Choosing Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers is one of the most well-known weight loss programs currently in operation. It’s received a significant amount of press thanks to its affiliation with several celebrities, but it is more generalized results that have made it so popular with people looking to meet their weight loss goals.  

Considered to be a lifestyle moderator as well as a dietary plan, Weight Watchers helps its participants meet their weight loss goals, while also teaching them how to approach their meals with an increased sense of moderation.  

The Weight Watchers program doesn’t require you to cut any of the foods you enjoy out of your diet. Instead, the program encourages you to introduce more vegetables and fruits to your daily meals, while also requiring you to keep a strict, daily calorie count.  

How Weight Watcher Works 

Weight Watchers gives you more agency over your meals than several other dietary plans. Each day, you’ll be given a calorie budget, as controlled via Weight Watchers’ point system. This system is designed to help you moderate the amount of food you eat, thereby creating a calorie deficit that’ll help you lose weight. 

During your average day, Weight Watchers encourages you to eat a minimum of three meals and two snacks. You can use Weight Watchers’ online platform or mobile app to see how much each of these meals ‘costs.’ Before or after each meal, you’ll need to input that meal’s ‘cost’ into your personal account, so as to better track the amount you’re eating. 

Once you reach the end of your day, you should have met your point goal without exceeding it. It’s worth noting that, every week, you will be given a little bit of wiggle room to work with, courtesy of Weight Watchers’ smart points. You should also know that healthy foods, like vegetables, skinless chicken breasts, and some fruits, don’t count towards your daily points. 

But there’s more to the program than independently-managed food points. Depending on the subscription you choose, you may be able to chat with a guide on a weekly basis, who can encourage you to eat healthier foods and maintain a regular exercise schedule.  

Tracking How Much You Eat

How does Weight Watchers determine your daily point allotment?  

When you first start the program, Weight Watchers will request personal information about you, including your height, weight, age, and gender. Using these statistics, the program will be able to determine what your daily, ideal point cap should be. 

With that point value established, you can go to the grocery store and buy whatever foods you wish. Weight Watchers’ approach to dieting, after all, is known as WW Freestyle. You have full control over your diet – you’ll just need to account for the point value of the food you buy. 

Weight Watchers prides itself on its extensive food catalog. Not only will you be able to catalog most of the foods you find in your grocery store, but you’ll also have a restaurant guide that lets you track the points in your take-away.  

Each week, you’ll be provided with a point “budget.” You’re encouraged to avoid exceeding your point budget whenever possible.   

Membership Options

As mentioned, there are several different membership options available to you through Weight Watchers. All of these options require you to pay a starter fee of $20. 

Digital 

The basic Weight Watchers plan costs $3.07 per week, coming in at $12.28 per month. Those payments allow you to access the Weight Watchers’ app, as well as its desktop platform. You can then use these tools to track the amount of food you eat on a daily basis, as well as the amount of exercise you get in a week. 

This basic plan will also allow you to get in touch with one of Weight Watchers’ many attached coaches. While no coach will be assigned to you, specifically, you can ask the available coaches any questions you have regarding your diet, weight loss, and exercise plan. 

You can also reach out to other dieters trying to lose weight. Together, you can access Weight Watchers’ extensive recipe guide, where you’ll find 4,000 recipes designed to help you live a healthier life.  

Workshop + Digital 

For roughly $6 per week, or $24 a month, you’ll be able to attend Weight Watchers’ local, personalized workshops. These workshops will give you the in-person support you need to stay on track with your diet. You’ll also have access to the amenities provided to you with the basic, digital plan. 

Each Weight Watchers’ meeting takes 30 minutes and begins with a private weigh-in. You can sit and listen to other dieter’s stories, while contributing discoveries from your own weight loss journey. Attending allows you to generate “wins,” a system of points that you can use on the Weight Watchers’ app to earn prizes. 

Coaching + Digital 

The most comprehensive Weight Watchers’ plan is their coaching + digital. This program costs $7.11 a week or $28.44 per month. When you sign up for this program, you’ll have access to the same resources you would in the digital plan. Instead of relying on a general coach, though, you can reach out and discuss your health with a personal coach.  

You’ll be provided with your coach’s phone number and are encouraged to reach out to them whenever you have a question. They’ll help you establish your initial weight loss goals and provide you with an exercise plan that’ll help you achieve these plans. This highly-personalized experience has proven especially helpful for dieters who need someone to encourage them to stay on course.  

Weight Watchers App

The Weight Watchers’ app helps you stay on top of your daily point budget by bringing the program’s library straight to your pocket. If you don’t know where to start while shopping for food or want to figure out what to cook at home, you can dig through the extensive recipe library. You can also accommodate your dietary needs by filtering recipes. Weight Watchers’ recipes include meals that are: 

  • Gluten Freestyle. 
  • Vegetarian. 
  • Vegan. 
  • Dairy Freestyle. 
  • Diabetes-Friendly. 

FitPoints 2.0 

In a newer iteration of the Weight Watchers’ plan, you’ll also receive points for exercising. You can trade these points in for app rewards or use them to add additional points to your weekly budget.  

As you might have guessed, Weight Watchers’ points readily substitute for your weekly calorie requirements. As is the case there, exercising lets you eat more of the foods you enjoy by helping you create a more extensive calorie deficit.  

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the cost of a monthly subscription to Weight Watchers?

Your investment in Weight Watchers will vary based on the subscription that you choose to purchase. On average, you’ll be spending between $3 and $7 per week to afford Weight Watchers’ meals. It’s worth noting that the amount of money you choose to invest in the Weight Watchers’ program will directly correlate to the amount of feedback and support you get from the program. All that said, Debra Moorhead has a plethora of coupons and promo codes available for you to explore that will help you save money, if you want to invest in a more expensive subscription.

How much weight will you lose with Weight Watchers on average?

When you first start with Weight Watchers, you should anticipate losing between one to two pounds per week. You’ll also lose more weight at the beginning of a diet than you will during the later days, because your body is undergoing immediate, unexpected changes. You may lose up to ten pounds within the first month, depending on the amount of exercise you pair with your diet.

However, do not expect that degree of weight loss to remain. If you do continue to lose weight at a rapid rate after the first month, be sure to check in with your general practitioner, so that you can both assess your health.

In general, Weight Watchers encourages you to lose weight at a steady rate. When you gradually try to reach your weight loss goal, you have a better chance of keeping that weight off in the future. Comparatively, fast weight loss typically results in rubberbanding; you may even gain back more weight than you lost, in these situations!

How can you track your Weight Watcher points?

Weight Watchers makes it easy for you to track your daily food points. You can either use the app through your phone or leverage the online platform. You can also sync your Weight Watchers’ app to your desktop, so your point counts always match, regardless of which outlet you’re immediately using to keep track of your daily meals.

When you take advantage of the Weight Watcher app, you can scan your meals and more easily track the amount you’re eating in a day. If you so choose, you’ll can even “pre-track” your meal based on its existing calorie count, as opposed to how much of the meal you eat.

Contact Weight Watchers

  • 675 6th Ave, New York, NY 10010
  • https://www.weightwatchers.com/us
  • (800) 651-6000