Anyone joining the Weight Watchers program from November 2021 will be starting off on the new Personal Points plan. More information on this plan can be found on this post What is the New Weight Watchers plan?
The information below outlines the 3 different plans of the 'old' myWW plan and will soon be out of date if you are wanting to follow along with the most recent and up to date plan.
However, I know that there are still people who may like to follow along with the 'old' myWW plan (the Blue, Green & purple plans) for whatever reasons, so I am keeping this post live.
So if you are interested in the myWW plan and are asking yourself questions like 'What is the best Weight Watchers plan for me?', 'Which Weight Watchers plan is best for fast weight loss?', 'Will I lose more weight on the WW Blue plan or should I go with the Green plan or the Purple plan?', 'Which plan will allow me to eat all the foods that I like to eat?' Etc etc... then read on.
This guide will give you some suggestions to the advantages and disadvantages of each of the plans.
If you are still finding it difficult to make up your mind which of these great plans to choose, then I hope this helps.
Which WW plan is the best?
First of all let me say that no one WW plan is better than than the other!
Each of the plans has been designed to help people lose weight and nudge them into better eating habits.
There are 3 plans , WW Green plan, WW Blue plan & WW Purple plan and each have their own individual advantages and disadvantages!
Although no one WW plan is better than the other, it doesn't necessarily follow that no one plan is better for YOU than any of the other plans!
Some people thrive on the Green plan whilst others struggle with it, some people love the Purple plan for all its zero point foods whereas others struggle to lose weight on it due to portion control issues ..... and so on and so forth!
So the question really is 'Which Weight Watchers plan is the best for me?'
If you are completely new to WW then I'd suggest that you take a look at my simple guide 'What is the new Weight Watchers plan?' before you read on!
But if you are looking for some more information to help you decide which plan to start on, then read on!
The WW Blue Plan basics
On the Blue plan you will have
- A moderate daily SmartPoint allocation
- Over 200 zero point foods to choose from which includes fruits, vegetables, lean proteins (such as chicken) and fat free yogurt.
- An allocation of weekly SmartPoints (weeklies) that can be used throughout the week on anything that you like!
Is the WW Blue Plan best for you?
- The Blue plan is basically the same as the old Freestyle plan so if you liked that plan, then the Blue plan may be the one for you!
- If you like zero point foods but aren't someone who is tempted to overeat them, then this (or the Purple plan) may be the one for you.
- If you don't mind tracking then this may be a good plan for you.
- If you like high protein foods such as chicken, beans, eggs etc then you will like this plan.
- If you like a good balance of zero point foods and foods that you need to track then this may be the best plan for you.
- If you prefer to eat white pasta and rice rather than wholewheat pasta and brown rice then the Blue plan may be better suited to you.
Why might the WW Blue Plan not suit you?
- If you really like to eat carbs (especially carbs like wholewheat pasta, oats, brown rice and potatoes), then the Purple plan may be better for you than the Blue plan.
- If you tend to overeat zero point foods then you may find you get better results from the Green plan than the Blue plan.
- If you were a long term Weight Watcher who really didn't get on well with the Freestyle plan then take a look at one of the other plans.
More information about the WW Blue Plan!
You can find more detailed information on the the Weight Watchers Blue Plan including a list of zero point foods here?
The WW Purple Plan basics
On the Purple plan you will have
- A small daily SmartPoint allocation (the smallest of all the plans)
- Over 300 zero point foods to choose from which includes fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, fat free yogurt, wholewheat pasta, brown rice, potatoes & oats.
- An allocation of weekly SmartPoints (weeklies) that can be used throughout the week on whatever you want!
Is the WW Purple Plan best for you?
- The Purple plan may be best for you if you love foods such as fruit, vegetables, wholewheat pasta, brown rice, potatoes and high protein foods such as chicken and beans.
- If you really don't like tracking then this may be the best plan for you (although tracking really is highly recommended!)
- If you love carbs such as wholewheat pasta, brown rice and potatoes and aren't tempted to overeat them, then the Purple plan may be the best plan for you.
- If you are a long time Weight Watcher and loved the older simply filling / no count plans.
- If you are a keen cook and like to experiment with lots of zero point foods then this may be a great plan for you.
Why might the WW Purple Plan not suit you!
- If you are tempted to overeat zero point foods then you are better looking at one of the other plans rather than the Purple plan.
- If you like white pasta and white rice & don't want to give them up you may be better off looking at one of the other plans.
- If you like eating out a lot and want lots of SmartPoints to use for this, you may be better looking at one of the other plans.
- If you really don't like any of the zero point foods then this is probably not the plan for you!!
More information about the WW Purple plan.
You can find more detailed information on the the Weight Watchers Purple Plan including a list of zero point foods here?
The WW Green Plan basics
On the Green plan you will have
- A sizeable SmartPoint allowance (the biggest allocation of all of the plans!)
- Around 100 zero point foods (fruits and non starchy vegetables only)
- An allocation of weekly SmartPoints (weeklies) that can be used throughout the week on whichever foods or drinks you want!
Is the WW Green Plan best for you?
- If you tend to overeat zero point foods then this may be the best plan for you.
- If you love tracking, you'll love this plan!
- If you find that tracking everything you eat is the only way you can lose weight, then the Green plan may be the best for you.
- If you loved, and was successful on, some of the older WW plans such as Points Plus (which required that you track everything) then this may be the best plan for you.
- If you eat out a lot and like a variety in the foods that you can choose, this may be the best plan for you.
- If you like to eat processed food this plan gives you more SmartPoint to be able to do this.
- If you don't like many of the zero point foods then the Green plan may be the plan for you.
- Some 'fussy' eaters say that this is the best plan for them as they are able to use the sizeable SmartPoint allowance on the foods that they like.
Why might the WW Green Plan not suit you.
- If you HATE tracking then this really isn't the best plan for you .... unless this is a way to get you back into it and keep yourself accountable!
- If you eat a lot of zero point foods such as lean proteins, wholewheat pastas, brown rice, beans, potatoes etc then you will need to track them on the Green plan and so may be better suited to one of the other plans.
- If you would like a good selection of zero point foods to eat alongside your SmartPoint allowance then you may prefer to pick a different plan.
More information about the WW Green plan.
You can find more detailed information on the the Weight Watchers Green Plan including a list of zero point foods here!
Can I swap between the WW plans?
WW suggests that you stick with a plan for 2 weeks before changing to a different plan.
Once you have tried a plan for 2 weeks and still want to change for whatever reason, do it!
It's your plan - experiment and find out the plan that suits you best!
Good luck and I hope that this quick guide has helped in some way.
Please do look at the wealth of information that is available on the Weight Watchers website as that is what it is there for! To inform, inspire and help you with your WW journey.
Helena Zofchak says
Some days like today I am overeating I have been following the blue plan why do I overeat on some days. Helena
Anne says
Thank you for this. I've been on and off WW for years. The new blue plan that rewards eating veggies caused me to have a huge weekly smart point bank, which if I used I would certainly gain weight. I pretty much eat the same things I did for many years - lean protein, beans, lots of veggies. I lost weight consistently and was rewarded for rewarded exercise way more so than the new blue plan. This one rewards veggies which I eat anyway and always have. So, needless to say, I have lots no weight in a month on the new plan (coincidentally I was injured so couldn't exercise so clearly the added veggies did me no good even though my smart points stayed at around 50 per week that I didn't use). So, will switch to the green plan and track everything. Thanks again.