WOW was last nights meeting packed. There wasn’t a chair left in the house and people lined the entire back wall of the room. People didn’t even finish getting through the weigh in line until after the meeting was over! There is a new “deluxe” member’s kit that has a coupon for a free point’s calculator in it. Since the kit was $10 off AND it included getting a free point’s calculator, I went ahead and splurged and bought the new kit. I figured I would need the calculator since there is no longer a slide rule. I was so excited to see my old WW Leader, but apparently he was on travel so he wasn’t there. No worries though, the substitute did a great job.
People crack me up. There were just as many people excited to see changes to the system as there were people who were pissed off that the system was changing. The best were the people who were mad that they “had” to buy a new calculator or new books. You don’t technically need any of those things if you have E-Tools, so it’s all really included in your membership price. The leader gave a great example, it’s like if you buy a car one year and the next year’s model comes with free GPS, it’s not like the car company is just going to give you a new car with GPS, sometimes things upgrade and modify and your just roll with the punches. Plus, WW hasn’t changed the system in a REALLY long time and they have been announcing that this new one was coming for months. So people had plenty of warning that this was coming.
The new program is entirely different than the old one. I’m going to bullet point it for ease, but also don’t want to include too much information because I don’t want to get in trouble with the big WW, ha!
- You now get more points, but many items are more points, so it isn’t like you suddenly get a ton of more points for free. PRO-I think of this as a Pro…more always seems better!
- Points are no longer calculated with Calories, Fat and Fiber. They are now calculated with the things that make up calories: Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Carbohydrates. PRO-It’s nice that they are no including more things in the points equation, I think this will lead to people eating more real whole foods instead of franken foods. Ex-A Bagel Thin is now 3 points, but 2 slices of normal whole grain bread are only 4 points (depending on the type of bread of course.) I’d rather have the real bread for only 1 more point!
- You now get 49 weekly flex points. PRO-Again the idea of more being better in my mind.
- The formula for how many points you get aren’t in any of the materials, so you have to either weigh in (they include your daily points target in your weigh in book), use E-Tools, or use the calculator. PRO/CON-Pro for Weight Watchers since you will always have to be linked to them until someone figures out the formula and releases it online. CON for those of us who sometimes like to do WW at home without paying for either E-Tools or meetings.
- You can NOT mix the old program and the new program, it just won’t work, they are too entirely different. PRO-We all know mixing plans rarely works. People stuck on the old plan need to embrace the new and move on J
- No more slide rule to figure out points, you have to use either the calculator, e-tools or the WW Smartphone App (which is supposed to be available for Android soon!) PRO-The slide rule drove me insane. I’m SO excited for the Android App…I love my phone.
- The filling foods list has changed names and there are some new items added and some old items taken off of it. NEUTRAL- I never paid much attention to the filling foods list, so this is neutral for me.
- FRUIT IS 0 POINTS!!! No more 2 point bananas for us! Maybe one of my favorite parts of the new plan. Obviously a PRO!
For me, someone who is easily bored, having this new plan is incredibly motivational. It means that I have to be creative and relearn a new system. It means cracking open the cookbooks and figuring out the points of existing recipes and trying new recipes I might have looked over in the past. It’s a fresh start; it’s like a new school year, new supplies, new teachers, and new materials. It’s a re-motivation for a plan that had become pretty lackluster.
Part of me embarking on the new WW plan is me trying to pry myself away from my scale. So I pledged via twitter this morning (you follow me on twitter right? @scalewarfare.com ) that I will not weigh myself between last night’s meeting and next Mondays meeting. One day at a time folks, one day at a time.
Tata for now,
Scale Warfare
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That sounds like a great plan. Almost tempted to rejoin.
They are really pushing more whole and healthy foods which is SO nice to see!
Having done WW when I originally started losing weight, I was definitely interested in hearing the changes to the program. I do love that they are using more contemporary food and nutrition science at the core of this new program, but at some point, someone’s gotta ask “Why deal with the bells & whistles of calculating all of this at this point into some formula when you could more easily (I think) track calories.”
People used to do WW for the support and accountability of meetings and the ease of learning points instead of calories. I think WW could safely drop the points system–especially with it’s new calculation complexity–and still maintain an engaged and healthy membership.
I do love how the leader challenged those that complained about having to purchase new points calculators though! Too funny!
Best of luck with the changes! I have no doubt in your ability to be successful on it and totally maximize the energy and motivation that comes with a new program.
I agree, points…calories…etc they are really all of the same. But for someone like me who gets dreadfully bored of ANYTHING I do for a long time, it’s nice to have something to mix it up a little. I do agree though, they could just do calories and have the same level of support and accountability without the need for the various gadgets!
A lot of bloggers are writing about this and it sounds really interesting.
It almost makes me want to check out WW – but I am doing OK on my plan-less self-directed route right now.
I’d say it definitely sounds more PRO than CON from what you’ve written so it seems like it would be even more motivating than perhaps it was before.
ok THANK YOU for this post.
Everyone is talking about the fact WW has changed—but Id not seen anyone writing about the changes.
I think my favorite thing thus far is that we now get 0 point fruit!
I can’t wait for the new program. It doesn’t start here until next Monday!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!!!
I am disappointed that the formula is so complicated that you can’t calculate points in your head. So I can understand the frustration from those upset that you *have* to have the calculator or eTools. I never liked the sliderule either, but I liked being able to do it mentally.
That and you’re lucky when you go out to eat and the calories are available on a menu (which would at least put you in the ballpark with the previous points value system)… that information is useless now.
I think eventually someone will figure out the equation and it’ll be all over the internet, it’s just so new right now that no one has figured it out! I knew how to guestimate my points on the old plan, but I could never be 100% accurate without one of the tools ot help me out.
So someday we will be back to figuring out roughly the number of points based on what is on the menu! It’ll just take time
Thank You for the WW outline… I love, love, love WW! The changes sound great to me! No More 2 Point Banana’s?? Oh that makes me so happy!! Someday I will be able to go back to WW, I miss it!!
As far as the once a week weigh-in…that does not work for me. I have to be accountable everyday. But good luck to you!
Thanks again
I sometimes get obsessed with hoping on the scale…once, twice, three, ten times a day. So somethings its good for me to back off and let nature take it’s course (while tracking my food of course!) and let the official WW weigh in be my guide.
Interesting – thanks for the recap! And AMEN to the no-scale challenge until Monday – good luck!
So far so good, hopefully I can make it to Monday scale free (I WILL make it!)
What a great summary of the new program. I think it makes a lot of sense. Your point is well taken about staying engaged with learning the ins and outs of the new program. I think these will be positive changes.
I think WW stays with Points as a way to control/suggest what types of calories people are eating. They’re able to promote healthier choices by making them worth fewer Points.
Yay for no more 2-point bananas!!!
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I’ve already found the equation on line. It’s
Points Plus = (Protein / 10.9) +( Carbohydrates / 9.2) + (Fat / 3.9) + (Fiber / 35)
That’s supposed to be the formula for the UK ProPoints plan.
Points Plus is said to be:
Points Plus = (Protein / 10.9) +( Carbohydrates / 9.2) + (Fat / 3.9) – (Fiber / 12.5)
The difference being that the Fiber has a smaller divisor and it is subtracted not added. Makes more sense to me.
I’m a Lifetime member that has gained 50 lbs (because I went off program). I’m looking forward to the new program. HOWEVER, not all fruits and vegies are created equal. Take a look at the Complete Companion Book, fruit section. Fruits are free only in their raw state. Potatoes, peas, avocado are NOT free. One question that has not been answered yet….Making a fruit smoothie in a blender, the fruits are NOT free. Something to do with the breakdown of the fruit in the blender. OR, it could be multiple fruits eaten in one sitting. Calories have to come into play. The WW leaders have been the test subjects since September. Someone should have run across this dilemma before. I’m only raising the question because I HATE fruit. lol! But I can choke it down if it’s all blended together. Can anyone figure this out for me? I would really appreciate it!
Yep you are 100% right about there being veggies that arent free (I dont believe I mentioned that ALL vegetables are free.)
With the fruit, it’s interesting, unsweetened applesauce is free for 1 cup, so I’m not sure the blended fruit answer really works. It would be interesting to see the answer for smoothies. My opinion though is to not over think this so much. If you put a banana in your mouth and chew it up, its pretty much the same as it going through a food processor, so if I want to throw a banana in a blender and have a smoothie, I’m counting that banana as 0 points. I of course would need to account for anything else going into the blender. The same for multiple fruits at once, fruit salad I personally wouldnt count just because the apples and melon are suddenly touching each other.
Then again I didnt gain my weight from too many pieces of melon or bananas. I bet your WW leader would be way more help though since these are just my opinions!
Sorry, didn’t mean to imply you saying anything about all vegies being free.
I had just come back from my meeting and started doing research online regarding the fruits. Since WW’s is making such a big deal about it I wanted to see if others were coming across the same problems.
Regarding my original question about the blended fruits…it was my leader who told me they weren’t free in the smoothie. If that’s the only way I can eat them I need to know the points. I’m pretty meticulous when I’m tracking.
Someone at my meeting will be using the recipe builder to figure it out. I will find out on Friday and come back here to post. But I’m sure the answer will already be posted here.
I totally forgot to ask about this at my meeting last night, so I’ll be looking forward to hearing what you find out!
I hope scalewarfare is right on this one. My 9 point (old system) smoothie drops to 6 points if the fruits are counted as 0, but increases to 12 points if not. I have the same issue with my WW vegetable soup. My 4 point serving is about the same if I count the vegetables as 0, but otherwise increases to 6 points.
Great post! I just wanted to note, however, that a cup of unsweetened applesauce according to WW online system isn’t free, it’s 2 points. . . (which I noticed right away, since I’m a big fan of applesauce).
Hmm that’s interesting. I wonder why you see it as 2 points? In both the Complete Food Companion and on WW online 1 cup of applesauce, without sugar=0 points. I wonder if they havent updated everyones profile yet? I can send you a screen capture if you’d like
I like your recap and enthusiasm about the program. I just restarted and am excited about the focus on protein and whole fruits and vegetables. I have to disagree with the commenters who say that WW should just go to calorie counting. That contradicts all the thinking behind Points Plus, for example, 100 calories of Oreos is not the same as 100 calories of chicken breast or a banana.
I think people will start to get the hang of the new points, and start being to gauge the value of items. More protein & fiber = less points, more fat and carbs = higher points.
I’ve been somewhat amazed by how there is such a divide amongst Weight Watchers followers! People seem to either love it or hate it. Personally, I’m loving it. Healthy foods are still lower in points!
FYI There is already an Android app available that calculates food points values.
Go to the Android market and search for WWDiary.It was updated last week to work with the Points-Plus system.
You can read more here
http://www.canofsleep.com/wwdiary
JP
Thanks so much for the info! When I had written this it wasnt available yet, but I have since downloaded it. I’m a bit disappointed about it just being a calculator, hopefully WW will improve and give us full access like that have for the i-phone users!
Unsweetened applesauce and frozen strawberries with no sugar are all 0 pts.
I have lost 115 lbs on the old WW points system since April 2010. It’s fair to say that I was skeptical that the new system would be any improvement over the old. However, I’ve been doing the new for 2 weeks and LOVING IT.
The free fruit and veggies (except starchy ones), help me to make better and more considerate food choices. Obviously I’m a big believer in the WW organization and I still have about 60lbs to lose. I also believe that you get out of it what you put it. If you follow and track……any diet plan CAN work for you.
Good luck everyone! and give the new plan a chance….it’s just a baby
Change is good !!
Nicolle
I LOVE hearing from people that were doing well on the old system and love the new system. You have done so well, do you blog so that I can keep up with you??
While the new plan has been good to me (gave me a kick in the tush) I’m still trying to get my arms and mind around the whole additional points aspect.
I do enjoy the 0 point fruits and find myself reaching for them more frequently when I want a snack. I think that’s really helped me.
The thing about the change that I did not like is that you almost have to pay extra $$ to ge the tools needed to calculate the points. Not that I’m against buying new tools, but I had purchased a cookbook and another points calculator a few weeks before the rollout of the new plan. Why didn’t WW pull that merchandise off of the shelves at their centers (or at least reduce its price) when they knew back in September that these items could not be used on the new plan? Or at least let us know that they couldn’t be used on the new plan. I would have delayed my purchase. Granted, they did offer the new calculator at a reduced price and I can use it to recalculate the points values of the recipes in the cookbook, but I feel a little taken advantage of.
The whole idea of more points is a bit of a speed bump. I trust WW though and know that they wouldnt do something that would force us to gain weight…still knowing that and living that can be so hard!
I agree, they should have pulled things or reduced prices knowing that they were switching plans. Or at least had a cut off date so that people would know that the things they purchased from that date on wouldnt necessarily include new plan information. I believe there is a link on the WW online site that shows the new points for all of the old cookbooks, not sure where it is, but I do know it exists. Hopefully youll be able to find it!
The con of having to go to a weight watchers meeting to figure out your daily points target is for those who cannot afford weight watchers, and followed the old system with success to at least some degree. With me, I did weight watchers back in 2004, and 2008. When I did weight watchers the first time I lost about 30lbs, going down to 150lbs. By the time I did weight watchers in 2008 (actually going to meetings, which my mom paid for) I was at about 248-250lbs. I lost about 30ish pounds again, and when I was weighed at the dr last year I was around 204lbs. I don;t think I have put much, if any of that weight back on. Come to think of it, I haven’t weighed myself in so long, that I have no idea if I even weigh less or not. My problem is that I cannot afford to join weight watchers again, unless my mom pays, and I don’t want to have to ask. Since my aunt goes to weight watchers currently, I’d ask her if it was possible for her to get me a points calculator and I’d pay her for it. It seems like the points thing is a big secret, although it sounds so much more complicated then the old system too.