Weight Watchers Has A New Plan

Weight Watchers has a new plan out for menopausal women.

This plan is separate from the other plans.  In other words, where right now you can switch between the regular points and the diabetic plan (whether diabetic or not) and even the GLP-1 plan (whether on the drugs or not); you don't have the option to flip to this plan.  You would have to give up your current plan and switch to the menopausal one.  This is causing a lot of problems for those on free lifetime status and even lifetimers not at goal paying $14.95/month - you'll lose that if you switch.

I don't know all the ends and outs but check on YouTube with Dish With Dee, she's so much better at getting the information out, 😁.  

14 Years Ago Today.....

 14 Years Ago Today - I Made Lifetime Status With Weight Watchers.

I remember being so proud of all my charms that led up to that.

That was quite a while ago.  I only remember this date because it popped up on my FB memories.  That weight loss is long gone - it came back.

Weight loss is hard, maintaining is harder.  I've had many other keychains and charms through WW, but none were even close to the success I had back then.

Back to Weight Watchers I Go.....

I'm back using the Weight Watchers app.  I love the Lose-It app; but..... I'm finding that I can fit unhealthy things into those calories, which has stalled my weight and worse - caused a gain.

My fault entirely....  WW will at least steer me closer to healthier choices.  They've updated the app a little and besides being able to also watch my calories, carbs, fiber and such; it now, when you pull an item up in the database, tells you why the item has the point value it does! For example, I had a Premier Protein Caramel protein drink - it told me that it is a Higher source of protein, Higher in calories and Higher in sodium - that makes it 3 pts. Good Job Weight Watchers!

Still have to do online only as no evening meetings within a 100 mile radius of me!

Anyway "officially" I'll do my weigh in tomorrow and start over....but I have been tracking today:

Breakfast:    Premier Protein, banana, Fage non-fat greek yogurt with 1 tbsp sugar free pudding mix, 1/2 tbsp PB2, 2 tbsp skim milk and 1/2 Fiber one brownie (yep, I mixed that all in the yogurt).  It was a little over 300 calories; but I packed in 50 gms of Protein!  5 pts.

For lunch I went lighter as I'm going to a movie later:

Lunch:    1 slice whole wheat bread with 1 slice lebanon bologna and 1/2 serving Cape Cod Reduced Fat potato chips; watermelon.  4 pts.

Dinner will be at the movies:

Breaded chicken bites with Korean BBQ sauce (they use bibibop gochujang sauce & boom boom sauce for this); I figured it out at 16 pts.

Then my popcorn - no butter, at 7 pts.

And even though I'll be over my points for the day; I'm still only at 1393 calories.

Oh - and I'm on my 5th serving of plain ole' water too!

Where Are Those Calories!!!

I still don't have the calorie option on my WW app.  I've gotten several updates and none have brought me the only update I want!

It infuriates me!  I have never understood why, if I'm part of the beta group, I don't ever get any of the "new" things to test before everyone else?!  What's the point of beta? And, before you ask, yes I have left beta and downloaded the regular app only to still be met with no calorie option.

I do not understand how the app store can provide the update to some members and not others.  I don't understand! Now it seems that the update may not be out to all until mid-March.  Yes, I know, that's only another week or two.

I only rejoined WW because of this update.  When I used Healthi, that information was available, and it made a big difference in my weight journey.

A few posts back my Shapa scale had me in dark gray - the worst place to be.  Over the last week or so; it got me to light gray, green, teal and blue.  Today I'm in green, which is basically maintaining.  I can live with that!

Weight Watchers is Getting....Wait, What?

 If you haven't been online in a WW group lately....

Calories are coming to WW! Yes, you read that right! A select group already has them and they'll be    s l o w l y   rolling this out.  So don't expect it immediately; just like the macros, you'll need to wait your turn.

If you attend in person (or virtual meetings) don't be surprised if a leader says this isn't true...because it is.  Remember, sometimes the leaders don't get the information right away.

I don't have it yet, those that do, have posted photos in groups (they weren't aware until they happened to see it there).

Upcoming Weight Watchers Enhancements

 Weight Watchers announced some time ago that macros would be added to the home screen for those that want to see it.  They will not provide you with your macro numbers, but they've been getting a lot of requests for it.  Supposedly it will appear under where the water tracking is.

If you're interested in macros and you normally do not track your zero foods - you'll need to in order to get correct macros.

Another thing I've been hearing is more foods being added to the zero list.  WW hasn't announced this that I'm aware of but a lot of people are talking about it.  I don't know if this will make the program more like the Purple Plan or move it closer to Simply Filling/Core; we'll have to wait to see.

I've heard dozens of different start dates for this.  Most recently it was that WW employees will have it December 10th and the rest of us December 18th.  I also saw someone mention that one of the online coaches said exciting things are coming starting December 8th.

So maybe next week we'll have more information?

All Those Points

All these point names….what’s the difference or is there?

Actually yes there is a difference in the point names and the point value of a food.

The original point plan (now a days referred to as “classic points” “original points” or just plain “points”) was around until late 2010.  When you calculated, you used Calories, Fat, and Fiber from the nutritional label. Basically, it was 50 calories = 1 pt.  Original Points had a very long run with few changes.  Leftover daily points could be banked to use at other times during that week.  Eventually the banking went away and everyone was given the same amount of weekly points.

In late 2010 WW introduced Points Plus (often seen on recipe sites as “pp” “p+” or “pt+”).  Points plus took the bad carbs into account.  Now the calculation used Fat, Carbs, Fiber and Protein from the nutritional label.  Snacky things ended up going up a point or two from the original point calculations. Now 39 calories = 1 pt. but most went with 40 calories for 1 pt because it was easier to calculate if you didn’t have your calculator with you. Daily points actually went up as did the weeklies.

In 2015 WW introduced Smart Points (“sp”) and sugar took a big hit.  The calculation for Smart Points includes Calories, Saturated Fat, Sugar and Protein from the nutritional label.  I’ve yet to see a calorie to point equation because it’s hard to do – something may be the same amount of calories, but not the same in saturated fat, sugar or protein.

Freestyle (“fs”) arrived in 2017 with 200 zero point foods to eat.  For those foods not included on the zero point list, points are calculated using the Smart Points equation.

Late 2019 the three plans Green(g), Blue(b) and Purple(p) were introduced.  Green is actually the Smart Points introduced in 2015; Blue is the 2017 Freestyle and Purple is new-but has a larger zero point list with less daily points.  All plans use the smart points equation for pointed foods.

Then Personal Points came out (I'm not sure of the calculation but it is different from the other plans); first they let you choose your own zero list; now everyone does the same zero list.  It's similar to Freestyle (blue) but using the personal points calculation.  It's also known as just "points" thus confusing it with the original plan.

So as you see…all points aren’t created equal!  So it is important to know which plan the point value of any recipe is using.  Some of the sites recalculate and update but many do not.

Our Journeys Are Not The Same

Your journey is not like mine.

My journey is not like yours.

No two people share the same weight loss journey.

I love the bloggers and vlogger and influencers that I follow.  They are inspirational, they give good ideas, they understand your journey BUT, I know my journey won't be exactly the same.

And that's where people fail....

We all want the easy journey, so we follow someone that posts "What I Eat In a Day on "some number" points." or "What I Eat In a Day That Helped Me Lose "some number" pounds".  It would be nice to eat those exact same things and lose that same weight.  Guess what? That's not going to happen.

Why? Because we're all different.  We're different ages, body type, metabolism, genetics...it's not going to be the same.

I've nothing against someone who wants to try whatever their favorite "influencer" is doing.  You need to try and try to find out what's right for you; I do have an issue with those that immediately follow and then question after question on why it's not working for them.

Case in point.  A lot of members are hopping on the low carb bandwagon right now - which is fine, mostly due to an influencer being diagnosis as pre-diabetic.  This person purchased a monitor to find out what foods caused her blood sugar to spike.  Nice tool to have; BUT people started suggesting foods they were interested in.  That would be nice except what makes her blood sugar spike, may not make yours.  Asking and then saying "Thanks, I won't be eating that." Why???  Why would you not eat something that makes her blood sugar spike???  You will need your own monitor plus your own doctor to make those decisions.  Diabetes is a health condition that needs monitored by your doctor, not your influencer.  This influencer I've followed for a while, I love her vlog and think she's a wealth of information; but I know her intent is not to replace your doctor.  When dealing with a health issue - always check with your doctor first.