New Weight Watchers Freestyle Program

Hey y’all, as you may have already heard, there is a new Weight Watchers program rolling out this week called Freestyle. The new Weight Watchers Freestyle program still uses SmartPoints and keeps a lot from the previous Beyond the Scale program, but there are also some major changes you’ll want to be aware of if you’re a Weight Watchers member or are considering joining.

I was lucky enough to be given early access to the program materials by Weight Watchers, so I’m excited to share all the details here for you! This post will cover what’s new about the Freestyle plan, what’s staying the same, how the program changes will affect the recipes on my site and my thoughts about the program update.

While the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program rolls out today, don’t be alarmed if you’re not seeing the changes yet when you log in on the site or your app. You will receive the program update on your weigh in day, so you may still have a few more days on Beyond the Scale depending on when you weigh in.

I know program changes can be scary (when Weight Watchers switched from PointsPlus to SmartPoints two years ago, many members were alarmed), but I think you’ll find a lot is the same and the changes may actually make the program feel more flexible with your lifestyle. Don’t panic! Without further ado, here are the details for the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program…

What’s New:

• There are more free/zero point foods! On the previous plan, most fruits and vegetables were zero SmartPoints (they still are!) but now Weight Watchers has added a whole bunch of new foods to the “free” list. These foods don’t need to be tracked or measured. Here’s what is zero SmartPoints on the new Freestyle plan:
  • Fresh and frozen fruit without added sugar, and canned fruits in water or sugar-free syrup (this has not changed)
  • Most fresh and frozen vegetables and those canned without oil or added sugar (this has not changed – excludes some vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocados, olives)
  • Peas – NEW! (includes chickpeas, sugar snap, snow, split, black-eyed)
  • Beans – NEW! (includes black, kidney, edamame, fat free refried, pinto, bean sprouts, soy beans)
  • Lentils – NEW!
  • Corn – NEW! (includes sweet corn, corn on the cob, baby corn)
  • Skinless Chicken Breast – NEW! (includes whole or ground chicken breast – if ground make sure it is breast meat only/98% fat free or higher)
  • Skinless Turkey Breast – NEW! (includes whole or ground turkey breast – if ground make sure it is breast meat only/98% fat free or higher)
  • Tofu – NEW!
  • Eggs and Egg Whites – NEW!
  • Nonfat Plain Yogurt – NEW! (includes traditional, Greek, Icelandic, Soy)
  • Fish and Shellfish, skinless – NEW! (includes fresh, frozen, canned, and smoked without added fat or sugar)
• Your daily SmartPoints allowance will change. To balance out all the new zero point foods, your daily points will be recalculated (still according you your age, height, weight and gender). It appears to me that many members who were at 30 daily points on the previous plan will now be given 23 SmartPoints per day on the Freestyle plan, but that may not be the case for everyone. If you’re a current member, your daily points will be recalculated this week on your weigh in day.
• Introducing Rollover Points! On the Freestyle plan, you can roll over up to four unused daily points into your weekly points allowance to be used as extras whenever you like for the remainder of the week. For example, if you know you have a big event coming up later in the week, you can bank up to 4 unused points per day in the days leading up to it to make sure you have plenty of points to indulge at your event. To make use of this you’ll want to be sure you’re filling up on plenty of zero point foods on the days you’re banking extra points.

What’s the Same:        

• SmartPoints – The new Weight Watchers Freestyle program still uses SmartPoints with the same calculation, so the majority of foods (with the exception of the new zero point items) will keep the same SmartPoints. SmartPoints are calculated based on calories, saturated fat, sugar and protein. Saturated fat and sugar will increase a food’s SP value while protein will lower the SP value.
• Weekly Points Allowance – while your daily points allowance will recalculate to make room for the new zero point foods, your weekly points will not differ based on the program changes.