How to Calculate Weight Watchers Points

You can calculate the Weight Watchers point value for food items or meals if you know the formula and know where to look. Follow these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Weight Watcher's calculator

Calculate the Point Value Yourself

1. Look at the food item's packaging or lable for nutrional values. Divide the calories by 50.

2. Divide the total fat grams by 12.

3. Add the values from Steps One and Two to get the value of "X."

4. Divide the dietary fiber grams by 5 to equal "Y."

5. Take "X minus Y" to find the point value of the food item. Round up values higher than .5 and round down for values lower than .5.

Determine the Point Value with the Weight Watchers Calculator

6. Purchase s Weight Watchers calculator from their website.

7. Push the "compute food" button.

8. At the prompt, enter the calories, the fat and the fiber amounts for the food item. Push "Enter" after each entry.

9. The calculator will give you the point value and you can choose to subtract that amount from your daily allotted points by pushing "Enter" again at the end.

Tips & Warnings

• Refer to the Weight Watchers books, "The Complete Food Companion" and "The Dining Out Companion," to find point values of common foods (this is especially useful when eating fruits and vegetables or anything without a label) and restaurant dishes.
• Visit the Weight Watchers website to find values for foods. You also can input and track the values of food items not listed in the Weight Watchers database. You can do this when you subscribe to Weight Watchers eTools, attend the organization's meetings or become an online member of Weight Watchers.
• Weight Watchers also makes snacks and meals with point values listed on the front of the package.

Resources

• Weight Watchers website

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[ravenheart17]

on 8/10/2009 Anyone know where I can get the point value for a 6" turkey sub from Blimpies? I ordered the WW Momemtum kit on eBay but in the interim, need to know how many points to log in for today's lunch since there wasn't any labels attached.

[kenfhill84083]

on 4/28/2009 I find the simplest quick-and-dirty way to figure points is by starting at the bottom of the food label:1. multiply fiber by 2 (if 4 or more on label, use 8)2. determine which is higher, fat or doubled-fiber2a. if fat is higher, you will later add to calories2b. if doubled-fiber is higher, you will later subtract from calories3. find difference between fat and fiber4. multiply difference by 55. subtract from or add to calories6. round to nearest 507. divide by 50 -- that is the pointsfor example, if you have a food that is 135 calories, 2.5 g of fat, and 2 g of fiber:1. fiber times 2 -- 2 * 2 = 42. 4 is larger than 2.5 (subtraction follows)3. difference between fat and fiber = 4 - 2.5 = 1.54. 1.5 * 5 = 7.5 (or round to 7 or 8)5. 135 calories - 7.5 = 127.56. round to 1507. 150 / 50 = 3 pointsIt sounds more complicated than it is with a little practice. It is not as accurate as the real f

[nicolesk]

on 11/7/2008 I use this online points calculator at http://watcherspoints.com. It's free, folks!

[DoraJarvis]

on 8/26/2008 WW only counts the first 4 grams of fiber in a serving, so the most that fiber can reduce the number of points is 4/5 or .8. Without this limit (which was not there when the point system was first introduced), some really high-fiber foods (like legumes) calculated to zero or even negative point values!

[cherry3648]

on 1/1/2008 I have looked all over the internet trying to fond the WW point formula. This is the first article that broke it down enough for me to undertsand it. Thanls!