I remember when WW was low carb; when it was first started, stuff like potatoes and bread were restricted. Not big on fat, but it recognized that sugars and starches were the fattening parts of meals.

Ditto with my girlfriend who lost 70 pounds on WW. She was so THRILLED to have lost the weight, but when I first saw her afterwards I was terrified to say anything to her because she looked so dreadful I was sure she was dying of cancer.

She has since gained the weight back, and looks about 10 years younger, and much healthier!

There are THOUSANDS of different diets out there, and you know why? Because not everyone's body/mind responds the same way. If there were one diet that worked the exact same, that would be great and there would be no reason for others...but that's not the case!

I saw an interview with some girls that created the "Carb Lover's Diet" on tv the other day...and they both commented that doing LC makes you very "mean" and you have "no energy" and forget about exercising because you will be too weak. 1 week on Atkins (granted my first couple days were rough) but I have SOOOO much more energy then ever! I am no longer taking naps, I am more productive during the day and I feel great....and that's what matters...not what some "specialist" thinks!

Im not a doctor soo this is just opinion. But I think some people that do well with WW may be able to deal with carbs/sugar better. And maybe people that LC may be unable to deal with carbs/sugars effectivly. My sister has done WW and looks great and lost about 40lbs over a year. I tried WW several times but I was always hungry and felt deprived!

I have a friend that has started up WW recently and she said it seems to be lower carb now, but they won't say it is because then no one will want to do it with all the bad publicity surrounding LC. It's the whole new "points plus" thing.. You're allowed some things like potatoes but they have a higher point count now.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure bananas are allowed in unlimited quantities now (since the most recent makeover a few months ago). So no, don't think they're even faux-lowcarb for this round of marketing.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you're right.. All fruit is free, though. I don't really know anyone that's going to eat more than 1 banana a day, though. If that.. That said, they put a much larger emphasis on protein than they did before. They do look at fat negatively but they are also looking negatively at carbohydrates. Pasta and potatoes and breads are a no-no.

So protein is good, carbs are bad, but fat is bad. Not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. But hey, if they were 100% low carb, it would be marketed as such. And not everyone likes low carb or can do lc for a long time. I have known people who do low cal and low fat and they look great. They lose weight at a good pace, they look healthy.. and so it's whatever. Some people do well on different 'diets', and some people don't.

My husband would eat a dozen a day if he didn't know they are full of sugar!!

If I wasn't low carbing, I could easily eat 2 bananas a day... one in the morning with mangos and spinach in a smoothie, and another one with cocoa and hazelnut butter at night... Somedays I miss bananas...

And weight watchers is now trying to to focus more on protein and less on grains and starches, but fruit and veg are unlimited. So it's got potetntial to be lower carb, but isn't inherently low carb.

i have tryed ww, and did not to bad on it i lost about 50lbs ina few months, my friend doctor recmonded her do a low carb low fat diet cus she was heavy and she lost over 100lbs in a short period of time (doc monitored of course) that is how i came to do atkins and i'm having no troubles with it unless u count everytime i step on the scale i'm down 1 to 2 lbs each day which i dont concider that a problem this is still my first week in to it just getting over all the cravings and such but so far so good i would recond giving atkins another try and if u decide u dont like it u can always switch thing i like about atkins u can eat as much as u want with out counting points they were kinda annoying and after my points were done and i was hungry id go to bed lol

I tried WW about three years ago thinking the support would be the key to my finally losing weight. I went on the boards and the people there were HORRIBLE. I'm talking literally outright mean. "Don't be a f***ng idiot...you are b*tsh*t crazy...God, deliver us from noobs" was a VERY common type of comment...AND THIS ON THE NEWBIE BOARD, posted by people who had been on the board for years. Common as in, probably every 2-3 posts.

If anyone said, "We're new here...of course we're going to ask questions," the "gang" would chime in with dozens of sneering, laughing posts: "Newbie Bingo!" with a list of "stupid things newbies say," "Why don't you leave the board if it annoys you?" being one of them and garnering a "B" or whatever. Anyone who tried to defend the new person got screamed and jeered at. One woman who wasn't liked for sticking up for "newbs" was told her son, who was in certain sports, was gay and that the person was "just mad because your son is a f*g," etc.

I'm serious about this. Dead serious. I'm not exaggerating even one word.

Or if someone posted, say, something about TOM being off the month they started WW, the non-newbs (on the newbies board, remember!!!) would sneer and post links to adolescent "Your Period and You" pages and that sort of thing since they were "too g*d d*mned stupid" to be able to "figure out what the hell a period is."

No, I'm not exaggerating. Not even a little.

If anyone said they were rude, they'd ALL gang up and sneer, "We're cranky because we're hungry...and also because newbs are so freaking stupid - slapping forehead" and that sort of thing.

Complaining sometimes got these posts deleted. Rarely did they get anyone banned; it took an act of God to get someone banned. And ten minutes after that person was banned, the same person under a new username would post, "Hi, I used to be --- (old username)" outright, and the person's "friends" would chime in..."I'll bet it was that mentally retarded (some new person's username) that got ya banned, hon" and a string of probably 20 sneering, laughing posts would follow, with the mods doing nothing, including when they ganged up to laugh at a "stoooopid mod" by name (yes, literally by name) to accuse that mod of having been the account deleter.

WW's reason when I contacted them? Because those people were "longtime paying members" and they didn't want to lose those memberships.

Since the low calories were unbearable and the people were horrible, there was really no percentage for me in paying to be humiliated, and I left.

Sorry to be so graphic with the swear words in this post, but people really do need to know. If things have changed in the last three years, please correct me. If you join WW, go to the meetings...don't do the online thing. I can only imagine (hope?) that the meetings are much better than this, and with that support perhaps there's a chance of succeeding.

I remember a year or so back when I tried coming back to these boards, most of the long-timers were being super rude to the newbies who asked questions and just over-all so moody. I believe it was around winter time so I wrote it off as some sort of seasonal affective disorder and people were just more moody. I wasn't the only one who noticed and 3 other people messaged me after sticking up for a new person saying they were leaving the boards because it was hard to find someone supportive. Now, it wasn't NEARLY as bad as what you describe on the WW board, but still..

As for bananas.. LOL I just hate bananas Hate them so very, very much. Unless they're a quarter green with absolutely NO BROWN speckles! I don't know a ton of people who even eat them, though. That's all I was basing my comment on :-D

I stand corrected! And I see where everyone's saying it isn't LC (WW that is) but it is nicer that they're focusing more on protein.

As Dr. Eades pointed out recently, if you say you're on a low glycemic diet rather than low carb, your response will be 100% different.

I have not eaten a banana in years! But I agree. Back when I did eat bananas they had to be just barely turning yellow, with a hint of green better yet. Once they started to develop brown speckles they became too soft and too sickeningly sweet for me.

Mmmm... Barely-ripe, firm bananas, in a milk-shake with whole milk and sugar, or, in my "health-nut" days, in a smoothie with mangoes and orange juice...


And yes, as a kid I really would eat like, two or three in a sitting if they'd let me, which they sometimes did, because they were *healthy", don't you know...