human and humans have non rational fears and insecurities. This seems to be one of hers. Maybe she’s bought into her own schtick and feels like she’s not living her best life, maybe she feels pressure (real or imagined or both) from all the people who look up to her. Everyone’s got their baggage. I agree her endorsement of WW is a little weird, but this is also the woman who gave us Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil. So. She’s clearly not immune to poor decisions. And maybe WW will work for her. It’s not for everyone, but it does work for some people. Who knows?

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      Miss PoosliePoodletime
      2/25/16 10:43pm

      i don’t get it either, she has struggled with her weight for years, why would WW think she’s a good example? it seems like she’s tried every diet out there and always ends up being slightly larger than what she wants to be. sometimes that is just the weight that your body wants to be. like if Oprah fucking Winfrey can’t maintain weightloss with all of her resources and people that could help her then why would WW help?

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    kiisseliJE Reich
    2/25/16 10:40pm

    I’ve been using MyFitnessPal pretty regularly for the past few months and it’s having the desired effect (slowing down the rapid growth of a sedentary winter butt). That said, it’s definitely not something that I feel would work for everyone. So much of the data that’s been uploaded into their database doesn’t make sense, so you have to have a pretty good grasp on fat/carb/protein balance in a food to sense if a calorie count is off. Oftentimes you also have to be able to eyeball a portion accurately by mass. Not saying those are impossible...but if I wasn’t a molecular biologist who’s worked in a lot of kitchens, I don’t know that I’d be confident that I was doing it accurately.

    If Weight Watchers streamlines the whole process, there will always be people interested. I’m not worried about them.

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      actually_calliekiisseli
      2/25/16 11:08pm

      LoseIt has a much more reliable database than MFP. MFP has really gone downhill since UnderArmour bought it.

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      Honeybeakiisseli
      2/25/16 11:11pm

      The most success I ever had was when I was using MyFitnessPal regularly. I liked that they had a large food library (even though I took a lot of those entries with a grain of salt it was still really helpful), I liked that I could enter my own recipes, I liked that I could track exercise (though I got a heart monitor and entered my own calories burnt because Fitness Pal’s estimates were insane. No, I did not burn 500 calories walking at a moderate pace for 30 minutes.) And I really liked reading the success stories in the forums. They always gave me a boost. I should really get back to using it.

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    pizzaqueen91JE Reich
    2/25/16 10:40pm

    Oprah’s commercial just makes me eat bread. Like I will take some bread every damn time that commercial comes on. Stocks in bread rose when they aired that shit. Sorry Weight Watchers. Congrats bread.

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      Pie-piepizzaqueen91
      2/25/16 10:50pm

      RIGHT? Every time I see it I’m like “well fuck your Oprah and your billions and servants and chefs all of which get you bread all the time. Now it’s fucking midnight and I want some damn bread!”

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      Ellpizzaqueen91
      2/25/16 10:51pm

      Right? I forgot how moving Oprah’s enthusiasm for, well, anything can be.

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    accesscodeJE Reich
    2/25/16 10:50pm

    Confession: I finally thought, “Fuck it. When I diet, I just get fatter.” So, I stopped and started just trying to have a healthier relationship with my body and with food, to just never diet ever again. Besides, it really did just make me fatter. It was such a relief, never to have to consider food as some enemy. I had help as I consulted a few books like Intuitive Eating to help guide me. I talked a bit to a therapist, but not about my weight.

    I’m so much happier. I never think about it at all unless I see articles on diet. Then, I think, “Oh yeah. Glad I’m never doing that again. That didn’t work.”

    Oh. And when I stopped dieting, I lost 26 pounds. It took two years, but by changing my relationship with food and my body, and chucking all the unhealthy emotional stuff, I’m much better off. And I lost some weight too. (More amazingly, that weight loss matters very little.)

    I think dieting is a huge error. Instead, work on changing your lifestyle and connecting with your emotional life. Fitbit is nice, but it would have me thinking all the time about food, and that’s not healthy for me. WW is the same way.

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      deerlady83accesscode
      2/25/16 11:11pm

      I’ve been trying that. I’ve made some changes but I’m not on a diet. I like my fitbit because it’s encouraging me to move. I’ve noticed small things so far but the biggest thing is I just feel better emotional and physically.

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      accesscodedeerlady83
      2/25/16 11:55pm

      Oh, you know, I don’t knock anyone’s way of working with his or her body and making peace happen in his or her life. What works for me might not work for another.

      It took me TWO YEARS to reach this place. I have even more to do next.

      One cool idea, just in case it interests you: One of the things I used to do was quantify bad foods and good foods. But, really, there is no ‘bad’ food or ‘good’ food. There is just food. If you want a cookie, have a cookie. For me, if I didn’t have the cookie, I would eat a sandwich, an apple, a pickle, a handful of chips, and then, finally, a cookie. So, now, I just have a cookie.

      It’s a cool piece of psychology that worked for me, just giving myself the thing my body really wanted to eat, whenever possible. But, you know, only follow that idea if it works for you.

      I’m glad your fitbit is working well!

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    surprisedcatladyJE Reich
    2/25/16 10:23pm

    Uch. All the middle aged women at work are leaning hard on me to set up an office Weight Watchers group for them. I would rather [metaphor that aptly expresses my disinterest in doing so]

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      Honeybeasurprisedcatlady
      2/25/16 10:30pm

      Why would setting it up be your responsibility?

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      TampaBeeAtch (misplaced witty subname)surprisedcatlady
      2/25/16 10:32pm

      Get fucked in the ear sideways by a baguette?

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    HavenJE Reich
    2/25/16 10:57pm

    What weight watchers does is teach you how eat the proper portions. Its an actual long term solution. The points are not arbitrary at all. But like I said, long term solution. I haven’t had to give them money for twenty years. Also, Oprah is just fine the way she is.

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      cyncerityHaven
      2/25/16 11:25pm

      Haha, I mentioned that as well-many people learned what they needed and stopped paying (like me). I still eat the same stuff, I just go for the fruits and veggies (0 points!) more often now. Worked so far.

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      BUTTS: A NOVEL BY TINA BELCHERHaven
      2/26/16 12:32am

      Yup. Did weight watchers for a year and then stopped paying. Really it teaches you better eating habits. It all just depends on whether or not you are going to apply them for the rest of your life, especially when a major life event or crisis happens.

      My initial weight gain was due to a job loss. Joined and lost it in a year. Kept it off for 4 years, then I gained it all back in the span of a year after a bout of depression due to a the deterioration of a relationship and the resultant horrible breakup. I stopped caring. That’s not the program’s fault. Life happens.

      Once you figure it out, you really don’t need to pay anymore. You know what to do. That’s the problem with WW’s model.

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    cyncerityJE Reich
    2/25/16 11:23pm

    A lot of the former Weight Watchers I know still use the method, they just aren’t paying for it anymore. Could that be it?

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      Major Lazer Power Blazercyncerity
      2/26/16 12:20am

      yep my mom lost like 40ish pounds 15 years ago with WW and has kept it off since then by what keeping up with what she learned

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      Your Cruise Director Juliecyncerity
      2/26/16 1:15am

      I recently (over 1 1/2 years) lost 15 lbs. on my own then another 65 lbs. on WW. I quit after that and have been putzing around trying to lose the last 20 or so I want to - I’ve developed hypothyroidism and it’s kicking my butt. :(

      WW has helped me develop a more realistic idea of portion size and the right foods to control my caloric intake (and how much I can treat myself to before going off the rails).

      When I joined I got a points calculator that I can use to figure out the value of pretty much any packaged food and under the old plan fruit and vegetables are 0 points. So I can pretty much still follow the program on my own since I know I should be allowed 26 points per day (that’s where I left off).

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    Ladyheatherlee 2016 EditionJE Reich
    2/25/16 11:32pm

    So I’m working to get in better shape again now that my health disasters are somewhat resolved. I use My Fitness Pal. For free. It seems to know how many calories I should aim for. I can track my macros as well as specific nutrients. I can track my progress in weight and measurements. I can chat with my friends for support. I can easily input a recipe and find out how many calories a serving contains. Soooooo....why in the fuck would I pay for weight watchers? I have this free thing that works very well. And it’s one of many.

    At least I can feel superior to Oprah for once in my life. I'd never have made that purchase. Idiot. :P

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      Emm483Ladyheatherlee 2016 Edition
      2/25/16 11:51pm

      This is Weight Watchers’s problem. I used it years ago, lost a good amount of weight and learned a lot of useful stuff about calorie content and portion control, and how exercise fits in (I.e., you can’t eat 3 slices of pizza because you went for a short run). So I kind of disagree with the tone of this article - the program is not useless. But when I had to lose weight more recently after my kids were born...I could probably name 5 apps that do pretty much the same things Weight Watchers does, and the cost is looking at ads occasionally.

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      KenopizzaLadyheatherlee 2016 Edition
      2/26/16 11:07am

      Yeah sorry but WW is not like Myfitnesspal. On WW, your fitness does NOT add to your daily points. You can’t play the “well I ran a mile so I can have this pizza” game. And the points are not just based on calories-protein, fiber, sugar, all of those are accounted for. There are also all the chat options as well as various recipes and guides for restaurants that really help make it a usable system. If you just want to be held accountable, I dont know that WW is necessary but for many it helps with weight loss.

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    Snowy4JE Reich
    2/25/16 10:26pm

    Honestly, Weight Watchers is the only program that I’ve ever stuck with and that has helped me loose weight. Something about seeing the points makes me be able to compare foods and make better choices than tracking calories alone.

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      CuteFluffyKittiesSnowy4
      2/25/16 11:20pm

      Yes, I wish people would stop hating on it here. When I don’t keep track of what I eat, I gain, period. People here are saying how dieting made them gain weight, but if I don’t do anything, I don’t think about what I eat and just keep gaining. I may get off WW and gain it back, but if I did nothing I’d just get bigger and bigger.

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      gilgrissomsglasssesCuteFluffyKitties
      2/26/16 10:12am

      I don’t use Weight Watchers but I track what I eat because left to my own devices, I will eat nothing but pizza and ice cream. I’ve actually seen commenters around here equate just logging your food to an eating disorder.

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