Weight Watchers was originally a club that began 45 years ago with a group of friends meeting in private homes. One member recorded each person’s weight at the beginning of each meeting. Members would celebrate each other’s success, encourage each other and share information and recipes based on a standard exchange diet used in hospitals.
The original Weight Watchers diet allowed you to eat a set amount of protein, fat, starch, fruit and vegetables, with each food having an exchange value within its food group. For example, a sandwich made from two pieces of bread, a tablespoon of mayonnaise and 3 ounces of turkey would count as one meat, two breads and one fat. Weight Watchers used to have no requirements for exercise.
Today Weight Watchers has changed. It has grown to 1.5 million members. You no longer have to go to meetings, although this is their recommendation because you’ll lose “three times as much weight” if you do. However, you can now be an online-member of Weight Watchers. Online membership is another way Weight Watchers tries to appeal to men as well as women. The in-person meetings still require a weekly weigh-in and have become more formal. The Weight Watchers Leader, a person who has lost weight on the program, teaches a weekly lesson in nutrition or exercise. Often the lessons are seasonal. For example, in November, you will get a meeting on how to handle the big Thanksgiving dinner. The meetings cost about $12 a week. Once you reach your ideal weight, you are on “maintenance” and can attend meetings for free.
Weight Watchers now has an exercise component. Many members are so obese that they can only manage slow walking at first. Weight Watchers helps them build that up to a more vigorous regime as they lose weight. The Weight Watchers diet plan has gotten away from the old dietician’s exchange diet.
Today Weight Watchers count “points.” Every member gets a certain number of points per day based on their starting weights, ranging from 18 to 35. You can earn more points by exercising. A half hour of bicycling equals two points. Every food has a point value based on its calories, fat grams and fiber content. Some foods have zero points -- a cup of fresh broccoli, for example. These are unlimited foods. A scoop of vanilla ice cream or an ounce of chocolate is 4 points, a small bean burrito is 5 points, a six-ounce steak is 8 points, etc. A cup of grapes has one point, so theoretically, if you are allowed 18 points on Weight Watchers, you could spend one day eating 18 cups of grapes. The point system allows for maximum flexibility and individual tastes.
Weight Watchers has a line of commercial products that includes hundreds of frozen entrees, snacks like pre-measured popcorn, ice cream and desserts, etc. The products all have point values calculated for you. The Weight Watchers literature also has hundreds of recipes and suggestions for eating out at popular restaurants that again counts the points in every food for you. Their recipes use popular brands like Tyson, Progresso, Thomas muffins and Jennie-O turkey, again making it easier to follow.
Weight Watchers is increasingly moving toward a scientific approach and now provides information on topics such as “The Physics of Weight Loss.” Their ultimate goal is to have members lose weight even as they develop habits of healthy eating and exercise in order to maintain their ideal weights over their lifetimes. See http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx.
Created:
1980
Categories:
Low Fat, Low Carb, Glycemic Index, High Fiber, Prepared Meals
Website:
www.weightwatchers.com
Meetings:
Yes
Books:
Yes