Difference between old WW program and PointsPlus?

[disneychick0412]

I think the title says it all. I know the old WW program like the back of my hand, but don't really know how it differs from the PointsPlus program.
Can someone please help me out??? Thanks!!

 

[Aura of Foreboding]

I think the title says it all. I know the old WW program like the back of my hand, but don't really know how it differs from the PointsPlus program.
Can someone please help me out??? Thanks!!

There are a lot of differences.

One of the main ones is that calories don't really fit into the equation any more. Points are calculated using carbs, fat, fiber and protein. This means that lots of things have VERY different points values than they used to.

Fruit is now zero points

In general, you get more points to eat in a day, but some foods (processed especially) are more points than they used to be. There an increased emphasis on healthy foods.

There is also more emphasis on habits that can contribute to weight loss.

I'm sure others have a lot more to say about it, but these are some of the main changes.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would agree with all of that.

Sometimes it's sad to see the higher point values of, say, beer. But then again, we get more daily points than we did before. (I remember 18 as being the minimum before, and now it's 26) So you can still fit it in if it's important.


I've noticed, at least at my meetings (and I go to the same meeting center that I did to my first time, 13 years ago) that there's far more communication about actually USING your Weekly points, maybe using your Activity points, and also answers to the question "what happens after goal?". That increased communication has really helped me quite specifically.

Before, I thought using the extra points was cheating. The problem is that for whatever reason, my body doesn't do well on really low calories, and that's what using just the Daily points does to me. I am deprived, I feel deprived, and after a certain point I snap. This time, though, it didn't feel like using those points was cheating, so pretty early on I started using Weeklies and my losses were the same. Then I got more active and started using the Activity points, and kept on losing (while having much better workouts).

I'm SO glad that their communication about those things has changed, because there's not a chance in anywhere that I would still have my ticker going if I could just do the Dailies.


But all of that goes along with what the previous poster said about emphasis on habits. The "360 "enhancement to the PointsPlus program is more about making things liveable, making them sustainable, and how to do it in the real world. How to adapt to changes, to roll with the punches. That doesn't happen to me often because I live a life very much home-based, but every so often it shows up.


By the way, I resisted rejoining for ages because I loved the plan from 2000/01 so very much. But ultimately I realized that no matter how much I loved it, I wasn't DOING it. So when I rejoined (thank you Jennifer Hudson for inspiring me!) I threw my heart and soul into it.

 

[coastgirl]

I think what I really like most is the "free" fruit and veg. (I guess veg were always free but for some reason now that fruit is free too I am eating more veg as well--go figure!) I found on the old plan I'd choose some piece of 2-pt processed cr*p over, say, a 2 pt banana, because the processed stuff had chocolate or salt or whatever it was I was craving. With "free" fruit and veg, I am reaching for those things waaaay more often, and I always have fruit in the house--and it's turning over! And because I can reach for f&v, I'm not getting desperate for the unhealthy stuff as often. Took me a while to switch to the new points in my head and stop looking at 50 cals=1 pt. But I do think it's a healthier plan now.