Topic #1: I am a bad responder...
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It may not be totally realistic, but my original intent of this blog was to have a place where I could be a member (which I am). For the past two years that I've had the blog, most of the ensuing conversation on it has been member-to-member, which I (and hopefully others) have really enjoyed. To the extent that I can hold onto that ethos, that would be great.
All of this said, I should also tell you that I read every single comment that has ever been posted on every single post I've ever put up. I have taken note of all of your comments & suggestions over the past two weeks, and they are now firmly etched in my mind (e.g., desire for free eTools for Lifetime members -- got it!!!). Therefore, feel free to keep firing them in there from time to time as long as 1) we can generally aspire to keep this as a place where we share our experiences as fellow members and 2) there isn't an expectation that I will respond to each one via this blog.
For those who are looking for a place that is ready made to provide help and support, I would always suggest:
- Your meeting and your Leader
- If you are an Online subscriber, the message boards on our website are a fantastic place to share and get ideas
Oh. For all of you who had a great week, you have no idea how much your comments filled me with unbridled joy. I practically broke into tears a few times, which would have been a little embarrassing. For those of you who struggled a bit or bridled against the change, I cannot emphasize enough that working the transition will be totally worth it for you. We saw more than a few of our beta testers take two to three weeks to get their sea legs, sometimes gaining weight during that time. We saw those same people start to make great progress once they 1) fully committed to the new program and left the old one in the past and 2) worked their new routine and rhythm. Hang in there!!!!
Topic #2: Last week
On to my navel gazing...
Last week on PointsPlus was pretty great. I know that I'm biased, but I really did have a good week. I think that if I were hating following PointsPlus, I would find some way to talk about something else, like how rain makes me feel sad sometimes.
What made last week great? I really was making different choices, consciously and subconsciously. [As a side point, how can anyone be conscious of a subconscious point? I will ponder that a while.] When I found myself going for the fast bite/snack, I was hitting the fruit. Rather than dipping pretzel thins into my Bobbi's bean dip (which I am loving), I was pulling out the bag of baby carrots and dipping those instead. When I was stuck in conference rooms overflowing with trays of food, I was grabbing a small plate and getting my honey dew mellon on. When I went for a Weight Watchers ice cream treat, I had one instead of two. Still a little irritated about the wine, but I am learning to happily coexist with a single glass.
Every time I found myself making one of these choices, I would weigh the cost of the alternative. The alternative always seemed like a rip-off, so it was really easy to take the righteous path.
I was able to easily stay within my 43 PointsPlus value range. Truth be told, I did not eat all my Points each day. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, so I hewed to the Weight Watchers recommendation of eating until I'm satisfied and not until I'm stuffed. Even doing this, I felt like I was eating a lot of food, and I wasn't hungry. Ever. This pleased me greatly.
Final tally? Down a pound. This puts me basically at goal weight, which I think is pretty great for this time of year. Yeah me!
Topic #3: Bring on the eggnog, except hold the eggnog
So now, December 12th, I ready myself to enter the zone of nutritional doom and despair. Holiday time is here!!!
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| Looks like BIG fun. Probably a wear-black-&-white themed holiday party |
This week, I have:
- My neighborhood holiday party last night
- My office holiday party on Wednesday night
- I am spending the day in DC on Tuesday
- Yet more Christmas parties on Saturday night
That's a lot of dangerous ground. I'm thinking my strategy at each is going to be to only eat those things which are beloved by PointsPlus, preferably Power Foods. If I add to that the don't-finish-my-plate-o-food trick, I am feeling like I will be in good shape. I'm also thinking that I am going to ratchet up my workout intensity a bit this week to provide some extra margin for error.
How are all of you holding up in the Bermuda Triangle of holiday food extravaganzas?
Cheers,
dk
i've been a WW member for a long long time, but I've been consistently tracking since august 2009. Since then I've lost 92.4 pounds. I'd still like to lose a bit more (i'm about 12lbs away from my healthy weight range). Since about october, I'd become stagnant. I wasn't losing and was getting scared about the upcoming holiday season. I needed a change and the pointplus program did it for me! It's like being a brand new member and it's given me new-found determination. I lost 2.4pounds during my first week and ran a half marathon yesterday. I can't begin to express my gratitude for the life i've regained because of WWs. I don't feel like a new person--a feel like a truer more complete version of myself and it's FANTASTIC!
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those unlucky few who gained weight the first week of doing PointsPlus. Pretty upset and shocked at first, I am now fairly confident (especially after my aunt commenting how skinny I look after not seeing me for like a month) that I didn't really put on weight. I think the combination of LOTS of exercise (I really bumped it up last week and I was very proud of that) and maybe a few mistakes on the plan messed me up a little. For one thing, I was doing my best to use up all my points by the end of the day instead of just letting a few go. We were always taught to use them all on the old plan, but I can see that this has changed on the new plan. I found myself having 2 snacks in the afternoon instead of one because I had the pointsplus to spend. But, I can see that this is really not necessary and I'll be more successful if I don't do this. So, I'm hoping for a loss this week and I will be again surprised if I don't see one. I'm so close to goal so I'm really hoping this will get me there. I am hopeful but admittedly still a little skeptical. We shall see!
ReplyDeleteI just weighed in for the first time ever on Weight Watchers, and I'm down .2. I'm OK with that though. When I weighed in for my original weight, I had been on a no-salt diet with my fiance (in preparation for a physical test...solidarity!) for a week, so my weight was artificially low. So really I'm thinking I lost about 3 pounds. My face is skinnier for sure. None of that matters though. It's been years since I've stuck to a diet for more than four days or so, but here I am, a week in and still chugging!
ReplyDeleteAnd despite being very interested in nutrition, I wasn't eating very healthfully previously. I've gone through more fruit and vegetables in the last week than I had in the last two months. I'm not overeating, just eating those things instead of other snacks. I hear so many people complain about PointsPlus, saying that if they wanted to choose a banana with Points, they would, so why did there need to be a change? Well, I know that for myself and most humans, incentives and disincentives work. PointsPlus has incentivized the fruit and I'm eating it! It's interesting watching my fiance, a calorie counter, and me, a P+er, approach snacks. He's all about 100 calorie packs, graham crackers, and dried fruit. He can't eat those things if he's actually hungry; rather, they're just a sweet taste on his tongue at the end of the day. But I'm eating bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, maybe with some yogurt on the side, or a hard-boiled egg. Those things are sustaining me, but I know I wouldn't be choosing them either if they weren't free.
Lifetime free eTools YES! Also, if there could be a way for online-only members to transition to a hybrid version of WW once they hit lifetime, so they maybe had to weigh-in in person every two or three weeks and maintain their weight, but then could use eTools for free?
I love your posts! They are so real! I'm only 3 days into the new PointsPlus and while I was skeptical, I've lost 1-2 lbs. I've had only 4-5 to go for the last 8 months and for various reasons haven't been able to do it. It looks like with PP, I'll be able to!!
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder what kind of food is served at a WW holiday event? :)Hope Wed night goes ok for you! and the rest of the week too!
I really like PP now that I have e-Tools at my disposal!! :D In my first weeks of having it, I'm down a couple of pounds. YAHOO! And I understand totally about holiday parties - our BIG office party was this weekend, where I had one slice of this totally TDF apple-caramel pie with a tart-style edging. Deep-dish. I didn't even bother to attempt to estimate the PPV on that! Just crossed out my 49 for the week and said, "Okay, moving on..." Stepped on the scale this morning, and it's within 0.2 of weigh-in on Thursday night. WHEW.... :)
ReplyDeleteThen there's caroling next week, the choir after-practice munchfest, the next day at the office (where everyone brings in their extra goodies, just because)....
But I'm proud of myself: I walked a 5K on Saturday before the party, and didn't want to indulge much (except for the pie; had to have that). I came within 30 seconds of my personal best!!!
Thank you to all the WW Staffers who worked so hard to make PP great!
First, let me say a huge THANK YOU for maintaining this blog in the first place. WW is a gigantic company that just rolled out the biggest update in nearly 15 years, and yet you still find time to be so personable and real with this blog. It makes me even more glad to be losing weight this way, because so many other companies out there have faceless people at the helm and you just end up feeling forgotten and meaningless.
ReplyDeleteCount me among those who are fans of the new plan. I love being able to keep a bowl of dark cherries on my desk at home, order a whole box of Harry & David pears just for myself, etc. Speaking of those pears....The Royal Rivieras are simply not to be missed. Get the "mavericks" that aren't as pretty but taste the same and save a little $$, but GET THESE PEARS. Wait a few days for them to fully ripen and you'll be eating the best pear you ever had in your life. I'm not even kidding.
And no, I don't work for the Harry and David people, but once I get to goal, I definitely plan to work for WW part time. Amy Hoover, redheaded WW member in Minneapolis, would totally be an awesome Meeting Leader. Just sayin'.
Anyway...Thanks again.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI'm a WW repeat offender and I've got a suggestion for the program. Last week I logged 50 APs, all before 7:30 a.m. and I thought "Gosh I wish WW would give me extra points for being an early riser to exercise".
But I've thought about that and I don't need more incentive to eat, I need more incentive to exercise more. Here's my idea: How about a rewards program for those who log their APs before 8:00 a.m. Something like a WW t-shirt, a free month of membership, etc. as a reward for logging lots of APs early in the day. We all know that morning exercisers are more likely to work out and to make exercise a habit. Now I know that the time of logging in exercise will probably have to be the honor system and, given that difficulty, maybe the reward could be for hundreds of APs earned per unit time. Say a t-shirt for 500 APs in 3 or 4 months?
What do you think?
Best regards,
Lisa Grose
Lisa...What about people that work odd shifts or who choose for whatever reason to exercise at night? Personally, I do tend to get up and run before work in the morning, but I also play ice hockey and go indoor rock climbing at night after work, so I'm not buying the idea that morning exercisers somehow deserve something extra. Nope...It should be about whenever works for YOU and whatever you can work into your own schedule consistently.
ReplyDeleteI really love that you make yourself accessible to the member level via this blog. I really appreciate the time you take in your busy life to read all of our comments and suggestions.
ReplyDeleteSince you say you welcome our suggestions, I have one. :) I do most of my tracking using the iPhone app and always use the calculator on it when I'm doing my grocery shopping. It would be really nice if there was a "clear" button on the calculator that would reset it rather than having to click the little X on each of the four input values.
I really like Lisa's suggestion of having awards for activity. Although, given I usually exercise at night since I have to get up at 4:30am already, I wouldn't limit them to early morning hours only. ;) I loved the little 5k award we got this summer. It would be awesome to see more things like that which could be added to our 10% award keyring.
Melissa
http://www.melgetsfit.com
@MelGetsFit
Awesome blog post! I read every one of them and love how REAL you are about how you are doing as a Member, not just as a WW employee (I'm a new employee, receptionist in NYC since August of this year). Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all that you blog about - you make me feel like it's totally possible to be a MEMBER & an employee, something I've been struggling with since I'm working Sundays a lot (which is usually my meeting days). But...I have to say, after having a wonderful conversation with my leader privately, I ROCKED this weeks weigh in (lost 1.6) and I'm under my WW goal weight!! I'm excited to see what WW has in store for 2011 :) Thanks again :)
ReplyDeleteBTW - I <3 PointsPlus!!!
Well I just LOVE PP and fully intend to use it this holiday season. You are sort of a politician everyone wants to talk to you in your CEO role and ask questions, demand that etools be free for LT members, this person should become a leader, etc etc.
ReplyDeleteI give you kudos for putting your member hat on and blog. Sometimes I am sure members forget that you are in the same boat as us but you are also steeering our boat. So I am sure its hard for you sometimes. I think calling it out like you did was perfect and I am so glad you read all our comments.
As a leader I could give you a ton of suggestions but as I type this I am just a member. The rest will take care of itself. It always does.
Thank you for being so Brazen and Brave. Happy Holidays David.
Mr. Kirchhoff,
ReplyDeleteMy story is simple. 18 months ago I was 4 ounces shy of 400 pounds and at 56 years old was probably close to a sudden medical crisis. Fast forward after 18 months as an online Weight Watchers member. I've lost 170 pounds (all under my Dr's care) and am healthier than I've been in decades.
I have said it over & over again in my blogs - Weight Watchers helped me SAVE MY LIFE!
Over the last 6 months I've become quite active in the WW Blogosphere.
Best investment of my life?
Easy - Weight Watchers
Hey David! Look at you being all lifetime-y! ((taking my place in the You Go Guy parade)).
ReplyDeleteTOPIC #1: YOU ARE A BAD RESPONDER
Hell, I don't know. I asked for a subscription and WHAMMO. You were like freaking Batman, with a scale. If someone wants to suggest WW feedback, there are 842 other venues for that. This, my friend, is your personal blog. ((putting away my whinerocerous stickers))
TOPIC 2: LAST WEEK
I lost 1.8. Go team.
TOPIC 3: BRING ON THE EGG NOG, BUT HOLD THE EGG NOG.
Did you see that the Golden Arch Gods have a freakin Egg Nog Milkshake? They're McKilling me! To date, I haven't deemed it point-worthy of trying. But HungryGirl says that Silk's Egg Nog (available in your local grocer's dairy section), is def. delish and point-friendly. Give it a nog if you're so inclined.
****
Congrats on a great week. Enjoy the balance.
High five, fist bump, hip tap,
Kirsten
@RNTgirl
http://Results-Not-Typical-Girl.com
At age 55, I made lifetime and stayed at goal for six years. Then I started creeping up on the scale and have not been at goal for about 18 months. Thank you and Weight Watchers so much for the new program. I needed a change and right smack in the middle of the holidays is FABULOUS.
ReplyDeleteHaving 29 points at the beginning of my day is great. With only 18 points before, I used so many points just to get in my calcium and oil that it left little for basic nutrition.
I will weigh in this morning but I already know that I'm down this week about a pound. Next week I should be safely back at goal and sitting in a "free" meeting. Yippee!
I just stumbled on your blog before PointsPlus was introduced (well maybe scowled the internet for details on the new program). I have been a constant member since April 2009 and I have struggled to hit my goal weight and have even gone up during the holiday season. Well, I have been down the two weeks of points plus and yesterday I jogged a mile.... this is all new territory for me and I am determined to make this new program just what I needed to hit goal. Thank you for sharing your experience, struggles and high lights. I look forward to one day soon tell you I have hit my goal weight!!
ReplyDeleteI have a real problem with Points Plus so far, David. It's a pretty serious complaint, in three parts:
ReplyDelete1) the recipe builder does not take fruits and vegetables as free. This caused me to have dinner (butternut squash and coconut milk soup) and realize that, oops, I've gone over. While building the recipe, the squash shows as zero points, but the total of that zero is ... sixteen? I don't remember, but if you put butternut squash into the recipe builder and look at the individual points of that squash and the sum of the recipe they are different numbers.
2) THIS DRIVES THE WRONG BEHAVIOR. Let me explain: banana bread. If I had two banana breads, made with the same recipe, but one had double the bananas and the other had no bananas (but maybe had banana flavoring so we can still call it banana bread :) ) it would be obvious to me, anyway, that the one that had double bananas was healthier. It would have more nutrients, more fiber. However, it would be more points than the no-banana banana bread. In fact, I could make the no-banana bread and eat MORE of it for the same number of points, and, likely, I'd be hungrier sooner after eating it.
That's a pretty big fail for the new program, David. PLEASE fix it.
3) I found someone else on the forums who made a similar soup--butternut squash--and was upset that the soup was more points than the sum of the ingredient points. Someone said "write the WW 'contact us' people, they don't monitor the forums.
So I wrote the 'contact us' people. Now, I was a bit upset because I'd just blown my points total with the soup, so I cussed a little. But the people who responded, David...they were idiots. They totally misunderstood points 1) and 2) above, and gave me a totally un-helpful non-reply that did not answer the question (why does recipe builder show WILDLY different points for the ingredients and the sum).
I replied, explaining the problem again, and the reply was "you can't use the 'simply filling' technique with recipes"
???
Sorry, David, but WTF? Are your people idiots? That reply makes NO SENSE.
Okay, sorry--I apologize. I'm quite upset. Your simply filling lost me two weeks, at least, of weight loss--I gained and lost a couple of pounds.
It would be better for me if you could make things consistent--I simply don't believe that butternut squash suddenly becomes fattening simply because I blended it and added something else to it. It's still the same squash.
I'm still mad, even after writing this comment.
Anyway, thanks for reading this, if you got this far.
-Jason
Dear Mr. Kirchhoff,
ReplyDeleteThank you for rolling out a FABULOUS program....I love it in every weigh :) In 2005 I lost 60 lbs. with WW and kept it off for 3 years. Our leader left and the new leader was awful so I stopped going to meetings :(
Anyway, life happens, the economy tanked and I lost my job in 2008. At that time I really learned that I'm a stress eater. And after all it is "cheaper" to eat junk than eat healthy. Now bigger than I've ever been, I realized that I had to get back to WW. I joined in October and am loving my meetings. Actually I go to a few a week because I have found several different leaders and groups that I like.
Anyway, I would beg you to please allow lifetimers to have eTools for free. I would say that we'd have to weigh in at least once a month and stay current and as long as we maintain an active lifetime membership, we get the free eTools. Losing weight is great, dare I say easy. Keeping it off is the tough part.
Finally, thank you for this blog. It's amazing that who you are and what you do, that you personally take the time to maintain it. That means a great deal to me.
I hope you and your family have a fabulous holiday season.
Kindest regards,
Rachel
Jason:
ReplyDeleteI work with Dave and I wanted to respond to your post.
First, please cut the customer service team some slack. They have been absolutely inundated with questions since the launch of the program and they are still getting used to the new program themselves. I agree that is a bummer to get the wrong answer, but it doesn't mean they are idiots--they are just super busy and still learning the ropes. We'll try harder for your next question.
Second, let me explain why the Recipe Builder works like that. Yes, most vegetables and all fruits are zero points. But they still have calories. As part of this program we "deemed" them to be zero points. If you fed their nutritional information into a PointsPlus calculator, it would often come up with Points Plus values. We did this "deeming" because we want you to eat fruits and vegetables.
However it has always been our policy at Weight Watchers to incorporate the nutrients of vegetables (and now fruit) into recipes and the Recipe Builder. Why? A few reasons:
1) Our recipes are often featured in articles and magazines nationally and as a result we need to disclose this info to ensure the appropriate calories and nutrient content are displayed if evaluated by organizations outside of Weight Watchers. We use the Recipe Builder to calculate our recipes.
2) Since many non-Weight Watchers recipes include nutritional information these days, we want our calculations to match those you may do for recipes you find in other places. We don’t want to unfairly advantage our own recipes. And we don't want your recipes to look out of whack either.
3) Once you start combining vegetables and fruits with other foods, you change the experience of eating them. Few people go crazy on plain carrots but might on carrot cake. To ignore them in recipes would place our member at risk for abuse potential.
I hope this makes sense to you.
While we establish all these rules and algorithms for our program and our site, with weight loss there is always something a little "squishy." Sometimes you need to make the best call on how you're going to interpret the rules. And no computer program can do that for you.
For example, if it were me, I would probably just count the soup as zero--it's all veggies and its filling. But I would want to use the accurate PointsPlus value on the banana bread because thats a dessert and something that I'm more likely to overindulge. In this case, I'd probably enter the soup in the tracker as a User Added food with 0 Points and enter the Bread in the Recipe Builder so I get the most accurate assessment. And then, if I ate a lot of both of these items in the week, I'd evaluate this strategy wihtin the context of my results at the scale. If the scale looked good, I'd keep up the strategy. If the scale wasn't so favorable, I might count the PointsPlus values on the soup.
Wishing you all the best with your weight loss,
Sabrina LeBlanc
VP Program Development
I appreciate you taking time to read all of the comments.
ReplyDeleteMy 2nd week was not as successful as my first but I still lost .8 lbs. That's a total of 5 for the first 2 weeks on PP. I'd take that all year long. I reviewed my week and I had a couple of lapses that probably held me back some. I still feel in charge though and this mornings meeting got me thinking about the upcoming parties and how I was going to plan for them. I have 3 to go to so it will be a challenge. I plan to increase my activity level and not use any weekly points on non party days. This should be a fun challenge. I have a goal to lose 1 pound this week while still enjoying the parties. To make the parties about the people there and not the food.
So on to week 3...
Sabrina, I get your reasoning for sure, but I stopped using the recipe builder. For me, I just figure out the points of my ingredients. Like if I was making banana bread I'd figure out the points for the flour, sugar, etc. and calculate the bananas as zero. I think Jason may have been pretty umm...spirited in his complaint, but I agree with the essance of what he was saying.
ReplyDeleteBut I could see how that would present problems that he may have not thought about. If weight watchers publishes a recipe's nutritional info and the points plus value, those two should probably match or WWs could get into trouble. That's why I generally prefer to use my points calc and complete food companion instead of relying on the etools.
I should add though that even though I had to cancel my etools subscription (financial reasons only) there were features on it that I just loved and overall it's pretty great!
I really enjoy Points Plus. I've been on Weight Watchers off and on for the past 10 years. Points Plus got me to come back and tackle the weight demon once again. But this time my attitude is different, and my wife noticed as well. She told me the other day that she knew something was different when I decided to go back to Weight Watchers right in the middle of Christmas season, instead of waiting until the customary January start that is common. Talk about a shot of adrenaline with that comment. There is no stopping me now. I too found myself eating fruit, instead of grabbing some crackers or bread.
ReplyDeleteYou know what else I noticed - more guys than I have ever seen at a meeting. This was very encouraging, as I always feel like I stick out being the only guy in meetings.
First week results were a little amazing (and I know too much, but I think my body had finally decided to let go of some of this weight I couldn't get off on the old Points system). I love 11 pounds on week one. Expect a lot lower loss this week, but one my way to excellent health. Thanks!
David, honestly what a great blog! It's the best part of the PointsPlus program! OK, maybe not the BEST part but your blog is human, real and highly motivating. I've been doing eTools for a week and will be upgrading to the Monthly Pass in time for a Friday meeting because I do think attending weekly meetings will accelerate my understanding of the program...and hopefully my weight loss. Thanks again for a great blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is the BEST Blog and points plus is the BEST program. Check any negativity at the door people. WW is such a positive program from the CEO to the support staff too leaders to receptionists I could go on and on. Pay it forward everyone. There are polite ways of saying you need help on something. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteI have lost 25 lbs on WW in 2010. I have been in the 170s-200s all of my adult life (I turned 41 a few days ago). Now, I am in the high 140s. I don't think I have been in the 140s since high school.
ReplyDeleteMy life partner weighed 350 in 2008. He got down to 309 on his own in 2009, but now he is in the 260s for the first time in a decade or so thanks to being on WW this year. He is off his blood pressure medicine too.
It helps being on plan as a couple, but we are both students, and he works part time. We both love monthly pass giving us access to meetings and weigh ins, but $80 a month * 12 months = $960 a year.
It wouldn't be the same for us to try to share a membership as we both use eTools on our iPhones, and weekly meeting weigh ins really help keep us accountable and motivated.
Don't get me wrong, I love losing weight, so I don't want to sound ungrateful. I just want to suggest that WW offer some sort of pre-pay discount. Many people get a nice tax refund in the early part of the year, and many people start weight loss resolutions at the new year.
I would love for WW to offer us the option to prepay 6 months, get a month free, or prepay the whole year and get 2 months free - or at some prepaid discount rate. Then, we wouldn't have to worry about the $80 a month expense. This would be a huge help for us.
The only other comment I have is about rewards. The WW achievements and recognition kept me pushing forward. I loved every 5 lb loss, my 10% keychain, and my 25 lb medal. However, once I hit the 25 lb mark and realized my next weight loss award wasn't until the 50 lb loss, I kind of slacked off. I maintained the 25 lb loss, but I haven't been as motivated to lose the next 25 lbs.
Personally, I track and celebrate 15% loss, every BMI point reduction (I am down over 5 BMI points, and I have gone from obese to overweight), and inches lost. I think having some additional recognitions between the 25 lb mark and the 50 lb mark would really help a lot.
Thank you for listening. Love the fact that you have a personal blog about your journey. :)
Cheers,
Lisa
Wow, David. Kudos to you!!! I love your blog! Can't get over seeing all the complainers. But you are witty, and fun. I have been a WW lifetimer since 1988, and an employee, worked in 1988-89, and now since 2005. I jumped in head first to PP. Love it. Knew their might be a revolution. It definitly directs you to more healthy eating. I've lost 10 lbs, and at this time of year being under goal, and not craving sweets is GREAT!
ReplyDeleteI missed being a member. And we have the BMC Challange, which has really helped me to be a member again. Happy Holidays, and stay on plan. D:)
I just wanted to say I hope you keep writing this blog - it's informative and I really like your sense of humor!
ReplyDeleteI've been a WWer since May of 2009 and have lost 125 pounds so far. My husband follows the plan with me and he's lost over 150. Loving the new plan although I agree about the wine. But it was actually the kahlua value that almost brought me to tears! And here I am with a brand new bottle of peppermint mocha kahlua - ack! I'm thinking of gifting it to a friend, since I estimate the bottle has about 40 bajillion PPs.
I actually love how the new plan is making me think like a new member. I'd kind of been going on autopilot and now I'm back to really thinking about my food choices, measuring and weighing, etc. Oh, and the biggest change? Although I've been an etools subscriber since the get-go, I always paper tracked. I decided the new plan was a good time to look at using the online tracker since I'd have to be looking up PP values alot, so I took my husband's old ipod touch and downloaded the app - and LOVE IT!!!!!!
I am avoiding the egg nog as well but like another posted commented, I have heard that the Silk stuff is a good substitute - I think I am going to try some but am waiting until Christmas Day to try it out.
Good luck navigating the minefield of parties and happy holidays!
Ok, so I know I've already posted here and that this probably isn't the place for this, but I just had to report that my weight in this morning was AWESOME. I lost 2.8 this past week, my 2nd week on the new program! I haven't had a number like that since I first started WW a year and a half ago. My first 20 lbs came off pretty quickly/easily, but I've really struggled with fractions of pounds since then.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this kind of motivation going into the holidays!
Thanks again for the blog, David.
Regards,
A Future Leader
Once the holiday season is upon us it is so easy come the 1st December to think 'Oh what the hell', something I have been guilty of in the past. All this brought me was a good 7lb heavier before getting to Christmas Day.
ReplyDeleteThis year I have vowed to learn from past mistakes, and while there may be times when it is harder to stick to the plan than normal, for the most part I will be staying within my budget on the days when there is no celebration or party taking place.
I am also being realsitic and not expecting to lose any weight but would at least like to maintain.
With the new plan this should be easy as can use my weekly allowance for treats.
Fingers crossed my resolve does not weaken in the face of all the seasonal tempations.
Jo
cool to hear so many stories. I have been on it for about a month now and lost 14lbs. With the new PP plan, should I not be eating my entire allotment of points each day? I thought the point WAS to eat them all. My leader told me that people who ate their points, plus their weekly allowance lost more than those who just ate their daily. I work out as well, so I am just a little confused. Don't want to gain any of it back!
ReplyDeleteI have been stuck at 10 pounds to goal for a year, with some ups and downs... the new program is just the kick in the pants I needed to recommit to getting off those last 10 pounds. One of my problem areas is that I just have to have something to eat before I go to bed... now that something is almost always fruit. Before I would also use up almost all my flex points before the weekend (I weigh on Mondays), but now I have almost all my extra points heading into the weekend, plus activity points! I have lost 3.5 of those 10 pounds in the last two weeks. Which is totally amazing in DECEMBER! It will be nice to head into the new year so close to goal. Thank You WW!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I also know that without WW, I wouldn't have stayed 10 lbs from goal for a year -- I would be 30 lbs from goal! Also, I will never go with a "diet" that tells me I can't have certain foods!
I really enjoy reading your blog! Despite being the CEO your voice is very "real", which is refreshing. I can so relate to what you said about getting through the transition to the new program. It took me a couple of weeks but my mind frame has now adjusted and I am seeing huge benefits already. Thank you WW for introducing such a great program!
ReplyDeleteI am actually a previous employee of WW and worked for the company for 10 years at the Western Regional Office. While being an employee at WW I had the opportunity to receive free membership, and I did participate but never really put a full effort. Now being a past employee and rejoining the program I have been much more successful loosing over 20 lbs in two months. When my leader mentioned that there was a new plan coming forth after Thanksgiving I was a bit nervous. Not for the change but because I had been successful in the past Points program. Nevertheless, I weighed in last week and was down 2.2 lbs which was great, since I didn't really expect much of a loss. This week I am not expecting much and am hopeful that I did not gain.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note my father is diabetic and my parents stayed with us over the past week. My father said his blood sugar levels have not been this good in a while, and it was all due to the WW meals I had been serving. So he is being extremely supportive of my mother who is doing WW on the side. She has no meeting in her town of Lake Tahoe, CA so she just tracks on her own w/o meeting support. I think with my dad's support of the new program she may start being more pro-active with her tracking and portion control and could possibly see better results.
Overall, I am happy with the new program, it does help one focus on eating healthier foods rather than sticking with low calorie processed foods. I definitely feel better and satisfied.
Carrie
Hi, thanks for being here. I am somewhat miffed that I recently had purchased a WW scale, only to find that now it is no more useful than the old WW scale that I had been using; on pointsplus the old food points values aren't valid.
ReplyDeleteI am a lifetime member, almost back at goal after a lapse. I have been a lifetimer for 47 years, one of the oldest surviving? :-) How about cutting us a break, and at least giving us a credit toward a new scale?
Thanks, and please let me know what you think about this "concern".
I love your blog posts!! I try to read them all.
ReplyDeleteI was really not happy with PointPlus initially but after following it for 2 weeks+ I can honestly say that I LOVE IT and I've continued with my weightloss...3lbs down the first week and 1.8lbs the second week (total loss is 65.8lbs...thank you Weight Watchers!!) I am making better choices almost instinctively and I am not hungry or feeling deprived at all. I'm still a little grumpy about the points changes of some foods and alcoholic beverages but I find I can still have them, just less often which is the point anyways!!
On the recipe builder front...I myself have not had an issue with it but my meeting is full of people who are pretty angry about it. You might want to address this with your meeting leaders so they can answer questions about it. I myself just use my own judgement and if I feel the recipe builder is adding pointsplus to zero point veggies that shouldn't be there, I just adjust it myself. Really not the end of the world to me but I think that if we are paying for a feature, it should work in conjunction with the plan as it is written and not be adding points where there shouldn't be.
Love the Blog. Happy Holidays!!
I forgot to say, I am talking about the food scale.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could post a picture here of what I'm up against at my office. On Monday it was a Wine Country gift basket as big as a large laundry basket filled with mostly chocolate delicacies. Yesterday a TOWER of boxes filled with sweets from the famous Joan's on Third. Today it was a box bigger than those boxes you store files in, filled with baked goods from Big Sugar Bake Shop. My strategy is to rely on my 0 PointsPlus fruit until Friday and then if there is anything left, indulge in one treat. I've been pretty successful with PP, but am admittedly a 2/3 of the week tracker... I'm on it from Monday through Thursday, and usually Friday until dinner. Then Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday... some other being takes over. But even so, I've still lost 4 pounds on PP and am at goal. Not bad for the holiday season, I'm thinking.
ReplyDeleteDavid - I love your blog! This is the first posting I've seen and have now subscribed. My story in short is this: 4 years ago I joined WW and over the next 3 years I lost 107 pounds. I reached goal the day after I was laid off from my full time job. I reached lifetime on Rosh Hashana. That said, I allowed life (and routine) changes, as well as the fall/winter holiday season, to take me completely off track. I went to EVERY Saturday meeting but I was officially off plan and gaining weight steadily. Cut to one year later... almost 70 pounds gained back... My desire was there but frame of mind for the committment was entirely "impossible" for me to get into.
ReplyDeleteI went to the first official PointsPlus roll out meeting on a Sunday 2.5 weeks ago and it was JUST. WHAT. I. NEEDED! I have entered into this as if I was never on a WW plan before. I'm making every effort to think of these new point values and plan structure as completely separate and different from all the other ones I've been on in WW.
The first week I lost 6.6 pounds.
The second week I lost 2.0 pounds.
This Saturday, I hope to see at least half a pound and more will be a gift.
THANK YOU WEIGHT WATCHERS for being an amazingly wonderful, easy to follow, and effective good health plan!
I think it is s sad thing that WW cannot reward their lifetime members with something that would cost the company so little- I work in Information Technology- you have the application and the server environment- your fee for this is not only high, it is a backslapping at those who might otherwise sing your praises.
ReplyDeleteI see the point in the Points Plus. It is a great idea. However, as a paying online member I feel I should have the option to choose if I want to do the "old version," Or "Points Plus." I lost 10 pounds on the old system. I have been struggling with the new system. Yes it promotes you to eat healthier, but it makes eating out much more difficult. The thing I enjoyed about the older program was you could eat what you want in moderation. I would make mostly healthy choices. I am making mostly healthy choices on PP, but sometimes if I don't have fruits or veggies on hand, I feel as if "What do I eat???" I know I am probably frustrated because it took a while to get used to the Weight Watchers system and this is going to take some getting used to. I just wish we could have that option to switch if we feel the old version was better for our bodies. Thank you for everything you do!
ReplyDeleteI think you look great whatever your doing it works. I have been a member of WW for over 35 years at age 61 I am loving it I go all the time to stay intact. And it has worked for me all these years so something was right...Merry Christmas and have a wonderful time at all you paries, just do those filling foods...
ReplyDeleteI wrote this using the contact us button on my etools. I am very unhappy with the call center and saw that one of your topics was call center but saw no mention of this. Here is what I wrote I am not happy my meeting was cancelled and no one thought to email or call me when they have all my informaiton. I missed my weigh in and was docked my half hour lunch, which meant my eating schedule was destroyed for the day. I ended up at another meeting on a different night and they did not have my card. The leader I emailed late Saturday apologized but had no good answer other than the location cancelled our meeting. Shouldn't I have been notified? Seriously this is bad but the phone service really sealed the deal for me. Maybe you should try calling in to your own call center like I had to do and see how it sounds.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I wrote on the contact us message:
I tried to go to my weekly meeting Saturday at 9:30am at the SIU Rec. Center. It was not there. No sign, no call, and I took a very early lunch from my 2nd job to go to weigh in because it is very important to me. I call customer service and they would not give me a phone number to call my leader, said they did not have it, which is funny since I have it on her WW business card that I did not have with me. (I later emailed her.) The 1st agent I talked to said she would credit my monthly pass for one week, then I asked to talk to a supervisor to get more information about another meeting, her name was Denise and she was very very very rude. She even refused to credit my account or to give me any information even though the first woman said she would. It seems that if I pay to have access to meetings I should get that and that customer service should be more polite and helpful. I work in customer service and found their attitude and answers less than helpful and even a bit rude for the 2nd woman. I also lodged a corporate complaint with Denise and she said I would get a phone call and I to date Wednesday afternoon, I have never gotten a phone call. I realize it has been four days, shouldn't I have been called? REALLY? Unforgiveable. I am ready to stop spending my money if I can't even go to a meeting I paid for. I will expect a phone call and not an email to this message.
we learned at our wednesday meeting today, WW will close 12/25/10 to 1/1/2011. my husband & i BOTH pay monthly pass. Do we get credit for week when there are no meetings> my pass goes to 1/10/2011 & doesn't give me credit for non-WW week. What will happen here> thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have lost 82lbs since February on WW, but last week I had another "1st" week starting the new PP! I lost 4.2! I was ecstatic! I have tried EVERY weightloss program (practially!) known to man, and this is the first time I feel guilt free, satisfied, and healthy while losing. I know that this is a once-for-all thing for me. Points plus ROCKS! So thankful for the health-conscious change.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is the best motivational content available through WW. I don't attend meetings so you are the only real voice of WW that I hear. Keep it up!!
ReplyDeleteWould love for you to check out my blog! I'm definitely a fan of your's. I've been a Weight Watchers member on and off since I was 12, but this time it's a whole different story. www.sizezerokitchen.com. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI am in love with the new program, so thank you so much for being so open about your experiences with it. By constantly talking about WW and sharing the new changes with my husband, I feel like I have earned the biggest NSV- getting him to sign up. For six months now, I've been going it alone in our house, but the new program and all of the changes that were made with it really resonated with him.
ReplyDeleteTogether, with the help of the new program, we have decided to become flexitarians and have all but elminated all meat except fish from our diets, a move we've talked about making for months now. I feel so much better about WW now knowing that healthy, whole foods are those rewarded by the system instead of the packaged and processed foods.
With all the changes at WW and in my own home, plus one of the most motivational and supportive leaders (Terri in Fort Worth, TX) I'm finally close to reaching my 10%. Thanks for all the hard work!
I am loving the new Points Plus Program, However, I would like to see online members weigh-in at a center from time to time. I was previously a meeting-member and then I decided to try online and I cannot go to a center and weigh-in everything is online and only meeting-members are eligible for lifetime member and I wish this could be the same for online members
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and I love the new program. I hope you are on President Obama's council of CEOs. If you are not, you should be especially given the First Lady's platform on childhood obesity and nutrition.
ReplyDeleteIt must be so rewarding to lead an organization that has given so many people the tools they need to change their lives for the better.
Best of luck to you in the new year.
I did great on WW at work a couple years ago. After losing that job I couldn't return due to financial reasons. I wanted to quit smoking, and I'm almost 9 weeks quit, so I have decided that I'm going back to WW in January. I'm looking forward to learning the new PP program. I guess I can scrap all of my other materials, lol. I look forward to coming back!
ReplyDeleteHi Dave,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this forum.
WW does an excellent, really fabulous job with training materials and support. Kudos to those people in training and development.
WW does not do a very good job with meeting products--the packaging, the supply of goods, and the taste of some of the products. For example, the font on the new boxes is incredibly hard to read and the 3 pp boxes are almost identical. The big boxy salty snacks also are unattractive and unwieldy. Also, please don't let them use blues, purples or other non-appetizing colors on packaging. It wouldn't bother me so much except that our paychecks are directly tied to the amount of product that we sell so we have a vested interest in having good-tasting, well-packaged food in the meeting room.
I also have a beef (no pun intended!)with the dining out and food companion books. I live in the South, and they rarely list stores/restaurants that we have down here. The books also could easily be redesigned to have many fewer pages if all the foods in a category that have the same points plus values were grouped together instead of long lists down the page showing the same number of ppvs. Then there would be more room for regional stores.
One final suggestion: I live in a hot southern state. If I could have a refrigerator and sell bottled water to my hot and thirsty members, we could all make a lot of money and do a great service. I can buy name-brand bottled water for 13 cents a piece RETAIL. We could sell it for $1 and have more than a 75% mark up! I brought this up twice to my territory manager, and she said she would pass on my suggestion, but we couldn't do anthing without corporate approval. The corporate offices are in NY where it's not very hot most of the year. Way down here, when the air temp is 100 degrees, often the parking lot will be 120 and a hot car in the sun may be 140 degrees. Our members are so hot when they come in during the warmer spring, summer and fall months. We could buy a small fridge or even sell water at room temp. PLEASE consider this idea!
Thank you.
Hi Dave, I want to commend you for the new program. I am a repeat WW member.. first at lifetime in 1989.. good for several years, and challeged post that. During my last "unsuccessful effort" I thought at its demise,, if I could just track points and eat "core" foods I think this would work.. but that seemed too difficult. On my own, and unaware that changes were brewing, I had decided to restart the program on December 1. December 1 I go to your website, see that the program has changed, and over the next few days as I absorb its meaning I become so grateful that is seems to be exactly what I wanted and need. Part 2: - Im on day 15 now, and loving it. This program helps me make smart choices and stay away from the 100 calorie low fat junk food, yet allows me enough wiggle room for anything if I really desire it. I love the choices I am making and I am not hungry!!! I even feel good about the next week of holiday parties and family gatherings. I know that I can't begin to grasp the magnitude of change that your organization has to be prepared for undertake a change like this. Thank you so much for the bold new direction !!! Becky
ReplyDeleteFREE eTools for Lifetime members. . .that would be fantastic! ! ! I have been a lifetime member for 10 years, that would be a great perk.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I am new to WW, but have found success already. I love the challenge of staying within the points. I had only been a member for 2 weeks when the switch came, so it was a pleasant surprise to find extra points on my plan, as well as free fruit! I'm eating more of it now, and still losing. I also like making up recipes with fewer points, so here's one for eggnog:
ReplyDelete3 whole eggs, beaten with 2 Tbsp sugar and pinch of salt; use an electric mixer and beat them til light yellow...slowly add 2 C skim milk, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla, and heat slowly, stirring with a wire whip, until thickened slightly. Strain (to remove egg bits) and chill. To serve, fold in 2 Tbsp liquid egg whites (0 pt), whipped to stiff peaks, or use 1/4 C aerosol whipped cream (1 pt).
This gives a total of 12 points to the batch, and will make 3 servings, 4 pts each.
Dear Sabrina LeBlanc (and Dave)
ReplyDeleteI want to comment on your response on this blog regarding the Recipe Builder on eTools. I realize this may not be the correct forum but I don't know how else to reach you.
Thank you so much for your response about the recipe builder and I completely understand where Weight Watchers is coming from. The problem that I have with it is this. Weight Watchers eTools members are PAYING for the access to eTools (even Lifetime members). We should, therefore, expect a product that works COMPLETELY with the PointsPlus system. If a fruit is Zero Points Plus, it should be zero on the recipe builder. I understand that since Weight Watchers publishes its recipes in magazines/articles that can be seen by non-weightwatchers, the nutritional values have to be correct. But, MY RECIPES that I enter aren't going to be published. They are for MY use. I don't need to have the nutritional values of the apples I put in my recipe count because, under PointsPlus, they don't count or at least they are "built in" to the system as Weight Watchers created it. By having the recipe builder then give them pointsplus values it works against what you are teaching us. I should be getting a tool that works with the program I'm buying from Weight Watchers. Zero is zero. One solution I see is that I only enter the foods with pointsplus values into the recipe builder (leaving the zero point foods off the recipe) but that is forcing me to somehow finagle this to work with the PointsPlus system. We shouldn't have to finagle something we are paying for. It should work for your customers.
I realize that this is just one of the kinks you may have to work out of this system. I LOVE LOVE LOVE PointsPlus and I look forward to reaching my goal in 2011!!
Hey there, I have been a Weight Watcher for 11 years. In all that time, it has only been this year that I actually "stayed" for the meetings. I am extremely fortunate to have experienced talented, inspiring, dedicated, caring meeting leaders here in NYC, that truly "get it," and they have made all the difference.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you actually read posts from members somehow reinforces the passion I have for this company. (Our CEO "had" a blog until his elves had workload issues, and couldn't keep up with responses...)
Anyway, I have seen some press coverage for the PointsPlus program, and some news commentators question the validity of the program change, saying that WW is a business, so they "need" to make these kinds of changes. I know why the program changed, but can also see how WW needs to reinvent themselves every so often to ensure profits are met.
My Q to you: What's the biggest challenge about your job? How can you/do you balance the passion for providing a truly positive life-changing service with the need to make $ for investors?
Thanks for your time in reading this!
-danielle
This is my second journey with Weight Watchers. My first time around I got to within 5 lbs of goal before I quit. Life got in the way, you know how that is. I proceeded to put it all back on + 20 more. I started again in January of 09 so I am going on 2 years. I am 6 lbs from goal. I was really excited about the change because I was hoping that would be just what I needed to get me moving off this plateau. It hasn't happened yet. I am up 1 lb over the past 2 weeks with my weigh in on Friday. Change is good and I am still looking forward to hitting goal and then lifetime. I won't make it by my second anniversary but you know what, that's OK because I know I will make it.
ReplyDeleteI mostly like points plus but have a big problem with a part of it. Under the old system the breakfast and lunch I ate daily(yes I know, eating the same thing every day is boring but it works for me) each amounted to 6 points but under PP that total is nearly double, leaving me very few points for dinner since I only have 29 points daily. Where I almost NEVER used my weekly points before, I am now needing them daily. I was losing weight on the old system and I tend to eat mostly fruit and vegetables anyway so the new system is no incentive for me to eat more of them. But I do need some bread and cereal and the ones I use WERE 1 point each, now they are at least 3. I don't understand
ReplyDeleteLove the blog. Love the new program. I recently resigned from Weight Watchers as a Leader and Receptionist.
ReplyDeleteThe upper management and powers that be, should spend more time in the field, and not just highly concentrated areas... Staff are getting stressed and many are feeling absolutely under appreciated. For the job being an extremely part time job, staff need to feel that working for WW is worth their time. Most of the time the rewards are watching members blossom and grow, but it can be easily outweighed with the expectations, demands and treatment by fellow co-workers and members. Members are often critical and can certainly be cruel to staff when the scale doesn't move their way.
The plan works. It is not the staff's fault if people are not utilizing it properly. Yet the staff are the ones penalized. Its a position where we are basically volunteering our time. Yet we are on the receiving end of the negative.
Thank you for the new plan and putting in so much research into finding a plan that not only helps waistlines, but our overall health. No gimmicks. But I beg of everyone in upper management to spend more time being in the meetings, maybe run meeting themselves, to experience what the field workers do. Staff retention would last a lot longer if its worth it, feeling valued, being properly paid, etc.
Jean, while the PP values have gone up, your DPPT has gone up. While you can choose to keep the same breakfasts, perhaps find a better PP value for a breakfast. There are also the 0 point fresh fruits and most veggies that you can utilize. I struggled with maintaining, and now with the new program, I am losing weight, which I didn't think was possible. So the program can work if we work it properly. I use to make a reach of cereals in the morning but even before the new program rolled out, I was making a reach of higher lean proteins and fibers. Which usually was a boiled egg, low cal whole wheat toast and a piece of fruit. Am I busy and short for time? Yes. which is why I boil eggs ahead of time. Where ever there is an issue, there is a solution. Change takes time. If things seem a bit confusing, not embracing the new program, etc, perhaps get into a meeting, go to a getting started, etc. Last week a member gained weight and gave it another week, she found that she was combining the old program with the new, and that she had to track. Just give it time! It can work for you!
ReplyDeleteI am very excited for the new program. I haven't quite jumped in yet. I left for Disney the day after I went to the intro meeting (I made a special trip to go a day early since I would miss my normal meeting). Finally this week I spent hours looking up the points of all my favorite foods, and then retuning my daily food plan to work with the new points. I am shopping tomorrow and I hope to implement it next week, despite all the food challenges I too have in the next week.
ReplyDeleteI hope people bitch and moan, but I think this change is wonderful. I absolutely love being able to finish my 21 month old son's banana instead of throwing it away!
Sabrina and David,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the response. I appreciate it.
Sorry, no, I'm not going to cut the customer service team some slack. and neither should you: If your customer service team upsets your customers, you're going to lose customers. Asking for a little slack for them doesn't help the situation. It just leads to more upset customers who will eventually leave and speak poorly about their customer service experience for the rest of their lives.
Besides, I *did* cut them some slack. I asked my question again (as I stated above), far more carefully, and got an even more nonsensical answer.
On the other hand, you answered the question clearly and intelligently. I'm going to argue again that you gave a bad answer, but you understood the question and answered it.
So, here goes my last attempt. I have to say it again: not including "free" healthy power foods as "free" in the recipe builder DRIVES THE WRONG BEHAVIOR. It doesn't matter if you've done it since the start of WW, it's simply the wrong thing to do.
Take that carrot cake you mention. Say someone bakes a carrot cake WITHOUT carrots, and then eats the whole cake, because they go overboard. Now let's think about that for a second--if the cake had carrots in it, it would have counted for more points despite being ... um ... "less unhealthy," if that's a term, than the cake without carrots.
In other words, a cake made with the same ingredients, but missing the carrots, would come up as fewer points on your recipe builder. Oooooookaaaaay. Did you mean to tell me to not eat carrots in recipes? Because that's what MORE POINTS says.
Sorry, but carrots are still carrots, even when they're in carrot cake. It's the sugar, refined flour, and oil that make the cake unhealthy--and those would all be caught by the recipe builder. So your argument doesn't really hold water.
Your website consistently says that WW wants to drive "proper behavior" with the points plus system. My butternut squash and coconut milk soup would have been six points less per serving if it hadn't had butternut squash in it--but then I would have been drinking warmed coconut milk. Straight.
Somehow I think that having the squash in the coconut milk should be encouraged, not discouraged. Unfortunately, your recipe builder says I should have been drinking the coconut milk straight.
Fail #1: DISCOURAGING VEGETABLE USE IN RECIPES.
But that's NOT actually the problem. I figure that you're stuck in your rut and won't ever agree to my point--people get that way, they justify things the way they've been and can't change.
If you take it as given that you're not going to change the recipe builder to encourage vegetable use in recipes, then the problem becomes: the ingredients show up for zero points while building the recipe.
If you're going to count the points in the total, DON'T show zero for them in the recipe. The total should be the sum of the ingredients' points. Period. No excuses here, this is a display issue. Having two different numbers for things is confusing, but making it so that 0 + 0 + 0 + 12 = 30 is maddening and frustrating for your customers, not to mention kind of dumb.
Fail #2: 0 + 0 + 0 + 12 = 30.
Again, thank you for your time and consideration. It's difficult to hear real critique. If you can't tell, these posts take quite a bit of time and I am taking that time because I think constructive criticism might drive the right behavior. :)
Cheers,
-Jason
Hi Dave! Your blog is great. I've been on WW for 4 years and have lost about 54 pounds and just a few weeks ago got to a healthy BMI (yay!). I was super nervous about the new PointsPlus, but it is working fantastically! I was already used to eating lots of fruits and veggies (who ever stopped eating bananas??) so it is great that they are free. I would always shy away from adding berries to things (oatmeal, yogurt) and now I'm glad I don't have to. I have still been dropping the lbs and am less hungry than before which is awesome. And it IS really obvious that even some good for you processed foods have gone up (my Luna bars), but that's ok, I have been trying more and more to eat more whole foods. Anyway, thanks for the great blog!!
ReplyDeleteI ADORE Points Plus with every fiber of my being!! Thank you sooooo much! I have been doing it for 11 weeks (I'm a WW receptionist) and have lost 15 pounds!! And I don't even feel like I'm dieting. I'm so satisfied and so happy. I would NEVER go back to the old way. I'm eating so much healthier (instead of just low-calorie) and I don't feel restricted or deprived. I'm so proud of the choices I'm making. I had been at the very top of my weight range (and sometimes slightly over) for forever and it feels so good to finally see the scale moving down - and for me to be enjoying the process! I just want to say thanks, keep up the good work, the new plan ROCKS!!!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is great. This time of year is so hard for me at work, we have a food table that I have to walk past on my way to the printer, I think this week the cookies have been multiplying. Every time I walk past there are more and more. I haven't given in to the cookie taunts but I can hear them calling out. I'm just trying to make it hour by hour. Thank you WW for free fruit!
ReplyDeleteDear David,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your blog. It's a wonderful opportunity to engage, and I really appreciate it. I hope that you don't mind me continuing to push this point on the recipe builder--it's very important to me, personally.
Okay, here's a final example, and then I will give up and never speak of it here again, unless asked:
You can imagine building a wonderful chocolate cake in the recipe builder. Flour, sugar, butter...it's all there.
Now, think about building an apple pie in the recipe builder. Flour, sugar, butter...it's all there. Apples, too--say 8 large apples.
It's not hard to imagine that 8 large apples (25 points in the new system, I checked on the recipe builder) might actually make a slice of apple pie cost more points than a slice of chocolate cake. The two are certainly going to be comparable in points.
Yet I think everyone would agree that a slice of apple pie is healthier than a slice of chocolate cake.
Oh, sure, you could make the pie less healthy than a cake if you tried--add more butter, make the crust thicker, top it with whipped cream. But I'd say that, on the average, there's less sugar, a whole lot less flour, and a comparable amount of fat in the apple pie, which additionally is filled with tons of (presumably) fresh, wholesome fruit. On the average, it's way healthier than a piece of cake.
I believe that your recipe builder is discouraging the use of fruits and vegetables in home-made food.
The effect may not be large, but it is definitely there.
Thanks again.
Hi Dave !! Love your blog !! I am enjoying my "free" banana every morning !! It really satisfies me !! Thanks for taking the time to share your journey with us !!
ReplyDelete