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New WW Changes for 2020

November 17, 2019   63 Comments

WW (formerly Weight Watchers) has made some big changes for 2020. WW always changes their program a little bit so 2020 is no exception.

New WW Changes for 2020

What happened to Freestyle? For the last two years, members have been following one program called WW Freestyle see New Weight Watchers Freestyle Review. Don’t worry Freestyle lovers - it is still here but has been rebranded as BLUE.

I will explain what blue means below.

What is the big WW Change for 2020?

CHOICES!! I wrote last year about the consensus from my readers that they wanted choices see: WW Program Choice. Members loved the old Simply Filling plan or thought PointsPlus was the best. Each of the plans had different strengths and weakness depending on what worked for you. Now, you can choose a plan (and even change it when you find it isn’t working).

All of the plans use SmartPoints (same as always) and Zero point foods BUT you get different numbers of SmartPoints and Zero point foods depending on which plan you join.

WW asks you many questions to help you (about food and exercise) to try to determine what plan is best for you but I think it comes down to these questions from the WW app:

What are the plans?

GREEN is the old SmartPoints plan for the folks who likes tracking and measuring most foods because you only get 100 Zero point foods. How many SmartPoints do you get? Well that depends on you, but I got 30 SmartPoints per day on this plan.

BLUE is Freestyle and it is for those who like having a long list of go-to foods and are willing to do some tracking. This plan has 200 ZeroPoint foods and I received 23 SmartPoints per day on this plan.

PURPLE is like the old Simply Filling. You get 300 ZeroPoint foods (wahoo!) but I only received 16 daily Smartpoints. Not a lot of tracking BUT you got to stick to the ZeroPoint foods.

Here is an example recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup that shows the difference in the SmartPoints values for each plan:

Green counts the chicken and wild rice, chicken broth and milk. The rest of the ingredients are zero points. Blue allows chicken to be zero points but it counts the wild rice, chicken broth, and milk. Purple only counts the chicken broth and the milk. Check out this delicious Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup.

Does this make sense? More free foods = less points BUT you get less points in your daily allowance (PURPLE). Less free foods equals more points for the recipe BUT you get more points in your daily allowance (GREEN).

Can you change plans? You can change plans when you want but WW suggests that you try a plan for two weeks before you switch. People used to do Simple Filling and then switch to PointsPlus so it makes sense that you might want to change.

What about Lifetime?

Lifetime is still alive and well at WW (even though they threatened to end it).

A Lifetime membership means that you can attend WW workshops for free once you get to your goal. Lifetime is attainable only by Workshop members. Obviously, if they can't see you then they can't verify you are telling them the truth - sorry online members.

You become a Lifetime Member after reaching your goal weight (a weight within the WW Healthy Weight Ranges or one determined by your physician and is at least 5 pounds less than your first recorded Workshop weight). After a six weeks Maintenance period that ends with you within 2 lbs (above or below) of your weight goal you are a Lifetime member. Obviously, you have to stay at that weight to keep going to meetings for free.

WW Pricing Changes

The biggest change is that if you sign up for 3 or 6 months for the pay-by-the-month Digital membership there is a charge to cancel - An early termination fee of $39.95 applies if you cancel during your 3-Month OR 6-Month Commitment Plan.

READ THE FINE PRINT PEOPLE!

The same goes for the Workshop & Digital offer but the number is $64.95 to cancel.

For coaching and digital there is no annual contract and they don’t charge you to cancel. I don’t know how they come up with these policies.

I would have liked to get a look at the cookbook that they are offering free with a 6-month contract but, alas, they were sold out. I will try to get my hands on it to review it because it looks good.

Some other cool WW features

You can use your Apple Watch, Fitbit, Withings, Misfit, Garmin, MapMyRun or Daily Burn to upload your activity into the WW app to get credit for your hard work at the gym (or walking around your block).

Wellness Wins is continuing as a way to help motivate the people who like to get stuff that support their healthy lifestyle (no boxes of chocolates).

There are memberships to some of Aaptiv’s features and Headspace as well. Aaptiv is a fitness app and here is my Headspace review.

What does this mean for Snack Girl?

I am going to try to update the favorite recipes as soon as possible. It is not an easy task (as you can imagine) because I have so many posts and there are THREE points values involved. ARGH!

If there are any recipes that you want me to recalculate sooner rather than later please let me know in the comment section.

Are you looking for a way to make following WW plans a breeze? Purple, Green, and Blue specific meal plans with the points included, delicious recipes, shopping lists, etc. You can sign up here - Slender Kitchen Meal Plans for either $8 per month or $48 for the year ($4 per month). Both subscriptions include a 14 day money back guarantee.

Snack Girl has an affiliate relationship with SlenderKitchen.com and receives a percentage of sales.

What do you think of WW changes for 2020? Please share your opinions.

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First 20 Comments: ( See all 63 )

I am a lifetime member of WW. Four years ago I was diagnosed with celiac. I wish WW would come up with a little help for those who must avoid gluten.

I used to love Simply Filling and did well while on it. So, I will try the Purple for the requisite two weeks and see how it goes. I miss my grains and oatmeal. Sure, I could factor them in on the Blue, but oatmeal was "expensive" FSP-wise if trying to reign in! Grains, too. I mean, brown rice was more than white rice! Go figure. And, Snack Girl, please don't stress yourself during the holiday season - that has enough stress already! We can calculate so long as you can include the nutritional info. This Thanksgiving (and always!) I am grateful for your wonderful information, support, and good humor you give to us. And, you are one of us - a busy Mom, wife, and regular person. Blessings to you and yours always!! Peace and Love!

Is Lifetime still free if you are at your goal? Does WW still do free Lifetime?

I am excited about the changes. I selected the green plan-smart points worked best for me and having more structure helps me. Was surprised that so many people in my group were sticking with blue but I guess having a choice is the point!

I joined Weight Watchers on SmartPoints and even worked for them for several years. SmartPoints worked for me. Everytime they changed the program,they stopped supporting the old programs that worked great for some so it made it hard to stay with it. I gained when it changed and more each time it did. So did others. It would consider rejoining if they support the old programs.

I wish ww would admit that they're in this for the money! Charging people to cancel us crazy! And they also offer little to no support to us lifetimers (because we don't bring in any money.)

Just want to clarify that the early termination fee is if you sign up for the LTC (Long Term Commitment=paying monthly). If you pay up front in full there is no termination fee for any of the plans.

Thanks for all your hard work. You are amazing!! WW Guide

Hi Snack Girl from Ireland ☘️🇮🇪☘️

Thank you for this update - and you’ve maybe guessed I’m going with The Green Plan.

I love the new possibilities and choices.

Me? I’m sticking to Freestyle. I’m continuing that love affair with Blue.

But, I love it that I can change any time I want. Well done, WW. You listened.

I have been a WW member for decades (what does that tell you?). So have ridden the roller coaster of many programs as they follow the latest research. Recently, as in 2016, when then introduced Smart Points, I was tremendously successful losing 40+ pounds in 4 months effortlessly. Then in combination with getting "cocky", major life changes including two moves, and WW going to Freestyle I fell and fell hard. I mean if I could "freestyle" my food and handle it I wouldn't need to be a Weight Watcher. So, I am thrilled to have Smart Points (Green) back and am happily tracking my 30 points. Since my return to the fold on Tuesday, I have shed 4 pounds!! GO GREEN....

For me, using points plus got me to goal weight. I’m not sure which color that syncs with.

I agree with Sheryl and Johnnie above. I worked WW on SmartPoints and did beautifully until they changed things up (again) and went to Freestyle. I also had a problem with disjointed, repetitive and boring meetings. I ditched WW, app and all, and moved to the ITrackBites app which has a program very similar to SmartPoints. ITB is also much more affordable, you can weigh when you like, and there are no monotonous meetings. WW almost felt like bait/switch since they had me on one program, upset the cart, and didn’t bother to continue to support the initial successful plan. Even mentioning a previous plan at a meeting was discouraged. Now SP is back as Green. Too little too late for me. WW left a bad taste in my mouth.

Yes WW still does free lifetime weight watchers. As long as you were a once a month are no more than 2 pounds above your goal. I get the free weight watcher app because I am at goal

Thanks for the comments and questions! I am updating the post above. WW has many moving parts so I didn't cover everything - but I am trying to make up for it.

I have been LT since 1994. Freestyle and menopause hit at the same time and did not do me any favors. I am thrilled that Green allows me to use my beloved Points Plus plan again and hopefully lose the 10 pounds I had gained.

I’m glad smart points are back. I will now go back to WW. I was at lifetime for two years. I stopped with free style and gained back half my weight loss. Hopefully now I’ll get back to lifetime.

Thank you for summarizing the plans. Please don’t stress about changing the recipes.

Bring back smart points because it worked for me. Bring back all the other programs and let the customer's pick which one is right for them. And I think you should also loose the cancelation fee if you cancel to early.

Snack Girl! You are awesome!

According to the WW recipe builder, the soup recipe is zero points on the Purple plan. But regardless of what plan you’re following, this soup sounds delicious!

For those asking about lifetime, you need to be Meetings + Digital. For those that are doing Digital only, that means that once you are close to your goal (last 5 lbs to lose), you would need to attend meetings and have the Workshop + Digital plan.

Directly from the WW site (Nov 17, 2019):

A Lifetime Member is a Workshop + Digital member who has achieved a weight goal that’s within the Healthy Weight Ranges (or above the weight ranges if a note from a physician has been provided) after a 6-week Maintenance period, where they remain active paid members.

* After that, they must remain within 2 pounds of that goal weight and weigh-in at least once per calendar month.

* If the member is not within 2 pounds of their ultimate weight goal on week 6, they can continue their paid membership until they are within 2 pounds of their goal weight.

* If the member chooses to adjust his/her goal weight during the 6-week Maintenance period, s/he must restart the 6 weeks of Maintenance.

* In selecting a goal weight, all adults regardless of age, can choose a weight between the minimum and the maximum weight for adults.

*Lifetime membership is only available to Workshop + Digital members. A Digital member wishing to become Lifetime must lose at least the last 5 pounds in the meeting room and complete the 6 weeks of Maintenance.

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