Be Wary of Weight Watchers

I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in 1990, and have rejoined many times since then.  Sometimes I had success on the program and sometimes not.  I’ve joined with friends and by myself.  The most I ever lost in one go was about 20 pounds.  I used to think Weight Watchers was the best weight loss method out there.  But I no longer think so.  I do like that they weigh you in, and give you rewards ranging from applause to key chains, if you lose weight.  It’s nice to have that accountability and get praise after working hard to lose weight each week.  And they give you a new blank journal every week to write down what you’ve eaten, which is proven to help people lose weight.

But over the years, I’ve seen an increase in their emphasis on processed food.  The first time I joined, there were either no, or very few of their foods for sale on the premises.  Now there are racks of it.  Last meeting I went to, there was even a segment where people talked about their favorite processed snacks, and brought in their empty snack bags for all to see, like an unhealthy version of show-n-tell.  Ick.

Weight Watchers Magazine bombards you with images of food.  The booklet they give you when you first join contains pictures of luscious desserts (I ripped them out).  The meetings are usually discussions on food-related topics and recipes.  Should an organization dedicated to weight loss really be doing this, when the rest of society is already tempting us with these images and messages?  For Pete’s sake, can we focus more on exercise, or the psychology behind successful weight loss, maybe even the freaking weather?????  The bottom line is that they are a company dedicated to making money, and unfortunately, I believe they are more concerned with that than about people’s health.  Reinforcing overweight people’s obsession with food, and encouraging them to eat non-nutritious salty snacks that they will probably lose control with, is, in my opinion, unethical.