diy weight Watchers for free
Would you believe me if I told you that you can do a DIY Weight Watchers program for free? Did you know that Weight Watchers or (WW) has a basic premise which is completely free, public information? If you discover how Weight Watchers ACTUALLY works – you will discover that this is easily replicated at home at a very minimal cost.
costs associated with Weight Watchers
At the writing of this article, if you make a year long commitment, Weight Watchers is $11/mo for a year, then $23 a month after that year for a total cost of $253 for the year. If you make a 6 month commitment, it will be $15/mo for 6 months, then $23 a month after that for a total of $228 for the year. If you only want to make a month long commitment, it will be $43 for first month then $23 a month for a total of $296 for the year. The costs would be $276/year afterwards after your initial year.
How can Weight Watchers be replaced by virtually free means?
We are going to take a look at some basic aspects of Weight Watchers: they use a Personal Points budget and Points are assigned to foods by a proprietary formula. You use the Weight Watchers app to track all of your foods for your convenience. Weight Watchers also has supportive community meetings now called Workshops.
1. Community aspect: Weight Watchers Workshops and Connect vs. real life friends and Facebook groups
Part of what you pay for with Weight Watchers is community support. Weight Watchers offers Workshops (formerly meetings) where you can connect with others on the same plan. A free way to get community support is to learn how to count macros with a friend or spouse.
It can be hard to find community. If you’ve tried and no one in your sphere is remotely interested, the second option is to try and reach out to your local community. The easiest way to do this is via your local community Facebook group. You can put out a call for like minded individuals who are wanting to start a weight loss journey (or already currently on one) and wanting some accountability, camaraderie, and friendship.
Having accountability is important but we can’t be overly dependent on it either. People are imperfect and fail all the time. Especially on a challenging journey such as one for weight loss. It’s important to have a back up if your friend doesn’t end up being as committed as you are.
There is a lot of information about counting macros and like minded people in the Macros Inc Facebook group, which is completely free. They offer paid coaching services, but the public Facebook group definitely fulfills a need for a community vibe, at no cost.
2. Determining how much I should eat: Personal Points Budget vs. macro calculator
When you join Weight Watchers, you will be given a Personal Points Budget to help you determine how many “points” of food you can eat in a day.
This is actually public information. Your daily allowance for each macronutrient can be determined by either calculations that can be done out by hand or a computerized (free) Macro Calculator. It is based on your height, weight, gender, and activity level.
3. Determining what to eat: Points for foods vs nutrition information
Weight Watchers uses their proprietary formula to determine points values for foods. But nutrition information for all of our foods is public information. Even foods that don’t come with a label have all been tested to determine their macro and micro nutrients. Websites like nutritionix.com include nutrition information for everything whole – like apples, bananas, even soft white wheat kernels. It’s all there publicly – and free.
4. Tracking what I eat: My Macros + app vs Weight Watchers app
Weight Watchers uses their own app to help you make determinations over the portion of foods you are eating. Determinations can be made using cups, spoons, and visually.
Counting macros entails weighing all your food on a food scale, in grams. Grams are listed on the nutrition information of virtually every food item known to man.
Similarities between weight watchers and macro counting
1. Both Weight Watchers and Macro Counting don’t categorize foods as “good” or “bad”
Weight Watchers programs focus on more nutritious and less nutritious choices. In general, more nutritious foods have fewer Points values than less nutritious foods.
This is also true for Macro Counting, that less nutritious foods will typically be more macronutrient dense in either carbohydrates or fat, which will be reflected in your macro allotment for the day. That doesn’t mean you can’t consume these foods, but they will need to be consumed in moderation.
2. Both Weight Watchers and macro counting work even if you have diabetes or dietary restrictions
Both plans are completely customizable. You have a general number of points or macros to stick to for the day. Then you can figure out what you’d like to eat, want to eat, or can eat for the day within those general guidelines.
differences between weight watchers and macro counting
1. Macros tracks even healthy foods while Weight Watchers has “Zero Point” foods
While it seems convenient and simple to have zero points foods that you can eat and not even bother tracking, it actually could put you at a disadvantage for long term weight loss.
Unfortunately it’s still possible to overeat even healthy foods, so it’s ideal to track these as well.
2. Weight Watchers allows for measuring cups and spoons and visual determinations of serving size while Macros almost exclusively requires the use of a scale
For some reason, we fear the scale. We are more likely to depend on the familiar cups and spoons and stay in our comfort level.
Once you are familiar with using the scale, it’s easy to see why you would rather use it than the measuring cups and spoons from a convenience and having extra dishes to do standpoint.
It is also very easy to get inaccurate results while using cups and spoons, never mind visual determinations of serving size.
Ever hear of that saying “your eyes were bigger than your stomach?”. Yes, we’re prone to this. You can ensure accuracy of your tracking by using a scale measurement.
2. Weight Watchers has a New Visual Points calculator while Macros almost exclusively requires the use of a scale
The New Visual Points Calculator is an amazing technological feat! I’m sure this technology works well but again, the scale and the actual mass of these food items is not something that anyone can argue with. There is very little to no margin of error. To ensure accuracy, you need to actually know the ingredients of your food and their weights to ensure your weight loss.
are you going to try diy weight watchers for free?
Why not give something a try the free way before you spend money? And if you ask me, you will be ENSURING your weight loss and increasing your dietary flexibility by using the original plan that Weight Watchers (and many other diet plans and services) was loosely based on in the first place, macro counting.
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