New Weight Watchers plan coming for November 2022!
Read on for all the latest news on the new WW plan that is due to roll out sometime in November.
*Update- November 14th, 2022. The new WW program has rolled out in the U.S today. If you are not seeing the update yet in your App then wait a bit and try again. Remember everyone is trying to update at the same time so it can get a bit backed up. For my fellow Canadians, there is no exact date yet for when our Apps will update. I would think based on previous years and updates that it will be soon, maybe later this week or next week.
*Disclaimer- I am not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way, all information in this post I was able to find on the internet.
Ok, Ok.. I know! Many of you might be yelling at your screens right now, just don’t yell at me ha-ha, I’m simply the messenger. There has been a lot of talk this last week about the new Weight Watchers plan coming next month. It is no secret that typically every 2-3 years they like to make changes to their program. Sometimes the change is big and sometimes it is just a slight tweak on the current plan.
It was only last year, November 2021 that the Personal Points program rolled out. It is not normal for WW to change up its program so soon. I’m going to take a guess that the personal points program was not as successful as they were hoping it would be.
Is a new plan coming to Weight Watchers in November 2022?
Yes, it is not just a rumor you might be hearing. Weight Watchers are indeed rolling out a new program very soon. There is no word yet on what the name of the new program will be but I am sure we will learn this soon.
I am no stranger to WW changes, I have been a lifetime member for over 25 years! I’ve lost count of how many different programs I have seen come and go. I always try to navigate the new programs into my lifestyle but sometimes they are not a good fit for me and that is ok. Honestly, I have not been in love with any of the programs since we lost points plus. I have tried them all, I always do, but most of my success came from the beloved points plus program.
After points plus came Smart points, beyond the scale. Then we had WW freestyle, which turned into MyWW plan and gave us the colored blue, green and purple programs. The last change to come was WW personal points, which had us all pretty much doing our own program. This last program is where I kinda jumped off the WW train, I started tracking my calories instead. I feel that the sense of community was lost not only with the personal point program but even before that with the MyWW plan. I also was not a fan of the whole earning points for eating certain foods or drinking water.
When I was an avid meeting member and went weekly, I thrived during the meetings and loved the community feel. It just made sense that everyone was on the same program and talking about our journeys together was easy. When people start following different programs it was hard to grasp who was doing what.
What will the new Weight Watchers plan be?
- The new plan will be the same for everyone (unless you are diabetic)
- Members will have the same zero-point foods which will include non-starchy vegetables, fruits, lean poultry and fish, tofu, non-fat cottage cheese, plain non-fat greek yogurt, eggs, beans, lentils, corn, peas, and a new addition of air-popped plain popcorn.
- Daily point allowances will depend on a number of things like age, sex, current weight, and height.
- Members will have a daily point allowance and a weekly point allowance.
- While members can still earn points for activities, there will be no more points given for water and/or eating certain food such as vegetables.
- There will be a plan for diabetic members, it will look similar to the regular plan with a focus on eating fewer carbohydrates and sugars.
- The algorithm for calculating points will be the same.
*Again, please note this is information I was able to find online, I can not confirm if it is true but many sources lead me to believe it is the correct information.
Can I still follow the Personal Points program?
Weight Watchers will do away with the personal points program once the new program rolls out. If you prefer to stick to this program or maybe you still enjoy one of the older WW programs there are many free Apps out there that you can download and follow these programs on. A few of my favorites are
- ProTracker
- Healthi (previously itrackbites)
The WW app will only work for the current program available.
So is this new program basically the old WW Freestyle or the “blue” program?
Want my honest answer? Yes, in a nutshell, lol! But WW won’t admit that, they will put all this focus on a brand new revised program meanwhile we are all scratching our heads thinking, “wait a minute, I’ve been here before!”
That being said, I think this is a well-needed change. Personal points in my opinion was just one big mess, yes just messy! Other food bloggers that list WW points can relate with me on this one but it was so hard to post a recipe with the point value. Everyone had different points based on the zero foods they had selected. As a food blogger we enjoy helping members and listing the point value right there in the recipe to make it easy to track. This was pretty much impossible and I just started listing point ranges for recipes. It makes more sense for a recipe to be “x” amount of points for EVERYONE!
What can I eat on this new Weight Watchers plan?
Short answer, exactly what you have been eating and enjoying. While the zero-point foods are changing and some foods for some members won’t be zero points anymore I think ultimately you won’t notice a big difference in the things you are eating. If you can’t work the plan into your everyday life and around the foods you enjoy eating then you should not be doing the plan. We should never have to make drastic changes to the foods we love, it is always about balance and moderation.
Thinking back to the old Freestyle program got me thinking about some of my favorite “freestyle” friendly recipes like my Spicy chicken chili, zero points on the old freestyle so this should be a 0PP recipe with the new program. Some other favorite simple and delicious recipes that were “freestyle” friendly are
- Zero-point ranch dressing
- Garlic bacon & cheese stuffed chicken breast
- Chicken Philly style stuffed peppers
- Breakfast bubble up casserole
- Chicken pot pie casserole
- Taco fiesta bubble up casserole
- Sloppy joe casserole
If you like to bake I have so many delicious recipes that are low in points, like my delicious pumpkin spice cream cheese muffins or pumpkin banana greek yogurt muffins These muffins are just 2PP on the old freestyle program so I expect them to stay the same on the new program. Here’s a list of some of my favorite baking recipes that I expect will stay low in points once the new program is available.
- Double chocolate peanut butter swirl muffins
- Two-ingredient dough cinnamon rolls
- Chocolate glazed donuts
- Lemon crumb muffins
- Blueberry lemon loaf
- Apple cinnamon greek yogurt muffins
Will you update all your recipes to reflect the new program?
I feel there won’t be too much to do here, I currently still list the old “MyWW” points on most of my recipes (think blue, green & purple programs). Since it seems that the new program will be very similar to the blue program I’m guessing the points will already be there in my recipes. I’ll just have to go in and do a little updating so there is no confusion on the points listed.
Overall thoughts on the changes?
Bring it on!! As I already mentioned I tapped out when personal points rolled out last year. I was already halfway there with the MyWW plan with different colors so it just pushed me over the edge. I am all for getting back to everyone being on the same program. We need this to get back that community feel again, I think WW veered off the road a bit too much with the last few programs and I am happy they seem to be getting back to their lane!
I know with program changes come all kinds of emotions and many may be feeling frustrated, I get it! I’m a firm believer in trying everything once, feel it out and see if you can make it work for you before throwing in the towel. Please know I am always here to help and offer support in any way I can so don’t hesitate to reach out.
I miss purple. I was successful on that and quit when they dumped it.
I know we all have our favorites, if the purple program is what worked for you maybe consider using a knock-off App to continue on that.
Any news on when us Canadians will see the new program update in our app?
Hi Mimi I have heard November 29th, not sure if it is 100% correct but let’s hope we see the new program by then!
I lost all my regained weight last year on personal points. I just rejoined to get rid of the 5 I just put back on. I was sorry to not see my personal zero point foods are gone, my 1st ww program was in 1992 before points. Always successful when I stay on, despite the program
My question is why do they keep changing the program???