Smart points.. my thoughts on week 1

So if your a weight watcher follower, unless you have been living in a cave for the last little while or perhaps touring the Greek islands (in which case lucky you!!) then you have heard all about the BIG changes... biggest in 50 years... or so we were told.. Welcome to Beyond the scale.. or in short "Smart points". Being that I have a large following on my Instagram I knew I was being watched... "Hmmm I wonder how that drizzle me skinny girl will do, you know the one that lives on mini chocolate chips and skittles.. yeah that girl.. oh my god she must be dying"!! Well I am here to tell you I am alive and well.. and yes despite high sugar foods taking a big hit on the new program I survived the week... and I didn't kill anyone.. not even my husband 😉

In all honesty though I knew that in order for this new program to work for me I had to stay true to myself, and still be able to enjoy the foods I liked, after all that is what got me to my lifetime, but not only that, got me there happy, and restricting my favorite foods goes against everything I stand for..Yes.. I indeed have a sweet tooth and I have never been one to be afraid to show it.. I know I am not alone here..but I was not about to start packing up all my favorite snacks and saying my goodbyes.. no way!!!! So what is Smart points and what does it all mean??

Points plus has now been retired and all food is given a smart point value. Points are calculated using calories, saturated fat, sugars and proteins. This means that foods high in sugars will increase the points and foods high in protein will decrease the point value, for example 5oz of chicken use to cost you 5 points plus and now will only cost you 3 smart points. However watch out for your high sugar processed foods, take for example a fiber one bar, they use to cost 2 points plus and now will run you 4 smart points. So the idea here is to steer you away from processed foods high in sugars and steer you towards healthier choices such as lean proteins. Does this mean you can't have your favorite snacks... no of coarse not but you may need to cut down on them or get creative, maybe just use ½ of your favorite fiber 1 bar on top of some yogurt with fruit, and you can always bulk up on high proteins and veggies for dinner to allow extra points for your night time treat they may have jumped in points.

You may notice a change to your daily point allowance as well, most people increased by 4/day although this may depend on your weight, height, gender and activity level, 30 smart points is the least anyone can have for the day. Your weeklies will have changed to, and again based on your activity level, for example mine went from the regular 49 weeklies to 28.

Fruits and vegetables are still 0 points which makes us all happy and to top it of we now do not have to add them into the recipe builder when figuring out points for a recipe. There is one exception to this when it comes to smoothies and there is a box to check in the recipe calculator to indicate the fruit was blended.

I wasn't one to really count or use activity points so this one won't affect me much, but activity points have now become fit points, you will have a daily goal to hit based on your activity level and WW are steering you away from swapping those points in for food.. Although I feel this might need to change for some as I have seen many people complain about being too hungry and not having enough points, and probably more so those who are very physically active.

How did my week sum up... First of all I decided for December I wasn't going to try and lose, after all I am at my WW goal of 140, however I would still like to hit my personal goal of 130, but December is not the month to do that 😉 So I set my points to maintenance which allowed me 36 daily and 28 weekly. I really did not change what I ate, I made a few small sacrifices meaning instead of adding extra toppings to my yogurts that cost points I just topped with fruit, and my usual ½ tablespoon of mini chocolate chips that I so famously eat on many things I cut down to 1 tsp. Any dinners I made with chicken (which is what I eat most of) I added extra chicken to fill me up more now that it is less points, some cheeses went up in points so I just used a little less to even it out. All in all I ate very similar to how I was eating on points plus and I ended most days at my 36 points, a few days I went a little over. I still enjoyed some sour skittles one day (my weakness) ¼ cup went from 4pp to 9sp, so I just had 2 Tbsp, it wasn't many but it was enough for me to get my fix and stay within my points. On Saturday I still had 18 weeklies, from my 28 allowance so I even enjoyed one of my Somersby ciders that jumped from 6pp to 13sp OUCH!! Last Monday I weighed 139.1, this morning I weighed 139.2.. so I'd say maintaining is exactly what I did! 🙂

Starting January 4th I will switch back to 30 daily points which is what I am allowed if still trying to lose weight, I plan to commit to the program 100% and see how I do, those last 10lbs I have been holding onto, let's see if this smart points is what I need to help get them off.. I am a little worried about how I will do once I cut down to 30 points and lose 6 a day, but hopefully over the month of December I can come up with some creative ways to use my points without restricting my favorite things.. time will tell but I am willing to go full force and give it my all.. I am also hosting another dietbet starting January 6th, which ironically enough is my 2 year anniversary on this journey.. Come join me if you wish 🙂

I will leave you with this.... remember when weight watchers switched to points plus, and all us loyal WW members thought the world was going to end... and look at us now, defending the program we once were knocking to the ground... while I do believe there are some kinks in the program that need to be sorted out and they may need to re-think the assessments as I really don't like hearing people are starving.. I do believe this smart points program can work.. I hear all the frustrations of loyal members who have been putting up with their Apps or online accounts not working and I hope Weight Watchers can mend some fences on this and not just look out for their new customers.. but at the end of the day it is a business and money talks... Also it is YOUR journey and you need to do what is best for you... no one is forcing you to do the new program, sure if you want your App working and are attending meetings then yes you will need to try and make smart points work for you, but if points plus is what you loved and feel strongly on then stick with it... do what works for you...

A sample day for me on smart points

Breakfast-toasted English muffin with banana, ½T light melted peanut butter, 1tsp mini chocolate chips and a side of berries 6sp (was 5pp)

Lunch- Prosciutto slices with red pepper, 4 melba toast, 2 laughing cow wedges and grapes 6sp (was 6pp)

Dinner-Taco pizza, 1 Flatout pizza thin bread, 5oz extra lean ground beef with taco seasoning, ⅓ cup reduced fat cheese, peppers & onion.. 12sp (was 10pp)

Dessert/night time snack toast s'mores treat- 1 slice of sara lee bread toasted, 1Tbsp marshmallow fluff, 1tsp mini chocolate chips and a tiny sprinkle of graham crumbs 3sp (was 2pp)

27 smart point total which left 9sp for snacks here and there throughout the day..