How to Do Weight Watchers for Free

Updated: January 2, 2021 by MomsWhoThink Staff | Leave a comment

A step by step plan with all the tools you need to follow the Weight Watchers Plan.

How to Do Weight Watchers for Free

Weight Watchers is a great program because it’s not really a diet in the traditional sense. You don’t limit any specific foods, you just watch your portions and count points.

I have used both the at-home online program and the meetings based program. While the meetings definitely helped, they were difficult to fit into my schedule and my budget. The online program seemed simple enough, but the major reason for paying for it was to use their mobile tools. Unfortunately they failed. A lot. Their support for the app was non-existent which meant I had to use other online calculators to count my points. I really wasn’t using the other features of the paid online program (recipes and forums), so the cost wasn’t justified.

There are a few plans to choose from, but the fact is that they’ve all been successful in helping people lose weight. The newest one includes more “free foods”, but it lowers your daily point total. The bottom line is this…you just need the number of points you should be eating and a way to calculate them accurately. This is all available free.

To get the benefit of following the Weight Watchers plan for free, just follow these steps.

Choose Your Version

First choose the program you’re going to follow. You’ll use that choice to determine how to calculate the foods you eat. I use Smart Points because it is designed to lower your sugar intake. I’m a sugar addict, so I chose this one. My sister swears by the previous program, PointsPlus, and is losing weight while on it.

Get Your Daily Points Allowance

Your next step is to get your daily points allowance. I used this calculator : http://www.calculator.net/weight-watchers-points-calculator.html

It is accurate based on what I was assigned when I went to meetings, and also when I checked it against the electronic Smart Points calculator I bought at a meeting. The page also has other helpful calculators and charts for general points allowances.

Once you get your daily points allowance, you add 49 points as weekly flexible / extra points. These are given to you so that you can still enjoy dinners out, social occasions, and your favorite foods without obsessing over every bite. You don’t have to use any of them, or you can use just some, or you can use them all. They are there for you to use as needed. As you lose weight, revisit the calculator to see if your daily points allowance has decreased. As you lose weight, you’ll lose allowed points, but not much (one or two a day). I check it after each 10 pound weight loss.

Calculate the Points Value of Foods

Once you have your daily points target, you need to figure out the points value of the foods you eat. To track foods you’re eating and calculate the points value of each food, you can use the one of the calculators on the site I linked to above, or this one (I prefer it because it’s just the points calculator, and I have it saved on my phone’s home screen) : http://www.calculatorcat.com/health/weight-watchers-calculator.html

Fruits and vegetables are 0 points, so load up on those throughout the day. The only vegetables that aren’t zero points are starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn. You do need to count the points in those as you would any other food.

Write Down What You Eat

Use a notebook or print out these free points tracking charts : https://www.laaloosh.com/wp-content/uploads/weight-watcher-food-journal.pdf to track your foods.

That’s it! With the above online points calculating tools and tons of free online recipes (my favorite WW recipe site is https://www.laaloosh.com ) and food lists, it’s easy to do Weight Watchers for free and lose weight.