Thanks, I have done ww b4 so know the plan but I tend 2 feel hungry on it, sw looks scary & complicated but I've heard good reviews. With calorie counting do u count veggies & low cal juice & can you save cals up for a treat? Thanks for your advice.
Ok, I can see you're a little confused. I've done all 3 plans so I'll give you my opinions on them.
- Slimming World -
I lost 3 stone on SW. I was never hungry because you can eat free foods whenever you want. Yes the plan can be a little complicated at first but once you get used to it, it's very easy to follow. I've never eaten better in terms of good for you, healthy food then when i follwed the SW plan.
The downsides are, unless you know the plan back to front you will have to go to a class (or at least buy some books) to understand the plan. Not only that but you will need to work out the syn values of food, so if you're not paying for a class you have to rely on google, which doesn't always have the answer.
For me, I had to cook every meal from scratch. Jars and packets were just too synful. Which meant an awful lot of cooking - and some nights I just couldn't be arsed.
You can risk eating way too much, because of the nature of 'free foods' etc. This plan will not teach you portion control. What it will do is change your habits and make you reach for the healthy food first (superfree or free) foods. I still do that now.
It is harder to eat out and have boozy nights out on this plan. Eating out - because you have to try and choose things on the menu that fit within plan - sometimes it's easy - steak and veg for instance - but it can be a pain. And you can't really save syns etc (some people do but it's not technically a part of the plan - flexisynning is but that involves accepting a maintain/gain).
2. Weight Watchers -
I didn't really get on with weight watchers so this will be biased towards the negative. WW will teach you portion control as you have to eat within your points. You won't be hungry nowadays as you don't point most fruit & veg on the new plan so if you're hungry you can snack on that. And you have weekly points that you can use to supplement your daily points (if you're getting hungry) or use for a night/meal out.
I found WW a better fit than SW because I was able to use packets and jars (on occassion ready meals) etc... Going out was easier (due to the weeklies).
However, the points irritated me. I didn't understand why somethings were higher and somethings lower (it's based on fat, fibre etc...) and i didn't like that I had to convert everything to propoints when I could just be calorie counting - which was much less effort. However WW does work out everything for you in terms of points for the day etc... there's no thinking.
I'd recommend WW if you need a class environment, but if you don't i'd just calorie count.
3. Calorie Counting
Obviously i'm biased as this is the plan I choose to follow. It fits in with my lifestyle and I can eat pretty much what I want providing it's within my calorie count.
Downsides, you do have to log everything. Including veg (someone said that they don't log salads? Which is ridiculous, my salads tend to total 200 cals +) and fruit, and drinks. But if you have a smartphone there are plenty of apps that make this easier.
You also need to work out for yourself how many calories you should be eating. But again you could use a TDEE calculator and go from there.
I tend to go by my weekly count, rather than daily. So yeah, as long as my weekly calories are within goal then it doesn't matter how i ate them each day.
The whole family can eat whatever you're eating on all three plans. I think SW definately the better fit for family life if you already cook every evening as they probably won't even notice a change (except they'll all be eating much healthier - I was living with my parents when I did SW and cooked every evening, my Mum lost 10lbs just from eating my SW evening meals).
So best for family life: SW
Best for does it all for you counting: WW
Best fit for busy, don't want to be on a 'diet: CC
Best for
me: CC