Hello! I think I read in the latest Weight Watchers Magazine that they were planning some changes to Weight Watchers in the new year. Does anyone have any idea what those could be? Just curious. I could use a bit of a change.
WW has said it will be a major updating not minor tweaks but not a new plan.
Many people speculate it will deal with activity points since the ActiveLink does them very differently from how the way WW has you doing it using the activity calculator on the web site or the table in the book.
I have read some things where people who work at WW (not sure how in the know they are though) say that it won't be changes to food points, but is how things will be done at meetings.
One person indicated that meetings will be more active and interactive with members (which I don't like...there was one leader's meetings I would never go to as she made insisted everybody do all these group things that I hated).
The is apparently talking about what is being done for training. There are 5 360TV episodes.
The first is New Science
The second is Weight Watchers 360 degrees
The third is Active Meetings
The fourth is Digital
The fifth is individual attention.
The interesting thing is that none of those seem to be food related. I have read that the changes are more about making behavior related changes.
I am sort of disappointed if true. I think the plan does need a few food related changes and the activity part needs to be changed to be more consistent with Active Link.
There was something on e-tools about it and yes, it does seem to be more behavior modification than anything else, taking a 360 approach to things I guess. They were super vague about it, obviously waiting until the official release.
Oh the 'class participation' thing sounded like something that would be a real crowd killer. But then later it sounded more like they are supposed to give out more Bravo stickers for when anybody speaks up in class. My regular leader has always been a big sticker person, but the 'other' class that I sometimes goes to rarely does it. She said she has to make a habit of trying to give them out.
Koshka, I was also told that there were no changes to the food or tracking, but that we would all get new materials.
Our center got remodeled last month. The first time back in the remodeled center resulted in my walking out the door and not going back.
I had been going to meetings for 4 years. Stuck every since they switched to Points Plus. But that is besides the point.
The new configuration had these goofy screens you had to be behind. And they took away the chair that we used to put our purses etc on. The check-in person said "use this hook" which was by the scale, in the way.
The leader was not allowed to weigh people in, she had to hand out name badges, which resulted in very long line because they only had 2 people to weigh-ins instead of 3. (And the computers were still not up and running.)
The installed a VIDEO SCREEN in the front of the meeting area and were playing one of their exercise videos. The leader then announced the meeting was going to be "interactive" "divide into three groups and try out these exercise equipment" that they were selling. I hated group projects in school and still do.
At that point I walked out. I dropped my membership and joined a gym instead. I wasn't going to pay almost $50 a month to watch a tv and have them try and sell me more stuff.
In a way this broke my heart. I had the best leader in the world. She was funny, creative, and motivating. But WW corporate became more and more micromanagers until I could see she was fighting to remain positive. They were forcing her into their box and not allowing her the freedom to run the meeting the way she saw fit. Such a waste of a good teacher.
So now I am going to my $10 a month Planet Fitness gym and doing low carb.
I doubt I will ever return WW.
I'm thinking about dropping my membership. I don't like they are getting so much into the active link. It's only good while you have e-tools and you have to pay an extra $5 a month to use it. If you don't get it, then a good % of your time at the meetings is wasted. They are really pushing it. And they really push their packaged foods, those 3 point-1 bite bars and snacks, the shakes and instant oatmeal packages.
I have the plan and the tools I think I can work with it on my own with this group as support. If I'm honest with myself, I wasn't really following the plan well. My weight fluctuates a whole bunch because I'm an emotional eater. I've been a member over a year now and have lost and gained the same 10 pounds over and over.
If not for a group of friends I have online, I would consider dropping WW. Now that I've been using My Fitness Pal, well, I just find it a lot easier than the whole points thing. I'm very suspicious of the Active Link. From what I've seen, AL pushes people to a level of activity that just isn't sustainable. I've seen two of my friends get injured and one friend literally flushed the thing down the toilet.
I have to say, though, that WW Online was the perfect program for me to start with. I was so leery of dieting that counting calories just freaked me out. The WW points plus system really worked for me and helped me to learn how to control portions and eat healthier.
Now, though, like I said, I find counting calories easier and the MFP interface is MUCH more user friendly and their food database is a whole lot better.
Last edited by Garnet2727; 11-23-2012 at 06:29 PM.
First on the Active Link thing you can change your goal - the goal they give is suggested but you can change it. You can also start over on your 12 week goal. I did that when I was really busy the first few weeks on it and so didn't do much so I reset the goal and started over.
Anyway, I found the following leader presentation in Australia on the new 360 plan. I suspect that what comes out here will be very similar although it might have some different terminology (we use Points Plus, they use Pro Points for example). If so, it is really focusing on tracking, controlling your environment and setting up healthy routines. I don't think it is bad from what I read but I also don't see it as much of a major innovation either and I'm disappointed they apparently aren't revamping activity points to be consistent with what Active Link is doing (that is you have to meet a baseline before you earn activity points). So, sort of disappointing not to see more change...
ugh, I hope they don't do anything weird at my meetings. I love my meetings! It reminds me of Facebook, they keep making these stupid changes that everyone hates when the original was absolutely fine and worked.
I agree with a change-up of things once in a while, but the pressure from social media and the internet to change things CONSTANTLY is just a reflection of the new attention span of people and it annoys me.
Just leave it alone, it's a good formula, people like it and it works. Don't touch my meetings!
Last edited by BreathingSpace; 11-23-2012 at 10:30 PM.
Oh wow, thanks for all the information! Sorry I missed that earlier thread. I like the idea of there being a stronger emphasis on behavior modification.
Well, it is kind of interesting in that it puts less emphasis on the actual food plan which in truth is not the key to weight loss. Research has shown that people can lose weight with any food plan. Some plans work better for some people and there are some plans that are just plain bad. And some plans may be preferable for health reasons.
But the real key to any weight loss that is permanent in nature is going to be based upon behavior. I am just sort of surprised to see WW kind of putting less emphasis on the food plan. I'm not saying that is wrong -- just surprised to see it.
That said - I still don't think zero point fruit is a good idea and I do think they should not allow activity points to be earned until some baseline if activity is met. So I would prefer to see them making changes like that as well as behavior but I don't think they will.
I eat way too much fruit daily. I think 0 point fruit isn't great for many people. Maybe say the first ~ 3 servings are 0 and after that count them. But 0 point fruit works for many people
One summer day I put all the fruit I ate into the recipe builder and it was 23 pounts. No wonder I wasn't losing weight. 1 lg apple, 1 orange, 2 bananas, 2 c strawberries, 1 cup black berries, 2 cups jack fruit. After that I tried to keep my fruit more in balance -like 4 -1/2 servings but if I hand't put into a recipe I wouldn't have understood how many points I was eating just because they were free.
The good health guidelines say that one should eat a total of 5 fruit and vegetable servings a day. I generally go for two fruit and three veg servings. If I eat more than that, I count them as points. A serving is defined as half a cup except for leafy greens. I allow myself a little leeway with that as I count an apple or a banana or an orange as one serving.
Changes to Weight Watchers
