Weight Watchers Revamps Point System
BOSTON (CBS) -- Weight Watchers has helped millions of people drop those unwanted pounds. It is so successful that many insurance companies cover the membership fees. Now, for the first time in years, Weight Watchers is revamping its tried and true program.
Weight Watchers works on a point system.
Foods are assigned a number of points depending on its calories, fat and fiber content. Depending on their size, dieters get to eat a certain number of points every day. "The points system has worked really well for me," one Weight Watchers member said at a recent meeting.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports.
Now the company is making some major changes to that point system. Everyone gets more points every day, but many foods have higher points values than they used to. Another major change is that fruits are now free. They don't count toward your daily limit of points.
John Brook, a Weight Watchers meeting leader, who lost 125 pounds on the program, says the new system reflects new research on nutrition and is designed to make dieting easier.
Under the old plan, a slice of bread counted as one point, now it's three. A glass of wine goes from two points to four. A piece of carrot cake was 16 points, now that will be 18.
Keep in mind a 150 pound woman used to get about 20 points per day, but that number has been bumped up to nearly 30 points a day.
It's a whole new numbers game for Weight Watchers.
A snack bar and an apple, which both have 100 calories, used to have equal points. Under the new rules, the snack bar is 2 points, but the apple is free. "We want you to go to more natural foods," Brook explained. Brook also said if dieters use the old points values with the new system, they will not be successful.
Only time will tell if the revamp system works better than the old one.
