Goodness, they have made it harder then. I do know that every single person at my meetings we ALL have the same points per day and no one has ever lost a point in our weight loss. There is one person that is 40 lbs heavier then me and we both have the same points as well as someone who has between 30 - 35 lbs less then me. I can tell you I feel like I am eating a lot more now then on the old plan when I only got 18 basic points per day.