Hey guys. I was wondering if you count points for fruits and veggies? I've read that they are 0 points, I've also read they are 1-2. How do you count them?

I count ZERO points for fruits and vegs and it is wonderful!!!! I eat at least 1 banana, a peach and a lot of berries every day and they cost me ZERO points! I also make a great veg soup that is also ZERO points. Best move WW ever made because it makes it so do-able to eat like this long term. I guess it is true that no one ever got fat eating fruits and vegs. It is the other stuff that does us in.

Fruit and most veggies are zero points on the new Points+ Program. On the old programs fruit had points. Starchy veggies like potato and corn have points.

It's also important to note that when it comes to the the fruit, WW built in 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day. That's fruits and veggies combined and one serving of fruit is 1/2 a cup, so it's very easy to eat a lot of servings without knowing it. Some people can eat a bunch of fruit and not have an issue, but now that I've lost more weight and am getting smaller I'm trying to limit my zero fruit to 3 servings and get more veggies in.

This is really really smart. I plateaued for a couple of months and realized that it was probably due to all the fruit and certain veggies I was eating during the day and evening. As I increased my exercise and cut my intake of bananas, various berries, carrots, olives (yes they are bad), my plateau ended. I still eat a lot of fruit and veggies, but have not effectively tracked them.

Thanks

I don't know if I could have gotten fat on a diet that didn't include starchy and sugar carbs in addition to freggies (fresh fruit and vegetables), but I definitely can maintain my weight and stall weight loss when I don't count fruit (I've never had my weight stall by not counting veggies).

Just a few weeks ago (about five weeks in a row), I had a terrible stall (and a small gain) from watermelon. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, love, love, love watermelon (did I mention that I love watermelon).

I can eat 2/3 of a watermelon in a single day (and could eat the whole melon easily if I tried). An average watermelon contains about 1300 calories, so that can be a problem if you're eating anything besides the watermelon.

So within reason, I think having freggies be "free" encourages folks to eat more of them (and most people aren't eating enough of them, so making them free is a great incentive).

I figure that the least restrictive plan that works, is the one to go with. So I think for those on WW (I'm not currenlty a member) it's worth a shot to consider them free and see what happens on the scale. If you're staying on plan and not losing, then maybe you're eating too many freebies and may have to start counting some of them.

On my own plan (usually a carb-restricted exchange plan) I consider all of my exchange alottments maximums, except for my veggie exchanges. My veggie allotment (4 servings) I consider my minimum (and I don't really have a maxium, because I've never stalled on veggies).

I do wish WW still had an exchange plan option. I first learned exchange plan dieting from WW, and it's worked best for me throughout my life. Perhaps they stopped using it because the exchange plan that most diet plans base their exchanges on, are those created jointly by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association, so WW (and other exchange plans) can't reallly "own" the exchange plan.

I don't think the ADA and other ADA have every sued anyone over the use of an exchange plan based on their plan for copyright or patent infringement (at least not when proper credit was given), but I guess a huge corporation like WW can't take any chance.

It's too bad, because I would rejoin WW if the exchange plan option was still available. I currently attend and love TOPS (a not-for-profit weight loss group), but I'd like to have a second meeting every week (with a second weigh-in). I seem to tend to lose motivation when I'm more than three or four days from a weigh-in, so two weigh-ins would be awesome.

Neither TOPS nor WW allows for a second weigh-in (unless WW has changed that policy).

You could follow the exchange plan and still go to the WW meeting for the motivation and weigh in. I mean there isn't any rule that says you can't use an exchange plan. You could even additional count the Points Plus or use Simply Filling in addition to doing the exchange plan. Or not. I think a lot of people who go to WW follow old plans and I don't think it is an issue.

I've been considering it, and just haven't been able to justify the expense. However our financial situation has recently changed for the better, and it would be more fesible.

My biggest reservation is that I have a BIG MOUTH, and can't resist sharing my food plan, so unless I'm willing to follow a sanctioned WW plan I can forsee difficulties. In similar situations in the past, I've tried to remember not to mention what I'm doing differently, but I always ended up forgetting and causing problems in the group.

I just have to decide if the extra weigh-in and meeting provides enough value to be worth the extra money (and if I can keep my mouth shut so as not to annoy, confuse, or derail anyone else in the group).