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A huge thank you to one of my readers, Christine, for her comment at this post. It was too good to leave it buried in the comments…
I asked this question:
“Is it possible to lose weight with Weight Watchers while eating Real Food? (No fat-free, sugar-free foods!)”
A Weight Watchers Twinkie…gee, what’s wrong with this picture? I can’t imagine how long that ingredient label is.
photo by slgckgc
Regarding Weight Watchers, I wanted to mention that YES, you absolutely can blend WW with Nourishing Traditions! Basically, what we did was choose good, whole foods (which is perfectly in line with WW), but substitute whole milk and good oils for their suggested fat-free milk and margarine, etc. He counted coconut oil as either olive oil or butter – both of which are in the plan. Whole milk has higher points than the recommended fat-free.
Of course, my husband was rebellious enough to *announce* that he drinks whole, unhomoginized FAT filled milk, and EATS coconut oil, and that his wife serves him eggs cooked in real butter, too.
And yes, he *did* have the riot act read to him in that particular meeting, and a chart shoved in front of him ‘proving’ that coconut oil was NOT an approved ‘heart healthy’ recommended oil in the plan!
When I asked him what happened next, he grinned and said, “nothing, but I got up and collected my 25 lbs. LOST medalian”. 
WW mainly helps him write down what he eats, and not OVER eat. He also notices that when he eats real, whole foods – he is satisfied with a lot less than restaurant or processed foods filled with MSG and sugar to compensate for the fake oils.
We feel the coconut oil helps control the appetite, too.
- Have you tried Weight Watchers in the past? If so, please share your thoughts!
- Trying to lose weight? Here’s more info on dieting
- Do you have allergies? You have to check out the comments at this post!
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
I also do Weight Watchers eating all real food. No fat free, sugar free, highly processed junk here. It’s very possible to do it with real food, you just use up more points quickly. But, I find eating real food fills me up therefore I don’t need more food. I drink whole milk, eat real butter, coconut oil (in place of the healthy oils that WW recommends) and pastured meats.
Thanks for this post Kelly.
Thank you for addressing this! I have been reading your blog for a couple months and am de-lurking to comment because this is so relevant for me.
I have been doing Weight Watchers since June 2008 and have had a major shift in thinking since then. I’ve been reading books and blogs about real food/nourishing traditions and my perspective has been greatly challenged!
I’m an online Weight Watchers member, so I get my information from their website rather than meetings. There are a couple “foodie” and “real food” daily threads on their message boards (those are what got me started on this real food journey to begin with), but they’re definitely the minority! (Many of the members on the fitness message boards promote “clean eating,” which eliminates refined/processed food but still avoids saturated fats.)
Most of the community input and ALL of the Weight Watchers information is the traditional low-fat mantra. The “Points” calculation is based on low-fat/high-fiber choices, so eating traditional full-fat foods like butter and nuts will definitely penalize your points. Many of the food products sold by or endorsed by Weight Watchers are FULL of junk. The recipes shared and products recommended by members on the message boards (diet coke cake, Fiber One products, Egg Beaters, artificial sweeteners, fat-free dairy) are no better.
That said, it’s still a good program–I need the self-discipline it helps me develop, and it’s an easy-to-follow, flexible way to keep track of (and limit!) my food intake. I’m still learning how to fit REAL food into my points allowance (glad to hear you’re making it work, Faith–that encourages me to keep trying) and not be tempted by the low-points, junk-filled, easy-to-grab options touted by Weight Watchers and the online community.
I, too, have decided to de-lurk and comment on this interesting topic! I had been following WW from 2005-2008. I stopped cold turkey when I started seeing a chiropractor, and he introduced me to REAL food. I learned so much from WW, like journaling, eating to satisfaction, etc. But I am having to un-learn a lot of things, too, such as staying away from the processed, FF, SF foods that I lived on. WW is always changing, which is a good thing. The Core program helped me learn how to eat better foods, even though everything was still mostly FF and SF. At least I stopped eating frozen dinners! I would love to try and do WW again using Real,wholesome foods and see what happens. I have tried to lose weight without it and have not been doing very well!
Kelly- thanks so much for your blog. I enjoy looking at it every day and learning new things! While my friends and family still think I’m following yet another “new craze” I know in my heart that this way of eating is the best and most nutricious way to go!!
I did WW before I really switched our family over to eating mostly the NT way. WW was good for me to address a lot of my issues with food…stress eating, bored bingeing, mindless eating…and to make sure that every bite that went into my mouth was worth it. I lost over 30 pounds, made it to Lifetime and have maintained for over a year.
They now have foods on their “filling foods” list, but I’m not sure what that really means. I don’t go to meetings much any more because I just have too much to do, but I still think it is a good program, aside from the low fat mentality so dominant in the diet industry.
I found this post really interesting.
I’ve been doing WW since August 2006. I lost a total of 33 lbs on the program and have been maintaining my weight since April 2007. I’m now also a WW Leader.
While WW does have an entire line of products (many snack and convenience foods) there is no law that states that as a member you have to buy them. Every food out there has a Points value based on its calories, fat and fiber. How you spend your Points is up to you You can do WW and eat “real food” and still lose weight
This past November I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and my whole attitude towards food has changed. I am no longer looking for the best variety of 100 calorie packs or fat-free variety of things. I’m using food to nourish my body and provide it with the vitamins and nutrients it needs. I’m working to cut out refined sugar and I’ll be getting results of food sensitivity testing in a few weeks to see what foods I should and shouldn’t be choosing. I count my Points just as I always have, but I’m just making different choices in how I spend them.
I think WW is undergoing a shift as well. While they do offer the various snack foods, the new Momentum program has put greater importance on the “Filling Foods” – wholesome nutritious foods, that are going to help sustain you longer and are lower in Points (fruits & veggies, lean sources of protein, whole grains etc). In my meetings we often talk about the Filling Foods as well as our Good Health Guidelines.
And if you need some more of my thoughts on Weight Watchers – please get in touch!!
Ashley- it’s so good to hear from a leader’s perspective! Although I am not too familiar with the new Momentum program, I think it’s a shift in a better, healthier direction. Thank you for your insight!
I just got on after a busy day and see lots of interesting comments here – I love to hear from ex-lurkers, it’s always fun trying to draw you out!
Neat to hear success stories with WW and Real Food! Very motivating.
Here’s something I’ve often suggested to my sisters when they’re on WW, but it’s not easy taking advice from their snot-nosed baby sister…
What about this: when figuring out your points, when WW says that for example (I have no idea if this is even close to the real point values, but you know what I mean) if real butter “costs” you 5 points, but icky “no calorie” margarine or whatever junk they might recommend would only cost you 1 point, my suggestion is that you STILL JUST COUNT IT AS 1 POINT. Butter, coconut oil, etc. HELPS metabolism (remember the book “good calories, bad calories” – they are NOT all the same), so any extra calories would be off-set by all the other benefits. Wouldn’t that work?
Kelly
It seems like the point counting you mention would work, as long as you didn’t use all your extra points on “healthy” treats, like whole wheat/rapadura cookies. Most of the people who seem to lose the most with Real Food choose a lower grain diet. I would be interested in the exact plan that Christine’s husband used – I’m a lifetime lapsed WW member who is trying to eat Real Food all the time now, but I haven’t seen much weight loss.
Lol Erin. My dh is just a regular, busy guy that loves restaurant food. He still has a ways to go, but he is about 21# below where he was 6 or 8 months ago, and hopefully, maintaining.
He is not at all strict. What helps most is when he logs what he eats every day consistently.
I think for my dh, like many, he simply over eats. Carbs and sweets are not an issue – he can easily exist on meat! We find food, like money,is best budgeted carefully. : )
And, eating a balanced diet, like you say, helps the appetite not go haywire. Exercise is huge, in my view. Hope that helps? He was quite impressed when he met a couple who showed their food logs for the past 30 years or so – and they are fit. : )
Dh’s fav. breakfast (one of) is one egg on one whole wheat english muffin (1 t. butter) and grilled tomato with it (sandwich). I think that was 4 or 5 pts? It really does hold you till lunch. I use CO intead of butter and do not eat it as a sandwich sometimes, too.
We are not WW experts by any stretch. : )
I don’t think that counting Points incorrectly for items would be the answer – I think it’s just a matter of finding a good balance of what works for you.
As Christine mentioned, portion control is a big thing. The great thing with with the higher calorie/fat choice is that you’re probably going to require less of it than it’s low-cal counterpart which will in turn balance out your Points.
WW also recommends including some healthy oils into your diet and when members are struggling to spend their Points values or looking to change things up I often tell them to go back to things like high fat milk products or non-diet versions of things and to make sure that they’re getting in all of their Good Health Guidelines before choosing the 100 calorie brownie.
Lol, Ashley – we never seem to have trouble needing to ‘use up’ points. : D
But I have seen my dh eating a bowl of ice cream late at night, telling me he is still within his points!
Great tips!
I wonder how many points this “almost-healthy” ice cream would be?? I probably don’t want to know. All the nutrients and benefits of the healthy fats should knock off some of those points for sure…but WW doesn’t see it that way, unfortunately!
http://www.kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/10/best-vanilla-andor-chocolate-ice-cream.html
Great post!! I too believe more in whole foods instead of FF and the like. Last month I lost 5 pounds after I stopped worrying about calories and instead focused on nutrition!
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Wow, that’s awesome! Amazing what our bodies can do when they are well-nourished.
Not a WW member, but I shed lots of lbs after adding coconut oil and limiting my grain intake. I have always been so annoyed by the “fake food” that’s passed off as diet food, and I’m so glad to see some momentum towards whole foods and WW!
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Fascinating discussion. Thanks for the encouragement to eat real food!
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I’m with Organic and Thrifty–I’m slowly loosing weight eating more food than I ever thought I could eat and not gain weight by limiting grains (not removing them) and using coconut oil. I did weight watchers for awhile, but my energy just dropped and my job requires I have a certain amount of energy so that didn’t work at all. As soon as I dropped out, I gained back the 10 pounds I lost pretty quickly. (I needed to loose about 30 at the time). I’m back down to the weight where I started weight watchers and hope that as I watch portions a bit more with real food that I’ll loose even more!
I’ve been having a fantastic time with http://www.nosdiet.com
It’s the first thing that has budged the weight I gained from steroids and hypothyroidism. And it’s so easy. I am happily enjoying eating all I want of the good, fat filled NT food I spend so much time preparing, and never have to keep track of a thing.
I’ve often wondered how much work it would take to be a WW member (for support and structure) AND use only real food…This is heartening and if your blogger friend would be open to sharing what her “plan” looked like…I betcha’ LOTS and LOTS of us would LOVE access to her experience! I, especially would LOVE to know more…Thanks, KK for spotting this great reply amongst all your fans!
Joy,
I’d love to try and help, what specifically are you wondering about?
Kelly
The only thing is..I tried to do NT and WW, and also go through points fast, due to the food I eat being so high in calories (butter, milk, coconut oil, etc..)…and when I counted the calories on fitday.com, I realized WW only gives me 1100-1300 calories a day when I eat NT. (because of the higher fat) and my doc told me to stick to 1500..so I haven’t had the courage to go for it again! But, my hubby and I are about there, because we gained this winter (eating whole foods!), and the only way we’ve ever lost is WW…however, we won’t do it on 100 calorie twinkies this time!!
I ran the nutrition information on the ice cream (http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/10/best-vanilla-andor-chocolate-ice-cream.html)… 1.5 quarts= 6 cups or 12 – 1/2 cup servings.
For each 1/2 cup serving, there are 7 WW Points.
265 cals
23 grams fat
0 fiber
Thanks Jamie,
That’s good info and it shows how bad it looks from a WW standpoint, but since we all now know that all calories aren’t the same, we know not to worry about what WW thinks!
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/01/is-weight-loss-as-simple-as-calories-in-vs-calories-out.html
I don’t think 7 pts for the ice cream is bad from a WW standpoint… a piece of cake can be 10 pts! If you have 24 pts/day + 35 flex points, it’s not hard to work in the occasional treat. You could even enjoy the ice cream for breakfast with some low point fruits. I don’t do WW anymore (though I’ve tried it more than once)… I simply eat healthy foods, healthy NT fats, and lots of fruits and veggies with no calorie beverages (except occasional coffee and cream). I LOVE this ice cream and so do my kids! It’s delicious to add in some chopped up fruit or crushed vanilla beans as well. YUM!
Hello Kelly,
I love your website. Awesome! I tried WW and it is so low -fat and following the healthy guidelines and stuff. The thing I hated about it was they promoted junk food, which I think is wrong. When I tried to tell them I eat whole foods such as whole milk, real eggs, real butter,etc, I got some crazy looks. I stopped going. But I see you can do the WW program eating real food. I guess the key is to not go to the meetings.
Keep up the good work with your blog. You now have a big fan!
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for the sweet comment!