How Does Weight Watchers PointsPlus Work

Disclaimer: The team of Weight Watchers keeps updating the program, according to the requirements/feedback of their members. The program has been updated many times, the latest one being the Weight Watchers 360° program, which was unveiled on the 3rd of December, 2012. The program teaches members how to manage their food environment, claiming that we tend to eat what we see. It also guides people on ways to control their temptation, and to avoid pleasure eating. Weight Watchers has not increased their rates for this new approach, and all the meetings, eTools, and apps are included in the total fee.

The content in this article explains the Weight Watchers PointsPlus program in detail. The details of the current program are exclusively available to the paid members of Weight Watchers.

Weight Watchers was first launched in 1997, when it became a huge hit amongst dieters. Since, then, many new diet programs were introduced which fared better than Weight Watchers. There were a few flaws in the original diet program devised by Weight Watchers. These shortcomings were taken into account while formulating a new plan. The new Weight Watchers PointsPlus Program was recently launched to cover the flaws in the previous program and offers dieters some attractive options.

How does Weight Watchers New PointsPlus Work

If you are new to Weight Watchers, then you will need to know a few basics about this diet plan. Earlier, the diet plan was based on a point system. In this, food items were assigned numerical values or points, according to their calorie content. Every dieter received certain number of points for the day. The points were mainly allotted as per the age, sex and lifestyle of the dieter. The dieter was allowed to eat whatever he wished as long as he stayed within his daily point limit. Thus, if a dieter binged on high calorie food on one meal, he had to compensate for it by eating low point foods for the rest of his day. Fruits and vegetables were assigned low points while fried, processed foods, meat were assigned higher points. The purpose was to create a balance in the diet and encourage the dieter to eat more healthy foods with low points. This enabled them to lose weight slowly and steadily.

The new Weight Watchers point system not only takes into account the calorie content of the food, but also takes into account its nutritional value. Thus, the points are assigned after evaluating protein, fiber, carbs and fat in the foods. The earlier approach was calorie based while the recent one in nutrition based. In the earlier approach certain nutritious foods such as banana were assigned 3 points, which were same as a chocolate muffin due to same number of calories (100) in them. This discouraged dieters from eating healthy foods which were high in calories. However, in the recent approach, fruits and non starchy vegetables are assigned zero points, thereby encouraging the dieters to eat as much as they want. It has been proved that adults do not get enough fruits from their diet. Thus, a new PointsPlus Program promises to provide a healthy and filling nourishment to dieters.

Another welcome change is introduction of 'real living points' to the diet plan. This is a set of 49 points which are allotted to the dieters every week. They can use these points however they want. The biggest advantage of this system is that it provides coverage against binge eating. Earlier, if you decided to gorge on your favorite foods on a special occasion, you invariably had to exceed your daily point limit. This meant frequent guilt trips for dieters, which would eventually dissuade them from following their diet plan. However, with the introduction of real living points, you can either save these points for a special occasion or divide them over a week. Thus, even if you accidentally exceed your limit, there is no need to feel guilty.

As a result of the new strategy, the point system has also changed. Hence, dieters will need to get used to the new system, and make appropriate changes to their diet. Earlier, you might have starved yourself after eating a large Mac at lunch, for the fear of exceeding your point limit. But, now you can make a healthier choice by eating fresh fruits for the rest of the day. This way your body will get a continuous supply of energy and thus, won't tend to store fat.

PointsPlus Program promises to achieve healthy weight loss, and also ensures that dieters are motivated enough to keep up with their plan. Thus, even though the concept remains the same, this program has more success rate than the previous one.

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