Learn about the flexible features of the PointsPlus program, and how to use them to your advantage.
Article By:Elly Trickett McNerney
We pride ourselves on providing a flexible and livable weight-loss program, which is why the PointsPlus plan lets you eat any food you love, as long as you stay within your PointsPlus budget. But if you find yourself needing more (or less) flexibility, you can easily make adjustments in your PointsPlus Tracker.
Adjusting your PointsPlus budget
Very few people experience a smooth, predictable weight-loss journey. Hiccups, headaches and even brief standstills are all but inevitable. And most of the time we pick ourselves up, redouble our efforts to track, step up activity — and start losing again.
But every now and then, for a variety of reasons, it can become necessary to make some changes to the way you use PointsPlus values. These reasons might include:
- A true plateau — which happens when the scale is at a standstill for several weeks
- You’re consistently losing weight at a rate of less than 0.5 pounds a week or more than 2 pounds a week
- You’ve hit your goal weight and are now in Maintenance
Lowering your PointsPlus budget
If you’re losing less than 0.5 pounds per week — on average, over time — and you’re considering lowering your overall PointsPlus budget (which includes your activity PointsPlus values, weekly PointsPlus Allowance and daily PointsPlus Target), then try these tricks first:
- Look up the PointsPlus values of everything you eat. (No guessing!)
- Weigh and measure all your food, being honest about portion sizes
- Track carefully and consistently. Write down all the BLTs (bites, licks and tastes), guesstimating if you have to
- Consider trying the Simply Filling technique — a break from tracking might just do the trick
If you’ve done all these and you’re still not happy with your weight-loss experience, then you can lower your budget here. You could also try one of these other ways of adjusting your budget. Remember, don’t rush into making these changes, and try one at a time.
1. Activity PointsPlus values
- Earn more activity PointsPlus values, or try a different activity to meet your activity goal
- Change the way you swap your activity PointsPlus values from weekly (they roll over day to day), to daily (use them or lose them!) — or vice versa
- Or, try not swapping them for food at all
2. Weekly PointsPlus Allowance
- Play with your weekly PointsPlus Allowance, perhaps experimenting with using fewer than the full 49
- When you go over your daily PointsPlus Target, consider drawing first from your activity PointsPlus values rather than from your weekly PointsPlus Allowance
3. Daily PointsPlus Target
- If the above tricks don’t work, then adjust your daily PointsPlus Target down by 1 or 2 PointsPlus values at a time (but don’t go below 26) until you’re back in the zone of losing an average of between .5 and 2 pounds per week. It’s really important if you are lowering your daily PointsPlus Target to do so in very small, gradual amounts.
Adjusting your budget upward
If you’re losing more than 2 pounds a week on a regular basis, don’t shrug fast weight-loss off as “a nice problem to have.” Remember — a safe rate of weight loss is between .5 and 2 pounds per week. If you’re consistently losing more than 2 pounds per week, you’re running the risk of becoming vulnerable to health risks.
If, after your first three weeks on Plan (during which time weight loss can be more rapid), you’re consistently losing more than 2 pounds a week, here are a few things to try in order to stabilize:
- If you’re not using any of your weekly PointsPlus Allowance, or only a small portion, start adding a few to your day. Use them for treats, for larger portions, or for “regular” versions of any “light” foods you’ve been eating.
- If you’re earning activity PointsPlus values but not swapping them for food, consider eating a little more. Especially if you’re earning more than 4 activity PointsPlus values per day, extra food can give you more energy.
It’s important to try these two tricks first, before bumping up your Target. If you’re skimping on any of the extra PointsPlus values you’re allotted, there’s a good chance you may be limiting your diet, leading to boredom — or worse, feeling deprived and tumbling off the wagon.
If you’re regularly using these extras and you’re still losing too fast, then start adjusting your daily PointsPlus Target upward. Make small increases — try just 2 or 3 extra per day for the first week, and see how that affects your loss the following week.
Going into Maintenance
It doesn’t take a huge leap of logic to figure out that you’re going to need to add a few PointsPlus values to your day to move out of weight-loss mode and into Maintenance. You’ll need to do this when you’ve reached your Goal, plus you may choose to do this during a particularly tricky time (a vacation, say) when you’re OK with maintaining your weight rather than losing. The default increase for going into Maintenance is to add 6 PointsPlus values per day, but you may find that’s too many or, even, not enough.
In Maintenance, it may take you a little while to stabilize your weight. If your weight goes up, or down, by more than 1 pound in a week, adjust your daily PointsPlus Target accordingly, starting with 3 PointsPlus values either way.
