How to Track Weight Watchers Points on MFP!!

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  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
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    mfp obviously isn't set up to track 'points'. so it's hard for me to think of a solution that is free.... i know the WW site cost money. you could google other sites that have WW calcs.... but then again, you are asking for it here on MFP.
  • Starleng
    Starleng Posts: 52 Member
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    bump
  • cherield
    cherield Posts: 9 Member
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    awesome thanks, going to try to do
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Many people ask about this and very few people know this is possible. YES you can track your Weight Watchers point in your MFP diary.

    First off, you need to use the Mozilla Firefox browser. If you don't have it, download it for free - You won't be sorry.

    Second - You will need to install a script into Firefox (like a plug-in) that will display the points in your food diary.
    Here is the link: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/122949

    It can be used for both the old and new points systems.
    Here are more instructions about getting it setup: http://userscripts.org/about/installing

    I've been using this since March and I absolutely LOVE it. It is like using the WW E tools except for free!!
    I created this thread as a way to share this information with the users on MFP who WANT to track points here. If you don't like Weight Watchers, and don't want to track points - that is understandable - and then this thread isn't for you. I would really appreciate if everyone would keep their opinions out of this, and keep things on topic, so this can continue helping those of us who want to do this. Thank you.
  • kaytee008
    kaytee008 Posts: 4
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    CM9178 - Thanks for the info on WW Points.. can you give some more detailed instructions on how to install the script? I went to the posted link, just not sure what to do after!
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    CM9178 - Thanks for the info on WW Points.. can you give some more detailed instructions on how to install the script? I went to the posted link, just not sure what to do after!
    Please read back through this thread.. there are detailed instructions throughout.
  • kaytee008
    kaytee008 Posts: 4
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    Yes, I just saw them! Must have missed them when previously reading post. I installed and it worked perfectly, thanks so much!
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    bump
  • shelleyk34
    shelleyk34 Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks for this great info! I just installed the plug-in, but I'm noticing it's counting my fruit as 1.5 PP for a cup of strawberries. Why isn't it counting it as 0?
  • baileybiddles
    baileybiddles Posts: 457 Member
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    I used to be with Weight Watchers (I got fed up and tired with it all) and dropped out in Oct. and finally this December I cancelled my membership....YEA! A friend told me about MFP and I joined up real quick. I can tell ya this "Wow! What an eye opening experiencing this has been for me!!" No wonder I wasn't losing weight prior to joining MFP. If you see exactly how many calories are in vegs and fruits you'll think twice how "free" those foods really are per weight watchers. It's a real eye opener for me!

    I quite weight watchers a week ago and came here. It IS eye opening. Glad to see that someone else sees it!
  • Healthy67Chick
    Healthy67Chick Posts: 159 Member
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    Bump
  • Amberh82
    Amberh82 Posts: 468 Member
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    I finally installed this last night and think its great! It is a little inaccurate (by a point or two for the entire day) but not by enough to not use it. My only question now is there a way to get the .5 off of everything. WW no longer uses half points....
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Thanks for this great info! I just installed the plug-in, but I'm noticing it's counting my fruit as 1.5 PP for a cup of strawberries. Why isn't it counting it as 0?
    If you read back through here, you will see some others asked this.
    The script does not know that fruits are supposed to be free - which is kind of the point of using this if you are following points plus - you will see how many points those "free" fruits are really worth - and how many calories are in them. If you don't want to count the points for them, they either don't enter them in your diary, or just subtract those points value from your daily total.
    One of the biggest reasons that people fail with the new points plus system is due to the free fruits because some people think they can eat 14 bananas and apples every day and still lose weight.
  • kvalmera
    kvalmera Posts: 129 Member
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    Wow, I can't believe I was able to add this! How cool!!!
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    bump
  • DuckDuckLose
    DuckDuckLose Posts: 4 Member
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    This is great. Thank you!
  • mustela
    mustela Posts: 2 Member
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    It was a long way back on this thread, but I have the answer to the 0pp alcoholic drink.

    As you rightly have pointed out, the script gives points for 0pp fruit and veg because it doesn't know it should not be applying the formula to those items. The script also does not know it shouldn't be using the PP food formula for alcohol.

    The PP formula that members get in the app/online/handheld calculator only works on 'normal' foods. PP are assigned by considering the calories in the macro nutrients separately. It disregards the calories on the label. Alcohol has calories but on the label it is not listed under protein, nor carbs, nor fat nor fibre. So the formula see's all 0's or very small amounts and says its 0pp. There is another formula WW uses to work out the points for alcohol and it is not available to members. You have to find out the PP from the database or books. The formula can be found on wikipedia but it requires you to know how many grams of alcohol are in the product, and that isn't usually on the label.

    Likewise the regular PP food formula does not work with items made from sweetners. The sweetners are carbohydrates, but contain fewer calories than usual. They also need another formula that considers how many g of sugar alcohols are in the food (this is sometimes on labels). If you use the regular formula the sweetened products may appear to have just as many points as one made with real sugar. Often people buy WW sweets in the meetings and complain that the PP number on the front is wrong when they put the NV's into the calculator and get a higher value.

    Think I've been a bit long winded but hope I made sense :)
  • mustela
    mustela Posts: 2 Member
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    BTW if you want the script to work for propoints in the uk (and elsewhere in europe I think) you need to change the formula on line 55 a bit. I think I've got it right but not sure if I dare post the line in case WW sue me!? :embarassed:

    (Looked to me like the original line didn't have the carbs value right for the US, very close but not quite right)
  • sazfam5
    sazfam5 Posts: 1
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    This is brilliant - thank you!

    It wasn't working for me initially, even though I had followed all the steps, but then I realized that I had accidentally disabled GreaseMonkey (it was grayed out in the top right corner). Once I enabled GreaseMonkey (by clicking on the grayed out monkey, then clicking enable), the points showed up! I share this in case anyone else has followed all the steps but can't get the points to show up.
  • teach2121
    teach2121 Posts: 17
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    Sweet!! Thanks for the info!!! If I add this to my home computer will the points still show up when I enter info on my phone???

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