Weightwatchers Online (Weight Watchers)

Member Name: flickpugh

Product:	Weight Watchers
Date:	02/06/05 (2320 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheaper than classes, Lots of great tools, 1000s of recipes included

Disadvantages: You pay by direct debit, Some people find classes more motivating, Eating out guide isn't expansive enough

I am firmly with the old fashioned school of thought that any diet that almost cuts out entire food groups, especially fruit and veg simply cannot be good for you and moreover are far too darn difficult to fit into a sociable lifestyle.

Having subscribed to weightwatchers online for almost a year now I feel I has been a good investment overall. I have months when I barely log on which seems a waste at £9.99 a month, but I keep subscribed knowing it's there to get back to as soon as soon as the cold spell/ the party season/ my holiday is over and I run out of excuses not to get back on it.

It does work out slightly cheaper than going to weekly meetings and I find it a lot easier to use the online system as I'm very busy and would find it hard to find time for the meetings, if I could get to one anyway because in my area they seem to cater only for house wives and take place at times like 11am which don't really fit in with office jobs! Different things work for different people of course and you may find you need the social and motivational incentives of turning up at a meeting each week and handing over cold hard cash for the pleasure of it to persuade you to say 'NO' to that extra helping of apple pie.

Anyway, to join you pay a fee usually which can be quite steep - around £30 for the first month, then £9.95 a month thereafter. I believe in London at least that the classes are about £4 a time.

The weightwatchers website is excellent. If you want to have a play around first you can register for free and access quite a few of the facilities, such as a selection of the recipes, health tips, quizzes and the online shop where you can buy some of the great selection of points calculated weight watchers food.

People are often put off by this diet because of the points system, thinking that it means alot of adding up. Well it does mean a bit at first and if using online it does help if you have frequent access to the net during the day, otherwise you end up having to write everything down or forgetting about that extra chocolate bar making the exercise all a bit pointless. However, you soon get the hang of what = how many points and will find yourself automatically making the conversions in your head - and I'm not maths genius! The amount of points in a certain item of food simply depends on the size of the portion, the number of calories and the amount of saturated fat.

Once subscribed working this all out becomes virtually fool proof since you have unlimited access to all sorts of tools such as a database full of thousands of foods and drinks with their points values and a great points/ exercise calculator where you put in the quantity e.g 1 packets of crisps, with the amount of calories and saturated fat, click enter and hey presto the points are worked out for you. You can also work out how many points you have burned off, by almost any type of exercise, with the exercise calculator.

Other motivational tricks include the weight tracker where you have to enter your weight each week. Once done you will get a message either congratulating your or gently telling you off/ expressing concern if you have lost too much too soon and you can visualise it all by looking at the neat little line graph with gold and silver stars along the way if you have done really well - a star per half stone! There is also your weight loss profile on the side of the page which stays there throughout your time on the site.

Other features for subscribers include a recipe search for hundreds of delicious meals, a meeting locator, a library of articles and success stories to motivate you, eating out guides providing lists of points for several chain restaurants and pubs, a portions planner so you can't under estimate the points worth of that plate of pasta and an online community where you can share your weighty triumphs and disappointments with other subscribers, as well as swap recipes if you are a keen chef.

I find a can eat quite well using this plan and as long as I exercise (even 30 minutes walking a day burns up a fair few points), lose at least half a stone in 2 or 3 weeks quite easily and still enjoy a few glasses of wine - or the odd chocolate treat. Online diets aren't for everyone, but I find that if I back it up with a cold hard weight receipt from a weighing scales in Boots I find it just as easy to stay on track as I did when I went to classes. Probably more so cos it's easy to get online than make it to a class everRight, well I've motivated myself to get back into it soon (can only start a diet on a Monday!)...

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