Re: Oh goodie..........Chinagrl, Welcome.........glad you're a WW person...

Hi Shell,
Wow you seem to be doing great. I was reading the posts and noticed you asked about weight watchers and the points. I did it a while back and when you join they give to a little cardboard calculator that you just slide to match the calories fat and fibre, and it gives you the point value.

You can't get it anywhere else because its patented! weird...but anyway there is a formula, I found it in this article. LOL, it will take a lot longer but its interesting to figure it out! Basically though, its about lowering calories like you're already doing, and fat as well, which again you were already doing before. Anyway heres the article its pretty interesting I think.

The secret weight watchers points formula exposed...

Founded in the early 1960's by Jean Nidetch, Weight Watchers runs one of the most popular weight loss programs in the world. The program is based on reducing the number of calories you eat each day. But rather than count calories, you use weight watchers points.

A Weight Watchers Shepherd's Pie, for example, contains 241 calories — the equivalent of 4.5 points. No foods are forbidden, although you're only allowed a certain number of points each day. Since it began, Weight Watchers International has helped millions of people worldwide to lose weight. However, the weight watchers points system ignores several nutrients that are important for anyone wanting to lose weight and keep it off for good.

Weight watchers points
The higher the calories in a food serving, the more points are in there. Numbers in the low tens are easier for people to deal with than the numbers in the thousands which calorie counting involves. Most dieters follow the weight watchers points program by joining a class, where they're weighed each week, meet other dieters, and receive support and advice from the class organizer.

Believe it or not, the "secret" formula used to work out how many weight watchers points a meal contains is protected by a US patent. Although there are many variations of the formula, here's one that's included in the patent.

One point = (calories/50) + (fat grams/12) - (min{r, 4}/5)

The last part of the formula — min{r, 4} — is equal to the number of grams of dietary fiber or 4, whichever is the smaller number. The formula means that one point is equal to the number of calories in a food serving divided by 50. The value increases by about one point for every 12 grams of fat, and drops by about one point for every five grams of fiber.

In simple terms, total fat becomes a point penalizer, while fiber is a point enhancer.

For people who want to lose weight without the hassle of weighing food or learning about good nutrition, the weight watchers points system is reasonably effective. Not only is it based on the main "law" of successful weight loss — eating fewer calories than you burn — the program incorporates several techniques proven to make losing weight easier, such as keeping a written record of what you eat.

However, like all weight loss programs, the weight watchers points system is not without limitations. One of the main problems is that the formula doesn't take into account the amount of protein in a meal.

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