NEW WW PersonalPoints - Your 2022 game-changer

WW (formerly Weight Watchers) updates its plans every couple of years to keep up with trends and make their experience a better one. The next major change is here! The last change to occur in 2018 brought myWW Smartpoints and Green, Blue, and Purple plan options.

That change was a big one, but the 2022 changes are even bigger for the program.

What former WW ambassador and employee thinks of the new WW PersonalPoints Plan

WW Personal Points Plan 2022

WW new approach takes a completely personalized view to healthy eating and weight loss. They have even marketed it as "Our Most Personalized Weight-Loss Program Ever!"

The new point system reflects new research done by a team of WW dietitians and scientists. The new algorithm has a greater focus on fiber to help you stay full longer, unsaturated fat for heart health, and prioritizing natural sugars like in fruits over added sugars.

These changes reflect research that has proven that individualized approaches lead to greater engagement and greater weight loss than a one-size-fits-all-approach (1).

WW conducted an ongoing, six-month study trialing the new Personal Points with 153 participants with Sherry Pagoto, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist, and professor at the University of Connecticut.

Results from the trial thus far have shown clinically significant weight loss, notable improvements in overall quality of life, improvements in healthy habits. Decreased hunger and food cravings were also noted changes.

Overall, this new WW program leads to healthy lifestyle changes that can last a lifetime in a completely new individualized approach (2).

WW ZeroPoint Foods

WW has created a new "PersonalPoints Engine" to help members find their food and activity preferences. The results from this assessment helps generate an individual weight-loss and wellness plan for each member.

Take the WW Personal Points Assessment Quiz

This helps WW create a unique zero point food list that is based on the foods you eat the most often to help you feel satisfied and full. These foods don’t need to be tracked, measured, or weighed so it’s one less thing to worry about while on WW.

For the first time ever the zero-point foods will be completely determined by YOU based off the foods that you love and eat the most. This allows you to live the life you love while losing the weight that you want to as it is completely individualized and unique.

WW Food Points

One of the major changes for WW is in their PersonalPoints™ system. WW looks at calories and complex nutrient data to create a foods point value, just like before with SmartPoints™, but the new algorithm also factors in more nutritional elements that guide you to choose foods higher in fiber, protein, and unsaturated fats and lower in sugar and saturated fats.

Users can now designate their own individual ZeroPoint food list to include foods based on how satisfied the food makes you feel.

This means that avocado can now be counted as a zero-point food when it used to count for up to five points for one serving!

My ZeroPoints food list, based on the assessment quiz.

Everyone’s ZeroPoints food list will be different because it is made specifically for you!

To make your ZeroPoints food list you’ll be able to select a combination from the following:

Zero Point Food List

• non-starchy vegetables
• potatoes and sweet potatoes
• fruits
• low- or fat-free dairy
• non-fat yogurt
• cottage cheese
• brown rice
• quinoa
• oats
• pretzels
• whole grain pasta/noodles
• avocado
• fish/shellfish
• skinless/boneless chicken
• turkey breast
• tofu
• tempeh
• corn/popcorn
• beans, peas, and lentils
• eggs

The foods that have higher points on the new point system:

• fatty meats like bacon and hamburgers
• sugary cereals
• cheese
• potato chips
• high-fat dairy

How Many WW Personal Points Do I Get?

You will complete a quiz at the beginning of your WW journey about the types of foods you eat, your usual eating patterns, and your activity level. Your answers will then give you a personalized list of ZeroPoint foods along with a daily and weekly budget of PersonalPoints™.

Your point allowance will be determined based on your age, weight, sex, height, and food preferences.

For the first time ever your food preference will now play a role on your personal points allowance! While this customization may seem intimidating, it doesn’t have to be.

There are two ways to approach this.

1. Answer the quiz 100% truthfully and go with the new plan that you are given OR
2. Select the food items that resembles your previous blue, green, purple myWW plan

My advice is to try approach 1 first! If you find that you prefer the blue, green, purple way, then you can always switch to the second approach at any time.

For example, if you were previously successful on the myWW Green Plan, then during the questionnaire you would focus on foods you previously could consume on the Green plan.

For me this comes out to 29 Personal Points, comparable to the 30 points I got on the Green plan. But you can still go back and change to the new plan format at any time if you want to try that way out to.

RELATED - MyWW Food & Allowance Calculator

Earn Extra Personal Points

Another change on the WW Personal Points plan is that you can now earn more PersonalPoints towards your daily or weekly budget, and who doesn’t want more points?

Members can earn extra PersonalPoints for practicing healthy behaviors like exercising

Here are some ways you can add points to your budget:

• Eat more vegetables! For every cup of non-starchy vegetables you track, you’ll earn 1 PersonalPoint to your daily budget. This is unlimited too so if you track three cups of vegetables you get three extra points. Non-starchy vegetables include carrots, butternut squash, cauliflower, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and peppers among many more!
• Drink lots of water! 60 ounces of water in one day earns you one PersonalPoint to your daily budget. Unlike with vegetables, this earning is limited to once per day.
• Get Active! Tracking activity will also earn you points. The amount that you can earn for activity depends on the activity you do as well as your height, weight, age, etc. You can track this manually or using a fitness tracker like before. These points are unlimited and will be added to your weekly budget.

Research has shown that eating more fiber, like non-starchy veggies will keep you fuller for longer leading to less cravings and sugary snacks (3).

Drinking water has also been shown to help facilitate weight loss (4).

Lastly exercise is linked to benefits not limited to weight loss and prevention of several chronic disease like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, and osteoporosis (5).

WW Diabetic Plan

The new WW plan can also be used for diabetics! Managing diabetes can be challenging enough on its own, so WW simplifies complex nutritional information into one easy-to-use-number.

The ZeroPoint foods list also takes into account your diabetes and unique food preferences to make it completely tailored for you. To start you complete a quiz to tell WW what foods you love and can’t live without so that the PersonalPoints Engine can build a unique list of ZeroPoint foods for you that you love and that are less likely to impact your blood sugar levels.

This quiz is built to guide you away from added sugar and towards fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Foods that are higher in carbohydrates-fruit, whole grains, and dairy- won’t be on your ZeroPoints list as these affect diabetics more than the average person, but that’s okay! You can still have these items using your PersonalPoints budget.

When you track a food through WW you’ll get a breakdown of the items nutritional information including carbohydrates. You can also now earn points for healthy behaviors including vegetable intake, staying active, and drinking water. These recommendations are carefully selected with diabetes in mind and backed by the American Diabetes Association and International Diabetes Federation.

Is WW Worth It?

These new WW changes make this program a great program to help facilitate weight loss and jump start a healthy lifestyle. The focus on healthy fats, fiber, and protein and a completely individualized ZeroPoints™ food list make this WW program stand out among the numerous weight loss programs out there.

Being able to earn more points towards your daily and weekly budget is also a huge change that leads to sustainable lifestyle changes that will stay with you the rest of your life!