How Weight Watchers points are calculated

This is a little geeky but there is a formula to determine how the points in Weight Watchers are calculated. The fact is that after joining Weight Watchers you recieve a slide rule that helps you figure out the number of points in a food as well as a book that lists the points of common foods and your number of points that you can eat in a day is calculated based on your weight.

The POINTS system is based on allocating servings of food a specific number of points. A program participant is allowed to eat food that amounts to a certain number of points per week. The number of permitted points for an individual is calculated based on the individual's weight goals, and the level of physical activity of the participant.

The formula for calculating the POINTS content of a specific food serving uses a formula described in US Patent 6,040,531:




Where p is the number of points, c is the number of calories, f is the grams of fat, and r is the grams of dietary fibre (if the dietary fibre is greater than four, use four).