Hey, everyone! Well, it’s one week since I started test-driving the new Weight Watchers “Personal Points” thingamabob.

And I have to say, so far so good! I’m diligently tracking 99.9% of my foods, as instructed, in their friendly little app, which hasn’t crashed my phone (yet), so I’m good.

Of course, some mega-dieters will be annoyed to hear I’m NOT tracking things like those little frozen Otter Pops (1 point each) or my nightly dose of Ricolas (also 1 point) but come on, who tracks cough drops, for cryin’ out loud? Well, apparently some people do, since they went to the trouble of figuring out the WW Points for them!!

Well, that level of obsessive mega-tracking is NOT for moi! I’m more of a big picture kinda gal. And as long as my big picture stays more or less anchored to the wall, it’s all good! Also, after the first three or four days, I’ve been happily gobbling down the “zero points” foods in my own Personal Points Plan,

which is a little different for everyone, based on a series of questions they ask you. I was delighted to find that MINE includes a whole swath of goodies such as: eggs! oatmeal! canned tuna!! turkey slices!! nonfat vanilla yogurt!! and of course, the obligatory fruits and veggies, which EVERYONE gets — including my brand new favorite crunchy substitute for Doritos: a whole bag o’ sugar snap peas!

You can get them in small bags now, about the size of a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, and yet they’re zero points! Which means I can safely incorporate them into my book-reading ritual!

It’s all good! And speaking of snacks, here’s an interesting little nutritional tidbit I discovered! Before starting up the Weight Watchers, I’d bought a six-pack of 100-calorie Snyder pretzels, thinking they’d make a nice snack.

I also bought a couple of bananas, which I like to have from time to time, and which are *also* 100 calories.

So since the pretzels and the bananas are each 100 calories, you’d probably assume, like I did, that they’d have approximately the same number of Points in the WW Plan. Right?

Nope, turns out that humble banana is ZERO points, while that little bag of pretzels is a whopping THREE points!

Having said that, let me add that even at 3 points, those pretzels are still a pretty good choice as a snack. I’m not throwing them away or anything like that! However, think about this: if you’re counting calories and only have 100 left for the day, you might have to choose between that banana OR those pretzels. But in the WW plan, if you have 3 Points left for the day — you can have that there banana AND those there pretzels!

And I gotta say, I approve of that that! It’s clear that they’re trying to steer you towards making healthier (i.e., fruits & veggies) snack choices, while still giving you room for the other stuff you like, within reason. So if you’re comparing Weight Watchers to calorie counting, I guess you could say that’s a “Point” in their favor! (Get it??)

What do you think? Have you tried WW before, either the newest plan or one of the older ones? What are your impressions? Have you tried something that worked better for you? Or have you just said, “The h-e-double-toothpicks with it,” and settled into a happy life having Two Whole Cakes every blessed day?

Whatever choices you make for your beautiful body, we here at the 50by60.com Blog Factory totally support you! See ya next week, assuming civilization hasn’t ground to a complete halt (always a possibility these days!) and remember — it’s perfectly okay to enjoy that nice big banana every day!! Heck, maybe two or three! No judgments!