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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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I fall into the abstainer category and as you point out, have not done well with Freestyle. I quit following it in late January and went back to the previous program — which is completely unsupported by WW now and I’m not allowed to talk about it during meetings. I kinda sorta hate Freestyle in all the ways. I gave it a fair shot in December 2017 when it was first unveiled to existing members and followed it for roughly 6 weeks. During that 6 weeks I gained 4 lbs and quickly became disgusted with chicken and eggs.
I was and still am bothered by the marketing of the Freestyle program as a less restrictive plan with “200 zero point foods that don’t have to be tracked or measured”. I understand the thinking behind this marketing ploy– tracking and measuring everything isn’t fun and it takes time, effort and planning. BUT, it works. I had amazing success on the BTS Smartpoints program (the program prior to Freestyle). Yes I tracked everything and yes it took time. But, it worked. The program taught me not only how to make better choices, but how to properly weigh and measure portions. I’m someone who absolutely requires portion control and accountability. Freestyle provided me the opposite–a sense of lack of control and loss of accountability. When I expressed my frustrations I was told that the 200 zero point foods are “foods most people don’t overeat” and that I should ” only eat until satisfied”. Get real! I didn’t get to be nearly 300 lbs by knowing how to eat until satisfied and without portion control, you best believe I could eat more than a few servings of beans, eggs and chicken. That’s how I gained those 4 lbs in 6 weeks and that’s why I chose to quit Freestyle.
Fast forward 6 months later and I’m now a lifetime member…no thanks to the current program. I still get the benefit of weekly meetings (I have friends and support there) and access to recipes and I get it all for free. But just to be clear, if I hadn’t been so close to goal when Freestyle was put into place I would have quit WW entirely.
In the beginning, transitioning from Smart Points to Freestyle did not go well. My allotted points went down. I felt psychologically restricted. I had done well on Smart Points, so why rock the boat.?
I tracked all my points, but it did no good – Weight loss results slowed to an all time creep. I lost my stride. A close friend, also on WW , struggled as I did. We created a support of misery and commiserated weekly. The bulb finally went off for her. My light followed closely.
My brilliant WW leaders provided some great options. The veil lifted.
I hesitate to post my remedies because everyone is different and these ways may or may work for some but not all.
However, I can highly suggest, talk to your WW leaders,
They are well equipped to analyze your situation and help you design food plan options that align with your personal chemistry and bring WW joy back into your life.
Eventually, my body saw the light, adjusted to Freestyle, and the weight started to drop again.
I can offer a few general tips that worked for me.
1. Try new recipes – Many recipes are very simple. Experiment with new spices and blend flavors. Who would have thought Soy Sause on top of cheese taste great. WW offers creative ideas.
2. Track ALL foods – You would be surprised to learn what can slip in. I track everything including Free foods.
3. Maximize Freestyle as your home base – Use Smart Points for those indulgences, variety, experimentation and your favorites.
4. Be Realistic – No one ever needed WW because they had just …one cookie too many – Know thy self.
5. Act Forgiving – Be kind to self. No negative self bashing allowed.
6. Move Forward – Quickly look at what or how a situation caused you pain or to make poor choices. Identify triggers. Develop a positive action plan. Forgive yourself. Let Go. ….And, mover on!!
7. Don’t wine about what you can’t have. – Express gratitude for what you do have
8. Keep Hydrated – Drink water, hot , cold, lemon or iced. Drink up.
9. Be Kind – Kindness is so much easier. Don’t hold a grudge – it’s fattening and the other person doesn’t feel a thing.
10. Act As If – You are well on your way to complete a healthy weight loss and look forward to attending meetings for a maintenance check-in.
Wishing everyone the best!
Sara, you have shared so much wisdom here. Thanks so much!
I have been on and off WW for the last several years . I have also tried different diets in between. What always brought me back to WW is that I could eat whatever I wanted but just had to take the hit point wise.
I wasn’t super thrilled when they brought out Freestyle, basically because I hate change in general, and also with this new program they really vilified sweets, and unfortunately sugar has always been my fav food group. 🙁
What I do like is the free foods are healthy foods that I eat more of now then ever because they are zero points. I was happy they finally made bananas free and also corn. Lord knows I didn’t get fat eating those things.
But what it comes down to is people, we are all individual with different likes and opinions. That’s why WW will never have a program that makes everyone happy. That’s why there will never be any diet that works the best. That’s why there are so many different diets out there. Certain people just do better on plans that THEY find the easiest to follow,
And I think WW should definitely change and not just re-do the plan every other year or so (which I still believe is mostly to lure in new people). They really should let paying members pick the WW plan that they want to follow. WW can definitely offer to keep the website workable for the various older WW plans . They would definitely keep a lot of members from leaving WW.
The last program I have in hand (live overseas) is Points+ and I liked the previous points program better than this one, I think. I have not tried Freestyle since I am unsure exactly how it works and am unsure I would be able to really follow it. I have my 123 Points information and the booklets up to Points+ on my dining room table and am counting again and journaling. I find that when I follow the plan the plan works for me…it did in 1984 and 1998/9. It stops working when I stop following it 😉
I am 74 and have a very hard time losing on SP or Freestyle. I was looking forward to Freestyle because of the comments I was reading on Connect and thought “Finally, maybe I can lose and not be hungry”. Still not losing and still have a raging appetite. I am fighting the urge to quit again — the old “why am I paying to not lose”. This program is very expensive, especially for people on a fixed income. I love the WW program and I keep hanging in there hoping to figure out a way to make it work for me. I am a person that is NOT a picky eater, I eat anything and everything. Love fruit, veggies, chicken and eggs. I stay in the blue dots easily – apparently does not mean a thing for me. Yes, I track, even the zero point foods. I love the app, makes tracking easy and I love reading Connect. I just have not found what clicks for me. Believe me, I WANT this program to work for me; I NEED this program to work for me.
I’ve been on several WW plans but FREESTYLE is my absolute favorite and the most liberating! I”m down 30 pounds and it so doesn’t feel like a diet to me.
Thank you WW!
Ive struggled on freestyle and was doing better on points plus. I find myself yo-yoing all the time and I have such a sweet tooth, it’s sickening. I was almost to goal when freestyle launched and now I’ve struggled to get back to where I was once wax. Yes WW needs to give members a choice in what worked for them
Thanks for giving us this opportunity!
I restarted WW due to their new plan & have mixed feelings & surly mixed results- although I would credit my self with ‘lack of loss’ vs the program.
But it is great to be aware of others experiences since I don’t go to meeting &/have not plugged into any other WW comunitym-another ‘my bad’
I lost 62 lbs and only had 20 lbs left to get to my goal weight when they changed the plan to Freestyle. I have gained back 7 lbs and I HATE the Freestyle plan. I’m sick of chicken, and can’t eat eggs because they make me sick (bathroom type of sick). I find myself cheating more and craving more than on the old plan. The 23 points a day leaves me starving and I know this is the cause of my failure to lose. Weight Watchers had a great plan and now they’ve ruined it for me and many others. I feel like I am caught between a rock and a hard place and that now 27 lbs left to lose are an unreachable goal. 🙁
I’m struggling with the Freestyle plan. I wish I could go back to Smart Points. I did great on that plan.