5 Best Tools of Weight Watchers
The Weight Watchers program tools are what has made it a successful plan for me. The program itself provides guidance on how to lose weight the smart way, not with some crash diet that leaves you starving. It also provides the necessary technology tools to make it an easy program to follow.
Having been on Weight Watchers a dozen different times in my life, I’ve found the most recent plans and tools easiest to follow and use. Weight Watchers does a good job of utilizing technology to make the plan easier to follow. While not perfect, it does listen to its users and adapt to meet their needs.
Weight Watchers has helped me successfully lose 70 pounds and keep it off. The most important thing with any weight loss program is to find something that works for you long-term. Weight Watchers changes their program regularly so you have to be able to adapt and roll with it over time. I lost my weight on a previous program, Beyond the Scale. When Freestyle came out it was a bit of a struggle for me.
I learned that I needed to adapt it to meet my needs. I used what I’d learned previously on Weight Watchers and adapted the current program to fit my personal journey. You can read more about how I make the program work for me in my blog post How I Make Weight Watchers Work For Me. If you’re just starting out on Weight Watchers I suggest following it as written; however, know that you can always adapt it to better match how you eat.
The most recent Weight Watchers program is called Freestyle and is the easiest to date. It offers a huge list of zero points foods that you can eat without having to track. The idea is to get you to build your meals around high quality lean protein, fruits and vegetables.
That’s not to say that things like pasta, pizza, or dairy products can’t be consumed. They can all be incorporated using Weight Watchers, but those are the items you must track. You can read more details on the current Weight Watchers program in my blog post Weight Watchers: A Review.
Weight Watchers offers so many online tools and resources that are critical to success. The top 5 Weight Watchers tools are:
Tool #1: Food Lists
A comprehensive list of foods and Points values can be found online on the Weight Watchers site. You type in the food you’re looking for in the Search bar and it provides you with all the information you need to track your food.
Tool #2: Meal Tracker
Tracking of food is all done online, although you can always write things down with pen and paper if you really want to. The tracking screen on Weight Watchers is similar in both the Desktop version and the Mobile version:
Tool #3: Create Food
Creating your own food items. While the Weight Watchers food database is extensive, it may miss a product here and there. This feature allows you to add your own food items in using the Create Food option.
Tool #4: Point Scanner
The Points Scanner allows you to scan items in the grocery store using the barcode on the package. Based on the item’s barcode, Weight Watchers can tell you what the product is, associated nutrition information, and Points values. This comes in handy when you’re grocery shopping and not sure if something you want to buy is Points-friendly.
Again, the database doesn’t have every single food item out there so there may be times when you can’t find the points using the scanner and have to enter the information in yourself. Overall this is a VERY handy tool!
Please Note: I scanned Post Its which I know do not have a Points Value. This was for demonstration purposes only.
Tool #5: Recipe Builder
My absolute favorite feature of Weight Watchers is the Recipe Builder. When you cook it’s difficult of figure out the Points value for each individual ingredient or the Points value per serving. The Recipe Builder provides you with the ability to create and save your own recipes using your favorite ingredients and then providing you with the number of Points per serving. The Recipe Builder gives you the flexibility to make the Weight Watchers system work for you using the recipes you know and love.
I sometimes hear from people that the app is confusing or doesn’t make sense or that they don’t know how to work all the features. Fear not friends, I have created a free How-To for how to use the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder on your phone’s app. It walks you through the process step-by-step, highlighting where to go and what to click on every step of the way. To get this free How-To, scroll down and sign up below. It’s a great way to help you get started!
I will be a Weight Watcher for life. It’s something I’ve committed to and will continue to use to maintain my weight loss. I have inspired many friends and family to try it as well. All have loved it and realized success on the program. Losing weight is not an easy thing to do. When you have a program like Weight Watchers that allows you to eat the foods you love and still lose weight, why wouldn’t you give it a try?
