Weight Watchers Program Review

Weight Watchers works because it’s not a diet. You’ll learn how to eat right and live healthy. With their intuitive PointsPlus system, you receive a weight-loss plan based on current nutritional science. There are no required foods on Weight Watchers, just a simple, easy-to-follow plan that has the flexibility for indulgences, preventing you from feeling trapped by your own weight loss. You’ll also learn to stay fuller longer by focusing on Weight Watchers Power Foods, fruits and vegetables.

Customizable Options

Because Weight Watchers places no dietary restrictions on its users, those aliving gluten-free, Kosher or vegetarian life styles have just as much access to the program as anyone else.

You'll need to choose whether you’d rather do Weight Watchers Meetings or Weight Watchers Online. The in-person Weight Watchers Meetings connect a group of people trying to lose weight and are led by a person who has used Weight Watchers to successfully keep off weight. Weight Watchers Meetings also provide an opportunity for encouragement from other members, as well as a place to make new friends. To get the most value out of Weight Watchers Meetings, you might want to go with their Monthly Pass. The Monthly Pass grants your unlimited access to meetings, so you can make new friends and gain full control of your weight loss program. With Monthly Pass, you’ll also be granted access to Free eTools to help you calculate points while you’re out and about.

Alternatively, self-motivators can opt for Weight Watchers Online, which gives you everything you need to follow Weight Watchers 360º on your own, instead of with a group leader. Subscribers can peruse Weight Watchers’ food database to check points while grocery shopping, search the recipe guide or use their cheat sheet to substitute healthier options for bad ones. Monthly Pass and Weight Watchers Online let you track your meals on-the-go with apps for mobile phones and tablets, and also provide access to helpful online tools to help you quickly tabulate your points for the day.

Though Weight Watchers doesn’t require subscribers to purchase any specific foods, they do offer a variety of their own foods, ranging from breads to frozen dinners to candies, which all prominently display their point values on the front of their packaging. Their highly visible brand, Smart Ones, is available at most large supermarkets and is based on the idea that healthy food can taste like an indulgence. The entire Smart Ones line is designed around the same principals as Weight Watchers' larger program—making weight loss easy and painless, using tasty foods in ready-to-go, controlled portions for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Weight Watchers also endorses a number of lower calorie options by popular brands (Jell-O, Progresso, etc.), many of which also list their Weight Watchers point values.

Program Type and Nutritional Balance

Weight Watchers is a unique program in that it has no forbidden foods, and instead relies on a tried and true point system to determine fat, protein, carbohydrate and fiber content in the food you're already eating. Therefore, you can theoretically eat a candy apple at a carnival without breaking any rules, so long as you understand how many points it's worth and don't exceed your weekly PointsPlus allowance.

Based on your height, weight and age, Weight Watchers determines a generally healthy weight range for your body, letting you determine your own target weight. By incorporating this information into their points system, Weight Watchers can likely help teach you how to eat healthfully for the rest of your life. Program options include in-person Weight Watchers Meetings as well as Weight Watchers Online — both of which offer you guidance and tools you can use to monitor your progress.

Hunger Factor

The one thing to bear in mind with the PointsPlus system is that you are held accountable for how hungry you are at any given time, since a bowl of ice cream uses more points than a bowl of black beans. While the beans are high in fiber, the ice cream is high in simple sugars and therefore worth more points. The point system could likely allow some indulgences, but is more likely intended to reward healthier choices by allowing you to eat more of them and less of the bad ones.

Indulgence Allowances

As stated above, there shouldn’t likely be any cheating on Weight Watchers; you’ll just end up using more of your daily and weekly allowances faster if you’re not eating healthful foods.

Realistic Expectations

Based on principles like portion control and balanced nutrition, Weight Watchers claims that people on their program should lose between 1-2 lbs. per week.

External Support

The type of external support you receive from Weight Watchers largely depends on whether you choose to work the Weight Watchers Online or the Weight Watchers Meetings program. With a meeting-based program, you will receive encouragement from someone who has worked the program before, as well as other members. With Weight Watchers Online, you’ll have access to a large number of online resources to help you make hopefully healthy choices on a daily basis, like weight loss blogs and forums for swapping recipes.

Cost

The online plan is $18.95 per month plus a one-time sign-up fee of $29.95, but some Weight Watchers Online promotions allow you to waive the sign-up fee for the same monthly rate if you purchase a three-month membership up front. Pricing for Weight Watchers Meetings will vary depending on location and whether you purchase their Monthly Pass or a certain number of meetings in advance. See site for full details.

Cancellation Information

Weight Watchers has generally reasonable requirements and protocols in place for subscription cancellation. See site for full details.

Summary

Weight Watchers offers an easy and intuitive program that could help you learn how to lose weight and develop lifestyle skills you can practice to improve your health. If you’re ready to get your weight under control, consider letting Weight Watchers help you along the road to creating a better and healthier you.