How Can Fruit be "Free" on Weight Watchers

I didn't have any trouble with WW not counting fruit points....and I eat a LOT of fruit too. My issue is that their food database is lousy.

I still eat a lot of fruit -- at least one thing at every meal, but often more than that. I can easily eat 2 cups of cantaloupe with dinner without blinking. I'm happy to count it because it's a treat to me. I LIKE to eat fruit.

I don't like vegetables as much, but they're so low in calories they rarely make a noticeable dent in my daily totals. And all of that fiber fills me up.

Sigh. I think the free fruit is one of the reasons the new points plus system didn't work for me. I did great on the previous system. Veggies were pretty much free on the previous system and fruits were still pretty low points. That seemed to be enough to steer me towards them in the right quanities. I lost over 45 pounds on that system, in fact. Once the free fruit kicked in I struggled. Perhaps it's tougher to handle those free fruit points while on Maintenance? Loving the MFP system and it's giant database. Mostly using it to stick at my goal weight and I think counting ALL calories is necessary for that.

I always wondered that and knew it just didn't make sense. Then again, since joining MFP, I constantly wonder why WW never taught me about my BMR or TDEE and, further why didn't they tell me I should be eating my activity points. I have friends who swear by it... but I also notice how every couple of years they are re-joining. Personally, I want to make this my lifetime commitment to being overall healthy without the added costs. ; )

I found a site which provides the formula they use to calculate your daily allowance. They deduct 11 points from the result. I can only conclude that 7 points goes towards your weekly 49 extra points and the remaining 4 are for fruit/veg. 4 points is approximately 160 calories so that is what they have allowed for.

I think it is about finding a plan that works for you not temporarily, but something that you can commit to long-term, because weight loss is a lifestyle. For some WW is better or MFP is better, personally I like doing both. This June, a group of my family decided it was time to lose the weight--so I have family members who are only doing WW and others only doing MFP, but I am the only one doing both programs (online--I don't go to meetings) and all of us are losing. (I have lost over 8 lbs since joining WW but my tracker only shows what i have lost since joining MFP.)

I eat a lot of fruit, and don't think twice about not eating it. This may not work for everyone, but it works for me--mainly because fruit substitutes the crackers I usually ate. I don't eat til I'm stuffed but I am a munchies gal so fruit has become my munchie of choice.

I track my fruit on MFP and my calories are usually within 100 of my goal--and my points are usually within 3-4 pts of my goal, so for me, they tend to even out.

I used to not eat as much fruit because I thought it would go bad or the cost, but I now buy in bulk at Costco (going to try and get at farmer's markets) and I have not had a problem with fruit being wasted. As for the cost, I saw a documentary on HBO (weight of a nation) and I never realized that fruits and vegetables have the lowest profit margins for grocery stores--fresh produce have some of the lowest mark up of what it actually costs, while the profit margins on soda were incredibly high.

I never got on board with that... Guess that is why I am here and not doing WW anymore.

I don’t do the new Points Plus plan. I follow the old Flex plan and it’s working wonders for me. No food is “free”. But the old core plan, all of the foods were zero points. It stressed the importance of recognizing true hunger and only eating until satisfied. Which for a lot of folks, this wouldn’t work. However, I know several women who swear by it and even after hitting goal, continue to stay on it.

Folks, if PointsPlus did not work for you then go back to their previous plan-Momentum/Flex. This plan worked for me and many others I've seen online that have complained about their lack of success with PointsPlus...fondly nicknamed by some PoundsPlus because literally it was hard to lose weight on it compared to their previous plan. IMHO WW made a mistake with PointsPlus. It works for some and then it doesn't work for others.

I don't understand when people say that WW is not a lifestyle way of eating. I've done it since the year 2001 and kept it off pretty much until last year when I got pregnant again. I stopped counting points and I gained a lot of weight with my pregnancy. Those are the lbs I'm trying to lose now. Point is....I've lived with Point counting for years and it worked. I did not regain my weight until after 11 yrs. I think, as with any other plan, including calorie counting...if you stop doing it ...if you stop logging your foods you begin to gain the weight again. For me it was a livable plan because I had the flexibility of eating out with my family but it made me be smart about my choices and portions.

I tried their pointsplus plan and it really doesn't work for me. Too many calories in my opinion. Back in the day, when I used their old point system I would allow myself 2 apples a day and still lost weight but for my purposes I logged those 2 fruit servings as 0 points. I didn't count them towards my daily points. So you could say you can still incorporate a little bit of PointsPlus rules into their old point system which to me in my opinion was a better weight loss system.

I never understood that. Fibrous veggies can be considered "free" but not fruit. The fructose in fruit is the exact same fructose in sugar, HFCS. Just not in same amounts (you'd have to eat a lot of apples!!)

Here's another interesting tidbit. The fiber content of foods that "they" say we don't have to count towards calories intake or total carb intake? About half of fiber calories are converted to fat (in the gut by our gut bacteria. Of course the majority of the carb calories we take in are also converted to fat. We have unlimited fat storage yet can only store around 500g of glycogen - the storage form of glucose. Hmmm...no wonder the SAD causes hunger every two to three hours).

Oh and by the way....the majority of those 11 years of Point counting was without fees. I'd join once to get the basic materials and then leave. I have never invested a fortune in their meetings as I seek my support online and I can do the point counting on my own after learning the rules. So really WW can be as expensive as you decide it to be.

Oh and by the way....the majority of those 11 years of Point counting was without fees. I'd join once to get the basic materials and then leave. I have never invested a fortune in their meetings as I seek my support online and I can do the point counting on my own after learning the rules. So really WW can be as expensive as you decide it to be.

Very true. I'm a lifetime member because of the time I did go for about a year. But subsequent times I go and get the new plan materials and continue at home.

I have never once purchased a WW food item or gadget, and was never encouraged to. I agree, they're a rip-off. And totally voluntary.

I always wondered that and knew it just didn't make sense. Then again, since joining MFP, I constantly wonder why WW never taught me about my BMR or TDEE and, further why didn't they tell me I should be eating my activity points. I have friends who swear by it... but I also notice how every couple of years they are re-joining. Personally, I want to make this my lifetime commitment to being overall healthy without the added costs. ; )

WW says eat back your APs if you want, up to 4 a day.

NO NO NO NO!!!!

You can eat as many as you earn at any time during the week.

I always wondered that and knew it just didn't make sense. Then again, since joining MFP, I constantly wonder why WW never taught me about my BMR or TDEE and, further why didn't they tell me I should be eating my activity points. I have friends who swear by it... but I also notice how every couple of years they are re-joining. Personally, I want to make this my lifetime commitment to being overall healthy without the added costs. ; )

WW says eat back your APs if you want, up to 4 a day.

NO NO NO NO!!!!

You can eat as many as you earn at any time during the week.

Oh, then they've changed it. It's been years since I went. They took away the maximum for eating back?

I always wondered that and knew it just didn't make sense. Then again, since joining MFP, I constantly wonder why WW never taught me about my BMR or TDEE and, further why didn't they tell me I should be eating my activity points. I have friends who swear by it... but I also notice how every couple of years they are re-joining. Personally, I want to make this my lifetime commitment to being overall healthy without the added costs. ; )

WW says eat back your APs if you want, up to 4 a day.

NO NO NO NO!!!!

You can eat as many as you earn at any time during the week.

Oh, then they've changed it. It's been years since I went. They took away the maximum for eating back?

When I started in 2005, there was no maximum. At that time, you could eat all the APs you earned that day (if you earned 7 and ate 6, you lost that one). The next year (and this is still the case) they changed it so you can ban all your APs. So say you earn 10 a day (tough but I did it in my most ardent weeks!) and eat five a day, on that last day you could theoretically eat 40 APs all at once.

If you don't use them in that week, you lose them. It's very helpful if you like a night or two out every week or have a big party to go to or something. I was always able to eat all my weeklies and APs and lose at a very good rate until I got my stupid Mirena.

this is silly. You have to limit your intake of FOOD to lose weight, especially high calorie food, and fruit can be high in sugar and calories. For the amount of sugar/nutrients, in some cases, you may as well eat the cookie.

First, fruit has a lower calorie density than most processed foods, despite the sugar content. Second, the water content and fiber content are high in fruit, leading to satiation. Third, a cookie is not even in the same ballpark as fruit. The percentage of calories you get from fat in most fruit is about 5-10% of calories. The percentage of calories from fat you get from a cookie could be 50-60%! Cookies are also low water content foods. And they are incredibly low on nutrients!

I second that. Sugar from fruit is not the same as refined sugar. Except for people who are diabetic or pre-diabetic, eat as much fruit as you want! Fiber and water make the difference!! I know people who eat 90% of their calories from fruit and they are very thin. Don't fear fruit!