7 Things I Do NOT Like about Weight Watchers The Holy Mess 😏 (2024)

As much as I love the WW points system and have had great weight loss success with it, there are a few big things I do NOT like about Weight Watchers. Here’s why.

Are you a WW member who has had frustrations with the points program or other aspects of the diet? Read my take and the share your thoughts in the comments below.

Note: This article was originally written about the WW Personal Points plan and has been updated for the new WW Program 2024.

I’m a WW Success Story

Before I delve into my tirade of complaints, let me be clear that I’m a WW fan girl and this post doesn’t change that. I love the WW system and I believe in it. I recommend it to people all the time and will continue to do so.

I’m maintaining a 120 pound weight loss with Weightwatchers and have been for almost 20 years.

I still track in the WW app every single day. Honestly, I could probably maintain with mindful eating these days and track less, but why? It only takes me a few minutes, it keeps me accountable and I (gasp!) enjoy it.

But there are also things about WW that bug me. I don’t work for WW and they don’t pay me anything, so I get to be fully honest.

If you are a WW member or have used Weight Watchers in the past, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

7 Things I Dislike about WW

As much as I love the WW program, here are my biggest complaints.

1. Personal Points Variations Between People – {CORRECTED with the WW Plan for 2024}

I’m happy to say that WW has corrected this issue with the new Weightwatchers plan for 2023. Way to go, WW.

The Personal Points system was cool. When you join, you take a quiz and the Weight Watchers smart engine gives you a plan with your daily points, weekly points, and an individualized zero point food list. (Click here to see the points quiz in action.)

I actually think the system as a whole is some pretty sweet AI (artificial intelligence) technology, and I love that the program is unique for each individual.

The trouble is, I miss the community we all shared as WW members. A big aspect of weight loss is sharing together, which research supports. I feel like something’s missing in WW support groups when people share a recipe that worked for them and no one knows how many points it will be depending on your individual PP plan.

It’s selfish of me, but as a website owner I miss being able to say a recipe is zero points or 6 or 12 points, or at the least listing out the points for Blue, Green, and Purple.

With Personal Points it seems like there’s a lot more necessity to calculating recipes individually with the recipe builder in the WW app, and that’s a pain in the butt. I’ve done my best to do that work for my readers (see the example in this recipe card) but it’s still a big hassle.

2. Earning Points for Vegetables. {CORRECTED with the WW Plan for 2023}

I’m happy to say that WW has corrected this issue with the new Weightwatchers plan for 2024. Way to go, WW.

With the new Personal Points system, for every 1 cup of vegetables you eat, you earn 1 extra point.

The jury’s still out for me on this one to be honest, but overall I think it’s not the best idea to earn points for vegetables.

I understand the philosophy behind it. Most Americans are way overconsuming junk food (too much fat and sugar and way too many calories) and under-consuming healthy produce that has fiber, water content, vitamins and minerals.

I know WW bases it’s points calculations (at least partially) on the concept of calorie density, which means that a person eats about the same weight of food each day in pounds. If you reduce the calorie density of the food a person consumes, they will lose weight.

But I also see where the idea of earning back food in any way isn’t a great idea. For people who are heavy produce eaters (like me), at some point you might see diminishing returns with this method.

As a former binge eater, I can cram down huge volumes of food. When I first started Weight Watchers, for dinner I would eat 2 serving-bowl size portions of free cabbage soup, a massive plate of stir fry, and top it off with a couple WW frozen desserts. That could be 8+ vegetable servings, but my body doesn’t need 8 points worth of additional food. If anything, my body was stuffed.

I’ve talked to other WW members who are heavy veggie eaters who finish out the day with 8-10 points to spare. They find themselves tempted to delve into extra evening snacks because, “I’ve got the points for it.”

You might say, “Just don’t eat the extra points,” but these situations can mess with your head. WW claims that the program works as written, so in theory a person should be able to eat all those points and still lose weight.

I also think earning points for vegetables can push people into disordered food thoughts. I’m not one who buys into the whole theory that all foods are created equal (because hello, carrot cake is not carrots), but I also have personally learned to love vegetables for what they do for my body. I crave them now and eat them with every single meal, but I don’t eat them as a reward so that I can later earn junk food.

The jury is still out for me here.

Maybe the new PP veggie rule will motivate most people to eat lower calorie density and I will stand corrected.

3. Earning Points for Water. {CORRECTED with WW Plan for 2023}

I’m happy to say that WW has corrected this issue with the new Weightwatchers plan for 2023. Way to go, WW.

Drinking water for weight loss is way over-hyped in the weight loss world.

Sure, you need to be hydrated. Everyone does. But guzzling cups of water does nothing for your weight loss efforts except maybe earn you a few extra steps for running to the bathroom.

No amount of water you drink will negate any calories you consume.

I’ve lost over 100 pounds and I don’t chug gallons of water. I drink for thirst and that’s about it.

Thankfully WW system in 2022 only allows for up to 1 point per day earned for drinking water. That’s not much but it’s not nothing, either. You could potentially earn 30 extra points for water-drinking which I believe will do your weight loss no favors.

4. WW Food Products & How They Market Them

In 2018, Weight Watchers change their name to WW and claimed that as they were moving to a wellness model, their food products would include fewer artificial ingredients and more real foods.

I’m still waiting.

I’m not sure where WW is headed with this but so far I’m not seeing it in 2022. Their WW snack bars and new candy bars are a classic example. These bars are really just glorified mini-sized candy bars and have processed ingredients like carrageenan, fractionated palm kernel oil and maltitol syrup at the top of the list.

Instead of WW junk food, you (and your wallet) are better off eating a regular mini candy bar, or if you prefer the no sugar route, products like ChocZero and Lily’s chocolate have fewer weird ingredients.

WW has always been good at marketing their food products. I’ll never forget back in the 1990s when my dad and I were dieting together. We bought some WW frozen cheesecakes and were shocked when we got home and opened the box. Inside were two tiny treats that appeared only big enough to feed a Barbie doll.

At meetings, members line up in stocking feet to wait for their weigh in (most having skipped breakfast), where WW has cleverly lined the shelves next to the scales with snacks like popcorn, chips, and protein bars.

WW, as a leader in the weight loss industry, you need to do better. Americans are recognizing that our food supply has issues that are leading to our collective weight gain. Let’s bring back real, whole foods that don’t trick our appetite into craving more.

5. Lack of Support for Goal Weight & Lifetime

When I reached my WW goal weight, I started the 6 week period where you need to maintain in order to reach Lifetime status. (WW Lifetime and at goal means that you get the WW system for free, which is an amazing perk.)

I was shocked when I got to goal and there was…nothing for me.

The weigh-in person gave me a few tips, and the WW coach gave me kudos in the meeting, but that was that. There were no little booklets or flyers about how to maintain. There’s nothing especially different or helpful for Lifetime on the WW website or in the app.

The advice to “keep doing what you’ve always done” really doesn’t work because maintaining requires a different skill set than weight loss.

Thats why I recommend regular diet breaks during weight loss to practice maintenance and why I’ve created a Maintainers support group inside the Faithful Finish Lines program.

I also find it annoying that Lifetime membership isn’t available to digital-only members. Surely there’s some way to prove that the weight loss is legit in today’s online-focused world.

6. Closed Down Meetings

This complaint is a shout-out to the hundreds of readers who have reach out to me to share their frustration that Weight Watchers has closed down meetings in their area.

Like most businesses, WW was forced to shut down all their meetings during quarantine. Meetings have been re-opened, but thousands stayed closed following the lockdown. I understand that WW is a business and does what it needs to do, but this has been a real problem.

These days I’m a digital-only member so this doesn’t affect me, but I totally understand their frustration when the closest meeting and weigh-in is 100 miles away. This is especially impactful to Lifetime members who need to weigh in at a WW workshop in order to maintain their status.

One thing I will say in WW’s favor is that their new virtual workshops through the WW app are the bomb. You can attend a WW meeting on zoom almost any hour of the day, 7 days a week, and you can attend as many online meetings as you want.

Need extra support? Attend a meeting every single day. Feeling like you want to binge? Within minutes you can be in a meeting getting the help you need.

7. High Points for Peanut Butter

I really can’t fault WW for updating their points system to more accurately reflect the impact of specific foods, but I’m crying that peanut butter (one of my most-loved foods) is now 7 points for 2 tablespoons.

When you only get 19 points in a day, 7 points is a heavy hit. Sure, I could use PB2 powdered peanut butter and I do sometimes, but it’s not the same.

Peanut butter is an important food to notice because Weight Watchers has always been a low calorie, low fat plan. Even healthy fats jack up the points with the WW points system, and with the rise in Keto and higher-fat, lower-carb diets, people have questioned the validity of this.

Perhaps WW is starting to shift too, because for the first time avocado was a free food (0 point) with the Personal Points plan. Note: Avocado has points now with WW 2023, so that change didn’t last, but I still believe it was a step in the right direction.

Here at The Holy Mess, I will continue to sing the praises of the WW system. I’ll recommend it to people who email me. I won’t by shy about telling you my frustrations, either. That way, you can make an informed decision to create a weight loss lifestyle to get to your goal weight and stay there for life.

What do you like and not like about the WW program? Share in the comments below.

More WW Resources for You

WW 7 Day Basic Meal Plan (with free printable)

What is the WW Blue Dot?

Why Does Fruit in Smoothies Have Points? (And Other Questions WW Members Ask)

7 Day Super Satisfied Meal Plan with Bonus! Weight Loss Cheat Sheets

Top 10 WW Meal Prep Lunches

15 Easy Supper Weight Loss Recipes – Cookbook