WW Personal Points Plan
WW Personal Points is Weight Watchers latest plan. Weight Watchers has rolled out their most individualized and customizable program to date. This means it's personal to just you. No two plans will look the same.
“Unlike myWW+, PersonalPoints™ delivers a plan that’s yours and only yours” according to Weight Watchers.
For those of you currently on the myWW, you are probably wondering what’s changed for you. Before we dive into the changes, let me give you a brief overview.
Overview
According to WW, this is their most personalize weight loss program ever. There are 4 ways this program helps you drop the weight.
Tailored to You
Points are tailored to you. Each person has a unique points budget and their own ZeroPoint food list. This list is customized to the foods you can’t live without and are your favorites. It is developed based on your answers to the assessment you take when you sign up.
Complex Science – Simple Number
WW Uses nutritional research to help guide you to foods that are higher in healthy fats, fiber and protein and lower in added sugars and saturated fats.
So foods that are high in sugars, especially added sugars, will have a higher points value, while foods that are higher in fiber and protein will give you a lower points value for that item.
Adding WW Personal Points
With WW plans of the past, your daily points allowance was your total for the day. You could earn fit points to allow you to eat some extra foods if you wanted, but that was the only way to gain some extra for the day.
With the WW Personal Points plan, you can now earn extra daily allowance points for eating and tracking non-starchy vegetables. You can also earn by drinking more water and of course by taking some time in your day for an activity. It’s Weight Watchers way of rewarding you for building healthy habits.
Unique to Your Health Needs
For the first time Weight Watchers now adjust the plan for those of you living with diabetes. The ZeroPoint food list will include foods that are less likely to impact blood glucose levels.
How is WW Personal Points Different
There are several changes with the new WW Personal Points Plan that are discussed in more detail below. Before diving into these, note that some of the changes do have a familiar feel from old plans. So while there are several changes, the degree of these changes vary.
Daily and Weekly Points Allowance
Just like past Weight Watchers Plans, this plan too has daily and weekly points allowance. The big difference is that it is tailored just to you.
The daily allowance is based on your metabolic rate and your personal weight loss goals.Metabolic rate is determined based on your gender, weight, age and height.
The weekly allowance is your bank of extra points you can use when needed. If you roll over daily points or add more from being active, it will automatically show the new weekly allowance in your WW app.
As with the myWW plan, you can roll-over up to 4 daily points each day into your weekly allowance.
Zero Point Foods
Just like Weight Watchers plans from the past, the new WW Personal Points plan also has zero point foods. The big difference is that your list of foods that are zero points are different than someone else’s. The list of foods depends on how you answer questions in the assessment.
For instance, it asks what some of your favorite foods are…foods you can’t live without. Then based on those, it will tailor a list of acceptable zero point foods you can use for your weight loss programs. You can always take the assessment again to modify your list of zero point foods.
Food Point Calculation
With the myWW plan you had SmartPoints. These points were calculated using calories, saturated fats, sugar and protein.
With the WW Personal Points, the point value given to foods is based on a variety of nutritional values including fiber, protein, fats and unsaturated fats, carbohydrates, sugar and added sugars.
The actual calculation used is proprietary to Weight Watchers and cannot be published by others. Therefore, I cannot document on how it is calculated.
I can tell you that the latest calculation puts a higher focus on fiber which helps us feel full longer. The higher the fiber, the lower the points value. It also focuses on unsaturated fats (the good for you fats). The lower the saturated fats (which means higher unsaturated fats) the lower the points value.
It also prioritizes foods with no added sugar as lower in points (like fruits) and gives a higher points value to those foods with added sugars (like donuts).
Even though the WW points calculator asks for sodium and calorie information, these items are not used in the points value calculation. Calories are derived from the carbohydrate, protein, and fat grams. You can learn more by reading this article about Calories from Fat, Carbs and Protein
While the calculation is different, the process of tracking is exactly the same. You can record the items you eat daily in WW online or the app. You can build recipes in the app as well just like before.
The WW personal points for your recipes may change based on your new list of zero points foods and the new points values given to the foods used in your recipes. For current WW members, your recipe points will be automatically updated once you complete the assessment.
Earning Points
Another change with the WW personal plan is the ability to earn extra daily points. In the past, as with this plan as well, you can earn extra weekly allowance points by being active. In the assessment it asks if you want to track activity by steps or minutes.
Now you can also add to your daily points allowance by making healthier choices. For example, eating non-starchy veggies. For each serving of non-starchy vegetables, you get rewarded with 1 extra ww personal point for the day. This includes veggies that are used in your recipes.
When using the WW app, it will automatically add the extra point to your daily allowance when you track the food and/or recipe. You can also just use the plus key in the app to add a serving of non-starchy vegetable.
The other healthy habit that gets rewarded with extra points is drinking water. Once you reach your 8 – 8oz glasses and record that, you will get an extra daily ww personal point for making good choices.
The water does not include teas, coffee, diet beverages or water with flavor boosters like Mio and Crystal Light.
It does however include unsweetened sparkling waters and sugar free flavored seltzers. The reward of 1 daily point is all you can earn with the drinking of water. You do not get more rewards if you drink over the 8 cups of water.
WW Personal Points Plan for Diabetics
For the first time ever, Weight Watchers has tailored their plan for people with diabetes. In the assessment, the first question asked is if you are living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. This does not include prediabetes or gestational diabetes.
If you are diabetic, like me, then your zero points foods take this into consideration. The personal plan is to help diabetics choose foods that are lower in carbohydrates. Therefore, items like fruits are not on the zero points food list.
The recommended zero point food list according to Weight Watchers is “backed from the American Diabetes Association and International Diabetes Federation”. The items are selected with diabetes in mind.
A zero Point food list might include the non-starchy vegetables, chicken, fish and even avocado.
WW Personal Points Summary
If you are a new WW member, then all the elements of this plan are new to you and you won’t really need to worry about the changes. Just know that this is their most personalized plan and according to Weight Watchers it is their “most cutting edge, comprehensive and personalize weight loss program ever.”
For those who are existing WW members, then these changes might take a bit to get used to. Just keep in mind that while there are many changes, these changes allow the plan to be personalized to you based on the foods you like and eat most often.
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