Thoughts About Weight Watchers

                                     My Thoughts on Weight Watchers

                Last Monday, after several false starts, I decided to recommit to Weight Watchers. There have been some changes since the last time I used the program. The main one is they’re now calling themselves WW, kind of like KFC. The second one is late last year they debuted one of their most flexible plans.

                Weight Watchers relies on a point system. You are allotted a certain amount of points a day. Each food is assigned a point value based on an algorithm which calculates the nutritional value. The more nutritious the food, the lower it is in points. Many fruits and vegetables are assigned zero points, to encourage you to eat more of them. Lean meats such as chicken and fish are low in points. Empty calorie foods such as candy are extremely high in points to discourage you from eating them. For instance, a small mini York peppermint patty clocks in at three points, which seems astronomical for a tiny candy that is only 40 calories.

                I’ve always felt that Weight Watchers is the best diet plan out there. Weight loss may not be swift, but it’s steady. And it teaches you the correct way to eat. Unlike most diets, if you do the plan correctly, you will never go hungry. Not when you can have a cup of grapes for zero points.

                As I mentioned previously, they changed things up recently. Now you can select from one of three plans. I’m on the purple plan. I am allowed thirty-three points a day and have a list of 100 zero point foods to choose from. The blue plan gives the user less points, but there are 200 zero point selections. The green plan has even less points, but three hundred zero point selections.

                You receive extra points each week, about a day’s worth, so you can have a cheat meal or indulge in dessert, so you never feel deprived. You can also earn points through exercise.

                Basically, this plan teachers you how to live for the rest of your life.

                I’m always curious to see what criticisms exist of certain diets, so I did my research. Being a billion-dollar corporation who has Oprah as its spokesperson, WW does not lack in criticism. I will list some of the main ones and explain why I feel they lack validity.

1.       WW Has A High Recidivism Rate

This is at least my sixth time on the WW so there is no beating around the bush-it does. No question. I read criticisms that “the plan is designed to make people fail,” and “it doesn’t work long-term.” Neither are true. WW has a high recidivism because it DOES work. That is why they have so many repeat customers.

The truth is that weight loss is hard to maintain. There are a bunch of dire statistics regarding it, but the simplest explanation is losing weight can be much like rocking a vending machine to get a stuck package to fall. You usually do it multiple times before it works permanently, although some people only have to rock it once.

My problem is I’m an emotional eater. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m addicted to food, but I admittedly use food for something other than fueling my body. I use it as comfort, a reward, to relieve stress, and to celebrate. I’m forty-six and I’ve done this my entire life. Weight Watchers is not going to undo that. Only I can undo that.

My most recent major weight gain happened due to a lot of upheaval in my life which started when my mother died two years ago. I used food to cope, and I knew I was using food to cope even while I was doing it. I didn’t beat myself up for it and I will not beat myself up for it. Using food to cope gave me the ability to function. Perhaps it would be better to deal with my feelings than eat them, but that would probably reduce me to a weeping ball on the couch, when I had no choice but to get up, go to work, and get on with things. I did what I had to do to keep functioning. And now I will do what I must do to lose the weight I gained.

I don’t blame WW for MY choice to emotionally eat. WW is only a tool. Their leaders are not therapists. The program may flirt with trying to get you to understand why you eat badly, but let me tell you, I personally know full well. I know why, and I know what the consequences will be, and I choose not to deal with it until I am ready.

In short, the plan isn’t flawed. Human beings are. There is nothing in the world that can guarantee anyone will lose weight and not regain it in the future. Even gastric bypasses can be undone by poor eating. We are the ones making choices. No diet plan can do that for us, they can only guide the way.

2.       Weight Watchers Triggers Eating Disorders

Hi, I’ve always been crazy obsessive about food and have a poor body image and when I joined WW I continued to be…surprise surprise…crazy obsessive about food with a poor body image. And it’s WW’s fault!

No, honey. WW did not give you an eating disorder. You’re mentally ill. You chose to deal with it by going to a diet center instead of a psychiatrist, much like a cancer patient going to an herbalist instead of a doctor.

I’ve read several blogs blaming WW for the writer’s eating disorder, basically stating the business of weighing in each week and having to count points triggered them. I take issue with this assessment.

It’s not as if WW hides the fact that you’re going to get weighed in and have to count points. If WW triggers your eating disorder, it’s like alcohol triggering an alcoholic. It’s not Budweiser’s fault someone is an alcoholic. Something in your brain was set into motion at that first sip of beer. The beer didn’t cause your issue. No one would ever think to blame a bar for their alcoholism. It’s understood that it’s a disease, not caused by a bar or a beer or something outside yourself. The same is true with eating disorders.

One blogger spoke about how she’s struggled with an eating disorder since going to WW at the age of twelve. She stated that she used up all her points on candy and junk food and no one stopped her and now she’s got a lifelong eating disorder because of it. She blames WW.

The whole time I was reading her blog, I was thinking what the hell kind of parents takes their twelve year old to Weight Watchers meetings and then gives her access to unlimited junk food?

Shitty parents, at best. Goddamn neglectful and abusive ones, at worst. I found it interesting that she never identified her parents as playing the main role in her disorder, but someone fat shamed a twelve year old enough that she hated her body. Someone brought her to meetings and ponied up her membership fee. Then apparently allowed her access to junk food, which a twelve year old, for the most part, cannot get on her own. Someone in charge of this child did all that, and yet she blames the tool that she used to lose weight. A tool that I personally don’t believe is for kids.

I’ll also venture a guess that the same person who dragged her to Weight Watchers meetings also struggles with their weight, suggesting that the eating disorder might be genetic. Also suggesting that she learned to hate her body from this person.

It’s easier to blame WW since it’s less painful than examining your life to discover the truth.

Verdict-this criticism lacks validity.  Of the millions of people who go on WW, there’s bound to be a few struggling with scary food issues that should be dealt with by a psychiatrist or a treatment center. WW is neither. It is merely a tool.

3.       Weight Watchers Focuses on Points, Not Eating Nutritionally

Why would WW spend tremendous amounts of resources compiling lists of zero-point foods if not to encourage their users to eat them?

There have been earlier incantations of the plan were all foods had a point value, but even then, asparagus and apples had much lower points than a candy bar. Eating salmon and broccoli was a lot less points than a burger and fries.

WW allows all foods, and has points built in for the occasional indulgence.  WW tries to give you a plan you can follow for the rest of your life, and sometimes you will want a slice of pizza or a burger. A plan that does not allow for an occasional piece of cake is unsustainable.

One blogger wrote they allow pizza! Like it was a sin or something. Yes, you can eat pizza on WW. You can have it every day, in fact. Pizza is not a bad choice. We make it a bad choice by eating three slices in one sitting. One slice of pizza is not bad for you. WW teaches moderation.

               

WW allows candy, pizza, burgers, etc. You can follow the plan and eat all those things and still lose weight as long as you didn’t go over your points. The plan does everything short of hiring someone to follow you around to make sure you’re making good decisions, but it’s not your mother. If you choose to go on WW and spend your entire daily points allowance on cookies, and never eat a fruit or a vegetable because you hate them, you will lose weight. You’ll spend a lot of time being hungry. But for a critic to say that WW encourages this behavior is false.

Several critics find fault with the fact that you can eat anything and still lose weight, but that’s not WW, that’s our bodies. We all know people who eat only junk food but are skinny, because they don’t exceed their caloric requirement for the day. If a package of Ring Dings is four hundred calories and all you eat a day is three packages of Ring Dings, you’ll be thin. To suggest that WW somehow makes this happen is ridiculous.

4.       Weight Watchers is a Business

This criticism states that WW’s business model includes pushing a lot of processed crap on its consumers. Well, supermarket freezers are full of Weight Watchers frozen meals. These days you can even buy Weight Watchers brand string cheese. And if you’ve ever attended a meeting, or gone to a diet center, you know there are tables filled with one point bars and other snack foods not available in grocery stores.

This criticism may have some validity to it. Neither of my main Weight Watchers leaders ever aggressively pushed processed products on us. In fact, both emphasized that they were convenience foods only, to be grabbed when you’re in a pinch, not to replace fresh ingredients. But I’ve heard there are leaders out there who do push the products on their members.

My answer to this criticism is WW manufactures these products because there is a need for them. Many people on WW like the option of being able to grab a frozen meal if they’re tired of cooking, or a three point bar if they want something chocolate. And no doubt there are some members who rely solely on these products, so in the end they learn nothing about cooking your own meals or how to shop the supermarket aisles. But they make a choice to do this. You can’t blame the program for it. It gives you the resources to lose weight using your own food to the point of providing shopping lists and hundreds of recipes.

5.       Weight Watchers Doesn’t Work for Everyone

Yes, actually, it does. Unless you have a bona fide health issue that prevents you from losing weight, WW will work for you. I’ve seen this criticism quite often, and I’ve even heard people say it didn’t work for them. I think a more truthful way to put it is Weight Watchers isn’t for everyone. Not everyone wants to calculate and log the point value of everything they put in their mouths, or plan their meals all day, or participate in weekly weigh ins. They’d do better with a different program.

I had a coworker who used to attend Weight Watchers at Work meetings with me who would vocally tell everyone that it didn’t work for her. I refrained from rolling my eyes. She was of the sort that felt because she showed up for meetings and paid her fee, she should automatically lose weight without doing anything else. She never counted points. Never changed her eating habits in any way. She would ask me every week why I lost weight and she didn’t, and I’d say “because I count my points.”

                The conversation was always the same. “That’s what you do? Count points?”

                I said, “Yes.”

                “I just can’t wrap my head around it.”

One day we were out to lunch together at the bagel shop. I had brought my own sandwich and purchased a tea. She had an enormous sandwich slathered in mayo. She was moaning about how WW wasn’t working, and I said, “You want to know why?”

                “Yes. Please, tell me why.”

                I said, “That bagel you’re eating is at least six points. (This was back in 2009, in the old days-I think it’s probably nine now). All that turkey? At least eight. The mayo? At least ten. Then you have five pieces of cheese at two points each. That one sandwich exceeds all your points for the day, and this is only one meal.”

                She was slack jawed in shock.

                The following week, when she got weighed again, she went back to complaining the program wasn’t working for her and she didn’t understand why. It was maddening.

                The program may not be for everyone, but it does work for everyone. That’s the truth. It won't work if you don’t follow the plan.

              In conclusion, WW is merely a tool. Like all tools, the user chooses how they use it. Imagine you want to dig a hole in your yard. You buy a shovel. Would you then expect the hole to be magically dug because you bought a shovel? No, and you’d laugh at someone who blamed the shovel for the hole not being dug. If you bought a shovel but dug the hole with your hands, would be blame the shovel because the hole wasn’t as deep as you like? Would you badmouth the shovel because now your hands are dirty, and your fingernails are broken? Again, no. f you bought a snow shovel but you needed a spade, would you blame the shovel? Again, no.If someone used your shovel to bury a body in the backyard, would you blame the shovel? I hope not.Would you blame the shovel if someone murdered another with it? No.

WW is a tool for weight loss. It’s one of the best ones out there. How you use that tool is up to you. Just like with the shovel, you need to put in the work, or the hole won’t get dug. And if you twist the program to serve your purposes, you can’t blame the program. Even using the application, I know I shouldn’t eat all my points in Oreos. That’s common sense. Anyone who uses all their points for junk has only themselves to blame, not the program.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you. We all make choices. There is a not a diet program on earth that can force us to make the right choices. Losing weight and keeping it off is about taking personal responsibility for your health. WW can’t do that for you.