New Weight Watcher SmartPoints Plan
sbrownallison
Posts: 314 Member
Anyone out there a WW member? They rolled out a new plan last week, with more of an emphasis on healthy eating. There are other aspects of the new plan as well. I'm a Lifetime member, who's been at or below goal for three years (yay me), so I'm trying to get up to speed. I have to confess that I use MFP to log food and thus count calories, not WW points. At this point, I can attend WW meetings, get materials and support, and must weigh in each month at or below goal in order to get all this free. I enjoy the group support but have been disenchanted with the program's push to buy their products (snacks, chips, shakes, etc.), none of which I thought were mindful eating choices. The new program calculates SmartPoints differently now, with the idea of pushing people to make healthier food choices, i.e. lower points for many proteins, higher points for foods with higher sugar and saturated fats. I think this is an overall good idea, and it kind of reminds me of some aspects of WW from many years ago, when I first joined. Are any of you current or former WW members?
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I was a member for a long time off and on.
I never bought their products. (But it was easy to ignore the products. The company is allowed to make money after all.)
I never found a leader I liked and giving "support" is part of my "day job" so I found the meetings excruciating.
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If you like a leader or the group, apparently you can find the meetings worth the hassle.
They will spend time (re)explaining the new points through the first few weeks of the new year when new people start in response to the heavy advertising about discounted membership rates.0 -
I'm a current member and I attend the meetings. I lucked into finding a good leader.
The new Smart Points plan is very much like what my doctor wants me to be doing. So far my only real big adjustment has been cutting back on the amount of creamer I add to my coffee but that's probably a good change for me. I haven't found it overly restrictive.
I almost forgot to mention. I track points on paper and I track calories here because I like to see it works both ways.0 -
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Another WW member here. I became a Lifetime Member years ago, but put it all back on when I neglected to realize I couldn't go back to my old eating habits ;-). I have lost 91 pounds over the past 2.5 years and am now .4 pounds away from goal. I track in MFP mostly also - because their database is just soooo much better. When I start to plateau or slow down, I go back to tracking in WW also, as it keeps me honest in eating more fruits and vegetables.
Ive been tracking in the new plan since Sunday and if anything, I have more points, not fewer. But I was eating pretty close to all power foods anyway. I agree - the people having the biggest issues are people who eat more foods higher in fats and sugars. I gave up most of that a long time ago. That's not to say I don't have a treat now and then.....but my day doesn't revolve around still eating crackers, chips, and snack bars.
I DO wonder what WW will do with all their snack bars. That was one part of the program I never got. They are trying to get people to eat healthier - but selling "snack bars"? There is nothing healthy in those teeny snack bars, but I would see people buying them all up. I have to believe when they show the new point values for those and their chips.....it wont be pretty :-)
Ive been lucky to always have good leaders. I need to accountability of the weigh-ins and enjoy the meetings. But yeah, it is DEFINITELY leader dependent. I have been to some meetings and knew I would never go back to a meeting with THAT leader.0 -
I am a ww member and started following smart points on Sunday, I did 3 days and hated it! (I know I didn't give it long but felt very deprived which resulted in binge eating) So Wednesday I found myself here and so far am loving it
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I love the new WW plan - that's exactly why I joined them, to get better healthier eating habits. The new plan "forces" me to eat the way I should be and want to be eating anyway.0
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I'm a former member thinking of rejoining. I hate getting hit by mfp for veggies because I love my vegetables, but I am losing faster on mfp. Maybe it's because I was overdoing the weekly points and activity points. I think that if I do rejoin, I'll journal on E tools and here. Otherwise, the new changes sound intriguing. 0
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I DO wonder what WW will do with all their snack bars. That was one part of the program I never got. They are trying to get people to eat healthier - but selling "snack bars"? There is nothing healthy in those teeny snack bars, but I would see people buying them all up. I have to believe when they show the new point values for those and their chips.....it wont be pretty :-)
My leader did say some of the bars were discontinued because the new points would have made them pretty high.
Chocolate went up by a whole lot of points. To me that means that if I want chocolate then I should get a really good, high quality chocolate and not waste calories/points on inferior chocolate.0 -
Great to hear from you all about your experiences with WW. I did notice at the last meeting that most of the snack bars went from 2 to 3 points. That is a hefty increase. I don't know if they got any smaller! I'm mystified to see people buying these, as they do not seem to make sense for a mindful eating plan. I'll probably log in MFP and WW both for awhile to get familiar with it. I won't have online access until Monday.0
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chnphillips wrote: »I'm a former member thinking of rejoining. I hate getting hit by mfp for veggies because I love my vegetables, but I am losing faster on mfp. Maybe it's because I was overdoing the weekly points and activity points. I think that if I do rejoin, I'll journal on E tools and here. Otherwise, the new changes sound intriguing.
I would agree that double logging in here and WW is a wise move at least for a month. It gives you a ether idea of how you might be over or under eating your fruits and veggies in WW. I still think that's the one flaw in their program. It's too easy to do either. They should be setting a min-max range for people.
Still - "I'm 100 pounds overweight because I eat too many bananas" said nobody ever! :-)
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chnphillips wrote: »I'm a former member thinking of rejoining. I hate getting hit by mfp for veggies because I love my vegetables, but I am losing faster on mfp. Maybe it's because I was overdoing the weekly points and activity points. I think that if I do rejoin, I'll journal on E tools and here. Otherwise, the new changes sound intriguing.
I would agree that double logging in here and WW is a wise move at least for a month. It gives you a ether idea of how you might be over or under eating your fruits and veggies in WW. I still think that's the one flaw in their program. It's too easy to do either. They should be setting a min-max range for people.
Still - "I'm 100 pounds overweight because I eat too many bananas" said nobody ever! :-)
Agreed! Too much cherry pie got me here, not too many cherries!
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I'm a lifetime member at goal. I don't have access to any of the materials or the app so I have no idea about smart points. I'm in a group on FB and opinions seem to be pretty evenly split between hating it and loving it. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing here and go to meetings once a month, because it's free, and I like the face-to-face accountability.1
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I am a current member.
I don't dislike the new program per se. I use Weight Watchers for the support group. I was lucky and found a fantastic leader. I use MFP to track my food each day. I only track on weight watchers about half the time because I don't care for their app. What I dislike about the new program was how it was rolled out. The new app for both the phone and computer have been having problems all week. I've lost some of my created foods and recipes. I just think that rolling this during the holidays is a bad idea. It also feels very untested. I don't care to be an unpaid beta tester.
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Let me first start off by saying, I am a Lifetime Member currently 15 to 17 pounds under my WW Goal weight. I did not like the old PP program and therefore was using MFP to maintain. However, I absolutely LOVE WW new Smart Points program. I'm happy to say that WW has finally woken up to the fact that Protein is not the enemy. I eat a lot of protein everyday and under their old program would run out of points by mid day due to the higher points that were given to any food that was high in protein. Now, almost all of the things that I eat that are high protein have at least 2-3 less points than before, with the exception to my eggs which are still 2 points. I've read a lot of complaints over the past view days about the App and website. But what people need to understand is that this new program is a complete redesign from its previous set up and it will take a while for all the kinks to be worked out. One nice thing that has been fixed is how devices like Fitbit are synced so quickly now. Unlike before where getting added points was either hit or miss. I'm averaging about 17 FitPoints per day per 20,000 + steps. My weightlifting only nets about 3 points which is fine for me. Only thing that I still can't stand is how unsupportive a few of the leaders are to those like myself who are way under their goal and just go to WW once a month to weigh in.
I don't mind using the App even with the current bugs that it has since I'm getting eTools free every month with my Lifetime membership. Eventually their IT department will work everything out and both the App and the Web site will be running as smoothly as it did with the previous program. 0 -
sbrownallison wrote: »Great to hear from you all about your experiences with WW. I did notice at the last meeting that most of the snack bars went from 2 to 3 points. That is a hefty increase. I don't know if they got any smaller! I'm mystified to see people buying these, as they do not seem to make sense for a mindful eating plan. I'll probably log in MFP and WW both for awhile to get familiar with it. I won't have online access until Monday.
This is due to the fact that their snack bars are low protein and high sugar. Foods that are lower in sugar and higher in protein will now have lower points assigned to them unlike the old PP program.0 -
I'm Lifetime, but over the last few years am now far from goal. Originally lost when the program was "Selections" and did well when Points first came out (123 Success & Winning Points), but found the later versions didn't seem to work so well for me. Trying again with the new program and it seems to be closer to the way I eat. I don't have a sweet tooth and sugars aren't a problem for me, but carbs (whole grains, potatoes, starches) are going to be something I'm going to have to watch portion size on more.
I have a Jawbone UP2 and it syncs with WW and so far haven't had major problems with either the website or the App (although every-time I want to enter a food on the App, it thinks its still 11/12/15). I used to track on both MFP and WW with the PP program (needed to see how the fruits and veg really did add up) and I think now I'm starting back again it would be a good idea to continue doing both. I know they say you didn't gain weight on fruit and veg but I'm 4' 11" and since I don't eat sweets (never liked them) or junk food (same there), all the lbs had to come from somewhere.. It is VERY possible to gain a lot of weight with healthy foods, just eat too much of anything.
So, looking for support and friends with anyone else doing both the new Weight Watcher's SP and MFP.
And, if anyone is in the Denver area.... or is using a Jawbone UP
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sbrownallison wrote: »Anyone out there a WW member? They rolled out a new plan last week, with more of an emphasis on healthy eating. There are other aspects of the new plan as well. I'm a Lifetime member, who's been at or below goal for three years (yay me), so I'm trying to get up to speed. I have to confess that I use MFP to log food and thus count calories, not WW points. At this point, I can attend WW meetings, get materials and support, and must weigh in each month at or below goal in order to get all this free. I enjoy the group support but have been disenchanted with the program's push to buy their products (snacks, chips, shakes, etc.), none of which I thought were mindful eating choices. The new program calculates SmartPoints differently now, with the idea of pushing people to make healthier food choices, i.e. lower points for many proteins, higher points for foods with higher sugar and saturated fats. I think this is an overall good idea, and it kind of reminds me of some aspects of WW from many years ago, when I first joined. Are any of you current or former WW members?
The part I put in bold is interesting. Eating healthy and food/macro type has nothing to do with weight loss. 100 calories of meat (protein) = 100 calories of cookie (carb), so for weight loss I don't understand the point value. I, however, do understand the points on a nutritional level.0 -
sbrownallison wrote: »Anyone out there a WW member? They rolled out a new plan last week, with more of an emphasis on healthy eating. There are other aspects of the new plan as well. I'm a Lifetime member, who's been at or below goal for three years (yay me), so I'm trying to get up to speed. I have to confess that I use MFP to log food and thus count calories, not WW points. At this point, I can attend WW meetings, get materials and support, and must weigh in each month at or below goal in order to get all this free. I enjoy the group support but have been disenchanted with the program's push to buy their products (snacks, chips, shakes, etc.), none of which I thought were mindful eating choices. The new program calculates SmartPoints differently now, with the idea of pushing people to make healthier food choices, i.e. lower points for many proteins, higher points for foods with higher sugar and saturated fats. I think this is an overall good idea, and it kind of reminds me of some aspects of WW from many years ago, when I first joined. Are any of you current or former WW members?
The part I put in bold is interesting. Eating healthy and food/macro type has nothing to do with weight loss. 100 calories of meat (protein) = 100 calories of cookie (carb), so for weight loss I don't understand the point value. I, however, do understand the points on a nutritional level.
It's just how WW calculates their calories in relation to their new point system. To me, it is no different than the way MFP is set up, which also lists the Macros that are in foods.0 -
sbrownallison wrote: »Anyone out there a WW member? They rolled out a new plan last week, with more of an emphasis on healthy eating. There are other aspects of the new plan as well. I'm a Lifetime member, who's been at or below goal for three years (yay me), so I'm trying to get up to speed. I have to confess that I use MFP to log food and thus count calories, not WW points. At this point, I can attend WW meetings, get materials and support, and must weigh in each month at or below goal in order to get all this free. I enjoy the group support but have been disenchanted with the program's push to buy their products (snacks, chips, shakes, etc.), none of which I thought were mindful eating choices. The new program calculates SmartPoints differently now, with the idea of pushing people to make healthier food choices, i.e. lower points for many proteins, higher points for foods with higher sugar and saturated fats. I think this is an overall good idea, and it kind of reminds me of some aspects of WW from many years ago, when I first joined. Are any of you current or former WW members?
The part I put in bold is interesting. Eating healthy and food/macro type has nothing to do with weight loss. 100 calories of meat (protein) = 100 calories of cookie (carb), so for weight loss I don't understand the point value. I, however, do understand the points on a nutritional level.
It's just how WW calculates their calories in relation to their new point system. To me, it is no different than the way MFP is set up, which also lists the Macros that are in foods.
Since weight loss is a result of CICO, I don't understand the points difference in relation to calories.0 -
sbrownallison wrote: »Anyone out there a WW member? They rolled out a new plan last week, with more of an emphasis on healthy eating. There are other aspects of the new plan as well. I'm a Lifetime member, who's been at or below goal for three years (yay me), so I'm trying to get up to speed. I have to confess that I use MFP to log food and thus count calories, not WW points. At this point, I can attend WW meetings, get materials and support, and must weigh in each month at or below goal in order to get all this free. I enjoy the group support but have been disenchanted with the program's push to buy their products (snacks, chips, shakes, etc.), none of which I thought were mindful eating choices. The new program calculates SmartPoints differently now, with the idea of pushing people to make healthier food choices, i.e. lower points for many proteins, higher points for foods with higher sugar and saturated fats. I think this is an overall good idea, and it kind of reminds me of some aspects of WW from many years ago, when I first joined. Are any of you current or former WW members?
The part I put in bold is interesting. Eating healthy and food/macro type has nothing to do with weight loss. 100 calories of meat (protein) = 100 calories of cookie (carb), so for weight loss I don't understand the point value. I, however, do understand the points on a nutritional level.
It's just how WW calculates their calories in relation to their new point system. To me, it is no different than the way MFP is set up, which also lists the Macros that are in foods.
Since weight loss is a result of CICO, I don't understand the points difference in relation to calories.
I don't get too involved in how it all works, just as long as it does. I guess it must be working for WW since many people are losing under their new program and I'm still under my goal by 16 pounds as of this mornings weigh in. Just from my own calculations of their points in relation to calories it seems like 40cal is equal to 1 point which is what it amounted to for me before. I know many people who don't get/like WW due to points vs calories. Thanks to sites like MFP people have a choice as to what works for them in their quest to lose or maintain weight. 0 -
sbrownallison wrote: »Anyone out there a WW member? They rolled out a new plan last week, with more of an emphasis on healthy eating. There are other aspects of the new plan as well. I'm a Lifetime member, who's been at or below goal for three years (yay me), so I'm trying to get up to speed. I have to confess that I use MFP to log food and thus count calories, not WW points. At this point, I can attend WW meetings, get materials and support, and must weigh in each month at or below goal in order to get all this free. I enjoy the group support but have been disenchanted with the program's push to buy their products (snacks, chips, shakes, etc.), none of which I thought were mindful eating choices. The new program calculates SmartPoints differently now, with the idea of pushing people to make healthier food choices, i.e. lower points for many proteins, higher points for foods with higher sugar and saturated fats. I think this is an overall good idea, and it kind of reminds me of some aspects of WW from many years ago, when I first joined. Are any of you current or former WW members?
The part I put in bold is interesting. Eating healthy and food/macro type has nothing to do with weight loss. 100 calories of meat (protein) = 100 calories of cookie (carb), so for weight loss I don't understand the point value. I, however, do understand the points on a nutritional level.
Every food is assigned a point value. They assign you so many points per day. Most produce has 0 points and they recommend you have 5 servings a day. Lean meats have low points. Whole grains have zero or low points.
It's not a perfect system, Coke has less points than nonfat Greek yogurt with fruit on the bottom. I found the suggestions for dairy, pasta, and carb loaded cereal not to work for me. Overall though the point system (currency) encourages making good choices.
For CICO Most people could not eat 2 Tollhouse cookies (8 points) and be satisfied for dinner. If they ate a chef salad (6 points) and then a banana (0 points) and a low fat cheese stick (2 points) for snack they are more likely to be OK with being done for the night.
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Some time ago, someone posted a formula to add to your computer that would add the WW points to MFP. Does anyone have that for the new points system and if not do you have it for the old one?0
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