Firstly I'd like to say that there is no 'correct' or 'right' diet/eating plan/way to lose weight.
What all
good diets/eating plans have in common is allowing you to lose weight while still having a healthy (in terms of food groups and neutrients) diet and encourage a healthy/active lifestyle.
Of course I am in SW's corner on this, but that doesn't mean other plans don't work, just personal preference.
There's no such thing as 'can't have'. It's about making healthy choices. Want some bread - have some, want some chocolate - have some. Quanitity is another factor, you could definitely have bread and chocolate and stay within your syns, if you want a bit more and go out your syn allowance, is it the end of the world? No not really!
SW is all about retraining your brain about what adds up to a healthy lifestyle that can help you lose weight and then be adjusted to maintain your goal weight. (The only weak point of SW is teaching portion control, but that's a whole other thread!)
One thing that someone said recently that has really struck a chord wih me is that Sw does encourage you to eat more fruit and veg because they are free on the plan,whereas on ww fruit is pointed-now if you have the choice of using your points for a banana or a couple of jaffa cakes which are you going to go for ? jaffa cakes everytime,why 'waste' points on fruit when you can have a treat.
I've never done WW but heard you basically point everything, if this is the case then this is just calorie counting using a different scale. You maintain a healthy weight by consuming and expanding by the same amount of (average) calories a day, you could achieve this by eating nothing but sweets and pasties doesn't make it a healthy diet.
Of course fruit and vegetables have calories, but making you count thier 'points' on the same scale as chocolate in an eating plan is bizzare to me! SW, WW, Atkins and so on all do the same thing, they help you consume less calories than you are burning, they just all do it in different ways, when it's all said and done you have two questions to ask yourself:
1. Am I looking for a way to lose weight whilst keeping my current lifestyle or returning to it when I've lost the weight? OR
2. Have I identified a reason why I am over weight and want to change my eating habbits and lifestyle to lose weight that I can then follow forever?
Good luck hun, whatever you decide 90% of success is mind set.
Natt xxx