First it should be a lifestyle change not a DIET. You can't go back to your old eating habits once the weight is off.

You're mom needs to make sure she follows the Healthy Guidelines (pgs. 75-82 in book 1 "Eat Wisely") along with counting her points. She may lose weight staying in her points range but it will not be a healthy weight loss.

You might suggest she read or reread her materials.

I do ww at home and it's my understanding that you can use your points up anyway you want to. But I would never use 3 points on a regular soda when it can go towards a meal or a snack. I cherish each one of my points and use them wisely. Like kahnfv says, your supposed to follow healthy guidelines and be able to continue as so once you meet goal and start maintenance.

In her food journals, where she writes down what she eats during the day, there are little boxes to check off every day that include 6 glasses of water, 5 servings of fruits/veggies, 2 dairy, and 2 healthy oils. This indicates the MINIMUM number of servings she needs. These guidelines are as important to follow as the points are. You could ask to see her literature on the premise that it looks interesting to you for your own purposes, or you could tag along to a meeting and ask the leader in front of your mother about these issues.
Your Mom is not following the WW plan correctly, and she is not learning to eat healthily. Good for you for being concerned!

Thank you for the advice everyone. I had a feeling she was wrong - but I wanted to make sure.

does she go to meetings? all of this is explained at the end of the first meeting. I've done WW many times.... I think for many it's an AWESOME Program....

I forgot to say, if you look at her points book, point to the little water and vegetable check boxes, and ask her, "What are these for?"
If you're doing any version of counting calories, maybe you could buddy up and go together? If you get along with her well enough, you could do this as a team. I'm going with my MIL-to-be, and we have a lot of fun!

Points are like groups of calories. When WW first switched to the original winning points program it would make me cringe when I'd read about people journalling their food - eating junk and having the famous sugar free hot chocolate and air popped popcorn for supper because they had no points left at the end of the day but "at least I stayed in my points range "

WW is a very good program and always has been. They advocate planning your meals ahead of time. You need to FIRST allocate your points towards lean proteins, fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Only then if you have points left over can you consider splurging on that coffee creamer or can of non diet soda.

While I'm sure it's possible to lose weight by sticking within your points range and not eating fruits and vegetables, it's not the way eating plan was designed to work. And I think your mom will find that she's not getting enough to eat since the fast foods are high in points. With 35 points a day that's roughly 10 points a meal with one 5 point or 2, 2 point snacks. Eat at Taco Bell and you're not going to get much food.

Please have her read her materials or talk to someone at the meetings. I think it's great that you care enough about her to ask questions!

Great post happy2bme.

I agree with everything everyone has said, except that I think that you shouldn't say anything of the "you're wrong" variety, especially if your mother is attending meetings and is relatively new and here's why.

1. We've all been told we're doing "it" wrong no matter what "it" is in our attempt to lose weight. It hurts, it rarely is productive, and its very demotivating.

2. Learning something for ourselves, is a much better lesson than when it's pointed out by someone else, especially if its presented in the "you're doing it wrong" way. When we learn by doing, the lesson sticks that much harder. The "I can eat anything as long as I count it," is is very common attitude in the first few weeks of Weight Watchers. This is something WW has taken into account. It's actually "part of the plan," so to speak. People start of eating very much like they always have. This is actually a good thing, in that it's much less likely for a person to say "I just can't DO this, it isn't realistic for me to eat 5 servings of vegetables. I HATE vegetables. I'm quitting this." However, eating like you've always eaten, has one major downfall in WW if you've been eating junk. Junk is "expensive" on your WW budget. It isn't that different from a person suddenly having their income slashed in half. They may start to live like they always have, but they run out of money quickly, and usually start to begin living within their means. The WW points, for example, gives you a little "extra" credit when you eat a high fiber alternative. So a sandwhich made with whole wheat bread is lower in points than a sandwhich made with white bread. Increase your fiber and decrease your fat and you get to eat "more." Veggies are "free," which means when a person has spent all of their points on junk by noon, they get pretty hungry by dinner time. The only thing they can still eat is zero point soup - and even the worst veggie-hater in the world is going to be awfully tempted by that zero point soup. Maybe veggies aren't so bad after all, when your tummy is growling at 6pm.

If she is attending meetings, she will hear a LOT of tips on how to "save" points, and on delicious ways to prepare veggies (everyone is learning in the meetings, although everyone will be in a different place). She probably will be tempted to try many of these great tips, and her habits will be improving. She will gain confidence as she's able to share tips that help others (motive to actually practice and find them).

Now if you still want to help, you might want to suggest some "point saving tips" that point her in a healthier direction, if you can do them in a way that says "I just thought of something that you would think neat" instead of "Mom, you're not doing this well/right." For example, "I heard that you can wean yourself onto diet soda by mixing mix your favorite soda with 1/3 of the diet version, it still tastes pretty much the same and saves you a whole point." You could tell her that you know someone who likes the fresco menu better than the regular one (this is true, my husband and I found out we like the fresco menu better than the regular menu, so technically you could tell your mom you know two people). That my husband feels this way is a true endorsement, because he does NOT sacrifice flavor for calorie savings. Getting him to eat healthy, even as he tries to lose weight, is still a challenge, but he likes the taste of the fresco salsa so much he doesn't miss the cheese (and as a guy from Wisconsin, living in Wisconsin this is prety close to sacrilige).

Also at taco bell, I always substitute a hard shell for the soft flour tortilla. Even if it's not on the menu. It saves an entire point, about 50 calories. So I get the spicy chicken taco on a hard shell. It's not on the menu (or the nutritional sheet), but you just figure the point total for the spicy chicken taco and just subtract one point. Another great Taco Bell suggestion, if you can wait until you get home. I will order one or two hardshell taco (whether I ordered it fresco, regular, steak, chicken or spicy chicken, it doesn't necessarily matter in this case) and I will crumble the whole thing on a huge bed of lettuce and add my favorite light ranch dressing (I HATE fat free dressing. I even prefer to mix full fat ranch with equal parts or more of fat free sour cream, because there are too many horrible tasting "diet" dressings).

So suggestions like this, would probably be a lot more helpful than saying "you're wrong." In a sense she isn't, it's just part of the learning curve for new members.

She doesn't want to go to the meetings - IDK why. She's doing it all here at home, and she won't listen about the veggies. I tried asking her about the boxes a few minutes ago like one of you said, but she just said - that's optional.

My face was like this - . When I said I thought they were mandatory, she said, "You're not on this diet - you don't know what your talking about!"

What to do?!

Nothing. If she's resistant, she's going to do it her way, no matter what you say. However, I think there's still a good chance that hunger may eventually drive her to better choices. One can only hope.

you let it go....

she wants an easy fix... there is no easy fix

I have to agree with ladybugnessa. Just let it go. You've supported her endevor whether she realizes it or not. Unless SHE is willing to make the changes in HER life by using HER willpower, she'll stay stuck in the rut of her own making. There's nothing more YOU can do.

She "knows more than you" about WW but is using no common sense. She's looking for an easy solution. And she will lose weight if she stays within the point limits, but as soon as she gets bored with it and strays (and she will because she's not dedicated), it's all going to come back - probably with a vengence.

BTW, I'm in WW, and IMHO, it sounds to me like you know a lot more about the program than she does.

I also don't think that the attitude has to be pessimistic regarding her success. I think that it's a stereotype and not always an accurate one that dedication, and motivation are highest at the start of a plan. .

I think it's very possible to start out making pretty poor choices, and learn AS YOU GO to make better ones. At first, following her points is her ONLY concern (this isn't uncommon for WW members or calorie counters either) maybe it's all she has energy to focus on, right now. But if not now, eventually as her points are scaled back because she is losing, she will want to get more bang for her book (or food for her point) and it will either inspire her to drop the plan or to make better choices.