Weight Watchers Points Plus Calculator; where to buy a calculator or get points plus plan numbers without a calculator

If you are going to follow the new Weight Watchers Points Plus Program, you need one or more sources to find or calculate points for food you eat. The points calculator isn't the only resource to find the points value of a food item, but it sure is handy.

Followers of the old plan, who want to try Points Plus, will need to replace the old WW calculator. The old calculator typically assigns lower point values and will give you a false sense of accomplishment with the new and higher daily points allowance.

You'll likely gain, rather than lose, if you eat your full allowance each day while understating your points!

Successfully following the Weight Watchers plan requires daily accounting of points eaten against points allowed.

You need several tools in your points toolkit to accurately and easily calculate points. So what are your choices?

• Buy a weight watchers point plus calculator. But where is the best place to buy one?
  
• Get a points plus app for your smartphone.
• Use an online calculator. But where?
  
• Do without a calculator. Get your Weight Watcher points from other sources.
• Design your plan to minimize the need for points calculation.
  

You can follow the plan without your own calculator, but it requires more work and use of other resources, especially online resources.

A lot depends on the dieting lifestyle you will follow with Weight Watchers, which is affected by your personality and resources.

• Not everybody has ready access to a computer 24 x 7.
• Many dieters follow the Weight Watcher by themselves, no meetings.
  
• Many have to approach the process very frugally.
• Some dieters don't want to cook.
• Some weight loss seekers thrive on pre-packed foods with WW points on the box.
• Many plan followers thrive on ingredient shopping and cooking nutritious meals.
  

Lets look at some of the choices and how you can put them together and have success with the Weight Watchers Point Plus plan.

The easiest route is to buy a new points plus calculator.

Buy your calculator at a Weight Watchers Meeting. You'll probably get your best price there. If you are going to attend WW meetings anyhow, then its win/win. However, if you were not planning on attending meetings, you need to figure in the cost of joining and a meeting cost to to the cost of your calculator.

Buy your new points plus calculator online. There are many options here. Amazon offers lots of choices and generally good discounted pricing.

Which ever route you follow, read on for some ideas on how to manage the points tracking process that may alter the way you design your own plan.

If you have a smartphone, and carry it with you regularly, then get an app for that (points calculation.)

• There are points plus apps for the iPhone.
• There are points plus apps for the Android.

Be careful! As you sift through the apps listings, make sure the app is for the new points plus program. There are a lot of apps out there for the old plan. Look for protein and carbohydrates on the calculator screen in place of calories.

Great for the grocery aisles...

If you have a good cookbook, with easy meals designed for points plus followers, you are half way home! Having the right WW cookbook on your shelf means that you always have meal choices available. No need to calculate all of the ingredients. No puzzling out the nutrition information on the labels in the grocery store aisle.

The Internet is awash in recipes, many of those are recipes with WW in mind and include points estimates. Be careful, because for the time being, most of those recipe point counts are for the old plan. Be sure to verify the point count is for points plus.

Many of us live in the virtual world, so online is an easy option. There are many sites offering online Weight Watchers points calculation.

Studies have shown that there is a high success rate for those that use an online weight loss plan consistently. Regular tracking is key and the online programs make it easy to connect and enter you foods.

Weight Watchers Online is an obvious choice. You'll have access to the calculator, and all of the other resources Weight Watchers has built-in.

For those non cooking days, or for dieters that don't want to cook, there are options.

Restaurants - some restaurants, like Applebee's, are WW friendly and have meals featured for WW with points calculated. If the menu doesn't have WW points, look for heart friendly items; or vegetarian choices as these are generally decent choices with lower points. Get sauces and dressings on the side so you can ration them into your dish. Get a to-go box with the meal and package half of the generous portions to get them off your plate before you start eating.

Pre-packaged meals - grocery stores offer lots of Weight Watcher food items. As you find ones that you like, then stock up the freezer and cupboard so you always have options when you can't cook.