Anyone on WW want to help me out?

Keep in mind that on the new program, the points values are totally different not just with food, but with how many you get. I used to get 26/day +49 extra/week and now I get 30/day + 35 extra/week - it's a whole different formula. (So you can't go off what you used to get, points-wise, when dealing with this.) I didn't put your yogurt into the calculator since I don't know fat content (and don't have extra time to look it up) but I found that "Dannon Light & Fit Greek Raspberry chocolate flavored nonfat yogurt" is 2 points.

The revamped program is so new, I don't think enough of the points values are out there for her to Google. They have let up on things like nuts, so they're more encouraged (yay!). I used to get very frustrated on WW because I felt like I was penalized when I'd eat a handful of almonds, which I think are an excellent, filling snack. They're trying to get people to eliminate sugar (and boy, check out how angry people are about that on Facebook sometime -- a few people are ridiculously defensive about subsisting off of candy). That being said, I've been doing the new WW program concurrently with MFP, and I'm alarmed with it, to an extent (and mind you, I lost about 75 pounds on WW, though I've had some slippage in the past year and 15 pounds have slowly come back on). They encourage you to not eat your fit points (probably because you can earn them for just about anything, including your normal daily activity, like walking around the office, should you choose to log them), but for people like me who run a few miles a day (and don't log regular run-of-the-mill activity), that's ridiculous. You can't expect someone to eat around 1,000 cal/day AND burn a few hundred calories, and not go crazy. I'm normally out of my daily points around 900 calories into the day, and then I dip into my weeklies (and, yes, my fit points). I'm trying my best to eliminate sugars and eat as healthy as possible, but I feel like with this new program, it's easier to feel defeated, and then give up and say "I'll start again on weigh-in day." (I 100% know that's the wrong attitude; I'm just saying, I think this is pretty common with the new program.) I'm liking MFP much more than WW, because I feel like I can eat things that are high-calorie but healthy and filling (like nuts), stay within my daily calories, and not be penalized for not eating processed Weight Watchers-produced snack garbage. (But I know, it's different for everyone, and it may be worth trying, if it worked for you before.) Just my 2 cents.

http://www.calculatorcat.com/free_calculators/weight_watchers_calculator.phtml This might be pretty helpful.

andi1222 wrote: »

The revamped program is so new, I don't think enough of the points values are out there for her to Google. They have let up on things like nuts, so they're more encouraged (yay!). I used to get very frustrated on WW because I felt like I was penalized when I'd eat a handful of almonds, which I think are an excellent, filling snack. They're trying to get people to eliminate sugar (and boy, check out how angry people are about that on Facebook sometime -- a few people are ridiculously defensive about subsisting off of candy). That being said, I've been doing the new WW program concurrently with MFP, and I'm alarmed with it, to an extent (and mind you, I lost about 75 pounds on WW, though I've had some slippage in the past year and 15 pounds have slowly come back on). They encourage you to not eat your fit points (probably because you can earn them for just about anything, including your normal daily activity, like walking around the office, should you choose to log them), but for people like me who run a few miles a day (and don't log regular run-of-the-mill activity), that's ridiculous. You can't expect someone to eat around 1,000 cal/day AND burn a few hundred calories, and not go crazy. I'm normally out of my daily points around 900 calories into the day, and then I dip into my weeklies (and, yes, my fit points). I'm trying my best to eliminate sugars and eat as healthy as possible, but I feel like with this new program, it's easier to feel defeated, and then give up and say "I'll start again on weigh-in day." (I 100% know that's the wrong attitude; I'm just saying, I think this is pretty common with the new program.) I'm liking MFP much more than WW, because I feel like I can eat things that are high-calorie but healthy and filling (like nuts), stay within my daily calories, and not be penalized for not eating processed Weight Watchers-produced snack garbage. (But I know, it's different for everyone, and it may be worth trying, if it worked for you before.) Just my 2 cents.

I am struggling with the exact same thing as you! I joined WW in October was doing great, loved it. Then they changed it to smartpoints and now I feel like anything I want to eat I can't because it's so many points. Everything has gone up unless it's grilled chicken (I joke...sort of). I totally understand what they are trying to do with this but feel like WW is missing the mark on who their target is. If people wanted low carb low sugar diet they will do Atkins, etc. I liked WW because of it's flexibility. My problem is I love my leader and the people in my meetings (for once) so it's a hard decision to give up.

I found the new program demoralizing which is why I switched back to MFP. I've gone back and forth between the two usually going to WW when I burn out on calorie counting. Their new program is very low calorie (I double tracked) and sugar, saturated fats are heavily weighted. I am not a sugar fiend but I do like a hot chocolate after skiing or a piece of cake on a special occasion. I found these things easier to fit in on this site.

I found I was out of weekly points within a few days of weigh in and I'm not a big fan of low carb high protein. Not for me. MFP is straightforward and easy and fits into my lifestyle. WW not so much.

I'm another defector, I joined WW in March, did well, lost weight, felt good. I despise Smart Points, and I have cancelled my membership.

What convinced me was double tracking -- I tracked my Smart Points on WW, and tracked the same foods here. I wasn't eating a lot of junk, I was basically eating the same way I've been eating since March. I was way over my points, but consistently under my calorie budget, I was eating well, and I lost 2 pounds in one week.

Decision made.

BarbieAS wrote: »

songbird13291 wrote: »

BarbieAS wrote: »

The Weight Watchers points formulas are proprietary, and publicly posting that kind of info to non-paying members is basically theft. They don't take kindly to it. Just wanted to mention that .

That used to be true, but...

Go into the Google Play Store or the App Store on iTunes and you'll find numerous knock-off apps that will calculate points based on the WW proprietary formula. WW stopped trying to shut those things down years ago. I actually saw an article on line that disclosed the formula for calculating Points Plus and comparing it to the formula for calculating Smart Points.

I've seen numerous products in the supermarket with point values printed on the box, along with a disclaimer that this is not a WW product or a product endorsed by WW.

So I wouldn't worry about someone posting the point value for a container of yogurt.

Just because WW has given up trying to stop the hundreds of people out there publicly posting their proprietary intellectual information doesn't make it ok to do. WW sells the rights to various companies to allow them to post point values on their products, it's not something they just do because they think it would be cool. Of course there are ways to find it online and/or figure it out without paying for the information yourself. I just believe it's wrong to be complicit in continuing to spread that information. I'd be interested in seeing that article you mentioned, though - was it posted or endorsed by WW, and did it actually lay out the different formulas? If so, perhaps I did speak a little too strongly. However, on WW's own community boards they will still typically remove any posts that explicitly state the points value for a particular product, so that leads me to believe that they haven't entirely given up on policing those types of things, at least the ones they can control directly.

Ask and ye shall receive. They figured out the formula by reviewing the patents WW filed.

http://calorielab.com/news/2015/10/08/weight-watchers-pointsplus-formula/

And while I only have a rudimentary understanding of intellectual property law, gained from a law school class taken 30 years ago , I really have to disagree with your analysis.

Creating an app that uses the proprietary formula patented by WW -- possible patent violation

Manufacturing a low calorie food item and marketing it with a WW point value printed on the packaging, but not paying WW for a license or an endorsement -- possible copyright violation, though much grayer area with the disclaimer that the point count is not sanctioned by WW

Paying for the WW app, using it to calculate the point value of a certain food item, then sharing the points value in an online discussion group -- while you may find it to be unethical, morally a "theft", from a legal viewpoint I don't see anything actionable, not something WW could do anything about even if they wanted to pursue something in court