LOL she was so convinced that Noom was THE plan that was going to get her to her goal that she bragged about not even bothering with the free trial, she paid for the whole thing. Then she didn't even last a duration equal to the free trial.
There's no real answer for this. WW changes their diet system nearly yearly. At least they used to. It was the go-to diet for moms in the 80's, but it's gone through so many versions since then. My mom did it in the 80's, the system was something like: food was broken down into protein, dairy, fruit, fat, starch and vegetables. Then there was a booklet with every food and the value. So pizza would be (just making up values here) 2 starch, 1 fat, 1 protein, 2 dairy. An ice cream bar was 1 fruit and 1 dairy. There were little boxes for each day, and people would check off the boxes as they ate, so if there was no more dairy or fruit for the day, oh well. If people were successful, it was because they stayed motivated through the weekly meetings and semi-public weigh-ins. Compared to what amber is describing the OG WW system seems like it would be easier and more successful. Just having a lump sum of points to consume in any way seems more like a loophole, rather than a diet.