How Weight Watchers calculates your goal weight: Women and men of all types join Weight Watchers, so how does WeightWatchers determine what your goal weight is?
When you first join Weight Watchers, you’re encouraged to first set a goal of losing 10% of your starting weight, with a minimum weight goal of at least 5 pounds less than your joining weight.
On WeightWatchers.com they state that “Losing just 10% of your body weight means lots of great news for your health.” They then add that the many health benefits of slowly losing 10% of your body weight include:
- Reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes
- Improves blood sugar control
- Can improve sleep and energy levels
- Can improve breathing
- Decreases risk of heart disease and certain cancers
- and so on
Using a weight loss goal of 10% of your body weight is a good start, but a pretty rough estimate of an actual healthy goal weight for your height. Here are 3 better ways to estimate your long-term Weight Watchers goal weight:
#1. Weight Watchers Goal Weight Chart:
So, you want a better estimate of what your Weight Watchers goal weight is? Everyone has different goals based on starting weight, personal goals, lifestyle, and metabolism, but we can calculate a healthy weight based on a few simple questions. We made this sharp little chart to help determine your goal weight:
What’s a healthy weight for your height and body type?
So, for example:
- A 5′ 6″ female with an average frame will have an estimated WW weight goal of 135 pounds.
- If you’re a 6′ 2″ man with a large frame, your WeightWatchers goal weight would be about 185 pounds
This calculator should give you a quick Weight Watchers goal weight estimate. Ok, still not a precise number until we take into account other factors like your BMI, but a pretty good estimate!
If you sign up for Weight Watchers they will give you more accurate goal weight. (see below)
*Related: How does the WW point system work?
#2. Setting Your WW Goal Weight:
Here are questions to ask yourself when setting a WW weight goal:
- Is there a weight that you have weighed previously that felt comfortable on your frame? If so, this might be a great starting point in determining your goal weight
- Has it been more than 10+ years since you have been at this comfortable weight goal? If so, you may want to adjust your goal weight to account for subtle changes in your body due to aging
- If you’re close to your goal weight do you find it difficult and uncomfortable to lose more weight? This may be your body telling you that it has found a stopping point for your weight loss
- As you near your goal weight can you still enjoy life? Are you still able to dine out and enjoy food, or do you resent being on a diet?
- When you’ve found a goal weight, ask yourself if it’s realistic to be at this weight in 10 years. Choosing a realistic goal weight helps make weight loss sustainable long-term.
As you get closer to your WW goal weight, it’s a good idea to set small goals. If you are down to the last 10 pounds before your goal, consider setting mini-goals every 2 pounds!
#3. Get Your (Precise) Weight Watchers Goal Weight
WeightWatchers.com has a free BMI calculator. This simple tool calculates a healthy weight range based on your height and is available here.
There’s also a good calculator for determining a healthy goal weight here.
Now, that doesn’t take a number of important factors into account, so it’s more of a rough estimate of your potential goal weight. Want a better answer? Learn more:
*View their featured promotion (above) or all WW coupons
#3. How Weight Watchers Determines Your Goal Weight
If you sign up for WW, they will use additional variables into consideration to determine your goal weight. These include your age, gender, and body mass index (BMI).
They will then assign you a daily and weekly budget of points to spend on food so that you can reach your goal weight slowly and sustainably at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week.
Meetings are optional and can provide additional support and accountability to help you reach this goal weight. (How do WW meetings work?)
*Learn more & get your goal weight with Weight Watchers new plan.
WW Goal Weight Formula
We use the following formula to estimate your goal weight:
- Determine your body frame size: Thin = 5, Average= 6, Large = 7
- Determine your height in inches (example: 5′ 6″ = 66)
- Subtract 60 from your height in inches
- Multiply the answer from #1 and #3 (from above)
- Add 100 to that total
If you’d like to learn more and see today’s featured WW promotion for new customers, click here. We also get exclusive WW coupons and post them here every week.
If you join Weight Watchers, good luck on reaching your goal weight!
*Related: How are Weight Watchers points calculated? |Battle of the Diets: Weight Watchers vs. Nutrisystem