New weightwatchers Smartpoints plan...

[CharleyDavidson]

...coming to a meeting near you as of next week.

I wonder what changes they will bring. I have spotted by scrolling forwards on the tracker that I will get slightly more daily points, but fewer weekly points. It also doesn't let you track if you get to that point yet, because the way that points are calculated seems to be changing.

I know that there's been a clear 'Sugar is bad for you' message in the meeting a few weeks ago. I've read that items higher in sugar will go up in value so that ww (in their own words) will 'give you a budget of points to stick to, and a nudge in the direction of eating more healthily'.

I'm sort of interested to see what they new plan will be like, I don't really like propoints too much. I got to goal on vintage points so I prefer them. BUT I'm not impressed that I'll have to re-buy all the point books and calculator as the whole thing will be different.

Spongebob since Monday Ive 'earned' 42 fit points, dont like to think what would happen if I ate that many points worth of food

Things Ive noticed go up so far

Low fat philly from 1 to 2pts 30g
Ww yogs/fromage 1 to 2 points
All fats butter oil etc 1 to 2 points per tsp
30g cheese from 3 pts to 5 pts
Gluten free bread up to 3 pts slice
French fries up to 3 pts packets
Heinz baked beans 100g up to 3 pts

How have you earned all those?! :o

I've earned a silly amount of activity points so far this week because I wear a fitbit. If I walk 5000 steps a day it gives me points. My zumba class seemed to earn me 5 points. I have a feeling that they will tweak this. It's a definite message not to eat the activity points unless you absolutely need them though - not surprising if they are going to give you lots! I'd find the page and link it, but the site appears to be down at the moment - again.

No - it's just the tracker part that's down.

www.weightwatchers.com/au/m/cms/article/fitpoints-faqs

From that page...

"Should I swap FitPoints™ for food?

In a nutshell, no. Exercise doesn't cancel out food choices, so moving shouldn't be an excuse to eat more. If you don't do any exercise at all, you can still lose weight on the Your Way Program. But doing both is of course optimal. Watching your FitPoints™ add up and hitting your weekly exercise goal can be great motivators and there are so many health benefits to gain from regular activity.

However, if you’re doing high-intensity workouts (for example, training for a marathon or attending multiple spin classes) at least three to four times a week, you might want to swap some of your FitPoints™ for food to account for the amount of energy you’re expending."

Interesting! I was looking into getting a Fitbit Zip yesterday but then read you have to walk 10,000 steps before it counts as additional activity and gives you points. So I didn't bother I work from home so I dread to think how few steps I make in a normal day!

I've gone up from 26 to 30 points but the food I eat seems to have gone up way more. I try not to eat weeklies unless I have a night out planned.

Yesterday I had: Bran Flakes for breakfast (6 pts), 2 slices seeded bread with Phili light (9 pts) and an apple (0 pts) for lunch, a Count on Us ready meal from M&S (used to be 9, now 12 pts) with green veg, then a fruit salad (0 pts). Then my advent calendar choc (3 pts).

Won't be having advent calendar choc today as I think it's not workable anymore! And my WW yoghurts seem to be 3 pts now, very high!

Hopefully this is going to translate into a good weight loss...

10000 steps is the nhs target, and they say that the average person in the uk only gets about a quarter of that! Even on propoints, my friend said that she would earn points once she'd got past 6000 though.

3 points for a ww yogurt seems high, but low fat=higher sugar often, and now they are penalising sugar more.

What is going to happen for me is that I'm using my weeklies more, whereas before I wouldn't use all/most of them if I could help it.

Today I had a subway sandwich and some sausage casserole. It was guesswork with the sausages as they came from the local butchers. 2 for 10 spts seems very high to me, especially as I chopped them into chunks and cooked them in the air frier first to remove as much fat as possible first.

Crumpets have gone from 2 to 3 pts
Beans have gone way up
Choc rice cakes & jaffa cakes 1 to 2 pts
Granary bread 3pts per slice, white bread 2 (????)

Bell - do you think there's just a load of bugs with the points? None of those make sense at all. Beans were free on filling and healthy weren't they, so why would the points go up? And as for granary bread being more than white - makes no sense at all!

I'm quite disappointed as I thought at first it meant they were switching emphasis to a high protein, high 'good fats', lower carb and sugar approach, which works wonders for me. But it appears not...

I do quite a bit of exercise and my fit points equaled 147 last week! Most are from my fit bit so it's not like I'm cheating or anything. I don't find it motivating at all. They are too easy to earn now.

Another question - what happens if the item we want to add to the database doesn't have all the nutritional info on? I've just tried to add a yoghurt but it only tells me the Fat and Carbs count, not the sugar or saturated fat. Do I just enter 0 for those? Because if I enter 0 or 1 (as an example), it changes the SP value!

There are definitely bugs with the points. Just look at the value for boiled versus baked potatoes makes no sense. Also skinless chicken thighs, lots of diffetent values. However I think the items I have listed are right.
The activity stuff is odd. I completely agree about not spending the points, but it seems that rolling over in bed gets you 10 points.

The difference between potatoes is correct. Boiled potatoes have a low glycemic index value. This means they raise your blood sugar less than a baked potato.

That should read lower value not low,

There used to be a baseline you needed to achieve before you earned activity points. That has now been removed so you earn FitPoints straight away. You can increase your target if you feel it is too low. Just go into settings. Now that FitPoints are easier to earn it should help motivate people who struggled to earn activity points,

To date Ive earned 54 fitpoints on my fit bit

previously Ive never dipped into weekly points or earned fit points as I managed quite happily on my daily 26, but felt motivated when I gained my fit points as I live with some serious conditions that affect my fitness badly

However I just find the new fit points meaningless, they award from 500 steps whereas before I had to do 5000 to get a point!

Oh so the 10,000 baseline has been removed? Might get that Fitbit after all then! :o

Loads of people on the forums are moaning that their low fat (high sugar) yoghurts have gone up in points... I think that change is a good one!

Yes you start earning straight away. The idea is that you increase your target. Any activity is good If you smash your target then fantastic! Go set another one!

I think SmartPoints are great. You can still have your high sugar foods but they aren't good for you and your points won't go as far if you choose them. This way if you want to stick to your budget you're going to be more inclined to make healthier choices.

I've had a play with the calculator and found the following:

+1 point for every 33kcal

+1 point for every 3g of saturated fat

+1 point for every 8g sugar

-1 point for every 10g protein

Fibre, carbs that aren't sugar and fat that isn't saturated has no effect.

Just to let you know if you're in Surrey there is a new meeting:

This is ridiculous. The website isn't working, I can't track any foods, I can't enter my weight and I'm getting red error messages all over the place. The app has logged me out and tells me I have no internet connection!!

Wow - have you seen the WW Facebook page? Complaint after complaint after complaint.

And - apparently! - a pint of skimmed milk has more points than a pint of lager!

I got to gold a few weeks ago and was happily plodding along trying to get the right amount of pro points for maintenance - currently on 35 as I was still losing.

This has thrown a spanner in the works for me as I really can't be bothered to learn a whole new system now and really knew what I was doing with the old system.

One thing I'm puzzled about, and didn't notice till I got home after the change over meeting, I've got a daily allowance of 30 points + 6 and then 28 weekly points.

Can anyone tell me what that + 6 points means? Am I supposed to use them or are they optional like the weekly points?

So it'll be lager on our cornflakes in the morning from now on, I'm guessing.