Weight Watchers is a famous weight loss program across the world. Millions of people joined this program with the home of losing pounds. Weight Watchers registered over 600, 000 as new subscribers from 2017.
Even some of the celebrities like Oprah Winfrey have got successful weight loss.
Weight Watchers was established by Jean-Nidetch in the year of 1963 for Queens at New-York-home. From these humble beginnings as a weekly weight loss gathering for her friends, Weight Watchers fast grew into a most favored diet plan in the world.
In the beginning, Weight Watchers handled an exchange system where foods were calculated according to the food servings, similar to the diabetes exchange method.
During the 90s, it is beginning a points-based method that specified values to the drinks and foods based on their fiber, calories, and fat content. Weight Watchers has improved the points-based system many times in the years, the new smart points system launched in 2015.
The SmartPoints System
Table of Contents
SmartPoint offers distinct point values to foods depending on various factors such as fat, calories, sugar content, and protein. When starting the program, every dieter is offered a set of amounts for daily points depending on its data such as age, height, weight loss goal, and gender.
Even though no foods have limited, dieters should stay under their set of every day points to get the desired weight goal.
Healthier foods have low points than unhealthy foods such as soda, candy, and chips.
Example: a 230 calorie, smooth yeast donut is smart points, whereas 230 calories present in yogurt poured over granola and blueberries provide only 2-smart points.
During 2017, WeightWatchers revised the SmartPoint program to make it more user-friendly and flexible.
The new program, called WW freestyle, is based on the system of SmartPoints, but it includes nearly 200 foods of zero points.
The WeightWatchers website tells that WeightWatchers freestyle makes your life simpler for people who are dieting as the zero-point foods, not a provide weighed, tracked, or measured. It allows you more freedom while planning your meals and snacks.
Zero-point foods include skinless chicken, eggs, fish, tofu, beans, and plain yogurt with no fat in low calories and high protein foods. Before following the freestyle program, only non-starchy veggies and fruits were got zero-point rating.
Now, foods with high protein get the value of low point, whereas foods with high sugar with saturated fat get the value of a higher point.
The new freestyle program of weight watcher helps to motivate dieters to create healthier food choices in place of knowing about points allowed.
How Much Does Weight-Watchers Diet Cost?
Weight watchers diet cost may vary. It depends on the promotions in the whole year, and the days you choose to go for weekly or daily. Hiring a personal coach helps to use digital tools for weight watchers. A new member may require to pay $20 as a beginning fee and selecting the goals.
Digital that requires to access the weight watcher app and a 24/7 service to chat at cost of $19.95/month.
Going to the workshop may require a weight watcher app, which adds to cost around $44.95/month. If you are not choosing a monthly membership workshop, you can also pay as plan at $14-$15 every week.
Hiring a personal coach for one-on-one support with the help of digital tools costs around $54.95/month.
These costs do not have food, as you will not purchase the program. Weight watchers require to choose the foods they need, which make your weight watcher program more sustainable for the long term.
Member Benefits
Joining a weight watchers diet offers many different programs with varying support levels.
A beginning online program has 24/7 support of online chat, apps, and more tools. Members can pay as required in group meetings and one-on-one support from a personal coach for weight watchers.
Member of weight watcher also gets access to an online database from thousands of recipes and foods. Additionally, they can track smart points in-app. They also get encouraged for physical activity by using fitness points.
Every activity can be found in the weight watchers app until the user gets their weekly fitness point.
There will be activities like walking, dancing, and cleaning can be counted in your fitness points. Weight Watcher also offers workout routines and videos fo every member.
Along with exercise and diet counseling, weight watchers provide packed foods such as oatmeal, frozen meals, chocolates, and reduced-calorie ice cream.
Smart Points Calculator
The smart points calculator helps to know points of weight watchers for food you consume during the day time. It is an online tool that helps to keep your daily and weekly food allowance to reach the weight loss plan. Knowing your food values helps to choose smarter food and feel healthier.
The smart point calculator needs all the nutritional values of food. If you miss any value, then you will have an incorrect calculation. You will require to input the nutritional information in the calculator.
SmartPoints Calculation
The latest method of smart points calculation of weight watcher provides food values for making smart food choices. This new program was established in 2016, and many people still trying to know how it works. In January 2018, Weight Watchers launched a freestyle plan. This newest plan still uses smart points, and the calculation does not change.
They used a smart point plan during the launch of freestyle and after launch. The everyday allowance is managed individually. Therefore, there is no formula for every different person.
You must be a member to get every day and weekly allowance. Earlier on the points plus system, the minimum everyday allowance was 26 points. The freestyle smart-points have reduced everyday allowance of 23. It is lower than some points before to new weight loss plan. It happened because they introduced different zero points for foods.
The weekly reduction is also different for every person, so make sure to get your weight watcher online tools. It will make you understand the calculation of the freestyle plan.
Smart Points: Food Calculation
Weight watchers have modified how points are allotted to different calculations and plans. The points plus system helps to provide the nutritional value of protein, fiber, carbs, and total fat.
Before that, weight watchers used fat, calories, fiber to understand the values in the foods you consume.
Having a weight watcher plan helps to have long term change in your health with your exercises and food choices. You will need proper calculations toward the right foods to have a healthy lifestyle. The new food value calculating method include saturated fats, sugar, calories, and protein.
The weight or value to every of this factor is different. For example, a saturated fat that has higher values in your calculation than the calories. Sugar also has more point value as it provides a higher factor than the calories.
On the other hand, the protein will help to lower the points value by using the smart points calculation. Therefore, the more protein you have in food, it will reduce the points value.
A food item can provide a similar value of protein and calories, but if saturated fat or sugar presents higher in a single item, then it opposes the other and increase the point value. Providing every nutritional item have different values in the calculation that will initiate a healthier food selection with similar calories.
Here is the detail about how to calculate smart points with food values.
[Calories * .0305] + [SatFat * .275] + [Sugar * .12] – [Protein * .098]
Before the Smart-Points, the plan was the points method.
Here is the formula that shows the Ptsplus formula to make you understand how the calculation has modified.
Points Plus Calculation
[Fat (g) / 3.8889] + [Carbohydrate (g) / 9.2105] + [Protein (g) / 10.9375] – [Fiber (g) / 12.5]
Now you can see, the value is increased from one system to another. It is primarily because of the high sugar content in this food product. Even though the carbs were utilized in the +method, which is increased because of sugars and it did not make you determine if these carbs were good or bad.
Instead of sugar of carbohydrates, the given values will guide to healthier foods and carbs. As many foods contain high values containing smart point calculation, the new plan will help to get a high daily allowance than the plus method plan.
The reduced daily allowance provides 26-30 points. Every allowance of person is individual, and it is not a calculation set.
Can Weight Watcher Help in Weight loss?
Weight Watchers use a science-based plan for weight loss. It highlights the importance of controlling portion, slow, and consistent weight loss with food choices.
The weight watcher diet is not like fat diets which promise unrealistic results for a short time. This diet provides complete information about how much they should expect to lose weight that is around 5-2 pounds every week.
This program draws special attention to lifestyle modification and advises members over better decisions by utilizing a smart point system, which chooses healthy foods.
According to many studies, weight watcher helps in weight loss. According to the study, overweight people who are trying for weight loss have lost twice more weight when on weight watchers diet with the help of professionals. This study was created by weight watchers, the analysis, and data collection was organized by the self-governing research team.
Moreover, according to a review of 39 compared studies discovered that participants of the weight watcher program lost nearly 2.6% of more weight than the people who got other types of counseling.
Another compared study of 1,200 obese people discovered that people who practiced weight watchers diet for one year have remarkably reduced more weight than those people who had self-help material from weight loss advice.
Moreover, the participants with weight watchers for one year had success in managing weight loss in two years in comparison with other groups.
Other Benefits
- Weight watchers diet is a flexible and adaptable way to reduce weight.
- The smart-points system helps to make members choose healthy foods.
- This diet allows its members to consume favorite foods as long as they suit your daily points.
- Unlike other diets that strict foods, weight watchers make users add some foods with reason. It means that members of the weight watcher diet can go out and eat at parties without worrying about foods.
- Weight watchers also have a good choice with dietary restrictions such as vegan or food allergies. It makes members learn how to calculate smart-points.
- Weight watchers put stress over portion control and physical activity, which is important for weight loss. This diet also provides more support to its members.
- The dieters can also get chat support of 24/7 and weekly meeting to motivate and engage the members.
Drawbacks
While the weight watchers diet provides various benefits, many reasons tell it may not suit everyone.
For example, the weight watchers diet requires to follow and track the food points every day with smart-points.
- This slow and time-consuming diet can be difficult to follow for some people.
- The weight watcher diet is more expensive.
- Like other weight loss programs, weight watchers diet also has cost.
- Its monthly costs may be different and depend on your subscriptions. People with limited budgets may experience a problem with an overall investment.
- The members of the weight watcher can choose foods with high sugar and low nutrients still according to smart points.
Foods to Eat
Even though the Weight Watchers point framework stresses entire, natural nourishments, including vegetables, leafy foods proteins, no foods with limits.
While healthy selections are energized, individuals can pick any food they need, as long as they remain under their everyday SmartPoints allocation.
Weight Watchers makes healthy food all the more enticing to individuals by allotting zero SmartPoints to an outline of more than 200 healthy food sources.
Foods supported on the Weight Watchers program include:
- Lean proteins such as eggs, skinless chicken, fish, tofu, nonfat yogurt, and skinless chicken.
- Eat non-starchy veggies like asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, greens, and peppers.
- Eat unsweetened, frozen, fresh, and canned fruit.
- Consume healthy carbohydrates like brown rice, sweet potatoes, bean, oatmeal, and whole-grain foods.
- Eat healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, and nuts.
Foods to Avoid
As the smart point system makes its members select any food they like, weight watchers reduce unhealthy foods.
The weight watchers recommend its members to stick with foods contain low sugar, saturated fat, and high protein.
Here are the foods to avoid while on weight watchers diet.
- Sugary drinks
- Potato chips
- Cakes and cookies
- Processed meats
- Candy
However, Weight Watchers do it clear that no foods have limits, and members can consume favorite desserts and snacks within their allotted smartphones.
It helps to challenge for dieters who struggle with their control. They should also consider when choosing weight watchers.
Sample Menu
Weight watchers offer its members every database of more than 4,000 healthy recipes. These recipes help to motivate the person and remove boredom in the diet. Most of the food ideas offered by weight watchers focus on fresh and whole foods, including dessert recipes.
Here is a 3-days sample menu of weight watchers diet.
Monday
Breakfast
- Spinach, Goat cheese, and tomato omelet
Lunch
- Mushroom soup and Barley
Snack
- Carrot crackers and Guacamole
Dinner
- Meatballs, Super-easy spaghetti, and Italian arugula salad
Dessert
- Macaroons with Chocolate-dipped
Tuesday
Breakfast
- Walnut and Cranberry oatmeal
Lunch
- Veggie, Egg, tarragon, and avocado salad
Dinner
- Ginger shrimp, scallion and Ginger stir-fried brown rice
Snack
- Grapes and swiss cheese
Dessert
- Vanilla drizzle and Baked apples
Wednesday
Breakfast
- Mashed avocado tomato with a tortilla.
Lunch
- Turkey, blue cheese wrap, and apple.
Dinner
- Vegetable lasagna with No-noodle
Snack
- Black bean dip and Crudités
Dessert
- Mini-brownie (cupcake)
The members of weight watchers can choose home-cooked recipes or consume any favorites within their smart-points.
Shopping List
Weight Watchers motivates the member to store weight loss-friendly foods. Buying healthy foods reduces temptation and ensure every member to keep the necessary ingredients for tasty and fresh meals.
Here is the sample grocery list for weight watchers diet food.
- Produces: Buy frozen and fresh vegetables, and herbs.
- Protein: Include poultry, lean meats, eggs, shellfish, tofu, frozen, fish, and burgers.
- Dairy: Buy non-dairy or low-fat milk. You can also substitute with almond milk or unsweetened yogurt, low-fat cheese, or unsweetened yogurt.
- Pasta, Grains, and Bread: Barley, brown rice, quinoa, whole grain, corn tortillas, reduced-calorie bread, whole grain pasta, oatmeal, shredded cereal, and waffles.
- Prepared or canned foods: Hummus, tomato sauce, black bean dip, salsa, frozen entrees (unsweetened), canned beans, canned fruits(unsweetened), and canned vegetables (low salt).
- Healthy fats: Avocados, Olive oil, nuts, peanut butter, and seeds.
- Condiments and seasoning: Hot sauce, vinegar, mustard, fat-free mayonnaise, dried herbs, low sodium soy sauce, fat-free salad dressing.
- Snacks: Buy baked tortilla chips, fat-free popcorn, sugar-free gelatine, sorbet, and ice cream bars.
Weight watcher is a well-known weight loss diet that attracts many people every year. Its system of smart points helps the dieter to practice a healthy lifestyle.
Make sure to take your doctor’s advice if you are on any medication or diet.