Weight Watchers Point Guide

The Weight Watchers point guide is part of their hugely successful weight loss program. It's based on balanced low fat nutrition, together with exercise and group counselling. There is now the option to go solo by enrolling online.

The Weight Watchers points system assigns a point value to foods depending on the size of the serving, the number of calories contained, the amount of saturated fat, and the amount of fiber contained. The higher the fat content, the higher the points value. The higher the fiber content, the lower the points value.

Several versions of the Weight Watchers point system can be found online. Most are extremely comprehensive and run, for example from:

• small Apple, fresh (4oz) = 1 point
• 1/4 Avocado (2oz) = 2 points
• McDonald’s Big Mac = 14 points
• Beef Wellington 1 slice (5 oz) = 12 points
• Beer 1 can or bottle (12 fl. Oz) = 3 points
• Chicken tandoori 2 pieces = 8 points
• etc...

The Weight Watchers point guide is an extremely useful tool for the dieter, and can be accessed as a list of foods called the Food Companion Book, or, as a calculator that enables you to quickly work out the point value of a food based on its saturated fat, calorie, and fibre content. The calculator is available online or in the form of a small, palm-sized electronic calculator that can easily be carried around.

The Weight Watchers points program has built up an extremely good reputation for helping people lose weight. The points system is more in keeping with our modern lifestyle than the many fad diets that concentrate on restricting certain major food types such as fats or carbohydrates.

These kinds of diets are too extreme for most people to be able to sustain for any length of time, and, in order to lose weight and keep it off it is essential to stick to a plan. The point system enables you to avoid having to skip meals which sometimes people do and then end up having eating attacks later. The points system teaches what is nutritious so you don’t have to eat less food, but better, healthier, food.

The Weight Watchers point guide does a useful job in educating the dieter on how foods differ in their nutritional value and helping you to choose healthy foods that can sustain you throughout the day whilst not being too restrictive.

The points guide is part of an overall system which is easy and straightforward for most people to implement. It is flexible, and when applied with a reasonable amount of exercise, is going to help a lot of people lose weight.