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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
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Freestyle rolled out 2 weeks after I made Goal and I LOVE it!! I’m a vegetarian so I love that beans/tofu and Greek yogurt is zero points;) It makes me feel rewarded for eating a more whole food based diet and the scale shows it- I’m now 8lbs below my Goal Weight and feel healthy and happy.
Freestyle is too limiting. Weight Watchers has long been a plan that allows you to eat a variety of foods in moderation but that is no longer the case. I frequently eat chicken but not eggs, beans or corn. Considering these starching foods as “free” is illogical. After several months floundering I went back to the previous Weight Watchers method of tracking points with much more success. As pointed out in the article people need a variety of methods; its a shame WW doesn’t offer members options that work for them.
I was hungry on Freestyle. I was missing bread and grains. A baked potato once a week. I went back to Simply Filling, as it seems more like a normal healthy way of eating
I love freestyle! Feel like I can have a “spurge” food occasionally. I love beans, turkey, fruit and vegetables so it is great for me
I absolutely love the new Freestyle plan. This is the first time since reaching Lifetime in 2008 that I have once again hit my goal and have maintained it! I credit the zero point foods to my new found success! I HATED Smart Points as it really limited my love of goodies, costing way too many points! I felt so deprived! Now I can get an occasional goodie in and TRACK it because my chicken breast for dinner was ZERO! Now I am happy and I sooooo hope that WW doesn’t do away with Freestyle as every year they seem to come out with a new plan or tweak here and there! If they do away with Freestyle, I will just keep doing it on my own!
I’m one who didn’t do well with Freestyle. I was doing really well before that, and in the week that Freestyle kicked in, I gained six points. I love chicken, beans, and eggs, and I was eating them like crazy. Of course, that isn’t the way to go. But if I don’t have specific points for specific servings, it’s not structured enough for me. I would eat all my points, and then eat eggs, chicken and beans to my heart’s content. The leader said you had to eat in moderation. Well…I was following the program exactly. If I could eat in moderation, I wouldn’t need WW. My biggest disappointment is that WW eliminated the SmartPoints plan entirely from the website, so there was no going back. It would be so great to be able to track things on the app/website in either plan, instead of having to use Freestyle or die.
I agree with you 100%! They take out money for the app, but didn’t give us a CHOICE. Never been so disappointed in WW like I am now.
Agreed!
I feel exactly like you do and you can “hack” the app to track smart points. Just click on create food, use the calculator which will give you the smart points value and save the food. For instance, I saved eggs as egg-SP 2 pts. I will take maybe a week to calculate things as you eat them but then your foods and values will be on the app for you. Hope this helps.
I’m a lifetime member. But now that I’m 70 years old, my weight crept up and my metabolism went down. Although Freestyle offers healthy eating at zero to 23 points, I end up eating too much of the free food. I can’t seem to loose any weight on it. Oftentimes I gain even more. So I decided to go back to the 80’s version of Weight Watchers that uses the exchange system. I need the stricter guidelines to keep me eating BALANCED, not just healthy. The Quick Success program from around 1984 helped me loose weight and kept me from giving up altogether.
Back in 2000 I started Weight Watchers and carefully calculated everything I ate. My husband, at that time, would help a lot. After a long 2 years I had lost 109 pounds and it was worth everything I had done along with my husbands support.
That husband passed away in 2002. To survive, I sank myself into my job and worked very long hours. In 2006 I became seriously ill. My doctors determined I could never work again. became very depressed I had always worked and I was not used to being alone. So I gained some of the weight back. I also moved from NJ to GA. Big Change. God works a lot in my life and He brought a new man into my life into my life in 2008, we married in 2009.
In January if this year we decided that it was time to take off our extra weight and I knew that Weight Watchers was the only way to go. We LOVE the new FREESTYLE PROGRAM. We eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies as well as eggs, chicken, artificial crabmeat, shrimp and I use the crock-pot constantly !!! As of today I have lost 46 Lbs and my husband has lost 31 Lbs. Very happy with The Freestyle Program !!!!
Freestyle didn’t work for me. I quickly tired of chicken, eggs, and beans, and routinely went over my allotted 23 points. It’s just too restrictive, leaving me hungry and unsatisfied. I went back to Points Plus Beyond the Scale, and I’m doing fine. I don’t understand why they won’t give us the choice. I’m a Lifetime member, but if I were still paying, I’d seriously consider dropping Weight Watchers altogether.
Same for me Pat! I reall y hate the Free Style program and since I still have all my points plus materials and calculator I went back to that program. I am a Lifetime member since 1989 (not on goal) and always did much much better with counting points and tracking. I miss the meetings and weighing in which kept me more motivated but am now trying on my own. Will see if that works!
I LOVE Freestyle! It’s closer to the core or simply filling plan which I follow. So happy to see a glimmer of support for it. Hated smart points.