The Good and the Bad About Weight Watchers
Published by Michelle February 23rd, 2007 in Healthy Living, Michelle's Journey, Health - General, Weight, Exercise and Fitness, Eating and Food. Tags: .Since September 2006, I have participated in my local chapter of Weight Watchers. As part of my journey to optimal health, I have approximately 30 to 40 pounds to lose.
Since September, I have lost 8 pounds. I had put some of the weight back on during the holidays and am now back in a downward trend. It’s progress, even if it’s slow. And that’s OK with me!
I chose to do Weight Watchers because I had been told that it’s one of the healthier and more realistic programs out there, compared to the starvation diets and programs that sell pre-packaged food.
I think a more accurate description of Weight Watchers is that it has the *potential* to be healthy, but in many ways, it misses the mark.
Here’s what I like about Weight Watchers:
• Weekly weigh-in on a standardized scale that’s outside of my home
• The habit and accountability of the weekly meeting
• The camaraderie, support, and social aspects of the meeting
• Sharing health, eating, shopping, and exercise tips amongst the group
• The points program that teaches portion control and food selection
• The emphasis of fruits, vegetables, fiber, and water
• The food and exercise journals
• The recipes, forums, and other tools available on the website
• The affordability of the program
Here’s what needs improvement in my opinion:
• The emphasis is on losing weight over and above gaining optimal health.
• There is too much emphasis on scale numbers and virtually no mention of other, more important numbers, such as body fat percentage and body mass index. I’ve seen many people starve themselves a day or two before the weigh-in so they can see a lower number on the scale. I’ve also seen people wear shorts in the middle of winter, so their clothes are not adding to the weight!
• The eating program is based on the “Good Health Guidelines,” which are based on marketing food products to consumers and not on optimal nutrition. As a result, members who are basing their nutritional decisions solely on Weight Watcher education may be losing weight, but they are missing the boat health-wise.
• Weight Watchers puts a strong emphasis on dairy products, encouraging 3 servings a day. Personally, I eat very little dairy, and based on my research, it’s better for weight loss to omit dairy. It’s possible to get more usable calcium from vegetable sources, while eliminating the unhealthy fats and proteins in milk. If dairy is used, it should be used sparingly and from organic sources. (The “Milk Your Diet” TV commercials are not completely accurate.)
• The points program is designed to help you “cheat” legally, instead of encouraging you to switch to more healthful foods.
• The points program does not factor sugar into the points calculation. Low-fat foods can be low in points but high in sugar, which can turn to fat in the body.
• Weight Watchers’ packaged products are filled with awful ingredients, such as sugar, artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, enriched flours, etc.
As long as you are nutritionally savvy and are aware of these shortcomings, I think Weight Watchers can be a good program for some folks. Even though I realize WW’s imperfections, I still like and use a lot of what the program has to offer, and I customize the nutrition to be healthier than what WW teaches.
However, if you truly want to lose weight through achieving optimal health, your best option is investing in programs offered by health and wellness coaches and counselors that prioritize whole foods and physical fitness. The education and personalized support are definitely worth the money.
I thought of a few more things I like/dislike about WW:
Like:
That it’s a program that you must shop and cook for yourself. The programs that heavily rely on the pre-packaged foods don’t teach you what you need to know about living in the real world once the packaged food goes away.
Some of their non-food products are helpful. I like the cookbooks (except I again use my nutritional knowledge to make some of the recipes healthier than what WW suggests. I will sub soymilk for milk and Stevia sweetener for other artificial sweeteners.) I also like and use their food scale.
Dislike:
Not enough emphasis on physical fitness. Most of the meetings are consumed about food choices, shopping, and cooking. A lot of the people in my group are not exercising, or if they are, they are doing it reluctantly instead of developing a love and a desire for it as an essential lifestyle component.
Now that I’ve been going for a while, the meetings are starting to feel redundant and the focus is still not on optimal health. (The majority of the last meeting went into detail about the points value of nutritionally useless foods, like Hostess cupcakes and fat free Cool Whip.) Bottom line, WW is not educating people how to eat healthy and to help them develop a passion for healthy eating - it’s more about sharing secrets and tips for losing weight while still eating unhealthy foods.
The goal weights that people select for themselves are completely arbitrary and are not based on science or reality for that person. Because WW does not use body fat percentage or body mass index (BMI), it encourages people to go for lower numbers on the scale that don’t necessarily translate into a healthy body.
For example, I could weigh 120 pounds and be 25% body fat, or I could weigh 135 pounds and be 18% body fat. The latter is healthier, even though the weight is higher. Bottom line - weight does not indicate health. But this is not discussed at WW.
I have to say that having traveled and hit many meetings outside my home state many of the comments you made regarding your dislikes are due specific leaders and not the progam. In fact my home meeting stress the health benefits over the scale numbers. Our leader speaks weekly about the dangers of dehydrating yourself for the numbers as well. Heath is a big topic at our meetings and members with health issues are encouraged to report the benefits of their weight loss at the meeting. People with high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis have all spoken with positive results.
And because of the variety of people from those who need to lose twenty pounds to those who have to lose over a hundred we have definitely discussed percentage fat lose as opposed to lbs lost. Just as it can be discouraging for those who need only a small loss to hear a larger member lose 6 lbs in one week, it is just as discouraging for a person who has a lot to lose have a person who lost 20 lbs. hailed for becoming a life time member.
Personally we’ve had a number of members who have achieved lifetime with the 30 lb loss. I’m happy for them and wish I’d started when I only need to lose that much. But I still think to myself geez I’ve lost 30 lbs three times over and then some and I’d still like to lose 30 more. It can be discouraging but when I was putting up big weekly numbers I know folks envied me as well and after all I did lose 109s in a year and a half. It took alot longer to put it on. Understanding about percentage weight loss makes the logic much easier to process so I’m very glad that has been stressed.
As for dairy products. Our leader calls it calcium servings not dairy servings. In fact many dairy products such as cheese and ice cream have very little calcium. We have learned about many sources of calcium outside of dairy and know the percentage of calcium we need to take in each day through our foods and beverages.
As for sugar, yes we’ve discussed that as well. We are constantly reviewing lables for things besides fat like sugar, syrups, and preservatives. In addition the point system takes into account calories, fat, and fiber. Sugar contributes to calories without a doubt. And we know that “free” can be a trade off. For example sugar free Jello brand pudding is a point less than fat free. Our leader has taken those tempting foods like candy, cookies and cake and put it in the perspective of how many lengths of a football field we’d have to walk to burn them off.You’d be surprised how many are not temped by a single M & M brand candy these days.
WW products are available at our meetings but are not pushed as necessary diet supplements and we definitely talk about other brands that are available. Generally speaking WW products only benefit over others is added fiber. Most vegetables being 0 points per serving can provide adequate fiber.
As I’ve said, I’ve traveled extensively, and I know my meeting leader is exceptional. My recommendation is that if you know you aren’t getting the information you know you should, you can make the changes either within or without your meeting.
Speak up and give the information yourself at your present meeting (other people no doubt have the same concerns but don’t want to ask) and you might actually turn the meeting around. Write to corporate and suggest that they incorporate the things you’ve mentioned into all employee training.
I had a leader in NYC while visiting there point to me and asked how much have you lost to date?, then she proceeded to do the same to the regulars. Before she came in all the members were complaining that all she cared about where the folks getting big numbers every week - that is wrong and it shouldn’t be that way. She made people feel that if they lost a few ounces feel like losers.
My leader has brought in various items showing how much half a pound of fat actually is and other weights as well. Visuals can be very encouraging. She makes discouraged members feel good about any loss they’ve accomplished. We know the scales measure fat, muscle and water so even a gain of can be attributed to water intake. (Did you see the Biggest Loser guy throw the weigh-in by drinking 2 gallons of water for 17lbs). We don’t look at weekly results so much as the pattern from month to month to view our successes.
And exercise is stressed as part of a healthy routine. Like I said health is a big emphasis. We have contests in which we can earn charms or enter raffles for exercising 20 minutes per day each week.
Our meeting leader also discusses how to prepare ourselves for events such as parties and sporting events so we make good choices and aren’t temped to overeat, how to deal with well meaning relatives and friends who try to feel them etc. In other words she really sees the big picture and she knows and cares about each individual. She even stays after to talk about personal issues, and she makes herself accessible by email. I really feel my success to date has been as much due to my leader as it has been to the program. She cares she finds something encouraging in every negative, and she’s realistic. I truly wish more leaders could be like her.
The second option to changing your meeting from within is to find another meeting if possible. Cards carry from meeting to meeting so find a leader that has the right stuff. Good luck to all of you.