Just came from Weight Watchers, How do you plan for the 49 "points"

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Julem22
Julem22 Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I just came from weight watchers. The only thing I like about weight watchers is the 49 extra points (calories) you get each week. I used to save them for a weekend treat. Are there any strategies anyone can recommend on saving calories for the weekend? Maybe eating 200 or so under your goal each day. Not sure if anyone has any tips! Thank you

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  • CupcakeCrusoe
    CupcakeCrusoe Posts: 1,382 Member
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    There are two different schools of thought about calorie counting: TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) minus a percentage, and NEAT (can't remember what the acronym says, but it gives you a base for weight loss and then you eat back exercise calories).

    I subscribe to TDEE-15% or so, which means my calorie intake is the same every day, regardless of exercise, because my TDEE was calculated with my exercise in there.

    Some people do NEAT (that's the MFP standard way- where you tell MFP what you want to lose and they give you a number) because they like "eating back" the calories they burn in exercise.

    I mention these things because I don't do cheat days. I portion myself a treat every day, make sure it's within my allowance. If you feel you need that "I'm treating myself" mindset, then I might suggest NEAT.

    It also might help you to think of your calories on a weekly basis vs a daily basis, and then you can do just as you said- take a few calories from every day for a treat on the weekend if you'd like.

    Let me know if you have any more questions, message me or friend me if you'd like. :)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Hi and welcome

    WW points is basically just packaging up calories so people think they don't have to count calories

    So get your calories from MFP settings (this is your basic calories without any movement) - weigh and log everything then add back in your exercise daily and eat 50% or so of those if using MFP or fitness machine calorie burns

    I like to check over the week because some days I'll eat more, some days less - if you want to save for a weekend treat then do that - or just take an extra long walk or another gym session

    You may found the weekly nutrition reports useful - on the app it gives you how many calories under you are for the weeky - look at nutrition report on your food diary and then click over to weekly report - you can then eat into the extra calories if you want - mine is set for the last 7 days so I have a rolling status of calories left to eat


  • annietud
    annietud Posts: 33 Member
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    I was following ww/ppoints and have found you need to forget whatever weight watchers tells you.
    I go to the class to weigh but not much else for me.
    I get more calories than what ppoints would say in my 26+49. I'm 12st6.
    A recipe I used today would count as 9pp but has less than 300cals. That doesn't equat to the ww basic of 1 pp is 40ish cals.
    Forget your 49 and start afresh.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    I PP being around 40 calories is a very rough rule of thumb. They don't calc the points that way. They use a formula based on fat, protein, carbs and fiber. Fat and alcohol make points higher, fiber and protein make them lower. So if your food is well over 40 calories per point, it's because it's high fat (or alcoholic).

    OP- You can use the 40ish per point value to tweak an MFP calorie goal to have 'weekly floating calories'. If MFP tells you to have say 1600/day, that's 11,200 a week. If you figure 2000 are 'weekly calories', that leaves you 1300ish/day. Basically just 'hold back' 300 calories a day to have an extra 2000ish on the weekend.
  • Weightwatcher72
    Weightwatcher72 Posts: 95 Member
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    I use both WW and MFP simultaneously, I've manually reduced my 30 PPs per day to 26 and my weekly 49pps to 10, but tbh I try not to touch them, I have them as an accidental overdraft feature if you like lol. The main thing I use MFP for is accounting for all the 'free' fruit and veggies

    I'm currently losing about 2lbs per week
  • 13bbird13
    13bbird13 Posts: 425 Member
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    I was on Points Plus for a while with success but I just scrapped it and started over with MFP numbers when I got here. PP did work but I couldn't afford it... my own fault since I was at goal once but got lazy and gained it back!
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Julem22 wrote: »
    Hello, I just came from weight watchers. The only thing I like about weight watchers is the 49 extra points (calories) you get each week. I used to save them for a weekend treat. Are there any strategies anyone can recommend on saving calories for the weekend? Maybe eating 200 or so under your goal each day. Not sure if anyone has any tips! Thank you

    Some people here look at their weekly calories instead of their daily calories -- like the 200 you are talking about.
  • lizfiz50
    lizfiz50 Posts: 179 Member
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    When I did WW, I used it on a cheat meal or going out for drinks. That covered like 5-7 vodka tonics.

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