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11/12/19 Update: Effective today the myWW Program offers an option very much like Simply Filling with its Purple Plan. You can check out the Purple Plan Zero Points Food List here.

why I love weight watchers simply filling technique
Why I Love Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique

I love the Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique (No-count option). I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve finally been able to maintain my weight loss so easily (finally, after all these years decades)!

If you want to lose weight and get healthy, I don’t think there’s a better approach around right now than Weight Watchers “Simply Filling” plan.

I was able to use what I learned from the Simply Filling approach as a launching pad to becoming what I consider a much more ‘normal eater.’

Are you familiar with the Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique?

Basically, Weight Watchers created a no-count technique for people who don’t like to calculate points and/or track. To follow it, eat from the list of Simply Filling Foods in your Pocket Guide, until you FEEL SATISFIED, NOT STUFFED.

You don’t have to measure your food. You don’t have to count or track SmartPoints. You just have to stick with eating Simply Filling Foods.

Talk about simple. It doesn’t get much simpler than The Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique.

Watch this video to find out what a typical day on Simply Filling looks like:

You can follow ‘Simply Filling’ for a day, a few days, a week or all the time.

Whatever works best for you!

What are Weight Watchers Simply Filling Foods?

Weight Watchers Simply Filling Foods List Include:

Fruits

  • All fresh, frozen, or canned without added sugar
  • Fruit canned in its own juice (drained)
  • Mixed fruits with no added sugar

Vegetables

  • Most fresh, frozen or canned without added sugar or oil
  • Potatoes — white, red, sweet
  • Corn
  • Peas
  • Salsa: fat-free and without added sugar, including salsa with fruit

Lean Proteins

Three egg muffins with spinach and apple chicken sausage on small red plate on granite.
Apple Chicken Sausage Egg Muffins
  • Beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, veal: lean, trimmed, all skin removed (see food list for specific cuts and grinds)
  • Luncheon and deli meats, reduced sodium, with 0.5 gram or less of fat per 2-ounce serving
  • Most fish and shellfish: fresh, frozen, and canned
  • Eggs: Whole, whites, and egg substitutes
  • Beans: dried, frozen and canned, including edamame, fat-free refried, garbanzo (chickpeas), kidney and white
  • Dried peas including black-eyed peas and split peas
  • Lentils
  • Tofu
  • Meat substitutes, including tofu and vegetarian burgers
  • Game meats
  • Organ meats from beef, lamb, pork, veal, and poultry
Wild Rice in serving dish with large serving spoon on bamboo.
Crock Pot Wild Rice

Whole Grains

  • Brown and wild rice
  • Hot cereals, cooked — without added sugar, dried fruits, or nuts
  • Pasta, whole-wheat or other whole-grain varieties
  • Popcorn, air-popped, or 94% fat-free microwave (affiliate link)-popped
  • Whole-grain, ready-to-eat cereals without added sugar, dried fruits or nuts, and with 4g of fiber or more per serving
  • Whole-grains such as: barley, buckwheat, bulgur, cornmeal (polenta) whole-wheat couscous, quinoa

Watch One Weight Watcher’s Simply Filling Grocery Haul & Meal Ideas:

Non-Fat Dairy and Dairy Substitutes

  • Fat-free cheeses, including fat-free cottage cheese
  • Fat-free milk and beverages made with fat-free milk, such as cappuccino or latte, as long as it’s sugar-free
  • Yogurt, fat-free, plain or flavored with artificial sweetener
  • Fat-free sour cream
  • Soy products, unflavored and plain, such as:
  • Calcium-fortified soy milk
  • Unflavored soy milk
  • Fat-free soy cheese
  • Plain soy yogurt
Package Xtreme Wellness of high fiber whole grain tortilla wraps from OLE.
High fiber whole grain tortilla wraps

Plus

  • Light breads, english muffins and hotdog/hamburger rolls
  • Reduced-fat corn tortillas
  • Soups (broth, onion, and some broth- and tomato-based vegetable soups)
  • Sugar-free gelatin

Is There Anything Else To Weight Watchers Simply Filling Program?

Yes.

1. You also can enjoy the following without tracking:

  • 2 teaspoons of healthy oils daily (canola, olive, safflower, sunflower, flaxseed)
  • Unsweetened coffee and tea
  • Diet soda
  • Club soda
  • Seltzer
  • Water
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Capers
  • Cocktail sauce
  • Extracts
  • Fat-free salad dressings
  • Fat-free margarine
  • Fat-free mayonnaise
  • Flavorings
  • Herbs
  • Hot sauce
  • Ketchup
  • Lemon juice
  • Lime juice
  • Mustard
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • Salsa (fat-free)
  • Soy sauce
  • Spices
  • Steak sauce
  • Sugar substituts
  • Taco sauce
  • Teriyaki sauce
  • Vinegar
  • Worcestershire sauce

2. You still get your weekly SmartPoints. You can use them for treats and things not on the Simply Filling Foods List or the above beverages and condiments list. I use these points for foods I’m not willing to give up like peanut butter, nuts, wine and reduced fat cheese since I’m not willing to eat the fat free stuff.

Why I Love the Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique

1. I love not having to calculate and count everything.

Woman sitting at table of food with cookbook and phone counting calories.
Counting calories

Can I tell you how much I LOVE not having to count and calculate points! I wonder sometimes, how much we really do it even we are supposed to be. I know I can get really lazy about it. And sometimes it’s impossible, like when you are eating somewhere other than at home, which for many of us these days, is a lot of the time.

I also think the whole “points” mentality can encourage an unhealthy relationship with food if you’re not really careful. Sometimes, in the frenzy of counting points, I forget that I’m dealing with FOOD, not points. And I find myself eating food even when I’m not hungry because I have points available. That’s CRAZY!

2. It Makes Eating Out Easier.

Group of friends having dinner in a restaurant.

You can actually go out to a restaurant or at your friends and family’s homes without having to fret about so much.

It seems like there’s always something available to order/eat that will work wit the plan. Some of my personal favorites include big salads with grilled chicken or shrimp, grilled chicken sandwiches, grilled fish tacos, broth-based soups, turkey burgers, sushi/sashimi, whole wheat pasta with vegetables and chicken, fajitas with corn tortillas, and burrito bowls with brown rice.

The options are limitless, once you get the hang of it.

When I’m invited to someone’s home, I’ll often bring something along that works with Simply Filling to share, like a big salad or roasted/grilled vegetable medley.

3. I’m Never Hungry and I Feel Good.

Happy Smiling Woman Standing On Scale Showing Weight Loss.

Because I’m eating reasonable portions of real food that’s good for me. And I never feel deprived because I’m eating from all the food groups, including carbs.

Simply Filling Foods are the good-for-you foods. Mostly clean whole foods. Fruits. Vegetables. Whole Grains. Lean Proteins. The foods your body really wants. When you eat them, your body is satisfied. You have more energy. You feel less hungry.

If I had tried to eat when I was hungry and stop when I was full with my old way of eating I would have failed. I ate a lot of very refined carbohydrates – breads, bagels, pasta, pancakes – which would have constantly been creating ‘fake physical hunger.’

What is ‘fake physical hunger?’
It’s an intense feeling of I Must Eat Now with very powerful cravings that happens when too much insulin fills your bloodstream to deal with all the sugar you fed it.

For me, this happens regularly about an hour after eating a sugar or simple carb heavy meal.

When I eat a big bagel or sugary cereal for breakfast. Or a big plate of pasta. A short time later, get shaky and fuzzy-headed with a pit in my stomach that seems like it needs to be filled right this minute.

After being on Simply Filling, I was able to make the connection and realize what was happening. Realizing how awful these foods make me feel when I eat them in large doses, makes them a whole lot less attractive to my taste buds. I sometimes forget, like when I ate too much cake a few weeks ago. But that’s okay. I’m human.

The Skinny on Weight Loss Sisters Talk About WW Simply Filling:

4. It’s a Lifestyle I can Live With for the Long Term

After years of yo-yo diets and following the fads, this is major.

I feel like Simply Filling has been stepping stone to becoming a ‘normal eater.’ I’ve used it to help me reconnect with my body’s natural hunger and satisfied signals.

It didn’t happen overnight. But with time, practice and patience, I have trained myself to stop eating when I am satisfied, not stuffed.

This is a huge accomplishment for a girl who used to have to undo the button(s) on her pants or change into sweatpants at the end of most meals!

Collage of before and after weight loss success stories.
Before and after success stories

The Simply Filling Technique is worth trying for just about any person in any lifestyle. You’ve gotta be willing to give mostly clean eating a try, of course.

But why not give it a try. What do you have to lose?

Update: Now I’m able to apply what I learned with Simply Filling to ALL FOODS, not just Simply Filling Foods. By combining what I learned from The Simply Filling Technique and Mindless Eating, I have been able to break free of the vicious extreme restraint/over-indulgence cycle and am successfully maintaining my weight!

Who the Simply Filling System May Not Work For

The Ultimate Weight Watchers Recipe Blog Resource Guide
Check Out The Ultimate Weight Watchers Guide for More Helpful Resources

The Simply Filling technique might not be for you if:

  • You are prone to overeating and tend to eat to way past full. If you eat too much of any food, even healthy stuff you can take in too many calories making it hard to create the deficit needed to lose weight.
  • You eat a lot more carbs than protein. I’ve found I need to be careful not to overdo it with the carbs, even on Simply Filling. Loading up on too much bread, pasta, cereal and rice, even if it’s wholegrain, makes it hard for me to lose/maintain my weight.
  • You need more structure to insure you are eating in a healthy balanced way. You may want to check out the Old Weight Watchers Food Exchange Program if you do. It’s how I originally lost weight and became a Lifetime Member way back in the early 1990s, before Points.

If that sounds like you, be sure to check out my Ultimate Weight Watchers Guide for lots of helpful Weight Watchers Resources!

Click Here For My Favorite Simply Filling Technique Recipes

More about Weight Watcher Simply Filling:

If you liked reading about the Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique, you might also enjoy:

Source: Weight Watchers

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About Martha McKinnon

Weight Watchers Lifetime Member, Yoga Practitioner and Blogger who loves to share her passion for trying to create a happy, healthy, balanced life in what often feels like an overwhelming out of control world.

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52 Comments

  1. WW now counts sugar in their nutrients & that is how they figure out the points in a recipe. You don’t mention sugar in your nutrient information. So in doing so, would that make the points per recipe different?

    1. Because of all the WW Zero Points foods it is no longer possible to use the nutrient information to calculate a recipe’s Freestyle SmartPoints value. You must use the WW Recipe Builder, which is what I do. Hope this helps! – Martha

  2. Hi! This is similar to the one weight watchers core program? I was very successful on that. Nice to be able to incorporate some breads in there. What is a good bread to purchase for this plan? And are Cheerios really ok?

  3. Good evening.

    Looking on the website for WW it states that fish canned is not allowed.

    Can you elaborate more on which fish is allowed if any.

    Thanks

    1. Hi Travis, According to my understanding canned fish is allowed as long as it is packed in water or broth. Canned fish packed in oil would not be considered a Simply Filling food.

  4. Wondering if you have any of the material from around 1974-1977? I became lifetime during that time and liked that program a lot.

    1. Hi Pamela,

      No, I did WW during the early 1990s. You may find what you are looking for on Amazon or Ebay!

  5. This plan sounds exactly like the British Slimming World plan which only limits fats. I still think the best WW diet was the original plan, which included for women 6-8 oz of protein, 2 bread, 2 non-fat milk, 3 fruit, unlimited non-starchy veggies and 3 teaspoons oils per day. I think you could also have a couple ounces of low-fat cheese a couple times a week.

  6. Hi Martha

    I too am a lifetime member at Weight Watchers. I did start attending meetings this past year as I had gained some of my weight back. I do like the Simply Filling diet but because I live in Nova Scotia Canada I cannot purchase Light English Muffins. I would appreciate if you could help me with a brand name or even a recipe that I could make my own. I can purchase the light bread but I really like English Muffins. Thanking you in advance for any help you may be able to offer

    1. Hi Joyce,

      I love English muffins too. Our favorite is Thomas’. I just buy the regular (not light) ones which have 120 calories and 3 WWPP. Thomas’ light version has 100 calories, 20 less than the regular, but the Points value is the same – 3. It’s such a minor difference I don’t worry about it. Hope this helps. 🙂

      1. Thank you for your reply Martha. I did buy the Thomas English Muffins when I was visiting in Florida. The brands that we have here have basically the same nutritional value and the pp value would be 3. I was concerned because it specifies LIGHT English muffins but you are right they all have the same pp value. I really don’t like counting points and thought the simply filling would do the trick for me and I was nervous about straying away from what they suggest. I guess if we practice portion control it all works out i the end

        1. Hi Joyce, I think you are right about portion control. It’s critical to lasting weight loss success. One thing I have learned from my longterm involvement with WW is that every successful member has tweaked the program here and there to make it work for his/her personal situation. Nobody does the WW plan exactly like another. I like to think of it as providing a sound framework from which we can customize our own personal winning recipe 🙂 Since we are adopting a longterm lifestyle, it’s important to give ourselves permission to experiment and find what works best. This will evolve over time. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do!

          PS, I’ve always wanted to visit Nova Scotia but haven’t made it yet. Summers on the coast of Maine/New Brunswick were as close as I got 🙂

  7. This seemed good until i realized that nuts and dried fruits are not allowed. I understand the potential to go overboard with calories there. Different types of nuts contain all kinds of health benefits, vitamins, antioxidants, fiber. Each type of nut is different as far as what it contains, but i would not take that from my diet. Avocados and olives also have health benefits. I am not too found of them myself but they are also wonderful foods. I think that the idea for this is okay, but it might be beneficial for some to tweak this to what they feel is best for them. Perhaps you could balance some of the fat intake by consuming a little less cheese or dairy and add in other fats that you feel are better for you. Just my take on it.

    1. Dear Amy,

      Thanks for your comments. It’s true that nuts and dried fruits are not considered power foods. But the Weight Watchers Plan is very flexible and includes 49 points to be used each week at your discretion. While using the guidelines of Simply Filling as a rough guide, I manage to eat a small amount of nuts almost every day.