User Review #14 by michelle on February 11th, 2008 at 9:06 PM CST

Name

I was in weight watchers in the early 2000's. I lost a few pounds, if I recall...maybe as many as 14? I had quite a few more to go... I reached a plateau while I was with them, and I stopped losing. I was also hungry pretty much all the time. Honestly, that probably was my own uninformed/poor food choices, going for what tickled my taste buds, rather than what satiated my hunger and was healthy. The thing was, it seemed that the "points" method of calculating food limits kind of encouraged that in people already predisposed, or ignorant of how to eat well...not that it is a totally bad program, just maybe too easy to fudge around with your food and not learn to eat right. There was a good woman leading our group, who was also a good example of having lost and kept off a healthy amount of weight. She also encouraged us to increase our fiber intake to help with a healthy diet and feeling full, so I have no complaints about the personnel. The group support I would say would depend on the group dynamics, which are different from place to place, and usually depend about 50% (give or take) on the leader. Our meetings were mostly good. Overall, I wouldn't say this is a "bad" program-pretty reasonable price if you can get a large group, or if your workplace helps out with a wellness program. But I do agree with the review, that it is pretty "gimmicky" and kind of puts the reality of changing eating habits up in the atmosphere somewhere; you have to work hard to get it, and/or your group leaders/members have to be willing to make suggestions. And let's be honest: sometimes it's easy to sit back in a group and let others do the talking, or fake that all is ok, if we're afraid of our mess-ups, or so beat up by the things that have made/kept us overweight that we can't be real. That's where I was in 2000. I left weight watchers, and didn't go back; I regained all my weight, plus about 22 lbs...not through any fault of weight watchers, but my own issues. I don't think I'd do weight watchers again, because it didn't fit my personality-since then I've learned to enjoy much healthier foods, and have dropped about 8 of those extra 22 lbs, and kept them off since about 2004. I am working more honestly with the deeper issues, and I think that I will lose the rest I need to over time through gentle persistence and self-respect as I continue to change my thinking/exercise/eating habits. In any case, I would suggest more research before making a commitment to any weight-loss program, and take whatever gentle steps you need to heal and respect yourself-after all, it's your life, not just your body.

I was in weight watchers in the early 2000's. I lost a few pounds, if I recall...maybe as many as 14? I had quite a few more to go...

I reached a plateau while I was with them, and I stopped losing. I was also hungry pretty much all the time. Honestly, that probably was my own uninformed/poor food choices, going for what tickled my taste buds, rather than what satiated my hunger and was healthy.

The thing was, it seemed that the "points" method of calculating food limits kind of encouraged that in people already predisposed, or ignorant of how to eat well...not that it is a totally bad program, just maybe too easy to fudge around with your food and not learn to eat right.

There was a good woman leading our group, who was also a good example of having lost and kept off a healthy amount of weight. She also encouraged us to increase our fiber intake to help with a healthy diet and feeling full, so I have no complaints about the personnel. The group support I would say would depend on the group dynamics, which are different from place to place, and usually depend about 50% (give or take) on the leader. Our meetings were mostly good.

Overall, I wouldn't say this is a "bad" program-pretty reasonable price if you can get a large group, or if your workplace helps out with a wellness program. But I do agree with the review, that it is pretty "gimmicky" and kind of puts the reality of changing eating habits up in the atmosphere somewhere; you have to work hard to get it, and/or your group leaders/members have to be willing to make suggestions.

And let's be honest: sometimes it's easy to sit back in a group and let others do the talking, or fake that all is ok, if we're afraid of our mess-ups, or so beat up by the things that have made/kept us overweight that we can't be real.

That's where I was in 2000. I left weight watchers, and didn't go back; I regained all my weight, plus about 22 lbs...not through any fault of weight watchers, but my own issues.

I don't think I'd do weight watchers again, because it didn't fit my personality-since then I've learned to enjoy much healthier foods, and have dropped about 8 of those extra 22 lbs, and kept them off since about 2004. I am working more honestly with the deeper issues, and I think that I will lose the rest I need to over time through gentle persistence and self-respect as I continue to change my thinking/exercise/eating habits.

In any case, I would suggest more research before making a commitment to any weight-loss program, and take whatever gentle steps you need to heal and respect yourself-after all, it's your life, not just your body.

User Review #13 by margie on February 7th, 2008 at 4:55 PM CST

Name

Weight watchers is okay, but my husband is having a hard time trying to lose weight with their point system. I feel the diet needs to focus more on lowering the amount of carbs, especially the bad carbs. With all the pasta and desserts out there you can be within your alloted points but still pack on the weight if you keep eating the wrong foods. My husband does a very good job watching his points, but seems to gain weight on weight watchers, because he's eating some of the worst carbs out there. I just feel like WW would be much better if more emphasis were placed on the good/bad/dangerous carbs people are eating.

Weight watchers is okay, but my husband is having a hard time trying to lose weight with their point system. I feel the diet needs to focus more on lowering the amount of carbs, especially the bad carbs.

With all the pasta and desserts out there you can be within your alloted points but still pack on the weight if you keep eating the wrong foods. My husband does a very good job watching his points, but seems to gain weight on weight watchers, because he's eating some of the worst carbs out there. I just feel like WW would be much better if more emphasis were placed on the good/bad/dangerous carbs people are eating.

User Review #12 by Ruby on February 6th, 2008 at 5:33 PM CST

Name

Weight Watchers is not a diet. It is a support system for changing your lifestyle and does not pretend to wave a magic wand over your fat and make it disappear. Americans suffer from the vast amount of nutrient poor, calorie rich foods available in fast food joints and supermarkets. We are served giant portions and refuse to believe that anything that comes in one package is more than one portion (chips, cookies, donuts, candy). Our bodies are made to crave fats and sweets, because at one time it was hard to come by these calories. But once grown, our bodies need very little in the way of fat and sugar calories to sustain. It doesn't matter if we LOVE extra cheese pizza and eating a pint of ice cream in one sitting. The body simply doesn't need it and so it will get stored as fat. Weight Watchers uses their point system to teach you appropriate portions and amount of food to eat in one day to maintain your weight. If you are used to eating gi-normous super-sized portions you will feel hungry in the beginning. As your body adjusts, you will start to understand what it feels like be satisfied without feeling stuffed and you will feel lighter and have more energy. The meetings act as a community and the leaders give support and advice--but you have to do the work of changing yourself if you want it to work for you. It is a simple biological fact: you either get to eat huge portions of whatever you want, or you get to be healthy and lean. The upside is that you really can have some amount of the fatty, rich or sweet foods you crave. But you quickly learn that if you want to feel satisfied, you will need to eat more fruits and vegetables, many of which are zero points. I lost 35 pounds in six months at WW by adhering rigorously to their program and I ate chocolate (1oz.) nearly every day! I learned that the enjoyment of sweets and fats has to do with how I savour them, not how much of them i stuff into myself. Prior to WW I would just consume enormous amounts of whatever and I am not even sure how much I enjoyed them! My only complaint about Weight Watchers is that they continue to focus on packaged and processed foods and their dining out book lists mostly very mainstream fast food corporate type eateries. While their newer "core foods" program addresses this I think they could help people focus on organic whole foods even more than they do. Finally to the gent whose wife was turned away with her newborn: While it was a bummer this happened, you can hardly write off the whole program since she never really tried it. If I were your wife I would have either asked for a refund at the first meeting or gotten a voucher for the first one she was not allowed to attend. You can't expect the receptionist at a different meeting or venue the following week to know what had previously gone down....

Weight Watchers is not a diet. It is a support system for changing your lifestyle and does not pretend to wave a magic wand over your fat and make it disappear.

Americans suffer from the vast amount of nutrient poor, calorie rich foods available in fast food joints and supermarkets. We are served giant portions and refuse to believe that anything that comes in one package is more than one portion (chips, cookies, donuts, candy). Our bodies are made to crave fats and sweets, because at one time it was hard to come by these calories.

But once grown, our bodies need very little in the way of fat and sugar calories to sustain. It doesn't matter if we LOVE extra cheese pizza and eating a pint of ice cream in one sitting. The body simply doesn't need it and so it will get stored as fat. Weight Watchers uses their point system to teach you appropriate portions and amount of food to eat in one day to maintain your weight. If you are used to eating gi-normous super-sized portions you will feel hungry in the beginning. As your body adjusts, you will start to understand what it feels like be satisfied without feeling stuffed and you will feel lighter and have more energy.

The meetings act as a community and the leaders give support and advice--but you have to do the work of changing yourself if you want it to work for you. It is a simple biological fact: you either get to eat huge portions of whatever you want, or you get to be healthy and lean.

The upside is that you really can have some amount of the fatty, rich or sweet foods you crave. But you quickly learn that if you want to feel satisfied, you will need to eat more fruits and vegetables, many of which are zero points. I lost 35 pounds in six months at WW by adhering rigorously to their program and I ate chocolate (1oz.) nearly every day! I learned that the enjoyment of sweets and fats has to do with how I savour them, not how much of them i stuff into myself. Prior to WW I would just consume enormous amounts of whatever and I am not even sure how much I enjoyed them!

My only complaint about Weight Watchers is that they continue to focus on packaged and processed foods and their dining out book lists mostly very mainstream fast food corporate type eateries. While their newer "core foods" program addresses this I think they could help people focus on organic whole foods even more than they do.

Finally to the gent whose wife was turned away with her newborn: While it was a bummer this happened, you can hardly write off the whole program since she never really tried it. If I were your wife I would have either asked for a refund at the first meeting or gotten a voucher for the first one she was not allowed to attend. You can't expect the receptionist at a different meeting or venue the following week to know what had previously gone down....