i’ve been spending a lot of time lately mulling over, contemplating, planning and gearing up for trying to enter into a fitness regime for the new year. i’ve been a total and utter sloth for the last year and i’m really quite sick of it. hence all my discussion about undertaking the “couch to 5K” program or finding a workout buddy to, at least, get the ball rolling in the right direction.
the ball, in this instance, being my rotund self.
knowing what i know about the mechanics of weight loss, i’m fully aware that there’s no long-term reduction strategy which does not include both exercise and diet alterations. with that in mind, i was revisiting the idea of joining Weight Watchers online. i had fairly excellent success with them a few years back, so they’re usually my first thought when a new strict eating regime is contemplated.
this morning, i ventured over to weightwatchers.ca to see what the going rate for online membership was these days. i was convinced that since the dollars are so close to par the Canadian prices were due to be dropped to entice more people to join. boy, was i wrong.
the Canadian pricing is exactly the same as it was in 2004 – it’s nice to see they haven’t jacked it up due to imaginary inflation – but, when the exchange rate is hovering around 5%, there’s not much logic behind a 41% price difference beside profiteering.
when car dealerships, book & magazine retailers and other commercial sectors are coming around to the economics of US and Canadian dollars near par, why isn’t Weight Watchers? especially when their product – health – is so much more important than cars or glossy publications!
oh, i know the answer. they’re preying on fat people’s desperation. that’s why there are people who are willing to go on 600 calorie diets and get injected with vitamin supplements (yes, i’m talking to you Dr. Bernstein!) or eliminate all carbs from their diet even though that’s what your brain needs to function properly, let alone the rest of your body.
grr. stupid, greedy Weight Watchers. good thing i know enough about your program now i don’t need to pay you a single, over-priced dime.
Actually, WW’s in-person meetings are WAY less than the online membership. :-) And WAY more fun! :-)
I can’t think of any online US retailers that are matching prices, only the brick-and-mortar versions. :-)
Be not hostile…get thee to a meeting. :-) :-)
And…there’s no sign up fee with the in-person meetings. :-)
bah. i hate meetings. i like online for the point tracking and database.
I know some people who’ve had great success with the South Beach Diet. Both my sister-in-law and Ty’s uncle did this diet and lost weight FAST (in just a few weeks), and kept it off too.
I’ve also had awesome (read: fast) results with Helene Silver’s “The Body Smart System” (http://www.helenesilver.com/public/books/body%20smart%20system.htm).
The good thing about both of these diets is that you get to eat good food!! No fruit with the South Beach, so now’s a good time for that one.
I’ve been an utter sloth too since when we started looking for a house to buy about six months ago. Stress and too much to do has a way of making a person eat crappy food and stop exercising. I was eating super well (but not on a strict diet – can’t stop drinking wine and eating ice cream…) and going to Curves three times a week, and while I wasn’t losing as much as I wanted, I was down to 142 and feeling AWESOME. Now I am back up to 165 in just a few months and feeling HORRIBLE inside.
I’m with ya sister, I gotta get the motivation to make the change again. I just can’t decided which diet to go on, they are both great. I’m leaning towards the body smart system, because it’s much more self-indulgent, with body scrubs and baths, etc. I don’t follow it strictly (b/c then it would be expensive with all the vitamins and such), but I take the most important parts that I think will work best for me, and definitely I follow the meal plan. And making the base veggie soup is pretty fun…
Those are my 10 cents! Good luck. I love talking about healthy eating and such, so if you want to chat let me know! We can encourage each other and share our trials and tribulations…
I definitely need to clean up my act, so I can definitely be your workout buddy. I’m also good with giving you tips, pep talks, etc!
I want to share my experience in hope that others won’t make the same mistake. I noted the difference in the Cdn vs US prices for the online Weight Watchers program and received this response to my inquiry. “Due to changes in exchange rates the conversion of Canadian dollars to U.S. dollars will fluctuate over time, but this has no impact on the rates that we continue to offer on WeightWatchers.ca.”
But I’m set on lowering my weight, so I thought “What the heck. It’s not that bad,” and I signed up anyway.
Once into their system, it didn’t seem like there was enough structure for me, so within three days of registering, I cancelled my subscription. Here’s the kicker. I paid C$84.95 of which I get C$23.05 back. This is their explanation:
“We apologise, but the reason your refund only comes to C$23.05 is as follows, in accordance with our subscription agreement…
You paid C$84.95 for a three-month subscription to Weight Watchers® online. C$39.95 of this cost is a non-refundable sign-up fee. When requesting a refund your account is charged the pro-rated, one-month full price of C$21.95 for each month or part thereof.
Thus, C$84.95(3 month subscription cost) – C$39.95(non-refundable sign up fee) – C$21.95(one month’s service, pro-rated) = C$23.05.
If you decide to sign up again within six months of your cancelation date, your sign-up fee will be waived. To take advantage of this, please log-in with the user name and password from your canceled Weight Watchers Online account prior to resubscribing.”
I replied to this message indicating that I wanted to discuss the matter further, but have had no response to date. I can’t believe that this is legal!!! ?
I know this is coming quite late in terms of when you posted, but I just started using SparkPeople(.com) and it’s been highly useful.
I used to use WWOnline, but got sick of paying for it. SP is really, really similar, except they use flat calories instead of points, but also include protein, carb and fat breakdown recommendations.
Their database of foods also seems quite similar to the WW list, you can add your own food based on nutrition labels, and there’s a recipe calculator as well (one of the WW tools I missed most).
Anyhow, if you’re still looking for a tool, I wanted to pass along this one!
weightwatchers meetings are $13.95 a week (4 weeks in a month = $55.80 per month)! weightwatchers online is $21.95 a month. so you are saving by doing the online, but it may not be as motivating. you are missing out on getting the what they give you at the meetings: weekly books on recipes, activities and motivations.