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I am currently going to weight watchers and most of the food is food that we
can eat.  They have very few GF cookie or dessert recipes that are GF.
However they do have a really good way of calculating the points system for
our products.  You can take a box of our cookies and punch in the calories,
fat, protein in their calculator and it will tell you how many of WW points
is equal to one serving.  

 

I've done ww and being gluten free is fine. You can purchase the books from
your local ww and you just eat GF and calculate the points. The ww books
breaks down the item you are eating and then add on any extra items
individually. Ex: chicken breast with zucchini, onions, roasted peppers with
mozzarella cheese over. (I just ate that) and you would look up chicken
breast (6 pts), zucchini (0 pts), onions (0 pts), roasted red peppers (0
pts), evoo I used in pan (2 pts), bringing total meal pts to 8 pts. 

 

You can pretty much choose any foods you want on WW. The diet itself
discourages eating a lot of bready stuff anyway ... they "cost" more points
than healthier stuff does. It DOES work for losing weight, and the meetings
are good for people who need social encouragement.

 

I am a lifetime member at weight watchers and lost close to 30 pounds almost
ten years ago.  The program works IF you stay on it!  However, since being
diagnosed with celiac almost two years ago I have found that the staff know
little about celiac and cannot give much advice or assistance.  Every venue
is different.  I would go talk to the branch manager before joining.

 

I have been going to Weight Watchers for about 7 months now and find their
new PointsPlus program very doable while eating gluten-free. I like the new
PointsPlus program because it's very flexible. As long as you track what you
eat and eat the "guideline" foods they recommend every day (5-6 fruits and
veggies, 6-8 beverages, 2-3 helpings of healthy oils, etc.) you'll probably
find that it can work well for you. I have problems with milk products, so I
can't have the 2-3 recommended servings of milk every day, but I just
substitute almond milk instead. My meeting leader is also lactose
intolerant, and she says she simply doesn't worry about fulfilling that
daily guideline. In my opinion, it's a very doable program. By the way, just
before I started the program, I called Weight Watchers to ask them if
someone who has to eat gf could follow the diet. The person I spoke with
didn't even know what Celiac disease is. But because they really allow you
to eat just about anything you want, you can use any gf foods you like. I
encourage you to sign up for the monthly pass so you can use the etools
(very helpful!) to put your own recipes online and make any adjustments you
need to. It will help you figure out the points for everything you eat. 

 

I do not eat gluten free but my daughter has celiac. I was on weight
watchers and lost 25 pounds. The program is wonderful and you should go on
it. The main premise behind it is making smarter choices to stay within your
points. As carbs (especially gluten free carbs) are valued at much higher
points, the diet naturally draws you towards fruits, vegetables, lean
protein and low fat or fat free dairy which are much lower points and give
you more bang for your buck. I believe this is the way everyone should eat,
gluten free or not. It just makes you choose better choices. Like reaching
for some fruit instead of the carbs for a snack. Or eating your burger
without the bun to save points. As I said I am not gluten free but WW
naturally steers me away from the carbs which helps with weight loss as well
as being healthier for you.

 

WW works if you truly follow the program.  If anything, overestimate your
points if you have to guess how many points something was (i.e. a restaurant
or banquet meal where you have to truly estimate point value).  I eat what I
want mostly, just need portion control especially since I used to be able to
eat anything and as much as I wanted and not gain weight (because of the
undiagnosed Celiac).  I think once diagnosed, I was used to eating so often
that I had no idea how many calories I was taking in.  And then my body was
saying "yeeha...I am absorbing things again...keep on eating", and the
result was a rapid weight gain. WW is really no different with being GF than
not GF.  You are eating YOUR food.  It is nutrition, movement and portion
control...what we need whether GF or not.  They have a pamphlet for those
who are gluten free...but the principle really is the same.  There is a WW
app for Iphone (and prob. Android) that scans products and gives your their
WW points.  Amazing to me, but I think just about every GF product that I
have scanned is in their data bank.  That is very helpful.

 

I've done WW (both the old and new plans) as a gluten free person and it
worked really well since you can easily calculate points for the GF foods.
WW probably works the best of all those plans since you can eat your own
food and not pre-prepared meals. I've lost about 20 lbs on it and found it
to be fairly easy to follow on the GF diet.

 

I have not had first-hand experience w GF diet at WW but I have heard it can
be done.  The points are based on total calories, grams of fiber and fat.
As long as you have the labels, you can tally up the points for anything. I
was on WW years ago and their system does work.

 

Yes, you can totally do it. I lost 25# in 2005. I haven't used the newest
version but I am sure it will still work. The key is to focus on real food.
Very few of the WW products that they sell work for us, but it doesn't
matter, the program works without them. And the program works, IF you stick
to the plan. Also, I think the online tools/stuff helps too, I would pay the
little extra to get that, if you can. We do have a gluten free-weight
watchers Yahoo group if you are interested...search for it under Yahoo
Groups.

 

Ww is usually clueless on GF.

 

I have done it in the past. There are a ton of tools on line and off to help
you calculate points. I don't think any of the food they sell is Gf. It
wasn't too difficult. 

 

A good alternative to your primary care doc is to see a registered
dietitian. They SHOULD be familiar with the gluten free diet and WWs.

 

I have used WW a couple of times  since I've been GF. They will not help you
with this overtly because it's considered a medical condition and they could
be sued. HOWEVER, you can certainly use WW successfully as a GF eater. The
good thing about WW is that you really can eat "normal" food, i.e., the food
you normally eat. The things that make it work are portion control (points),
tracking, and getting in enough water. They have a GF "cheat sheet" on their
online site from "Hungry Girl but if you've been GF for any length of time,
you know what to eat. What they sent to you is their canned response.

 

Carol in NJ


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