Weight Watchers has been around for a long time, and there are very few people who’d say bad things about the program.  That must mean there are valuable things to learn from it, right?  So why are there so many overweight, lifetime members of Weight Watchers?

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert of the WW program, because I’ve never actually followed it myself.  So many of the the things I’ll suggest are based on observations and just theories that seem to make sense.  I think that most people view diet programs as “on” or “off” — they don’t see the tremendous variance that exist from one person’s plan to another…even within the same plan.  Hopefully what you will find is that there are people who follow WW better than others, and those are the people who, logically, succeed.  Here are some ideas that might help explain what I mean:

1) Oversimplifying what the program is.  Many people have followed diets and never really understood the whole plan…they get the gist of something, and just start following a set of rules, that really only might be part of the plan.  We see the quite often with the Atkins diet, where people don’t even read the book before they start eating bacon, burgers and the cheese off of their pizza.  I think it’s pretty much human nature to do this (I seldom read directions on anything myself until I have a problem)…but often this can make or break a program’s success.  Why?  Because there are subtle things that we skip over that actually are important.  The general idea that WW followers can eat ANYTHING as long as they stay under their points for the day is a big draw of the program, but often this may lead to the inability to adjust their foods to healthier options, because they have it set in their minds that anything means ANYTHING.  The general education of what are better choices is a process that many people skip over, often because they don’t think they need to know much more to stay on the program…this leads us to the next point…

2) Accountability.  This of course, is critical for every single weight loss plan out there.  We are the WORST at holding ourselves accountable for going over our points, because we easily will stop counting when we know we’ve blown the top limit even with our “flex” points for the day.  So the question is…is someone else watching what we are doing?  This doesn’t always matter for everyone, but it does for most of us.  Whether someond attends meetings is a big factor in success, not because of the information they give per se, but because of the weigh ins.  The weigh ins each week are ultimately the bottom line that directly relates to how well the point system has been used, because if you eat within your targeted points, you will most generally lost weight.  Going to meetings and being “forced” to see the results of our actions, we become well aware that the more times we exceed our points, the more times we don’t lose weight, or even gain weight.  Those who fail to make this connection often stop going to meetings, and the rest you can probably predict…Even lifetime members get to a point where they don’t think they need to meetings anymore, and this is a false sense of confidence that we all gain, when we think we know what we’re doing. Accountability it seems, has less to do with what we know, and more to do with what we don’t want to know.

3)  Human Error.  The point system is generally a good way to track what you are eating, and while I might suggest calories and other nutritional information are more easily accessible, counting points works…as long as you are accurate in your counting.  Because a point may equal anywhere from 50-70 calories, there is always margin for error in many areas of the WW plan.  Do you underestimate your points if you consume a little too much of a particular food?  I would think it’s a common thing to give yourself a little leeway on points if you have just an extra serving…which could mean 2-3 extra points (or 150 - 200 extra calories).  How often might this happen?  How many times do we “guess” at the point value of an unknown food “in the wild” — and how off could we be?  If we are off by just a point 5 times throughout the day, we can be consuming 5 extra points that we kind of ignore, and that could mean 250 or more extra calories per day!  From a weight loss perspective, this can add up fast.  Remember, to err IS human, so it’s probably likely for most people (I would have to guess that the program in general has a buffer built in to combat this process, but some people are worse than others)

4) What are we learning about food?  Many WW people you talk to may really not have any concept of protein, carbs, or fat…and their relationship to their diet.  While these might be considered “more advanced” topics for some, they are topics that all of us really should learn, at least by the time we’re senior citizens…since it’s not all that difficult.  The WW program often focuses on fat and fiber, so most people on the program ARE aware of these things, but often not much more.  They are always searching for foods that have lots of fiber so they can subtract points!  It’s not a bad thing…just an incomplete perspective.  So if one is following WW and actually learns over time what foods are more valuable than others, which ones will satiate us (make us full), and which ones will make us want to eat more…the success rate goes up!  I’ve seen many people’s WW food logs that have hardly any protein meal after meal, since the point system doesn’t really care much about it.  I am assuming that these topics are disucssed in meetings, but I can’t say from first hand experience.

5) Exercise.  This is another wild card.  Whether people on WW exercise or not has a lot to do with a) whether they go to meetings, and b) whether their group leader exercises.  Everyone on WW will tell you that you can subtract points if you exercise, but very little stress in general is placed on how much and how hard to exercise.  This might be by design, to add to the draw of the program (that exercise isn’t necessary), but it’s a really big gap when it comes to success in weight loss.  Whether we go for a walk or not, often can mean a Sunday stroll at 2mph, or a sweat inducing workout at 4mph…and the difference in calories burned could be twice.  Most people would like to believe they can skip this part…but for the long term, they can’t…it is absolutely critical for long term maintenance, because it not only makes us more aware of our bodies which translates to better eating…it gives us the flexibility we need in addition to “flex points” so that we can maintain a balanced lifestyle with indulgences here and there for years.

Anyhow, that’s what we’ve seen.  What has been your experience?