Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers is a program that is popular and widely recognized as one of the original weight loss programs. The Weight Watchers model is based around eating regular food (read: not prepackaged meals) and learning to eat sensibly with health in mind. The program is fairly simple – essentially calorie restriction – and has a strong support model in the form of weekly meetings, or alternatively, online support groups. Having been around for 45 years, Weight Watchers has a pretty good track record of helping people lose weight.
The Weight Watchers model has a four-fold approach that consists of eating smarter, moving more, developing helpful habits, and getting support.
Weight Watchers encourages dieters to visit their weekly meetings, where dieters will weigh in and stay for a motivational and educational meeting about healthy lifestyles and weight loss. For those that choose the online course, there are many discussion forums and feature articles that impart a similar support structure as in live meetings.
The plan itself is pretty simple. Using a proprietary questionnaire, dieters figure out their personal “POINTS” value. Points are assigned to many different foods, and dieters add up their points throughout the day as they eat. This is not unlike calorie counting, but simplified. Weight Watchers has a points counter so dieters can calculate points on the go.
Those that are not natural food points counters will be asked to calculate for several weeks until they get a feel for how many points are in various foods they like to eat. After that, they can move to trying out the “Filling Foods” method, which eschews counting points for eating only high fiber low density foods. These types of foods naturally leave the dieter feeling fuller longer. These foods are naturally low in points as well, so dieters can eat them with confidence.
One of the biggest advantages of the Weight Watchers program is that dieters are dependent on their own food choices right off, and they are not restricted to any particular type of food. In this way, Weight Watchers definitely subscribes to the view that weight loss is dependent on calorie reduction and increased physical activity. While some may have an easier time losing than others, the basic underlying formula is pretty similar from person to person.
Weight Watchers has been around for a very long time, as far as weight loss programs go. It has the pedigree that tells people it’s a diet plan worth checking out. With a fairly simple plan, a built-in support structure, and a track record of success, Weight Watchers is a weight loss plan worth a try.