I've talked a lot about WW (Weight Watchers) over the past three years and how I had such a positive experience with it... I mean, I lost almost 30 pounds! Well, I think it's only fair that I come back and discuss why I've quit WW.
I've been officially off WW for about a month and a half but I really started to ween myself off of the program right after New Years. I've been struggling with the program(s) for a while... I don't think I really ever lost a significant amount of weight after they changed to Freestyle in 2018/2019 and even when they officially changed to Blue, Purple, and Green plans, I still wasn't able to lose the weight.
During the pandemic/quarantine, I didn't really gain that much weight but I did put on a few pounds after changing my anxiety medication in August 2020. I also felt like that medication was preventing me from losing weight. I was really frustrated with WW, I was starving, and felt like I wasn't eating great. I was beside myself, I was binging, I just wasn't happy at all.
I've played around over the years with counting calories and even did it in conjunction with WW from time to time. It was very obvious that my points value didn't match up to how many calories I should've been eating. I mean, there were days when I was eating 800 calories but over my points value.
I made the decision, the very scary decision, to go off of WW and just use the Lose It app (more on that later). I felt that WW was too toxic for me; I needed a break, I couldn't stand counting points anymore. It was destroying my mental health and it was making me anxious when I was starving but over my points value for the day.
I also started to take issue with the fact that mostly healthy things, like nuts and certain proteins, were so high in points yet a slice of Velveta was 1 point. I started to feel like WW's dependency on processed foods was not healthy; it really bothered me and was kind of the catalyst for me making the switch.
I've been using the Lose It App, which I used way back in the day and have been loving it. I'm eating a low amount of calories but feel a little more freedom. I enjoy being able to look at the calorie of a food, the carbs and proteins, etc and getting that full picture of what I'm putting into my body really helps me.
On WW, I was gaining weight every week and now, I haven't gained a pound in almost two months. I'm not losing weight, which is something I am mentally struggling with but I feel good. I feel like I'm not as restricted and that I'm able to eat better without worrying about points value.
I realize that counting calories vs counting points is pretty similar but it's the ability to focus on the entire nutritional value of food that is helping me. I also can eat things like nuts and regular peanut butter without feeling super guilty... it's a mental game for me as much as anything.
Eventually I will do a huge post on Lose It but I wanted to come on here and talk about why I made the switch and why I felt like I was ready. I am not saying that I will never go back to WW, I've actually been thinking about it, maybe to just jumpstart some sort of weight loss but I will keep you updated.
There is also another part of my weight loss journey that I need to address and that's working out; I talked about my Amazon bike in my monthly favorites post and I definitely need to be better about working out daily, and for longer than 30 minutes. I should probably also get back into Yoga and I think those goals combined with Lose It will help me lose weight instead of just standing still.
If you have any questions about WW or Lose It, please let me know!
xoxo
B
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