The Weight Watchers diet regime has gained worldwide recognition for helping dieters lose weight. With celebrities such as Fran Drescher, Lynn Redgrave and Sarah Ferguson all advocating its benefits, the diet has proved to be a winning formula. But what really makes Weight Watchers stand out from the host of other diets, is their unique Points® system. However, Weight Watchers have given their phenomenally successful points system an overhaul and in November 2010, launched the new POINTS® program.


The new system, called PointsPlus in the US and ProPoints in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, was developed to take advantage of scientific discoveries regarding the way the body processes and metabolizes food. For example, some foods are digested and absorbed quickly into the body, while others require more time and energy to process. Therefore, dieters following the new Points system are encouraged to increase their intake of foods which cause the body to work harder during the digestion process. The bonus is the foods which are slower at digesting are generally much healthier.

The old Points systems provided an alternative to counting calories, where food was allocated a points value according to its calorie content. Foods which are high in fiber had points deducted and those high in fat had points added. The new system works in a similar way but now takes into account the new research regarding how much energy the body uses to process each type of food. Although many foods will retain their initial Points values, many more will be assigned new Points values.

As an example of how the new idea works, take two different foods with the same calorie count, say, a small handful of nuts and a cookie. Under the old Weight Watchers Points system, both might be assigned a similar Points value based on their caloric content. However, the nuts require more effort to digest and will actually use up more calories in processing than the cookie does. The new PointsPlus or ProPoints system would therefore assign the nuts a lower Points value.

The new Points system also offers a more flexible program, which encourages dieters to eat in a healthier way. Those following the program are given a daily allowance of 29 Points, plus a weekly allowance of 49 Points which can be used for treats such as eating out or special occasions. One notable change is the new zero points value given to fruit and most vegetables. This means dieters can eat as many of these as they like without deducting any Points from their allowance.

Dieters following the new Weight Watchers Points program have all the benefits of the old system but with even greater flexibility. There is no need for counting calories or fat grams and no foods are ruled out. Even better, dieters can now tuck into unlimited fruit during periods of hunger, without deducting points from their daily allowance. As with the old system, the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus or ProPoints program is an exceptionally healthy and nutritionally balanced method of dieting, which now offers the possibility of losing weight even faster.