For those of you who are familiar with Weight Watchers, I need your help!
I joined last night. According to the WW formula, I am supposed to have 18 points per day. I know this is lower than what I should really have because a) I work out and b) there are another 35 points per week that I can play with.
What is the best way to divvy up these 35 points? And how do I know how many points my workout is worth?
The meeting I attended had a lot of beginners in it so the meeting leader told everyone "not to worry about excercise for now."
In your materials they gave you, or online there is a calculator that tells you how many points each activity is worth according to how intense you do it or for how long. For instance, 30 minutes of Pilates can be one point.
Also, it is going to be much easier to use up those 35 points than you think. I usually use them on alcohol. You just add up your points of what you ate for the day, and anything over 18, goes to your 35 flex points. OR if you are working out, you can swap the "Activity Points" for food.
Also, another way to use the 35 points is to be really good all week long and then save them for the last day of the week and make that your "free day". I had a good friend that did WW this way and she never got bored or discouraged with the diet because her "free day" allowed her to eat whatever she wanted to. So every day you would eat your 18 points, and then on the last day you would have 53 points for food. Just a thought.
This is some info on activity points that I found. I hope it is helpful!
Activity Points:
These are harder to calculate. The calculation is based on perceived exertion. Light, Moderate and Heavy. They base the levels on sweating and breathing levels, which leaves asthmatics and heavy sweaters in a strange conundrum.
In January 2005, Weight Watchers released recommendations for Activity Levels based on Heart Rate:
They use the typical calculation for Maximum Heart Rate:
Maximum Heart Rate = 220 - Age
They state you can calculate your activity levels based on the following:
Light is about 40-54% Maximum Heart Rate.
Moderate is 55-69% Maximum Heart Rate.
Heavy is equal to or greater than 70% Maximum Heart Rate.
I used much more vigorous percentages in my estimations, so this bit of news made things much easier for me.
Once you’ve calculated how much time you’ve exercised at a certain activity level, here is the registered calculation for Activity Points:
Light Activity Points = Weight X Minutes X .000232 Moderate Activity Points = Weight X Minutes X .000327 Heavy Activity Points = Weight X Minutes X .0008077
You can add Activity Points into your total for the day. The Flex Points plan states that you need to use the Activity Points on the day that you use them. The older plan used to let you Bank a maximum of four Points and save them for up to a week.
You get the activity points slider/calculater thing on Week 3, I think. They give you info that week on how to calculate exercise, how to calculate activity points, etc. Maybe you could ask your WW meeting leader for a AP slider ahead of time?
I have just started back on WW too. 18 points sounds really low.....that only equals out to about 900 calories a day!
If you look at your week 1 booklet, they now have a totally new formula to determine your daily points. It now is based upon your sex, weight, age, and lifestyle activity level.
I have just started back on WW too. 18 points sounds really low.....that only equals out to about 900 calories a day!
If you look at your week 1 booklet, they now have a totally new formula to determine your daily points. It now is based upon your sex, weight, age, and lifestyle activity level.
I agree that 18 points sounds kind of low.
When I was on WW I got 20 points. I did lose a little but the weight came off very slowly, as in four pounds in a month. I think it was because I wasn't eating enough. One day I calculated calories and points and I had only eaten about 1000 calores even though I had used 24 points.
Killa, I'm not on WW anymore. I did it for about a month and a half after having my baby and then stopped because I was hungry all the time and still not losing weight.
I don't have the link saved but i posted the "new" calculator in tati's thread yesterday. I think 18 seems really low but I hate the idea of 35 flex points a week so I haven't ever switched to that program. I am still on the winning points plan from 2001 or something. I find it much easier because I stick to a range each day and don't have to worry about a specific point target or using up flex points.
if anyone is doing ww from home (ie not paying ww) and needs recipe calculators, point calculators, etc let me know. i have a bunch from other websites that I can send you via email.