Move over SmartPoints, there's a new Weight Watchers point system in town: Freestyle Points! Now before you groan and start thinking about how it's going to be a pain to learn a new system, let me tell you that this change should be easy and relatively painless. And as always, FastFoodNutrition.org is here to help. We have published the complete list of Freestyle Points for every fast food restaurant!
While Freestyle Points might sound like a completely new point system, it's actually a small tweak to the existing SmartPoints system. There are two key differences between the old and new Weight Watchers point values. First, many healthy foods that used to cost you points no longer need to be tracked. Weight Watchers says that this change should make it easier for members to keep track of their points when they cook at home.
The second change is that you can no rollover points. The idea is that if you eat lightly one day, you can rollover up to 4 unused Freestyle Points to the next day. That gives you more flexibility, making the program a bit easier to follow.
And that's it! Under the new Freestyle points system, not a single item has gone up in points!
What foods are now zero points? I'm glad you asked! All of the zero points foods from the SmartPoints program (mostly vegetables) continue to be zero points in the Freestyle Points program. New additions to the list of zero point foods include skinless chicken breast, skinless turkey breast, ground chicken or turkey (as long as it's 99% fat free), a variety of beans (including black, fava, butter, cannellini, green, garbanzo [chickpeas], great northern, kidney, lima, snap, soy, string, wax, white and more), egg whites, whole eggs (meaning the yoke and the whites. Just a yoke will still cost you points) and fish (including anchovies, sea bass, carp, catfish, cod, eel, halibut, perch, pike, trout, salmon, snapper, sole, tuna, whitefish and more).
What does the new Freestyle Points system mean for fast food? Well, if you're hoping that now you can go eat a tasty burger with fries, you'll be sadly disappointed. None of the new zero points foods are generally included in a burger and fries, so the Freestyle points for that meal will remain the same as the SmartPoints. However, where you will see a big change is in salads with grilled chicken breast and breakfast foods that contain eggs. Another big winner is your chicken burrito from Chipotle. Now that the chicken and the beans are both zero points, the Freestyle Points of your burrito will be significantly lower than the SmartPoints.
Now that you know what Weight Watchers Freestyle Points are, let's look up some point values for your favorite fast food menu items! To get started, choose a restaurant and then select the "Weight Watchers" tab.