Weight Watchers (WW) is a popular commercial diet programme that has existed for decades. It is built around the idea of measuring and portion size. WW allows followers to include any type of food they like in their diet.
Weight Watchers (WW) places you in one of three colour-coded programmes according to your weight management needs. These colours are:
Green: More SmartPoints are allowed per day, with over 100 ZeroPoint foods, mostly fruit and vegetables.
Blue: A moderate number of daily SmartPoints is allowed, with over 200 ZeroPoint foods, including fruit, vegetables and lean proteins.
Purple: Fewer SmartPoints are allowed per day, with over 300 ZeroPoint foods, including fruit, vegetables, lean proteins and wholegrains.
Typically, foods with lower SmartPoints tend to be lower in calories, fat and sugar, and higher in fibre and protein. Foods with higher points are typically high in calories, fat or sugar; chips, ice cream and fatty meats are examples.
So although you can include high-point foods in your diet, they use up your daily SmartPoints allowance quickly.
A few studies have reported that WW helps people lose weight. However, it should be noted that WW has directly or indirectly funded most of these studies, and this may have influenced the results.
| WW | Keto | |
|---|---|---|
| Diet approach | Moderate, points-based system | Low carbohydrate, high fat |
| Cost | Paid subscription, plus food shopping | Food shopping costs |
| Support | All paid levels of the programme offer some degree of support | - |
| Sustainability | No foods are off limits and all foods are allowed, but the subscription cost may affect how long you can keep it up | Strictly limits sugar and other carbohydrates, including many everyday foods generally considered healthy, so it can be hard to stick to in the long term (sustainability is difficult); there is no subscription cost |
| Weight loss | Some studies have reported that WW programmes lead to weight loss, but WW has funded some of this research | Some studies have reported that keto diets lead to more weight loss than low-calorie diets |
Weight Watchers (WW) and keto are two very different diets. WW is a more moderate, structured, paid diet programme based on portion control and the WW SmartPoints system. It offers built-in social support at all paid levels of the programme.
Keto is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet that aims to put you into ketosis. In ketosis, the body may find it easier to use its own stored body fat for energy.
Both diets have been studied for weight loss, but for a number of reasons one may suit you better than the other. Your doctor and dietitian can help you decide which approach is appropriate for you.
This article is for general information only; please consult your doctor and dietitian about your own situation.
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This content is for information only. For a personalised nutrition programme, please consult a dietitian.
