Other supportive forums..where are they?

[Rumblefish]

My mom just recently joined weight watchers and is really excited to lose weight. She mentioned that there's a WW forum and I got pretty excited about that hoping it would be just as encouraging and helpful as this forum has been for me and many others.

Unfortunately, she's not finding this to be the case with the WW forum. Has anyone else had experience on the WW forum and might have some tips I could pass on to my mom where she can find more support and encouragement on the forum or of another forum she could try.

I'm so proud and excited for her to take this step I don't want her to get discouraged by the WW forum which she says is kinda catty and often off topic (is she in the wrong places maybe??). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Tri Girl]

I perused the WW forum for about a year while I was losing weight (but I didn't go back when I started gaining some of that weight back :rolleyes: ).
I found it to be pretty supportive, but lots of times off topic. My favorite boards were Newbies Welcome, the age group boards, and General/Daily Thread (although the latter was often off topic and catty).
Like any board, I think you have to take what some posters say with a grain of salt, and kinda ignore lots of the "controversial" topics that are there just to stir people up.
Can she come here???? Even if she doesn't bike, run, swim or other things- wer're pretty nice people. ;)

[teigyr]

I am not all that familiar with other forums, to be honest. The few I've experienced have been catty or lamenting (ie fixating on whatever the "problem" is instead of being positive or solving it) or a social club for people with far too much time on their hands. not that there's anything wrong with that

This forum is incredible and I also recommend it :D If she continues with WW, maybe read the various forums then fall in with the group she likes and disregard the others. It's good to have a support system and I am sure there are people there who feel like she does.

I also feel she would be welcome here. There are many diet/exercise discussions that have nothing to do with the abovementioned activities!

[nancielle]

I'm not familiar with the WW site but if she's finding it less than supportive
she might like sparkpeople.com It's a free site. The place is pretty positive.
The BB system can be a bit clumsy but overall people tend to encourage each other.

[DrBadger]

hmmm... I will check with my roommate. She did WW and spent a lot of time on the forum. I know there have been a couple of instances of things being said on the forum that she told me about, but she thought it was generally pretty supportive. I will find out if she has any suggestions in terms of where to hang out.

[chickwhorips]

Can she come here???? Even if she doesn't bike, run, swim or other things- wer're pretty nice people. ;)

I agree! And there are threads on here that deal with weight loss and such. Besides, maybe it will inspire her to bike, run/walk, swim or try other things. :)

[jeannierides]

I have been a member of the WW boards for 6+ years now and find the ones I *hang out* on to be very supportive. Since I'm a lifetime member now, I usually post on the *Maintenance* board, but I also post - and get much support from the *Motivate Me* board...
http://www.weightwatchers.com/community/mbd/threads.aspx?forum_id=1&forum_name=Message+Boards&category_name=Encouragement&board_id=550&board_name=Motivate+Me

The key, I think, is checking out some of the daily threads on a couple of the boards and find one that fits her needs. There are a bunch of them, so be patient, and keep trying. :rolleyes: If she wants to check out the Maintenance Circle on the Maintenance board, she will be welcomed - even if she isn't maintaining!

Good luck to your Mom! This is a very good step! I lost 40 pounds with WW, and feel that they helped save my life!:D

[Rumblefish]

I've thought about having her check this forum out because it is awesome and every is very friendly.

I'd love it if she'd get into cycling! I just went home for a visit and overwhelmed my whole family with my new bike fanaticalism :eek: It'd be awesome if we could share that.

If I steered her onto the forum here do you think we'd have a chance of persuading her onto a bike...you know, the whole peer pressure thing.... ;)

[mimitabby]

well, Rumble, there are enough of us her age!

[chickwhorips]

If I steered her onto the forum here do you think we'd have a chance of persuading her onto a bike...you know, the whole peer pressure thing.... ;)

couldn't hurt to try. :cool:

[Tri Girl]

If I steered her onto the forum here do you think we'd have a chance of persuading her onto a bike...you know, the whole peer pressure thing.... ;)


I don't think any peer pressure would be needed. She'd read about how much fun we're having and it'd be impossible for her to NOT want to try it. Bring her to the bike side... then you can have fun adventures together!

[snapdragen]

I've always found the WW General board to be....um....a nest of vipers. :o Sorry! Some of the other sections are better, I've been in the Core Plan boards for a bit and they are very supportive.

I'll second sparkpeople.com - they have WW folks over there too.

[Tri Girl]

I've always found the WW General board to be....um....a nest of vipers.

:D :D :D

[Tuckervill]

I don't use sparkpeople's boards at all because they are so awkward to use. The folks are pretty supportive, but the boards suck. They could do so much better with vbulletin or something like that.

I like the sparkpages, though, which are kind of like personal weight loss blogs. I spent a lot of time searching sparkpages for successful people (long term weight loss), and then I follow their blogs. Most of them don't post a whole lot, but they are still inspiring.

The boards over there are full of people who will never lose the weight successfully, and I try to avoid their posts. What the person who will never lose and maintain has to say is not edifying, it's often self-delusional, and full of misinformation. The sparkpeople boards software make it very hard to weed those out, so I just don't read there.

Karen

[Zen]

I don't think any peer pressure would be needed. She'd read about how much fun we're having and it'd be impossible for her to NOT want to try it. Bring her to the bike side... then you can have fun adventures together!

I was thinking the same thing heeheehee;)

[Trek420]

TE is fabulous. long live TE :D I peruse a few other boards;

:D my local cycling club which is on Yahoo boards. I don't like the format but if I need to keep up with ride changes it's the best way to keep informed

:D AIDS Lifecycle board which incredible as it sounds because they are just the best group of people to ride with (other than TE gals of course) gets catty and drama filled on occasion.

:D a board a few here on TE who bat for the other team refer to as "our other board" and of course on that board we call TE "our other board" :p . It's not as informative as here, actually haven't found ANY group as consistently smart, funny, wise, witty .....

I've tried other cycling boards, bikejournal roadbikereview and quickly come back here.

So why not bring her here? Of course we won't be able to talk anymore about the time you did that thing with the iguana salt and pepper shaker :cool: ..... and then there was the time that you bunny hopped the cow and we found out your camelback was filled with... :D and the time you bent your carbon fork with your teeth because the night before you'd .... :D

[KnottedYet]

I have a friend who loves "The Firm" boards. She has made some great friendships with other "Firmies" and has lost an amazing amount of weight and gotten incredibly strong. She looks like she did when we lived together in college (that's like 20-something years ago).

[SouthernBelle]

http://www.3fatchicks.com/

Name is a little out there. But they have general weight loss posts and sections for individual diet plans.

[IFjane]

I have been a member of the WW boards for 6+ years now and find the ones I *hang out* on to be very supportive. Since I'm a lifetime member now...

Jeannie - you do NOT need WW any more! :D :D

And I agree with what many others have posted here - bring her to TE!

[Rumblefish]

My mom says thank you for all your help, she's going to try out your suggestions of other forums and really dig through the WW forum.

I'm still working on getting her here, but she seems hung up on the bicycling part and thinks she shouldn't join because she doesn't cycle (yet anyway ;) ) I think she's going to resist and use her lack of coordination as an excuse not to get on a bike. But I will persist in giving her a nice little tug towards the TE forum :D

Through a combined effort I still have dreams of converting her!! :D