Whether you are a Weight Watchers (WW) enthusiast or a newbie to the program, their points system can pose some questions. As you are chugging along, keeping track of your points and meals you begin to see some weight come off. As a result, your weekly points go down. You might be asking yourself “shouldn’t these points be going up?”
Your Weekly WW SmartPoints will go down when you lose weight. Weight Watchers uses Weekly SmartPoints to help you stay within a set calorie range, while also making smart decisions about your food choices. As you begin to lose weight, you require less energy from food, a.k.a., fewer SmartPoints to continue to progress with your weight loss goals.
What if you have met your weight loss goal or you don’t feel the point decrease is sustainable for you? Let’s take a deeper look into these, and other common questions many have about their WW weekly SmartPoints.
Contents
- What Determines How Many Points You Get on WW?
- Do WW Weekly Points Go Down as You Lose Weight?
- What is the Lowest Number of Weekly Points on WW?
- Should You Eat Your Weekly Points on WW?
- Which WW Plan Loses Weight the Fastest?
- How Many Calories Are 30 WW Points?
- How Can I Speed Up Weight Loss on WW?
- Do You Get More Points on WW if You Exercise?
- How Can I Increase my Weekly WW Points?
- When Do My WW Points Reset?
- What is Weight Watcher’s Blue Plan?
- Why Does WW Use a Point System?
What Determines How Many Points You Get on WW?
Weight Watchers SmartPoints are based on calories, saturated fat, sugar, and protein found in various foods. For example, a portion of potato chips will be higher in SmartPoints than an apple because it contains more calories and saturated fat.
On average, WW members are assigned 16-30 points per day, depending on their plan, plus additional weekly points based on their specific height, weight, gender, and weight loss goals.
WW also incorporates “zero point” foods, which typically include foods such as fruits and vegetables. Currently, WW has a list of between 100- 300 zero-point foods that one can choose during the program to allow them to feel more satisfied during meals without using too many of their SmartPoints.
This is a way of encouraging more of these foods in the diet and less that will utilize points. The number of zero-point foods available depends on which program you choose.
Do WW Weekly Points Go Down as You Lose Weight?
If you’ve lost weight with WW, you’ve likely noticed a decrease in your weekly SmartPoints. WW Weekly SmartPoints will begin to decrease as you start to lose weight to ensure you continue with your weight loss goals. A small body requires less energy, a.k.a. calories. Therefore, their points system, which factors in calories, will adjust based on your new weight.
WW SmartPoint system was designed to make eating healthy easier. If you feel like you need more weekly SmartPoints, you can trade in FitPoints. These are points that are earned during activity and are used to help you keep track of your exercise.
Your FitPoints are determined by your age, height, weight, gender, and activity.
What is the Lowest Number of Weekly Points on WW?
WW does set a minimum amount of weekly SmartPoints. Currently, the least amount of weekly SmartPoints someone can have is 16, which adds up to about 560 calories.
Although 560 calories are not enough for any adult, this takes into consideration all the zero-point foods (>300 to choose from for this program). These include most fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and protein, which are highly encouraged to consume more of during the program.
Feeling confused about how many points you should have? Don’t worry, WW does the work for you. They have a special algorithm that takes into account your specific anthropometrics to determine the best program and points for you.
Should You Eat Your Weekly Points on WW?
Because there are so many zero-point foods to choose from through WW, you don’t have to eat all your weekly SmartPoints each week. This is especially true if you feel you are satisfied without having used them all for your meals or snacks.
Aside from cultivating healthy habits for weight loss, WW encourages you to listen to your body.
Make sure to take advantage of those points if you feel that you are still hungry. Restricting your meals to leave remaining SmartPoints will not help you get to your goals any faster.
Which WW Plan Loses Weight the Fastest?
The WW plan that will help you lose weight the fastest is a plan that will work best for you and is sustainable. Doing a WW plan that is too restrictive for what you need will likely end up in re-bound weight gain once you meet your goals and that is not the point of the program. Nor is it something anyone wants to experience.
The best way to lose weight quickly with weight watchers is to pick a sustainable plan that you can stick with and emphasize more fruits and veggies, a.k.a. zero-point foods, and exercise.
The combination of diet and exercise is the key to a healthy weight loss that will happen often quicker than doing just one of those things alone.
How Many Calories Are 30 WW Points?
WW’s SmartPoint system can be confusing to many, especially if you want to know your calorie range. It is estimated that 1 WW SmartPoint is equal to about 35 calories. This means 30 WW SmartPoints would equal about 1,050 calories.
This may seem incredibly low but remember, there are 100 zero-point foods that are highly encouraged to incorporate into your meals and snacks to make sure you are feeling satisfied while still making healthy choices.
| SmartPoints | Calories |
|---|---|
| 1 | 35 |
| 16 | 460 |
| 23 | 805 |
| 30 | 1,050 |
How Can I Speed Up Weight Loss on WW?
When participating in a WW program, the best way to speed up your weight loss is to look at what you are doing currently.
If you are only focusing on diet, maybe consider incorporating in more exercise to help get more bang for your weight loss buck.
However, if you are focusing mostly on eating your points, take more advantage of WW zero-point foods.
Above all else, make sure whatever changes you are making during the program are sustainable to you and feel good. If you over-restrict you will likely fall off the wagon and derail your weight loss plans in the long run.
Do You Get More Points on WW if You Exercise?
WW uses a point system for exercise along with food. Their exercise points, known as FitPoints can be earned during activity. The amount of FitPoints you receive depends on your age, height, gender, weight, and the activity itself.
What is nice about FitPoints, aside from being able to better keep track of your exercise, is that you can trade in FitPoints for more SmartPoints.
Those who are incorporating more exercise will likely need to include more calories in their diet to support that exercise. This is good news for most as burning those extra calories on the trail can really rev up your appetite.
How Can I Increase my Weekly WW Points?
The best way to increase your weekly WW SmartPoints is to incorporate more exercise. In their program, you get daily points and weekly points with the option to use those as your wish.
Some points may roll over for hungrier days and you may also get rewarded with extra points for good habits, such as swapping out a sugary drink for water or increasing those high fiber veggies.
When Do My WW Points Reset?
Your weekly budget of SmartPoints will reset on your weigh-in day. If you have not changed in weight, you will likely keep the same number of points for the next week.
If you have lost weight, you may see a little drop in points. All members in WW are encouraged to weigh in weekly, but are allowed to weigh as often as daily if they prefer. Any more frequent than daily is discouraged.
Although your daily points can roll over to allow for flexibility from day to day allotting for hungrier and less hungry days, your weekly points will not roll over so be sure to use them. If you weigh in weekly and you have points left over, they will not roll over to the next week.
What is Weight Watcher’s Blue Plan?
WW has different plans you can choose from, including a green plan, a blue plan, and a purple plan.
Each plan offers different points and amounts of zero-point foods. For example, the green plan offers the most points, about 30 points daily, but only 100 zero-point foods while the purple plan only offers 16 points but over 300 zero-point foods to choose from.
The blue plan is in between and one of the more popular choices.
| Plan | Green | Blue | Purple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Points | 30 | 23 | 16 |
| Zero Point Foods | 100 | 200 | 300+ |
| Zero Point Food Categories | Fruits, non-starchy vegetables | Fruits, most vegetables, eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, yogurt, beans, legumes, tofu, tempeh | Fruits, most vegetables, eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, yogurt, beans, legumes, tofu, tempeh, potatoes, whole grains |
Why Does WW Use a Point System?
WW Created a point system for weight loss to allow their members to focus more on making healthy swaps instead of just counting calories. In short, they help make healthier choices simpler. Using their point system allows you to better understand why some foods may be higher in points, if they are higher in calories, saturated fat, or sugar, compared to other foods that are lower points.
This system helps to encourage moderation as no foods are off-limits but you will use more points if you wish to choose them so you will want to do so sparingly. WW has had a point system for as long as they’ve been around, with a recent upgrade changing SmartPoints to PersonalPoints and increasing their zero-point foods list to make things even easier for their members.