[IrishRover]

Ive been hearing a lot on this forum about flex points, these mysterious little buggers that allow you to eat more fabulous food... and we dont get them here! and then i did a wee bit of research and found out that if i was doing weightwatchers in america I would get 4 extra points per day PLUS these amazing flex points!!! gah!
how can this be??? and, more scientifically speaking, why is it that two different countries (maybe continents if its a european/american this rather than just an irish/american thing) are allowed such varying points between each other each day? surely this negates the whole concept of RDA calories? Do irish people (or europeans generally) need less calories somehow per day?
I'd love to hear some opinions about this! its puzzling me deeply...
and i also want to work out if i can get away with eating more, mwahahahaha!

[GradPhase]

Totally guessing and assuming, but I've lived in Ireland (as well as England and Bosnia) as well as 14 different states in the US - and I'm guess it's because our general consumption is much, much higher than in Europe. Our meals and drinks are all much larger - so to start balancing food out, they're minimizing it by over all percentage.



But really I have no idea what I'm talking about

[Alethea]

Do you suppose that it is a difference in measuring energy in kJoules instead of kCals? In the States we measure food energy using kCalories (generally dropping the kilo part) and I've noticed that in many other countries the measurement is in kJoules. I don't remember the actual conversion, but I think its like 4.3 kJoules = 1 kCal. Just my 2 cents.

[sotypical]

Could be the way the calories are calculated. Like some of the exact same food in Canada have more calories then the foods in the US (something to do with fiber) - take fiber one cereal for example, is 60 calories in the US and 100 calories in Canada.

But our point system seems to the same as the US.

[KforKitty]

Weight Watchers points are not a straight calorie conversion but have a formula that includes saturated fats and fibre if I remember correctly. I used to frequent a yahoo group some years ago that was a WW one. The flex points did not exist then but I remember noticing that people the same weight as me seemed to have more points. However their points values for the same food seemed to be a little higher than for those I was given in the UK. Don't know why this is but there is obviously subtle differences between the two methods. I don't believe that followers in the US are allowed more to eat though.

Kitty