Answer: Weight Watchers has been around for 40 years and has helped many people lose weight. It all started when a housewife in Queens, New York - Jean Nidetch began inviting people into her home to discuss weight loss issues and solutions. It became so popular that eventually she held meetings in larger venues and later trained people who had succeeded with weight loss how to motivate and encourage others by becoming meeting leaders.

Jean eventually sold her company to Heinz and it was sold a few years back to a European company for over a half-billon dollars.

Let me start off by saying that there are many components of Weight Watchers that I believe are beneficial. For one, many people find it rewarding to belong to a group. Group meetings appeal to our sense of belonging - a concept that many psychologists believe is an innate behavior. These meetings are economical and they offer structure, accountability and consistency for the dieter.

Overall, I believe that Weight Watchers is a good place for a person to start who just wants to lose scale weight and is not interested in eating healthy. Fact is: Weight Watchers is a great program for the individual who believes that they can lose weight by eating whatever they want - as long as they control their potions. I know that this is a strong statement, however, I intend to back it up!

Biggest challenge
The biggest challenge I have with Weight Watchers, like most commercial weight-loss programs, is that they rely on old school methods of measuring one's progress - the scale and the Body Mass Index (BMI). The scale is good for one thing, measuring your total body weight. The scale does not inform you of what type of weight you are losing (i.e., water, muscle, fat). The BMI dates back to 1835, (developed by French mathematician Adolphe Quetelet), and does not take into account the amount of muscle or bone density of the individual. So, like the scale, the BMI is outdated and not a proven source for measuring your progress or digress.

Measuring progress
The only way to accurately measure your progress is by conducting a body composition analysis and determining how much fat and lean body mass you have. Doing this makes it possible for you to know whether or not you are releasing fat and minimizing muscle loss. Keeping your all important muscle tissue keeps your metabolism in high gear and puts you in a position to prevent the fat from coming back.

Consequences
When you merely utilize the point system and restrict your calories you are without a doubt going to experience water and muscle loss. Though, the scale reads lower on a weekly weigh in, it is the loss of muscle that almost guarantees the fat will come back. I am sure that those working for Weight Watchers understand basic nutrition and motivational strategies; nonetheless, they lack the education and training needed to help a person understand the difference between weight loss and fat loss.

What you can do
It is the content of your daily calories, the timing of your meals and snacks combined with exercise that puts you in the position to release fat and preserve that all important muscle tissue. This is truly the ONLY way to keep the fat off for good. (For more information, refer to chapter one of our book, "Fat That Doesn't Come Back".)

Missing the boat
It is my opinion that Weight Watchers missed the boat on the importance of lean body mass to fat mass ratio. Maybe this is why 70% of their clientele are repeat customers.

I don't believe that creating health means eating anything you want in moderation. We all know that there are foods that are totally unhealthy, such as French Fries, Krispy Cream donuts, Big Mac's, ice cream, margarine, cake and the list goes on and on. Finding healthy alternatives to replace unhealthy foods does help a person live life without feeling deprived. I believe that it is beneficial to focus on the content of the food, rather than the calories, points or short term pleasure of the taste.

True story
Many of my clients have been repeat customers of Weight Watchers, however, one comes to mind and I would to share her story. You see, she figured out the points early on: eating a slice of toast with coffee for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and a salad for dinner meant that she could have a six pack of beer every night! Some days she would skip the beer and save her points for the weekend so she could be reckless and overindulge by eating pizza and drinking beer. While this person may be an extreme case, she continued to go to the weekly meetings and lose weight. Did she learn how to replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones and live a lifestyle that evolves? No. Did she gain the weight back and then some? Yes.

Lastly, it is apparent to me that their meetings are economical because the more people they have, the more products they sell. That is where they really make their money. Byers beware, as many of their products contain cancer causing "trans fatty acids." Look for the following words on their list of ingredients: hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated and fractionated oils.

If I have offended anyone, please accept my apology. It is my sincere desire and the goal of Wellness Weight-Loss to help others by presenting the facts and telling the truth. Case in point, an old friend of mine owns a Curves for Women and she wasn't very happy with my Q & A on that topic. Well...integrity and honesty are my core values and I will never sell out!

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