by Sky Wyatt

Created on: November 02, 2009

Weight Watchers is one of the most popular diets out there and it really works. I know because my sister has lost 10 pounds in three weeks and her husband has lost 20 pounds in three weeks. The point system is actually a great way to do a diet. Because it is based on points, you can eat anything there is out there as long as you don't go over your daily/weekly points. Now here's how they decide how many points you get:

1. Are you
female?- score 2
Male?- score 8
A nursing mom?- score 12

2. How old are you?
17-26- score 4
27-37- score 3
38-47- score 2
48-58- score 1
over 58- score 0

3.What do you weigh?
Enter the first two digits of your weight in pounds.
(for example, if you weight 199, you will add 19 to your score)

4. How tall are you?
Under 5'1- score 0
5'1-5'10- score 1
Over 5'10- score 2

5. How do you spend most of your day?
Sitting down? score 0
Occasionally sitting? score 2
Walking most of the time? score 4
Doing physically hard work most of the time? score 6

Then, you add the points from each of these questions to get your daily points value. So if you are a 300 pound, 25 year old man that is 6'0 that spends most of his day sitting down, then your daily point value would be 44. You need to take this test every week or two as you lose weight to determine the correct number of points you should have. This man's ideal weight is about 180, so he will want to stop when he gets to his ideal weight.

You also have 35 weekly points. These serve as a cushion in case you go over you daily points.

You can also earn extra daily or weekly points by doing some sort of activity such as walking and putting it in the activity points section. It asks you what the activity was, how long you did it, and how intense it was.

Also, each food has a point value. If you are a member of weight watchers you simply put in the grams of fat, the grams of fiber, and the calories. For those of you who aren't a member, you can still figure up the points, it just takes a little bit of work. To do the math yourself, here are the steps. First divide the calories by 50, keep that number. Then, divide the fat grams by 12, keep that number. Then, divide the dietary fiber grams by 5, keep that number. Lastly, add the calories number to the fat grams number, then subtract the fiber number. This will give you a decimal number. Round the decimal up if it is higher than 5. That will be your points for the food product

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