Is anyone else frustrated with the new Weight Watchers system?

[Anonymous]

I just returned to Weight Watchers after taking about 6 months off (and gaining weight, ugh). I admit that I haven't taken the full tour and learned the new system in its entirety, but I don't like it so far. The old system really emphasized good, healthy, whole foods. Low fat, high fiber. That worked for me. The new system seems to be focused on low carb.

For example, while trying to gauge the new system, I plugged in info for both a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, and a bowl of plain old oats. The serving of oats had more points than sugar-laden Honey Nut Cheerios, which I find to be very frustrating.

Next I used the recipe builder to figure out the points value for my morning post workout smoothie [1/4 c. fat-free greek yogurt, 1/2 c. fat-free milk, fruit]. It said the yogurt was 1 pt, milk was 1 pt. and the banana and berries were all 0 points. Yet the total for this healthy smoothie is SIX points?! It literally does not add up. Could it be an error?

[Anonymous]

I'm not thrilled with the new system myself. I've been doing ww online since last may, and was having very good success with the old system. Over those six months, I logged in probably hundreds of different food items and recipes into my account, so that I could easily track everything, and now all those point values are unusuable, which drives me nuts. I haven't felt motivated to recalculate everything, so I've been falling off the program a bit which is really frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Why not just continue to use the old plan since you have all of the materials?

[Anonymous]

I love the new system and find it way more healthy. It emphasizes fruits and vegetables instead of the horrible processed food that was pushed before. The majority of fruit is now zero points. The recipe builder has a different result because it actually calculates the values for each of the fruits - it has a little explanation for the difference right next to the number. Sometimes I just build the recipes without the fruit and then add the fruit separately; I know this is cheating, and I have yet to see if it matters.

[Anonymous]

I love the new plan. I love that all of the artificial processed stuff costs more points and that fruits are free.

[Anonymous]

OP here. That all is a very good thing. I guess those bars and whatnot that were pushed before - that are, indeed, full of crap -- aren't as appealing now. Although I did have good success with the old system, and mostly it taught me to eat good stuff, with the occasional treat.

I fail to understand how a smoothie that contains 1/4 c. fat-free greek yogurt, 1/2 c. fat-free milk, a medium banana, and 1/3 c. of strawberries could possibly = 6 points. I double checked everything and it is entered correctly.

To answer the PP - I could continue with the old system, but I was only a web user so never got any "materials". I rely on the website to calculate points. Plus when I lose weight and go down to the next points allowance, I won't know what that should be anymore since it will be calculated using the new system.

[Anonymous]

PP here. The banana has a lot of carbs, and the recipe builder actually accounts for them, which means that it would be three points in a recipe. This makes sense when you think about the old system, in which bananas were two points and other fruits were one. The new system allows you to have more points, but things are generally higher in points value, so something that was once two points would easily be three in this system.

If you just count the banana alone separately, the new plan would count it as zero points because it wants to push you to eat healthier. As I said before, I would just count these individual ingrediants and skip the builder in this instance, but I recognize that is cheating.

[Anonymous]

So a banana eaten separately is zero points, but added to a recipe is 3 points? Granted, I could only find the points for a large banana, and I do try to pick small ones or only use half of the bigger ones. Still - I could have an entire cup of milk AND an entire cup of greek yogurt for 3 points.

Thanks for the advice PP, I think I still might continue to count fruits/veg as having zero points.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I had great success on the old plan, but after about a year of maintenance fell off the wagon and just went back to try to lost the 10 pounds I put back on. So far, I like the new system and find it easier to stick with, because I like having fruit as a snack.

OP, you should be able to just stick with the old system if that works better for you. In terms of points allowed, as you lose weight, you get one fewer point every time your weight goes below a "ten"--i.e., from 150 to 149, from 140 to 139, etc. Once you're on maintenance, it is usually four extra points that you are allotted (again, that was on the old system).

To the PP--about the smoothie: I think it is completely fair and not cheating to count the banana as zero points--I mean, that is what it would be if eaten alone as a snack. In fact, the new program materials even address that and reiterate that all fruit, "even bananas" in their words, are zero points. (I think the materials say "even bananas because they recognize that people are skeptical about that! )

Anyway, good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I had great success on the old plan, but after about a year of maintenance fell off the wagon and just went back to try to lost the 10 pounds I put back on. So far, I like the new system and find it easier to stick with, because I like having fruit as a snack.

OP, you should be able to just stick with the old system if that works better for you. In terms of points allowed, as you lose weight, you get one fewer point every time your weight goes below a "ten"--i.e., from 150 to 149, from 140 to 139, etc. Once you're on maintenance, it is usually four extra points that you are allotted (again, that was on the old system).

To the PP--about the smoothie: I think it is completely fair and not cheating to count the banana as zero points--I mean, that is what it would be if eaten alone as a snack. In fact, the new program materials even address that and reiterate that all fruit, "even bananas" in their words, are zero points. (I think the materials say "even bananas because they recognize that people are skeptical about that! )

Anyway, good luck!

I like the new system. One thing to remember about the 0 point bananas (and other fruits) is that they are not supposed to be a free for all. You aren't supposed to overindulge in bananas, because at the end of the day overeating is overeating, regardless of what the food is. So, take it easy on the bananas, but go ahead and have one rather than opting for processed crap. Sometimes I think of it the way I thought about the "core" program of several years ago--eat to your satisfaction, but don't go beyond that.