I've done WW half-heartedly a few times since then, but mainly as a weight maintenance strategy rather than a targeted weight loss program.
Anyhow, I know that WW works for me, so I want to use it to get rid of this baby belly & get down to my goal weight.
Here's a summary of how WW works - it looks complicated, but its quite easy once you get the hang of it. Please note that this is the OLD system (pre-Nov 2010). Things have changed radically now, so if you officially join WW now, you'll have very different points targets and food values than if you use my technique below.
Calculating Your Points Allowance:
1. The first step is going to be establishing a baseline for WW points depending on your sex and whether or not you are nursing. If you are female, start with 2 points. If you are male start with 8 points. If you are nursing start with 12 points.
Example: I am nursing, so I start with 12 points.
2. Then adjust for your age: If you are between 17-26 add 4 points to your total. If you are between 27-37 add 3 points; 38-47 add 2; 48-57 add 1; and over 58 add 0. This is because your metabolism slows as you get older.
Ex. I am 30 years old so I add 3 which gives me a total of 15 points.
3. Next, adjust for your weight and height. Take the first two numbers of your weight in pounds and add it to your total (you would add 19 if you weighed 197 pounds.) If you are under 5 ft you will add 0, between 5’0″ and 5’9″ you will add 1, and over 5’10″ add 2.
Ex. I weigh 151 pounds so I will add 15 points to my total giving me 30. Then since I am 5’5″ I will add 1 more point giving me 31.
4. Lastly, you will adjust for your activity level. If you spend most of your day sitting down, add 0 to your weight watchers points total. If you are occasionally sitting but mostly standing add 2. If you are walking most of the time add 4. If you do physically difficult work, add 6.
Ex. I definitely sit more than I stand in a day, so I add 0.
5. Now you have calculated your daily weight watchers points target.
Ex. My daily points target is 31.
1. The first step is going to be establishing a baseline for WW points depending on your sex and whether or not you are nursing. If you are female, start with 2 points. If you are male start with 8 points. If you are nursing start with 12 points.
Example: I am nursing, so I start with 12 points.
2. Then adjust for your age: If you are between 17-26 add 4 points to your total. If you are between 27-37 add 3 points; 38-47 add 2; 48-57 add 1; and over 58 add 0. This is because your metabolism slows as you get older.
Ex. I am 30 years old so I add 3 which gives me a total of 15 points.
3. Next, adjust for your weight and height. Take the first two numbers of your weight in pounds and add it to your total (you would add 19 if you weighed 197 pounds.) If you are under 5 ft you will add 0, between 5’0″ and 5’9″ you will add 1, and over 5’10″ add 2.
Ex. I weigh 151 pounds so I will add 15 points to my total giving me 30. Then since I am 5’5″ I will add 1 more point giving me 31.
4. Lastly, you will adjust for your activity level. If you spend most of your day sitting down, add 0 to your weight watchers points total. If you are occasionally sitting but mostly standing add 2. If you are walking most of the time add 4. If you do physically difficult work, add 6.
Ex. I definitely sit more than I stand in a day, so I add 0.
5. Now you have calculated your daily weight watchers points target.
Ex. My daily points target is 31.
Note: Your points total has to be above 18 and below 44.
Points Values of Different Foods:
Food is assigned points using the following formula:
Points = Calories/50 + Fat/12 - Fiber/4*
BUT you never use a value of more than 4 for the fiber content (see example Food B below).
Examples:
Food A has 200 calories, 24 grams of fat and 4 grams of fiber.
So that's 4 pts from the calories (200/50), 2 pts from the fat (24/12) and -1 pt from the fiber (4/4), which equals 5 pts.
Food B has 75 calories, 3 grams of fat and 8 grams of fiber.
So that's 1.5 pts from calories (75/50), 0.25 pts from fat (3/12) and -1 pt from fiber (4/4), which equals 0.75 pts.
I don't work it out exactly - I round to the nearest 1/2 point for calories, and to the nearest 1/4 point for fat (no need to round for fiber, as it's an easy equation*).
Examples:
If Food C is 90 calories, 11g fat and 3g fiber, I'll calculate it as if it's 100 cal, 12g fat & 3g fiber (i.e. 2.25 points).
If Food D is 30 calories, 2g fat and 0g fiber, I'll calculate as if it's 25 cals, 3g fat & 0g fiber (i.e., 0.5pts).
I also have a generic list of points values (that my friend gave me years ago), so that I don't have to work out the points each time. Some of these are outdated, so I generally try to work it out from the nutrition label if I can, but it's a handy back-up if I don't have the nutrition information available. I update my list with actual values off the label where it's significantly different.
I also look up nutrition info for lots of foods online.
*The actual WW formula is fiber/5, but I find it easier to use fiber/4 so that it's 1/4 fractions I'm dealing with, not 1/5ths. I don't think it makes that big of a difference in the long run.
Bonus Activity Points:
If you do some exercise, then you earn extra bonus points that you can add to your daily allowance. The formula for calculating these is below, and depends on the level of exertion. Low means you don't break a sweat (e.g. walking), medium means you start sweating after 10 minutes, and high means you start sweating after 3-5 minutes.
Activity Points = exertion multiplier x your weight x minutes of activity
Exertion multipliers:
Low = 0.000232
Med = 0.000327
High = 0.0008077
So, for me (151 lbs), 30 minutes of walking is 0.000232 x 151 x 30 = 1.05096 (so, basically 1 pt).
30 mins of medium activity is roughly 1.5 pts, and 30 mins of high activity is roughly 3 pts.
While it might seem tempting not to eat more after you've exercised, it's important that you do eat your activity points. The formula above basically results in you eating 1 pt (50 cals) for every 100 cals you burn... so you're still coming out "on top" in terms of calories in vs calories out. But if you don't eat your activity points, then your metabolism will slow because your body doesn't think it's getting enough food.
How it works:
I also have a generic list of points values (that my friend gave me years ago), so that I don't have to work out the points each time. Some of these are outdated, so I generally try to work it out from the nutrition label if I can, but it's a handy back-up if I don't have the nutrition information available. I update my list with actual values off the label where it's significantly different.
I also look up nutrition info for lots of foods online.
*The actual WW formula is fiber/5, but I find it easier to use fiber/4 so that it's 1/4 fractions I'm dealing with, not 1/5ths. I don't think it makes that big of a difference in the long run.
Bonus Activity Points:
If you do some exercise, then you earn extra bonus points that you can add to your daily allowance. The formula for calculating these is below, and depends on the level of exertion. Low means you don't break a sweat (e.g. walking), medium means you start sweating after 10 minutes, and high means you start sweating after 3-5 minutes.
Activity Points = exertion multiplier x your weight x minutes of activity
Exertion multipliers:
Low = 0.000232
Med = 0.000327
High = 0.0008077
So, for me (151 lbs), 30 minutes of walking is 0.000232 x 151 x 30 = 1.05096 (so, basically 1 pt).
30 mins of medium activity is roughly 1.5 pts, and 30 mins of high activity is roughly 3 pts.
While it might seem tempting not to eat more after you've exercised, it's important that you do eat your activity points. The formula above basically results in you eating 1 pt (50 cals) for every 100 cals you burn... so you're still coming out "on top" in terms of calories in vs calories out. But if you don't eat your activity points, then your metabolism will slow because your body doesn't think it's getting enough food.
How it works:
You add up everything you eat each day, and try to stick to your daily points allowance (plus activity points). You should try to use all your points each day, but you can "bank" up to 10 points each week (which comes in handy if you plan to eat out or have some function where you know you'll need more points). Any points you don't use on their given day (daily or activity points) get put into the "bank", and you can use up to 10 of them on another day. But it's like frequent flyer miles... if you don't use your banked points after 7 days, you lose them.
It helps to measure out your servings so that you know you're getting a 1/2 cup serving of cereal, not a 3/4 cup serving (with half as many points again!). This gets easier with time as you get used to what foods are worth.
In general, vegetables are 0 pts unless they're particularly starchy (potatoes, sweet potatoes, plaintain), sweet (corn), or protein-rich (beans). Fruits are generally 1 pt (apple, orange, banana) or 1/2 pt if they're small (mandarin, apricot, etc).
It helps to have a rough plan for a day's eating, so that you know you'll have enough points left to eat a decent dinner. It's tempting when you start out, to starve yourself all day then pig out at night; but obviously it's better if you can spread out your points throughout the day. Don't forget to plan for snacks, although if you can, snack on 0 pt foods (carrot sticks, snap peas, etc).
It's much easier to do WW if you're the one responsible for most of the cooking, as then you can control the ingredients & make lower-point substitutes where you can. Eating out is hard (most restaurant servings are high point compared to home-cooked, and you never know how much butter they cooked it in!), but it can be done. It's easier now that most restaurants have to post nutritional info. It just takes a bit of will-power to choose the lower-point menu items, and some planning during the day/week to compensate (e.g. earning some activity points, eating fairly lightly earlier that day, or "saving up" earlier in the week).
I hope this all makes sense... let me know if you need more information/explanation or you have any questions.
It helps to measure out your servings so that you know you're getting a 1/2 cup serving of cereal, not a 3/4 cup serving (with half as many points again!). This gets easier with time as you get used to what foods are worth.
In general, vegetables are 0 pts unless they're particularly starchy (potatoes, sweet potatoes, plaintain), sweet (corn), or protein-rich (beans). Fruits are generally 1 pt (apple, orange, banana) or 1/2 pt if they're small (mandarin, apricot, etc).
It helps to have a rough plan for a day's eating, so that you know you'll have enough points left to eat a decent dinner. It's tempting when you start out, to starve yourself all day then pig out at night; but obviously it's better if you can spread out your points throughout the day. Don't forget to plan for snacks, although if you can, snack on 0 pt foods (carrot sticks, snap peas, etc).
It's much easier to do WW if you're the one responsible for most of the cooking, as then you can control the ingredients & make lower-point substitutes where you can. Eating out is hard (most restaurant servings are high point compared to home-cooked, and you never know how much butter they cooked it in!), but it can be done. It's easier now that most restaurants have to post nutritional info. It just takes a bit of will-power to choose the lower-point menu items, and some planning during the day/week to compensate (e.g. earning some activity points, eating fairly lightly earlier that day, or "saving up" earlier in the week).
I hope this all makes sense... let me know if you need more information/explanation or you have any questions.
