what materials do you get when you join WW?

[ohMom]

I have the Entertainment book and I noticed there is a 50% off the first mtg for WW (including the registration - so $15 instead of $30 to join)

I've been doing the pts on my own, with all the great motivation and inspiration found here! don't plan on changing that either!

But, would it be worth the initial joining if I would get great tools??

And, if I did join, how often would I be expected to go to a mtg? My schedule is really crammed in the evenings.

Can I just go weigh-in? Do you have to pay the mtg fee if so?

thanks for all your answers and opinions!






ps - I still believe in the tag fairy, but I think she ignores me

 

[anniet]

I just joined 3/17, and I was able to pay over the internet $97 for 8 meetings, which may work out better than the coupon you have.

When you join they give you a starter book about the plan, some recipes and they gave me some coupons too on some low points foods (jello, smart ones, etc)

I tried doing weightwatchers online and even though I was part of a support group, that group sort of deteriorated into a bunch of women chatting about their lives....which is OKAY, but we ultimately lost the focus of weight loss as a group. So I decided to start going to meetings.

If you weigh in you do have to pay for the meeting whether you stay or not, and you must weigh in once a month, but you MUST attend a meeting once a week or they fine you $5.00. Apparently people not attending meetings was throwing their success rates off.

If you find you have enough support here, you might want to check out weightwatchers online. It's $15.00 per month, or somewhere around there and it offers GREAT online tools. There's an online journal where you can type in what you ate and add it to your journal. If it's not in their database, you can use the online points calculator to figure the points and then add it to your journal. They also have a feature---which I LOVE-- where if you have a recipe, and you don't know the points or nutritional info, you can input all the ingredients and the number of servings and it will figure the points per serving for you. Check it out at www.weightwatchers.com

Hope that helps!

 

[KathyTX]

ohmom,

At your first Weight Watchers meeting, you will receive:

A "Welcome" booklet, that outlines the basics about the WW plan and how the meetings and fees work, contains a weight range chart, and discusses who is eligible to join (health-wise.)

A "Getting Started" booklet that gets into the nitty-gritty of how the plan works. This talks a lot about points: how to calculate them, how many you need, lists of foods and their points, nutritional guidance, sample meal plans, recipes, exercise, etc. This booklet really is the core of the program, and you'll use it a lot.

A "POINTSfinder"- a cardboard slider-thingy that you can use to calculate the points value for any food. (I keep one in my purse all the time and take it to the grocery store with me.) You take the Fiber content, calories, and fat of a serving of your food, and you can get the points very quickly.

A "journal"- you'll get one of these each week, and on it you write your points range, and then record your meals and their points each day.

Also, at the meetings you will find Weight Watchers merchandise for sale. You don't need to purchase any of this, but you might find some of it useful. There are lots of different cookbooks, books that list points values for brand name items from the grocery store, books that list points for lots of different restaurants, food scales, measuring ladles and stuff like that.

After joining, you are expected to attend a meeting every week. You will pay the weekly meeting fee (it varies by area, it's $12 here) each week, even if you only weigh in and skip the meeting. If you miss a meeting, you must pay for the missed meeting(s) when you return. If you miss several meetings in a row, it's probably cheaper to rejoin than to pay for the missed meetings. (I've never heard of the fine that anniet mentioned.) Each week you'll receive some sort of new booklet- some topics are exercise, eating out, various mental strategies, new recipes, etc., as well as a new Journal and recipes.

I find the real power of the meetings is in the meetings themselves. If you have a dynamic leader and an enthusiastic group you'll probably really enjoy the meetings, and find them worth the time and money.

 

[TCKK]

Hi ohMom


KathyTX pretty much told you all.

I definitely think it's worth the price. My leader is a terrific lady and really inspires me to keep on going. This week and last week I could not attend my regular meeting so, I left work for a few minutes and went to another class and just weighed in. I'll be glad next week to be able to go back to my meeting for the extra inspiration.

Good Luck with whichever way you choose to go. WW is a great plan.