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Weight Watchers Plan Updates for 2025
Read about NEW myWW New Program launched 11/2020
You may remember that back in September Weight Watchers announced its name change to WW to reflect it’s mission to move beyond weight loss into wellness, with a new tagline of “Wellness That Works.”
WW Focus on Wellness and Health
In the WW announcement Mindy Grossman, CEO, said, “We are committed to always being the best weight management program on the planet, but now we’re putting our decades of knowledge and expertise in behavioral science to work for an even greater mission. We are becoming the world’s partner in wellness. No matter what your goal is — to lose weight, eat healthier, move more, develop a positive mind-set, or all of the above — we will deliver science-based solutions that fit into people’s lives. This is just the beginning of our journey to become the world’s partner in wellness.”
Going beyond a number on the scale, members will now have the option to focus on building healthy habits without focusing on weight loss.
Because lasting health is about so much more than just the number on the scale, this change makes a lot of sense to me.
Watch this video to learn more about WW Wellness that Works 2019…
WW Updated Terminology
In addition to their name, other aspects of the (Weight Watchers) WW program also have been modernized:
- Stores/Centers are now “Studios”
- Meetings are now “Workshops”
- Receptionists are now “Wellness Guides”
- Leaders are now “Wellness Coaches”
- Weigh-Ins are now “Wellness Check Ins”
As we move into 2019, the Freestyle Program launched in December 2018 continues to evolve. You may be wondering…
What’s changed?
What’s the same with the latest WW Weight Watchers plan?
Latest Changes to the WW Freestyle Plan for 2019
WW Freestyle Smartpoints Program Stays the Same
First and foremost, there are no changes to the current Freestyle SmartPoints System and its expansive list of Zero Points Foods.
In 2018, Weight Watchers updated its points system to Freestyle Smartpoints and added a whole new group of zero point foods. This change from SmartPoints to Freestyle SmartPoints, was a major shift in how WW points are calculated.
To encourage healthier choices, many healthy whole foods like lean proteins, legumes, beans, vegetables and fruit became zero points.
At the same time, many foods that were higher in sugar and/or saturated fats saw an increase in points.
Changes to WW FitPoints (2.0)
FitPoints—points assigned by WW for specific activities—have been newly calibrated (FitPoints 2.0) to make it even more accurate than before. They now consider your height, weight, age, and gender, as well as the activity you’re doing and how long you’re doing it, to determine a personalized FitPoints value for all your the activities you track.
Just as all calories are not created the same, neither are types of activity. 100 calories burned walking is not the same as 100 calories burned running or lifting weights.
The new algorithm still provides points for all types of activity, but high-intensity activities and strength training are now rewarded with more Fitpoints than lighter activities, like walking or cleaning.
Your FitPoints can still be exchanged for extra food points during the week, if you want.
WW is also partnering with audio fitness app Aaptiv in 2019 to provide members with on-demand digital workouts. When members sign up for WW Freestyle, they’ll gain access to Aaptiv’s personal trainers and be able to sync their workouts with FitPoints.
WW New WellnessWins Rewards Program
Wellness is about building healthy habits that last a lifetime. The WellnessWins rewards program sweetens the deal by offering you credits – aka “Wins” – for the healthy behaviors you accomplish each day – like tracking your meals, activity, and weight or attending workshops.
These accrued “Wins” can then be cashed in for various rewards for things like online shopping vouchers, cookbooks, hats, journals, insulated bags, and gift cards.
More Focus on Community with WW Connect Groups
A big part of WW Success is the sense of shared community it provides. WW Connect allows online interaction with members all over the world.
A new feature called Connect Groups, allows you to connect with other members who share your interests. You can join groups based on your age and stage of life, where you are on your wellness journey, food, activity, mindset, or hobbies.
So whether you’re a 60-year-old vegetarian foodie or a 20-something college student who loves CrossFit, you can find like-minded people who are doing WW, too. Just this morning I’ve joined several Connect Groups including Traveling, Reading, Mindfulness, Yoga, Meal Prep, Foodies, Recipes, Maintaining and In My 50s!
It also includes an Instagram like area where you can follow other members, like their posts, and use hashtags.
Mental Wellness, Mindful and Meditation Content
WW has decades of experience in the science of behavior change, and they are using it to give people the tools they need to achieve their wellness goals.
Next on the horizon: A partnership with Headspace to create custom mindfulness content that members can tap into from the WW app—anytime, anywhere.
Though the Headspace partnership isn’t up and running yet, you can find meditation resources on the current WW website to help support mindfulness and mental health.
Updating WW Food Products
To better align with their overall shift to health and wellness, WW has announced plans to make all of their food products free of artificial colors, sweeteners and preservatives. As someone who gets terrible headaches from Splenda, this is happy news for me!
Voice Recognition Capability
Members will now be able to use their voices to look up the SmartPoint values of foods, quickly add points to their tracker, and get updates on their progress thanks to integration with Alexa and Google Assist.
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