Losing Weight Sensibly with Weight Watchers?

Answer 1

Weight Watchers is a plan that emphasizes a lifestyle change and not a diet. Participants are encouraged to set modest weight loss goals of one to two pounds per week, and are given the tools to track their food intake and activity level as a means of achieving their weight loss goals. Weight Watchers has been in existence for over 40 years.

A Typical Weight Watchers Meeting

The first thing that is done at a Weight Watchers meeting is weighing in with a leader and recording your weekly weight loss in your tracker. If it is your first meeting, your leader will encourage you to set an initial weight loss goal of 10 percent of your body weight.

After all meeting participants have weighed in for the week, the leader will discuss a weight loss topic for approximately 30 minutes. Class participation is encouraged, but it is not required. At the conclusion of the lecture, a few minutes is set aside to celebrate the weight loss achievements of the meeting participants.

The Weight Watchers Points System

Each person participating in Weight Watchers is given a daily allotment of points, which can be thought of as your food budget. Your individual daily points is determined from several factors, including your age, weight and sex. Every item is assigned a point value based on a combination of calories, fat and fiber.

For example, a cereal bar that had 120 calories, 2 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber may have a point value of 3 assigned to it. You write down and calculate points for everything you eat during the day. If your daily points allotment is 30, then you would have 27 points remaining for the day. Under this system, no food is off-limits so long as it is tallied by the end of the day. There is also the option to save points for the week to use for a special occasion.

The New Points Plus Program

Weight Watchers has recently introduced the Points Plus program, which uses the traditional points program with a greater emphasis on a balanced diet and healthy food choices.