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New My WW 2020 Program Changes: Rumors and Social Buzz
It has been more than six months since Weight Watchers launched its new Freestyle Program with its greatly expanded zero points food list, so it seemed like a good time to step back and do a review.
Is WW Freestyle successful? Too free? Too restrictive? Just right? That all depends on who you talk to….
Just take a look at some of the comments I’ve read:
Weight Watchers Freestyle Member Reviews…
“The new freestyle plan is right up my alley. I’m someone who already eats eggs, chicken, and beans and now they count as ZERO SmartPoints. Freestyle is cleaner. The less packaged processed foods is better.”
“I joined WW back in February 2017 so far I’ve lost 50 lbs. I really like the sp system but with this new system I just don’t know. As someone mentioned before I like being able to track everything and with my points decreasing to 23 I’m not sure I will continue to be as successful. I don’t really eat much eggs, beans and chicken. So this wasn’t really a hit for me.”
“Love freestyle. No longer feel punished by eating healthy foods – instead, I feel rewarded! Freestyle pushes you to eat healthy foods but leaves room for indulgences. I ate a 6-course dinner at a French restaurant, including 2 glasses of wine for New Years and didn’t gain—-because I planned for it and have been adjusting my other meals/activity for the week accordingly. I never feel hungry. If I’m out of points for the day and hungry, I can eat fruit and yogurt, white bean chicken chili, chicken salad, or tofu veggie stir fry for zero points. What?! it’s crazy awesome. I love it.”
“I love Freestyle. I have had no problem switching to it and in fact find it easier. I love that I can add peas and corn or chickpeas to my salad and not have to count those points. I really feel I am eating better than I was before and the rollover points saved me during the holidays. I actually lost weight.”
“I don’t like Freestyle. I am already sick of chicken, chicken, chicken, eggs, eggs, eggs. I can’t afford fish or sea food more than once a week, tops. I have not lost any weight on this plan, despite careful measuring and tracking. It is super boring. There is no “fun” in it. I feel like this narrow way of eating is being forced on me. Instead of teaching a healthy way to eat and then letting us adapt it to our own culture and way of eating…we are given ultra limited choices…chicken….and vegetables and fruit. I can barely swallow these foods already, I am so sick of them. I just want a glass of MILK! I want a HAMBURGER! Once in a while, I want something SWEET! I want VARIETY! Maybe some PIZZA or a TACO! I could do all of things when I was at 31 points. I can do NOTHING at 22 points. I just want to give up.”
“Not liking it, too much like Atkins. I am eating more fruit, than with the old system, and I like the eggs, but not the beans. Honestly I just feel like I’m starving all the time.”
“LOVE the new plan. Lost 7 big ones so far! (started in late November) I am a vegetarian and love legume-based dishes, so this is just in my wheelhouse, and most seasonings don’t add points. No deprivation or cravings. Big love!”
Why Are Some Succeeding on WW Freestyle While Others are Struggling?
How can it be that some people are struggling with Weight Watchers Freestyle while others are succeeding? Some love it. Others not so much.
The truth is that there is no one way to lose weight that will work for everyone. Lasting weight loss requires finding habits and behaviors that you can commit to for the long haul, a lifestyle and way of eating that work for YOU and YOUR LIFE.
The best way to lose weight is the way you can stick with! You need to lose weight your way.
For many people Weight Watchers is the way.
Weight Watchers has been around for more than 50 years. During that time, the program has changed drastically and vacillated in its degree of restrictiveness.
The original WW Program from the 1960s was extremely restrictive and became gradually more flexible as an exchange based diet, reaching it’s pinnacle of freedom in 1997 with the introduction of original Points Plan, which was essentially a proprietary way to count calories.
In 2010, the PointsPlus Plan introduced a new calculation, the concept of power foods, and Zero Points fruits and vegetables.
Many members struggled with the transition from Points to PointsPlus and again in 2015 with the transition from Weight Watchers PointsPlus to SmartPoints, when the points values of foods high in sugar and/or saturated fat went up.
Suddenly, for many members what had been a manageable way of eating felt much more like a DIET.
With all these different WW Programs/Plans some have thrived while others have floundered. Why?
Abstainers & Moderators Require Different Approaches to Weight Loss
Then it hit me. I thought back to a post I wrote back in 2013 after learning about the difference between Abstainers and Moderators and why it is a key to weight loss success.
Some people – Abstainers – do better with firm dos and don’t. Others – Moderators – do better with freedom and choice.
So a Moderator tends to do better managing the occasional sweet treat and resents the excessive SmartPoint price assigned to it. While an Abstainer may do better giving up certain sweet treats altogether.
A Moderator may do well managing an expansive list of zero points foods, while an Abstainer may do better with a plan defining exact portion sizes.
This helps explains why some people are thriving on WW Freestyle and other people are struggling and why on one weight loss program is never the solution for everyone.
Please share your review of WW Freestyle
Love it? Hate it? Why???
WW Freestyle 2019 Program Changes
You Might Also Like:
- Weight Loss Success Stories
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- Zero Freestyle SmartPoints Recipe Roundup
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This is my second or third try at WW. Honestly, I’ve never been very successful with it but think I was more successful a few years ago.
Right now the problem I’m having is I eat a lot of vegetables and moderate amounts of fruit. I also eat seafood, either baked or broiled or boiled, several times a week. I don’t eat a lot of beef, pork, or chicken but because everyone tells me I need to “eat all my dailies” I feel like all I do all day is eat! I mean, I eat and eat and eat trying to get close to 0.
I don’t see how I can lose weight this way. Even vegetables and fruits have calories and some of them have very small amounts of fat. I need to count those so that I know where I stand nutritionally. In addition, I’m a T1 diabetic and need to know how many carbs I’m consuming for Insulin purposes
Someone suggested tonight that I create a custom food for all the zero point foods I eat now. I’ve been doing that and a medium banana comes out at 5 points. I’m OK with that more than I’m OK with eating when I’m not hungry because I’m way under my points for the day. This is nonsense!
I’m going to stick with it for two or three weeks and see what happens but in the meantime I’m turning all those 0 point foods into custom foods with points. I just think I’ll do better that way.