Weight Watchers Daily Point Quiz
The first step to a healthier you when doing Weight Watchers is to calculate how many points you are allowed each day. To find your daily point allowance simply take the short quiz below and calculate your totals. Remember that 18 is the least amount of points allowed in a day and 44 is the most. If you are new to Weight Watchers and are not sure how the program works, you can find an article here that explains the basics of how to do it.
Please note: This quiz is for the old POINTS plan (prior to December 2010). The new PointsPlus plan makes it a little more difficult to calculate your daily PointsPlus Target. At this time, to calculate your target you basically have 3 options – they will give it to you at your meeting, get it online using E-Tools or purchase a new PointsPlus Calculator
Here is the old POINTS quiz: (Prior to December 2010)
1. Sex:
Female — 2pts
Male — 8pts
2. Age:
17-26 — 4pts
27-37 — 3pts
38-47 –2pts
48-58 — 1pt
Over 58 — 0pt
3. First two 2 digits of your current weight:
(Example: Weight 165 = 16pt or Weight 230 = 23pt)
4. Height
Under 5’1″: 0pts
5’1″ to 5’10”: 1pt
5’10” and over: 2pts
5. Daily Activity Levels:
Sitting: 0pts
Some Sitting, Mostly Standing: 2pts
Walking most of the time: 4pts
Doing physically hard work most of the time: 6pts
6. Nursing Mom?
Solely Nursing: 10 pts
Supplementing with solid food or formula: 5 pts
Keep in mind that as you lose weight you will also start to lose points. Whenever the 2nd digit of your weight changes so does your daily point allowance. For example, if you weighed 170 pounds one week and then 168 pounds the next week, the second digit changed from a 7 to a 6 so you lose 1 point from your daily total. This is to insure that the weight loss continues until you reach your goal weight.
In addition to your daily points you are also allowed 35 bonus points each week. It is recommended that you use these points for special occaisions such as a holiday dinner, birthday celebration, or other event. It is NOT recommended to divide the 35 points up among the days of the week giving yourself 5 extra points each day. Remember, the goal here is to lose weight.
Hmm kinda confusing. So I have to eat a total of 43 points in a day to lose weight???. I guess tomorrow I’ll start using that calculator on the top right hand corner. I have lost 12 pounds by myself (70 more to go!) but I was told WW point system is great guide to use.
Hey Luis, thanks for visiting.
If you took the test above and it came up with 43 points, then yes, that is correct. 43 would be your starting point but you will lose points as you lose weight. WW is a great tool for helping lose weight and if you stick with the plan you should see great success. Good luck and thanks for visiting!
What if you want to MAINTAIN your weight after you reach your goal? What is the points total then?
Hi Kimberly, great question. The maintenance plan is tricky. Weight Watchers has you add 4 points to your daily target for a week and then evaluate your weight. If you’ve gained, then drop your new target by 2; if you’ve lost, add 4 more. It’s basically a trial and error until you find the number that helps you maintain your weight.
Hope this helps and thanks for visiting!
Adding to what Steph said:
I spent this past summer doing 1 hour of high intensity cardio and 30 min of med intensity for 5 days a week with 1 hr walks on the other 2 days. I did that for almost 3 months and did not lose a pound. I even started taking phentermine and still didn’t lose any weight. I wasn’t adding any activity points.
I stopped working out 3 weeks ago and I’ve lost 10 pounds since that day. So…I’m pretty sure I wasn’t eating enough. I didn’t think that was possible! I’m going to start going back to the gym I’m just scared that I will over calculate my activity points.
I lost 50 lbs on weight watchers a few years ago and I found on weeks where I would use a lot of my flex points on one day or on 2 days that were far apart (Like 10 on Tuesday and 12 on Saturday) I would have a good loss that week.
Great information Kimberly, thanks for sharing! 🙂
I have been doing WW since March..I have lost 20 lbs. and feel great! I stopped counting points over the summer months and have not put any weight on…now fall is here and i am ready to tackle my last 5lbs. do you have any suggestions? Should I start the diet over?
Hi renee, I’m in basically the same situation. I was able to maintain my losses over the summer while not tracking my points. I have about 10 pounds to go to hit my goals and starting over is exactly what I plan to do to reach it.
I think once you are back on track with counting points and with a little more exercise you will reach your goal pretty easily. Good luck!!
I have twins and I put in some ugly weight on. I am ready to loose it. I am going to try this out. I hope it works. I am so scared!!! Oh, I was going to ask has anyone on here exercise with the Wii fit or the one from EA sports? Would love to know if they really work. Thanks!
Hi April! No reason to be scared, most people find weight watchers very easy to stick with and with a little discipline and activity the weight should come off pretty easily. I have not used wii fit or ea sports myself but as long as it gets you moving you will be burning calories. Just make sure whatever type of exercise you do that you put your heart into it. Don’t just go through the motions, do it like you mean it 🙂
GREAT idea! This will be so helpful!
I looooove this site!! I did weight watchers a few years ago and was able to drop over 40 pounds and keep it off until I found out I was pregnant last September. After watching what I ate for a few years, I went a little crazy and “over-indulged” during my pregnancy and gained over 80 pounds!!!! But it’s ok b/c I had a nice big strong baby boy to show for it. Now I am starting back up on Weight Watchers but it seems the weight just isn’t coming off as quickly as it did the last time around :/ I am SO happy I came across this site!!! It is definately gonna help keep me on track… it is SO much easier than other sites I have visited!! So THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Hey Mommy MaryCherry, welcome aboard!! As a former successful weight watcher you obviously know what it takes, it’s just a little harder now that you have a little one to care for, also. Just remember that not only will your life improve with the weight loss but his probably will, too. Lead by example! Best wishes to you and let us know how it’s going.
Thanks for visiting and for the compliments on the site!
why does 1% milk have more points than the 2% milk? A couple of months ago I started to have 1 % milk thinking I am helping my diet. Is this not a better choice.
Thanks a lot for this wonderful tool I am so looking forward to using it and losing it in the process.
Thanks much.
That’s a good question, Alia. I’ll have to look that up in the book when I get home and make sure I have those numbers correct. I’ll post here when I confirm the numbers are correct. Thanks!
LOVE THIS SITE!!!!! I found it yesterday and have decided to sart WW TODAY!(on my own) I tried WW 4yrs ago & wasn’t successful BUT that was MY own fault. I just had a baby in Jan of this year and I NEED to lose 80lbs by summer. As a new/first time mom, it seems as if I just can’t find the time to excercise. I’m thinking walking up & down the stairs of my office for 10mins every hour would definitely help. Any other suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Starting WW today! Starting weight 308(embarrassed). Even though I’m a very active person(long walks with the dogs, my job consists of ALOT of walking, and I even have a membership to a gym and actually go 4 times a week),I’ve struggled with my weight all my life dus to some VERY bad eating habits like no breakfast, eating alot at night, ect. But now I see my daughter starting to put on weight. I don’t want her to have to go through some of the things I did, so I will be trying to encourage her to work along side me. I got a kit with the WW calculator and 3 WW books for $48 awhile back just haven’t used them. For anyone else interested the kits were really easy to find on EBay and really didn’t run that high. Anyway, great site Dan, just reading the comments got me really motivated to get started. To April from a few posts up, Wii Fit and Wii Sports really do give you a good workout(the yoga and hula-hooping are best IMO), but the Wii game that really gets your heart pumping and you out of breath is “Just Dance”. It’s also so much fun that before you even realize it, you’ve been dancing for an hour! Anyway, wish me luck people, and good luck to all of you out there!
Oh, I forgot! For those of you who are soup people, Progresso Light soups are really good and the WW Points are right on the front of the lables. Most are only 2 points and thats if you eat the entire can. WHOOHOO!!!!
Hey KittKatt, welcome to the site! No need to be embarrased here, we are all in this together. My kids were one of the main motivations for trying to change my lifestyle, also. Trying to do the whole ‘lead by example’ thing…
My wife loves the progresso soups (I’m not much of a soup lover). The ones that she eats are 0 points per serving (half can). Good luck and let us know how you are doing from time to time. If interested there is also a few of us in the forums that try to keep each other motivated by posting our weekly weigh in results.
Hello Tre’s Mommy, sorry I missed your post. WELCOME ABOARD!!
Your goal will take a lot of work but is not impossible. For activity, anything more than you currently do will help but to lose the 80 pounds you will definitely need to set aside at least 30 minutes a day for some pretty intense exercise. There are lots of 30 minute exercise dvds out where you won’t need any special equipment. Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is one of them. Try not to waste any of your ‘free’ time. I do a lot of sit-ups and jumping jacks while watching TV and also have some small dumbbells that I use, too. Good luck and let us know how it’s going!
Hi Dan.. I’m interested in starting ww.. on my own .. please can you guide on the books I need to buy and what to do… help!
Dan reg the points calculator on fat do we count the calories from fat, trans fat or saturated fat. How do I do it?
Hi Paris, welcome to the site.
Technically, you dont need any of the books to do weight watchers, it’s more of a convenience thing. If you feel that you need the books I would go with the starter kit which comes with the Dining Out Guide, Food Companion, a recipe book and a 3 month journal. I have these available on my site (click here), or you can also find them on Amazon (click here) or ebay.
When using the point calculator the number that you are looking for regarding the fat is the total fat in grams (usually in bold). Let me know if you can find it. Thanks for visiting!
Woo hoo…. just had my meeting weigh in (I do weight watchers at work, job pays 80%) and I hit my 5% goal today!!! Woo hoo…13 pounds down… 90 pounds to go… :o)
I have been using this site since January and have lost 40 lbs. This is a great site.