If there’s one thing that will fuel people to watch what they eat, it’s rewarding them with prizes. The actual weight loss, while extremely fulfilling, isn’t enough for some, and that’s okay. That’s why Weight Watchers has revamped its program. The new WW‘s WellnessWins program, as part of its new wellness-focused outlook, does a lot more than track what you eat. Here’s a breakdown of what the program is like now.
What is the WellnessWins program?
If you’re on WW, and you’ve updated your app, WellnessWins should show up under the Journey tab. Every time you track your meals or go to a workshop (what meetings are now called), you’ll get WellnessWins, which you can put toward rewards. Each meal counts for five wins, tracking activity gets you five wins, and attending a workshop is 50. Rewards start at 1,500 wins and include prizes like workout gear (starting at 1,500 wins), cookbooks (starting at 1,500 wins), and credits for things like ClassPass (3,000 wins) and Rent the Runway (4,000 wins).
Getting to 1,500 wins might sound like it’ll take a while, but let’s break it down. You can earn 20 WellnessWins every day and an additional 50 for the workshop every week. If you’re tracking everything, you’ll have 190 WellnessWins each week, which means you can earn your first reward after only eight weeks.
Okay, but what can you eat?
With this latest version of WW, the way you track your eating hasn’t changed. WW uses “SmartPoints,” and you are allotted at least 23 per day. Fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and beans are all zero points, meaning you can eat as much of that as you want; however, fats or carbs will cost you points. For instance, one teaspoon of butter is two points, a bag of Baked Lays is four points, and a side of rice equates six points. Here’s what a typical, healthy day of eating looks like.
- Breakfast (7 SmartPoints): Scrambled egg omelet with all the veggies you want (0 SmartPoints), 1 slice of toast (2 SmartPoints) with 1 teaspoon of butter (2 SmartPoints), small nonfat latte (3 SmartPoints)
- Midmorning Snack (o SmartPoints): Any fruit your heart desires (0 SmartPoints)
- Lunch (8 SmartPoints): Turkey sub (about 7 SmartPoints), cup of fruit (0 SmartPoints), side salad with balsamic vinaigrette (1 SmartPoint)
- Afternoon Snack (0 SmartPoints): Carrots and plain nonfat Greek yogurt to dip (0 SmartPoints)
- Dinner (7 SmartPoints): Grilled chicken breast (0 SmartPoints), sautéed veggies with 1 teaspoon olive oil (1 SmartPoint), side of rice (6 SmartPoints)
What else has changed with WW?
The real change with this edition of WW is the push toward a focus on wellness. We recently spoke with WW’s CEO Mindy Grossman about the focus of WW turning more toward wellness. She said it’s something she felt was a long time coming. “We want this to be a journey of health, whatever that means for each person.”
In addition to adding WellnessWins to the program, WW has also partnered with Headspace to offer tailored meditation for WW members, directly through the WW app at no extra charge. Grossman said she’s well aware that being healthy includes so much more than just your body, so she felt it was important to incorporate mind health in this new iteration of WW as well.
The root of WW is the same as it’s always been: It isn’t a diet plan. It’s a lifestyle change and a way to be healthy, and WW has figured out that there is so much more to health than just losing weight and watching what you eat. So much of your overall wellness actually starts in your mind and with your mental health, which is why we’re excited to see how the Headspace meditations work to bring zen to everyone on the plan.
And WW has finally figured out that some people are just motivated by stuff. Good-old stuff that comes in the mail and didn’t (kinda sorta) cost any money beyond the program we’re already paying for, which starts at just $3.30 per week for the digital-only program and goes up to $12.92 per week for the digital plan, workshops, and coaching.
Have you tried WW’s new WellnessWins? Tweet us your comments @BritandCo and make sure to follow @WW on Instagram for plenty of healthy recipe ideas.
(Photos via WW)
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