Personally, in the almost 6 months since I've been on WW and lost 56.9lbs in that time with 0.6lbs to go before I hit my goal, the weeks I gained were the weeks I used my 49 extras and ate my activity points.

As I said in a few meetings to other members, do not ever eat your activity points. The plan says you should be able to on top of your weekly 49 allowance but with personal experience, you do not continue to lose weight. You will maintain or gain.

And me? Personally I like seeing my 35-50 activity points earned weekly unused and I'd say 95% of those are just from walking just about everywhere. I have a pedometer so the points I earn daily are calculated accurately.

Just a thought to those who aren't seeing the results they want to see because they are eating all 49 points and their activity points. Try it. A few members at the meetings I go to have personally thanked me for sharing that little bit of info. Thought I'd take it a little further

I have just restarted about 2 weeks ago but previously I was the same way. Lost 75 pounds and it wasn't from eating my weeklies! On the weeks that I did, I either lost very little or gained. Some people can eat them, some can not I suppose.

Some people can eat them, some people can't. Everybody and every body is different so we all have to find what level of extra points work for each of us.

I have been on weight watchers since my OBGYN suggested it. I can really tell a difference when I use the extra points. When I do use them I exercise a little extra to off set it and that is the only way that I can stay on track. I have stopped recording my points for a few days "thinking" I could keep track of them in my head. WRONG. I have a points plus diary app on my phone that I HAVE to use or my weight stops.

I usually eat all of my weeklies and some if not all activities and I managed to lose 102 lbs. Even in maintainance I eat them. Like Tudor Rose said, every one is different and you have to do what works for you.

I know for me the biggest thing was honest tracking. If I honestly measured my portions and recorded them I was good to go. On weeks where I just ate this and that and thought to myself "well, I have weeklies to rely on so no need to count out these chips" it could be bad.

Agreed, I NEVER EVER eat my activity points.

This is the 3rd time I've done WW and this is my second week. Last week I used 19 of my 49 flex points and still managed to lose 2.4 pounds this week which is HUGE for me (I'm a very slow loser).

I agree it varies person to person. However I do not understand how someone could take it upon themselves to tell others what to do is beyond me. Sharing ones experiences is very different then giving unsolicited information which may in fact be false.

I don't know if this will change as I get to closer to my goal weight and have lower allowed points, but I have never used activity points and I've only dipped by a point or two into weekly points. I have never gone to a meeting or anything, but I feel like it's just a matter of personal choice. As long as you aren't starving yourself, does it matter?

With all due respect, just because that was the case for you, that does not mean it will apply to everyone. I lost 65 pounds, and nine times out of ten, I ate all of my weekly points *plus* my activity points. That might not be the case for everyone, obviously, but it does kind of throw your generalization into a different light, doesn't it? You cannot compare your experience to anyone else's. As my WW leader always says, "We are all different, and we all lose weight differently. Comparing your own experience to someone else's is useless."

As long as I do plenty of exercise I can eat up all my weekly points. So I think it varies from person to person.

I always eat my extra points, but I never touch my activity points. I work retail 40/hrs a week on my feet and I do my elliptical every second day for 30 minutes. (plus i still breastfeed once a day) I would really like a pedometer though just by curiosity.. maybe i'll ask for one for christmas. I just joined this group but before i started weight watchers the first time I lost 20lbs in 10weeks...

While this may have been your personal experience, telling someone that eating those points will cause a gain is just plain false. That may have been true for you, but not for everyone. I know it wasn't for me. I ate as many points as I could because I knew that in maintenance I didn't want to deprive myself. I didn't want to be one of those 90+% of people who regained. Did I lose weight in record time? No--but I've maintained under my goal for six years, which means more to me than losing weight quickly.

OK, here is what I think can be very important. First, I do agree that different people react differently.

But...that said...

Getting an Active Link was an eye opener for me. When you have an active link you earn no activity point until you reach a "baseline" each day. Even if you exercise, if you don't meet your baseline you don't get activity points.

In the old days (pre Active Link) I might do 20 minutes or rowing and I would give myself a activity point. I always counted activity as low intensity by the way. Let's say I decided to eat that point (along with my weekly points). WW would say that is OK.

I was losing very slowly - 1/4 to 1/2 pound a week, usually closer to 1/4 pound.

Well I got the Active LInk. I live a sedentary life. My work requires sitting. I have a 1 story house. I like to do things on the computer. So, I don't actually need to move around that much. I was shocked to find out I wasn't meeting my baseline on most days. The other day I did my rowing for 25 minutes and I didn't meet my baseline for the day. So, with an Active Link I got no activity points. But -- in the old days -- I would have gotten a point for that.

There have been people who have talked about this on the WW forum. Lots of people are finding out they either weren't meeting their baseline or they were over-estimating their intensity so were thinking they were earning 5 points when they earned 2 or thinking they earned 2 when they really weren't at baseline and earned 0.

I think that some people who were eating activity points were people (1) who weren't actually meeting baseline so under an ActiveLink wouldn't even earn points or (2) they over estimated how many they earned. When that happens, then eating activity points can be problematical.

On the other hand, for other people, that isn't true. They really did earn the points they were eating and found that they could eat them just fine.