Weight Watchers Diet | Healthy & Natural Dieting
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The basics
Weight Watchers is a commercial organization offering flexible food plans, weekly support meetings, and an emphasis on sensible eating and healthful lifestyle habits, including regular exercise. Members are assigned an initial goal of losing 5 to 10% of their body weight through a combination of exercise and food plans designed to reach that goal.
The program offers two food plans:
- The Flex PlanAll foods are assigned point values. No food is prohibited, as long as the total number of points does not exceed the daily allotment.
- The Core PlanThis plan focuses on choosing nutritious, low-calorie foods from every food group instead of counting points.
The weekly support meetings and detailed diet plans could work well for you if you like having specific instructions and enjoy meeting with other people who have had similar experience with wanting to lose weight.
Get started: Weight Watchers requires that you purchase membership in the program to attend group support meetings, and to receive printed materials. You can access more information on their official Web site: www.weightwatchers.com.
More about this diet
In the traditional program, called the Flex Plan, all foods are assigned point values according to fat, calorie, and fiber content. Each member is given a daily range of allowed points, and no foods are prohibited as long as dieters don't exceed the daily or weekly point maximum. Increasing exercise allows a member to earn more points for additional daily point allowances. A Web site (www.weightwatchers.com), printed guides, cookbooks, and branded Weight Watchers foods available in grocery stores are designed to help members learn and apply this point system.
A newer program, called the Core Plan, provides a list of nutritious and filling yet low-calorie items in every food group that can be eaten freely without counting points. Occasional treats are allowed in both plans, and members can switch from one plan to the other if they desire.
Weekly group meetings led by a trained, experienced member allow dieters to get advice and support one another. Members are encouraged to weigh themselves at each meeting. Online tools are available to members for counting Flex Plan points and for tracking weight-loss progress and exercise habits. Weight Watchers also offers a weight-maintenance plan.
Why do people follow this diet?
Founded in the early 1960s, Weight Watchers is one of the most successful diet organizations in existence, with members numbering in the millions. One survey of successful dieters found that many used organized programs such as Weight Watchers to lose weight. People are most satisfied with Weight Watchers if they enjoy having regular support meetings to attend, and the traditional food plan may appeal to those who find it useful to learn a system for keeping track of food eaten throughout the day. Both food plans can be adapted for people with specific needs, such as vegetarians, teenagers, and breast-feeding mothers.
What do the advocates say?
The diet resembles the typical low-fat, heart healthy diet advocated by many governmental and professional organizations. Group meetings often help a weight-loss program to succeed by offering dieters practical advice, consistent motivation, and the chance to share experiences with other like-minded people. Preliminary research suggests that participating in Weight Watchers is more effective than a do-it-yourself diet program, and that long-term weight maintenance may be more successful with Weight Watchers than is reported for most dieters.
What do the critics say?
Though health and nutrition professionals design the Weight Watchers program, individuals are not offered professional guidance; instead they must rely on printed materials, group leaders, and other members for advice and problem solving. A recent report suggested that while dieters using Weight Watchers for a full year lost an average of 5% of their body weight, other dieters using Atkins, Zone, or very-low-fat diets lost the same amount. Therefore, the cost of membership in Weight Watchers, while not as high as some other commercial programs, might seem unnecessary when other weight-loss plans may be available either free or for the price of a single book.
Furthermore, regular weigh-ins at group meetings may make some people uncomfortable, and some health authorities believe that focusing on weight instead of overall health can lead to unhealthy dieting practices.
