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Weight Watchers

 
Hoover's Company Profiles:

Weight Watchers International, Inc.

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(NYSE:WTW)
Contact Information
Weight Watchers International, Inc.
11 Madison Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, NY 10010
NY Tel. 212-589-2700
Fax 212-589-2601

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.weightwatchersinternational.com
 Employees: 56,000
Employee growth: 12.0%

Forget diet fads: Weight Watchers is a stalwart in the weight loss industry. The company hosts nearly 45,000 weekly meetings worldwide facilitated by some 12,000 leaders. In the form of a support group, per se, meetings cover nutrition advice and exercise tips to help its some 1.2 million members lose weight. Weight Watchers also offers advice and recipes on its website and sells products, such as recipe books, a magazine, food, and vitamins. Its Weight Watchers Magazine has a US readership of 10.8 million. Jean Nidetch and Al and Felice Lippert started Weight Watchers in 1963; the firm now holds classes in about 30 countries. European investment firm Artal Luxembourg owns about 59% of Weight Watchers.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2010:
Sales: $1,452.0M
One year growth: 3.8%
Net income: $194.2M
Income growth: 9.5%

Officers:
Chairman: Raymond Debbane
President, CEO, and Director: David P. Kirchhoff
CFO: Ann M. Sardini

Competitors:
eDiets.com
Jenny Craig
Nutrisystem

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Gale Directory of Company Histories:

Weight Watchers International Inc.

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Incorporated: 1963
NAIC: 812990 All Other Personal Services

Weight Watchers International Inc., the world's leading weight loss service provider, grew from the dream of one woman into a global franchise with annual sales exceeding $1 billion. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has replaced the founder as the personality most associated with the enterprise. More than a million and a half people attend the company's weight loss classes in about 30 countries around the world. In 1999 parent firm H.J. Heinz sold the company's diet center enterprise to the European investment firm Artal Luxembourg SA. Weight Watchers, a public company since 2001, faced a downturn in enrollment during the early years of the 21st century as dieters turned to quick result weight loss solutions.

In 1961 Jean Nidetch was an overweight, 40-year-old homemaker living in Queens, New York. At 214 pounds and wearing a size 44 dress, Nidetch was always on a diet but never lost any weight. Thoroughly discouraged by dieting fads that did not help her, she attended a diet seminar offered by the City Board of Health in New York City. Although she lost 20 pounds following the advice provided, she soon discovered her motivation diminishing. Determined to stay on her diet and lose weight, she phoned a few overweight friends and asked them to come to her apartment. When her friends arrived, Nidetch confessed that she had an obsession with eating cookies. Her friends not only sympathized but also began to share their own obsessions about food. Soon Nidetch was arranging weekly meetings for her friends in her home. The women shared stories about food and offered each other support. Most important, they all began to lose weight.

Within a short time, Nidetch was arranging meetings for more than 40 people in her small apartment. Not long afterward, she began to arrange support group meetings at other people's homes. As more and more people attended the meetings, Nidetch realized that losing weight was not merely adhering to a diet, but encouraging people to support each other and change their eating habits. One couple, Felice and Al Lippert, invited Nidetch to speak to a group of overweight friends at their house in Baldwin Harbor. After meeting every week for four months, Al lost 40 pounds and Felice lost nearly 50. Al Lippert, a merchandise manager for a women's apparel chain, began to give Nidetch advice on how to organize and expand her activities, and soon a four-person partnership was formed among Nidetch and her husband, Marty, and Al and Felice Lippert. In May 1963, Weight Watchers was incorporated and opened for business in Queens, New York.

The company's first public meeting was held in a space located over a movie theater. Although the meeting was not advertised, more than 400 people waited in line to hear Nidetch speak. Nidetch divided the crowd into groups of 50 and spent the entire day addressing the overwhelming guilt and hopelessness that many people felt about being overweight, as well as providing advice about shedding pounds effectively. Nidetch began to hold meetings three times a day, seven days a week. When she started to show signs of fatigue, Al Lippert suggested that she pick key people who had lost weight themselves and had strong communication skills to help her expand the program. The first 100 people chosen to run meetings throughout New York City shared their personal stories and helped people gain control over their eating habits. Nidetch's extraordinary speaking skills and Al Lippert's genius for organization helped raise Weight Watchers to the level of an evangelical movement.

From 1963 to 1967, Lippert organized training programs, expanded the number of company locations throughout the United States, and implemented a franchising system. By 1968, Weight Watchers had 102 franchises in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Israel, and Puerto Rico. It was relatively easy for a person to get a franchise for Weight Watchers programs. Lippert sold the territory for a minimal fee, then charged the franchisee a royalty rate of 10 percent on the gross income. The most important requirement was that the franchisee had graduated from the company's programs and kept off the weight that he or she had lost. Most of the franchisees were women from New York City who were willing to travel to establish a Weight Watchers franchise. This group was emotionally involved in the program and had a great deal of faith in its principles; as a result, their commitment to the franchise sometimes bordered on religious fervor.

The middle and late 1960s saw a boom for the company. In 1965 Lippert contracted various food companies in the United States to produce Weight Watchers food lines for supermarkets and grocery stores, including low-calorie frozen entrees and dry and dairy low-calorie foods. Lippert was also creative in other ways. He designed a billfold that held small packets of sugar substitutes, skim milk, and bouillon that enabled adherents of the Weight Watchers program to more easily control their diet when away from home. Lippert began to sell items for use in the Weight Watchers classroom; established a joint venture with National Lampoon to publish Weight Watchers Magazine; and opened a summer camp for children with weight problems.

One of the company's most successful ideas, created under the direction of Felice Lippert, was the publication of a Weight Watchers cookbook. Since the inception of the company, Felice Lippert had been in charge of new recipe development, nutrition, and food research. Her first Weight Watchers cookbook catapulted to the top of the bestseller lists and sold more than 1.5 million copies. In 1968 the company made its first stock offering to the public. Although some financial analysts on Wall Street were skeptical of the offering, the general public was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. The first day of trading saw Weight Watchers stock shoot up from an initial price of $11 to $30.

In 1973 Weight Watchers held its tenth anniversary celebration in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Host of past Republican and Democratic party presidential conventions, legendary boxing matches, and other historic national events, the Garden was filled to the rafters with admirers of the Weight Watchers program. It was a far cry from the celebration just five years earlier, held in a high school auditorium. Although celebrities in attendance included Bob Hope and Pearl Bailey, people had really come to see and hear Jean Nidetch. She spoke until 1:30 a.m., with the crowd captivated by her inspiring stories.

With the company's rapid growth, in 1973 Nidetch decided to resign from her position as president of Weight Watchers to devote herself entirely to public relations. She traveled the world granting an endless number of radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews and speaking to huge audiences about the success of Weight Watchers programs. Al Lippert continued to organize the operation, hiring Dr. Richard Stuart, an expert in behavioral psychology, to help the company create a training department and design the first guides and manuals for the Weight Watchers program. Lippert also hired Carol Morton, a Weight Watchers graduate and German teacher, to begin operations in Europe. From 1974 to 1976, Lippert, along with a growing list of professional staff members in the areas of marketing, advertising, licensing, and nutrition, began to formalize a strategy for continued growth. Weight Watchers was not only an inspirational program that helped people lose weight, but a highly successful business venture. Lippert and his staff focused on the best way to attract people to Weight Watchers meetings and to sell them food, cookbooks, magazines, camps, spas, and various other weight loss products.

By the late 1970s, however, Al Lippert had experienced two heart attacks and recognized that the phenomenal growth of Weight Watchers was much too rapid for his small management group to handle. Annual revenues had grown to approximately $50 million, and it was at this point that Lippert started searching for a larger corporate partner to help Weight Watchers achieve the next level of organization and success. H.J. Heinz Company approached Lippert about purchasing Foodways National, one of Weight Watchers' frozen food licensees. Heinz initially sought to merge Foodways with Ore-Ida, its own frozen food and controlled-portion entree producer. Heinz management, however, soon realized that it was the Weight Watchers International brand name that was valuable, not its licensee. As a result, Heinz acquired Weight Watchers and Foodways National in 1978 for approximately $100 million. Lippert remained chief executive officer and chairman of the board at Weight Watchers.

Between 1978 and 1981, management at Heinz assimilated Weight Watchers into its corporate organization. Heinz divided the company into three parts: Foodways National's frozen food business was subsumed under Ore-Ida; Camargo Foods, a condiments, dry snacks, and dairy producer, and a licensee of Weight Watchers that was also purchased by Heinz, was merged with Heinz U.S.A.; and Weight Watchers' meeting service business remained Weight Watchers International. Heinz's strategy was to incorporate the food business of Weight Watchers into its own food operations, while allowing the meeting service business to continue functioning separately.

Chuck Berger, the new president of Weight Watchers International, initiated an aggressive strategy that included an innovative program for weight loss, an improved meeting service, and a plan to buy back the company's franchise territories. In 1983 Berger became CEO of Weight Watchers International and, along with Andrew Barrett and Dr. Les Parducci, laid the foundation for a brand new weight loss diet. Dubbed "Quick Start," the diet aimed to quicken the rate of weight loss during the first two weeks. Launched with a well-conceived media blitz, the new program helped to double the company's revenues within two years. Barrett, as executive vice-president, improved marketing, added new food product lines, and concentrated on the lifestyle needs of people with weight control problems. One of his most successful ideas was the "At Work Program," which organized meetings for professional women at their place of work.

Between 1982 and 1989, Weight Watchers International experienced unprecedented growth in product sales. In 1982 the Weight Watchers brand name food items switched from aluminum-tray to fiberboard packaging and introduced one of the world's first lines of microwaveable frozen food entrees. Foodways National also introduced low-calorie dessert products, and by 1988 the company's desserts had a larger market share than Sara Lee and Lean Cuisine. In 1982 Weight Watchers Magazine had a circulation of approximately 700,000 readers; by 1986, circulation had increased to more than one million. The magazine had changed its focus and was marketed to women committed to "self-improvement." Collaborating with Time-Life's books division, Weight Watchers International developed a series of highly successful fitness tapes for the video market and started additional projects for books, audiotapes, and videos in the areas of exercise, weight loss, and health awareness.

By 1988, each of the three separate business units of Weight Watchers was recording skyrocketing revenues. When combined, sales for the Weight Watchers businesses amounted to more than $1.2 billion. Even as these figures were released, however, the weight control business was changing dramatically. In 1989 and 1990, numerous competitors including Jenny Craig, Slim-Fast, Healthy Choice, and Nutri/System began to challenge Weight Watchers for a share of the market. During 1990 and 1991, after nearly seven years of increasing market share, the company suddenly stopped growing. Sales of Weight Watchers brand food products declined precipitously, and even the renowned support group meetings began to fall in attendance.

In 1991 Brian Ruder, a vice-president in marketing at Heinz, was hired as the president of a newly reconstituted Weight Watchers Food Company. Ruder immediately embarked on a comprehensive reorganization strategy, implementing new sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, and research and development procedures. Within 15 months of the new company's formation, Ruder had redesigned almost half of its products. New product development time amounted to a mere 14 weeks, down from the 22-month cycle previously adhered to. One product line, low-fat, low-calorie entrees called "Smart Ones," was an immediate success. During the same time, Dr. Les Parducci was appointed by Heinz management as the head of Weight Watchers International. Parducci revamped the company's strategy for meeting services by simplifying the contents of programs, relocating meetings to more attractive surroundings, introducing more fun and interesting materials for members, and developing an entire new line of convenience food products.

Although these changes helped Weight Watchers stem defections to its rivals and revive its food sale business, the entire weight loss industry suffered a downturn in the mid-1990s. Many consumers had tired of feeling a perpetual need to count calories and of the perceived regimentation of diet classes. Spurred on by fitness gurus such as Susan Powter, whose rallying cry "Stop the Insanity" summed up many people's frustrations with the diet business, consumers began to look to health clubs and nutritional guides as a path to losing unwanted pounds. As an industry analyst explained to Business Week, "The whole industry has been under pressure. There has been a shift from dieting to general health concerns such as fat intake and general lifestyle." Moreover, a new generation of diet drugs was coming on the market, offering the hope that weight loss would become as simple as popping a pill. Weight Watchers also received some adverse publicity in 1993, when the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against it, alleging that it had engaged in misleading advertising. (The suit was eventually settled with no admission of wrongdoing in 1997.) As a result of these events, attendance at Weight Watchers classes dropped 20 percent in 1994 alone.

The company responded quickly to these events. In 1995 Weight Watchers International began to craft what Business Week described as a "health-first, vanity-second message." This approach stressed the health values of losing weight through Weight Watchers classes over the cosmetic effects of "looking better." To buttress this message, Weight Watchers negotiated agreements with insurance companies to give premium rebates on life insurance policies to Weight Watcher members. The company also made a more concerted effort to reach out to men, who had long been neglected by the diet industry (understandably so, however, as 95 percent of customers were female), holding male-only classes in some of its centers.

In an effort to streamline the company's operations further, Heinz sold Weight Watchers Magazine (whose circulation had dropped significantly from its mid-1980s peak of more than a million readers) to Southern Progress Corp., a subsidiary of Time Inc., in 1996. Although these changes were unable to return Weight Watchers to its former, robust growth levels, they did allow the company to remain profitable throughout the middle of the decade.

By 1997, the diet industry's fortunes were improving. The new class of diet drugs had not only failed to become the panacea for which many consumers had hoped, but were in fact linked to significant health problems. In addition, consumers had found that losing weight through exercise or fad diets had proved no simpler or more successful than the formula offered by Weight Watchers and its competitors. However, Weight Watchers had changed with the times as well. Recognizing that consumers still wanted to have more flexibility in the food they ate, the company unveiled its "1,2,3 Success" program. This innovative plan assigned point values to all foods, allowing dieters to eat whatever they chose, so long as they did not exceed the prescribed number of points. The company also hired the former Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, to be its spokesperson for the campaign. "1,2,3 Success" proved a tremendous boon to the company, driving up attendance at its classes worldwide by nearly 50 percent and boosting profits substantially.

Despite this revitalization, Heinz--in the course of a sweeping corporate reorganization--sold Weight Watchers International to the European investment firm Artal Luxembourg for $735 million in July 1999. Artal was a private investment group, which had as its sole investment advisor The Invus Group, Ltd. of New York. In an odd sort of synergy, Artal had also invested heavily in Keebler cookies and Sunshine biscuits. Discussing the sale in a press release, Heinz CEO William R. Johnson remarked, "Weight Watchers is the gold standard in the global weight control business, but its services orientation does not fit with Heinz's long-term food growth strategy, and this sale enables us to focus on Weight Watchers foods and our other global food businesses." Heinz retained the rights to the Weight Watchers name for use on its food and beverage products through 2004.

In January 2001, Weight Watchers purchased its largest franchisee, Weighco. (Additional franchisee purchases continued into 2003.) The company went public in November 2001, at $24 per share. The stock added 23 percent in value on its first trading day and continued to post a strong performance through early 2002. Artal Luxembourg remained majority shareholder with almost 80 percent of the stock.

Weight Watchers' good fortune was dependent on dieters showing up for their meetings. Dues brought in about 70 percent of revenue. The sale of books, scales, and nutrition bars to meeting attendees brought in additional income. The U.S. operations generated 51 percent of the total and nearly 23 percent came from Britain, according to The New York Times. The rest was generated by company-owned operations elsewhere in Europe and in Australia and New Zealand. The company also received royalty fees from franchisees.

Weight Watchers moved to lure more to their meetings with a redesigned magazine, introduced with the January/February 2003 issue and coinciding with the onslaught of post-holiday weight loss resolutions. The company had reacquired the license to publish the magazine from Time Inc. in 2000. Since that time, circulation had nearly tripled to one million. Ad circulation, despite the tough economy, rose 42 percent in 2002. The magazine had performed poorly under Time.

"Weight Watchers has an amazing story," Dan Capell, publisher of Capell's Circulation Report, told Crain's New York Business in January 2003. "Newsstand sales have gone through the roof, and subscriptions are strong, too." But new diet trends had already begun to show signs of eating away at Weight Watchers' main source of revenue during 2002.

Competition generated by the Atkins and South Beach diets prompted Weight Watchers' first major change in its diet plan since 1997. The Core Plan, introduced in August 2004, eliminated point counting and portion size restrictions. The traditional plan continued to be an option for Weight Watchers members.

Weight Watchers stock lagged behind the overall U.S. market during 2004, even as other companies' stock rose with the economic recovery. But Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services' Hoard Choe, writing in Business Week Online, saw positive signs for the company's future, including the growing problem of obesity among Americans and increased disenchantment with low-carb diets.

To expand its line of branded food products, Weight Watchers entered into agreements with a number of food manufacturers in early 2005, including George Weston Bakeries, Organic Milling, Whitman's, and Well's Dairy. In mid-2005, the company acquired a 53 percent stake in WeightWatchers.com from Artal Luxembourg. WeightWatchers.com, founded in September 1999, offered a free site with information on weight loss, healthy lifestyle, and meeting locations. Subscription options targeted people unable to attend meetings and people interested in various tools as a supplement to the meeting.

Weight Watchers two-year North American enrollment erosion was brought to a halt. The new plan and a push for office place meetings--tapping into employer concerns about skyrocketing healthcare costs--had helped reinvigorate the brand. The Internet site was also gaining in popularity.

As of mid-August 2005, the company's stock had increased by 27 percent, and competitors were struggling. "The waning of the low-carb phenomenon was punctuated this month when privately held Atkins Nutritionals Inc., founded in 1989 by Dr. Robert C. Atkins, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection," Leon Lazaroff reported for the Chicago Tribune in August 2005.

Principal Subsidiaries

Weight Watchers Direct, Inc.; Weight Watchers (Accessories & Publications) Ltd.; Weight Watchers (Exercise) Ltd.; Weight Watchers (Food Products) Ltd.; Weight Watchers Funding Inc.; Weight Watchers Camps, Inc.

Principal Competitors

eDiets.com; Jenny Craig, Inc.; NutriSystem, Inc.

Further Reading

Alexander, Keith L., "A Health Kick at Weight Watchers," Business Week, January 16, 1995.

Block, Valerie, "Weighty Issues," Crain's New York Business," January 6, 2003, p. 3.

Choe, Howard, "Weight Watchers' Attractive Figures," Business Week Online, November 30, 2004.

Dienstag, Eleanor Foa, "The Weight Watchers Story," in Good Company: 125 Years at the Heinz Table, New York: Warner Books, 1994.

Fannin, Rebecca A., "Corporate Close Up: Slimmer Pickings in U.S. Prompt Weight Watchers to Look Abroad," Advertising Age International, February 17, 1997.

Freeman, Sholnn, "European Firm Buys Division of H.J. Heinz Co.," New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 23, 1999.

Fridman, Sherman, "Weight Watchers to Shed Y2K Fat or Maybe Not," Newsbytes, November 22, 1999.

"H.J. Heinz Co. Sells Weight Watchers Weight Control Business to Artal," Market News Publishing, July 22, 1999.

The History of Weight Watchers, Jericho, N.Y.: Weight Watchers International Inc., 1995.

Lazaroff, Leon, "Fad-Diet Failures Add Heft to Value of Weight Watchers," Chicago Tribune, August 14, 2005, p. 5.

Leder, Michelle, "Real Belt-Tightening As Part of a Portfolio," The New York Times, January 20, 2002, p. BU9.

Pollack, Judann, "Fed Up with Promoting Diets, Weight-Loss Rivals Branch Out," Advertising Age, March 29, 1999.

Sabatini, Patricia, "Slimming Down Heinz Plans to Shut 20 Plants, Sell Weight Watchers Classes," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 18, 1999.

Schroeder, Michael, "The Diet Business Is Getting a Lot Skinnier," Business Week, June 24, 1991.

Spangler, Todd, "Heinz to Slim Down: Its Weight Watchers Classrooms Are Being Sold," York Daily Record, July 23, 1999.

"Weight Watchers: A Little Debt-Heavy?," Business Week, December 10, 2001, p. 100.

— Thomas Derdak


Oxford Food & Nutrition Dictionary:

Weight Watchers

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A slimming club, founded in Queens, NY, by Jean Neditch, 1963.

Gale Encyclopedia of Diets:

Weight Watchers

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    Description
    Function
    Benefits
    Precautions
    Risks
    Research and general acceptance
    Resources

What is Weight Watchers?

Weight Watchers is the largest commercial weight-loss program in the world. The diet is based on calorie and portion control while eating regular food, exercise, and behavior modification. What are the Origins of the Weight Watchers?

By the mid 2000s, more than 25 million people worldwide had participated in the Weight Watchers program that was started in the living room of an overweight housewife in Queens, New York. When Jean Nidetch needed to lose weight, she attended a diet clinic sponsored by the New York City Board of Health. However, after she had lost about 20 lb (10 kg), she found it hard to remain motivated to stay on the diet. Her solution was to ask a group of overweight friend to come to her house and talk about their eating and dieting challenges. This group evolved into a regular support group. While attending this group, Nidetch had the insight that dieting was not just about food, but about changing behaviors.

Two years later in 1963, Nidetch established Weight Watchers as a company and held her first public meeting. Demand for her program far exceeded expectations. Over the years the program evolved to incorporate new research in nutrition. Behavior management modules and an exercise program were added. In 1978 the company was bought by H. J. Heinz Company, which added a line Weight Watchers supermarket foods. Today Weight-Watcher endorsed cookbooks, exercise tapes, and a magazine all are available to support dieters who are either Weight Watcher members or who want to try the diet plan on their own.

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE DOCTOR
  • Do I have any special dietary needs that this diet might not meet?
  • Do I have any health conditions that might affect my participation in this diet?
  • Are there any sign or symptoms that might indicate a problem while on this diet?
  • At what level of intensity is it appropriate for me to begin exercising?
  • Do you have any experience with the long-term success of this diet?
  • If one of your family members wanted to go on a diet, would you recommend this one?
Diet Information:

Weight Watchers Diet

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Created by: Weight Watchers International

Weight Watchers is a diet plan that is based on sticking to low-caloric intake and mutual support sessions. Dieters who are part of the plan typically go to weekly meetings, where they are weighed in, and share tips and problems in their quest to lose weight and maintain their optimum weight lever. In an updated version of the diet, each food is given a point value based on its fat, fiber and calorie content. Dieters are assigned a daily point target and required to eat foods that do not exceed their specified number of points daily. In this way, dieters can choose the foods they wish to eat, by simply assessing the point value in the food and being sure to stay within their allotted maximum. In the group meetings, information, tools and motivational support are provided. If dieters can not attend meetings, they may go to the Weight Watchers website, and participate in chat rooms, find recipes, get the chart of food-point values, and access individualized points trackers and journals.


Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Weight Watchers

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Weight Watchers International, Inc.
Type Public
Traded as NYSE: WTW
Founded 1963
Headquarters 11 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10010
Key people David P. Kirchhoff, President & CEO
Products Weight loss, Packaged foods
Employees 28,000 (as of 2010)
Website weightwatchers.com
weightwatchers.co.uk
A Weight Watchers location
in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts

Weight Watchers is an international company that offers various dieting products and services to assist weight loss and maintenance. Founded in 1963 by Brooklyn homemaker Jean Nidetch, it now operates in about 30 countries around the world, generally under names that are local translations of “Weight Watchers”. The core philosophy behind Weight Watchers programs is to use a science-driven approach to help participants lose weight by forming helpful habits, eating smarter, getting more exercise and providing support.[1][2]

The term weight-watcher, in the same sense, had circulated publicly for several years before the company was formed.[3]

Contents

Approach and Philosophy

Weight Watchers' core approach is to assist members in losing weight by forming helpful habits, eating smarter, getting more exercise and providing support.[1] No food is off limits; however, the newest plan is "taking a stand for unprocessed foods"[2] and has adjusted the cost of items while retaining the fundamental "counting, budgeting, and planning approach"[2] that has been the hallmark of Weight Watchers plans since the introduction of Points-based counting systems.[2] Thus in contrast to other diets that might provide a list of foods that must be, or should never be, eaten, Weight Watchers has no directly comparable requirements on its primary plan. Participants lose weight by creating a calorie deficit, the PointsPlus system provides a framework for creating that deficit.[2] Accordingly, Weight Watchers is generally compatible with other diet approaches and/or food intake restrictions, e.g., paleolithic diet, South Beach diet, provided you use the Weight Watchers framework to measure and limit the quantity of food consumed while using the other diet plan to dictate the range of acceptable food choices.

There are two primary ways individuals can work with Weight Watchers: in-person meetings and an online-only program.[1] Both programs use the same basic materials and computations.[2] For in-person meetings, Weight Watchers encourages members to select a goal weight that results in a body mass index generally accepted as healthy (18 to 24.9), although a member may also establish a goal weight outside of that range after providing a doctor's note to that effect. In the United States, in order to join Weight Watchers, one must weigh at least 5 pounds (2.3 kg) more than the minimum weight for his or her height.[citation needed]

Once a member reaches his or her goal weight, he or she starts a maintenance period. For the following six weeks, the member gradually increases his or her food intake until the member no longer loses or gains weight. If, at the end of six weigh-ins during the maintenance period, the member weighs in within 2 pounds (0.91 kg) of his or her goal weight, he or she becomes a "Lifetime" member.[4] A Lifetime member may attend meetings free of charge as long as he or she weighs in at least once per calendar month and, at any weigh-in, does not weigh more than 2 pounds (0.91 kg) more than his or her goal weight.[4] If the member weighs more than 2 pounds (0.91 kg) over the goal weight at a weigh-in, he or she will be charged the weekly fee until he or she again obtains a weight within the target range.[4] As long as a Lifetime member weighs in each month and stays within the target range, there is no fee for attending meetings, and the member may attend for the rest of his or her life. Unlike with new members, there is never a registration fee for Lifetime members, even if they regain weight or fail to weigh in every calendar month.[4] Weight Watchers’ eTools is a Web-based service for members that includes access to support materials and tracking tools. The service is available for an additional fee for members who pay as they go, and is included in the fee for members who opt for the recurring "Monthly Pass" membership plan. In some areas Weight Watchers meetings are operated by a locally franchised organization rather than by Weight Watchers International.[5]

Additionally, a fully online program is available via the Weight Watchers website.[6] Online and meeting memberships are entirely separate and online-only members are not eligible for "Lifetime" status.[4] The support system for Weight Watchers Online is a message board where members can post support and share advice. The message board (but not the other support tools) is available free of charge to the public; in an attempt to limit access to the essential plan information to its members, Weight Watchers prohibits the posting of Points or PointsPlus values for foods on the boards.

Weight loss plans

In the United States

The primary, current plan offered in the United States starting in November 2010 is called "PointsPlus". Touted by Weight Watchers as incorporating a decade of science compared to the prior Points-based plans, the focus remains on assisting members in creating a calorie deficit to lose weight using a reformulated calculation approach for computing target daily points (e.g., approximately how many calories per day should be eaten) and the costs of food (the PointsPlus values of food).[7]

The calculation of the daily points targets is based on creating approximately a 1,000 calorie/day deficit (WO application 2010025422  [0098]-[00109] and accompanying equations 16-19). This in turn means that members are assigned a daily point target in the range of 26-71 PointsPlus to consume each day. Additionally, members are allowed 49 PointsPlus each week, or weekly points, that they can spend how they wish throughout the week. Physical activity earns activity points that, like weekly points, can be used to supplement the daily points allowance.

As compared to prior Points-based plans, the main change is the direct computation of PointsPlus-values from macronutrients (fat, protein, carbohydrates) vs. calories and fat. Both formulas used dietary fiber information when it was available. The formulas are country specific based on the information on nutrition labels in a given country. The patent provides equations for different country labeling techniques.

This change allowed Weight Watchers to change the relative cost of the different macronutrients. Specifically, the relative weight of fat appears to be unchanged vs. the Momentum calculation; however, carbohydrates are "more expensive" and fiber is "less beneficial" and protein is only modestly changed. This increases the PointsPlus cost vs. the Point cost of a number of foods that were specially designed to take advantage of the old formula, e.g., muffins loaded with fiber to stay at 1 Point. The range of calories for one PointsPlus point is approximately in the range of 35-45 calories, in contrast one Point had a broader range of approximately 25-80 calories. However, because the approach for computing the daily points target has been refined (WO application 2010025422  [0098]-[00104] and accompanying equations 16 (male) and 17 (female)), most people have significantly more PointsPlus available as part of their daily points target than on the prior Momentum plan. For example, under the Momentum plan 18 was the minimum number of points; now 26 (as of 2012, down from 29) is the minimum number of points. Additionally, irrespective of the underlying nutritional information, on the PointsPlus plan, fruits and most vegetables are considered to have a PointsPlus value of 0.

As an alternative to the PointsPlus plan, participants can use the Simply Filling Technique.[8] On the Simply Filling Technique, participants are intended to eat from a designated list of foods without the requirement to track.[8] Categories of foods on the list include: most fruits and vegetables, whole grains, non-fat dairy and dairy substitutes, lean proteins,and a handful of other items.[8] For items that a person eats that are not on the list, a weekly points allowance of PointsPlus points is available to be used and the value of that item must be tracked.[8] Because the plan does not require tracking, participants must be mindful to "[e]at portions that feel right for [them]. Not so much that [they] feel too full, and not too little that [they] still feel hungry."[8]

Momentum

Weight Watchers implemented the Momentum Plan on December 7, 2008. The cornerstone of the plan is the proprietary Points formula, which allocates each food a value based on its calories, fat, and fiber. Members are allocated a certain number of points each day based on their height, current weight, age, and activity level. Members are also allowed 35 optional Points each week. Finally, members earn additional Points through exercise. These "Activity Points" are calculated based on the member's weight and the duration and intensity of the activity. Activity Points previously had to be consumed on the day that they were earned or they were lost; with the Momentum plan, they can be eaten on any day during the week.

The Momentum Plan encourages members to choose foods by meeting the "Good Health Guidelines." These include eating lean protein and whole grains, meeting target servings of fruits and vegetables and dairy or soy products, taking a multivitamin, exercising, eating healthy oils, drinking adequate liquids, and limiting sugar and alcohol. Additionally, the Momentum Plan encourages members to remain satisfied while dieting by focusing on eating foods identified as Filling Foods, which include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy and soy products, and lean proteins, but this is not required. The effect of this is that the member is not prevented from eating any specific type of food, but he or she must consume foods only with his or her allotment of points. This stands in marked contrast to approaches such as the South Beach or Atkins diets, in which some foods are completely forbidden and others are permitted in as great a quantity as the dieter likes. The member also has the choice to exercise — which will entitle him or her to consume more food — or to eat food of lower Points value if he or she prefers not to exercise.

Many (but not all) of the Filling Foods also have a SetPoints value that allows members to eat a reasonable portion of the food and track the SetPoints value, rather than having to measure and calculate the exact Points value of the portion eaten. The Momentum Plan also includes an option that allows members to eat from the Filling Foods list without tracking Points values at all. This option, known as the Simply Filling Technique, is very similar to the former Core Plan. Members following the Simply Filling Technique do not receive a daily Points allowance, but eat to satisfaction from the Filling Foods list. They do, however, receive the 35 weekly Points, and are entitled to eat any Activity Points that they earn. The weekly Points and Activity Points may be used for foods that are not on the Filling Foods list.

Many Weight Watchers proponents enjoy the tracking option of the Momentum Plan precisely because no food is out of bounds as long as it is eaten in moderation.[citation needed] (In the UK, Weight Watchers advertises under the slogan “Where no food is a sin”; this is a reference to its chief competitor Slimming World’s system of giving some food “syn” values.)Many Others, however, dislike the record-keeping that the plan requires of participants, who must keep track of the Points values of everything they eat; they prefer the Simply Filling option or other plans that place restrictions on types of food rather than quantities.

TurnAround

In August 2004, Weight Watchers introduced the TurnAround program, incorporating parts of the Flex and Core food plans, but intended to assist people in developing an overall healthy lifestyle. Aside from encouraging healthy eating and providing member support, the program encouraged participants to follow eight Good Health Guidelines.[citation needed]

Historical Plans

Jean Nidetch, the founder of Weight Watchers, wrote a book in the early 1970s The Memoir of a Successful Loser The Story of Weight Watchers that documented the original Weight Watchers plan.

That original plan was supplanted shortly after the book with materials bearing a 1972-73 copyright: “Weight Watchers(R) Program Handbook for Ladies”.[9] This plan was similar to the original plan.

By 1989, the plan had switched to an exchange-based diet.[10] The document's subtitle and copyright dates make determining the exact date difficult, “The Quick Success(R) Program” with the subtitle “New for 1989” has a copyright date of 1987, 1988.[10]

By 1997, the original Points-based program was introduced.

In the UK

In the UK during November 2010 the Points plan has been replaced with ProPoints. This is similar to the Points plan only the calculation now takes protein, carbohydrates, all fat and fiber into consideration. The following main changes were made from the Points to ProPoints plan:

  • Change in formula, so the majority of foods now cost more ProPoints than Points
  • Daily ProPoint allowances were increased however you are no longer allowed to carry your daily ProPoints over to the next day
  • Most fruit and vegetables are now zero ProPoints
  • All participants also have a weekly ProPoints allowance of 49 ProPoints which they can chose to use as they see fit throughout the week

In Ireland and Australia

In Ireland there has recently been a new plan launched called ProPoints Plan.Traditional weight loss plans are based on the calories on a food label. But the new ProPoints system incorporates the latest science that shows there is a more accurate way to assess the impact a food has on weight loss. ProPoints values are calculated using 4 macronutrients: fat, fibre, protein and carbohydrate. There is also a new weekly ProPoints allowance and zero ProPoints values fruit and veg.

Ireland www.weightwatchers.ie Australia www.weightwatchers.com.au

Effectiveness

Weight Watchers claims that “Research shows that people who attend Weight Watchers meetings lose three times more weight than [those who diet on their own].”[11][12][13][14] However, the results of the study were that the mean weight loss of Weight Watchers participants was 2.3 times more than (3.3 times as much as) the self-help group at one year, and essentially undefined at two years.[15] Weight Watchers also claims that members who both use Weight Watchers’ Web-based eTools and attend meetings lose half again as much weight as those who only attend meetings, but it fails to cite a study to back up this claim, instead only referring to an unspecified “12 week study comparing people who were instructed to attend Weight Watchers meetings and use eTools to people who were instructed to attend Weight Watchers meetings alone”.[16]

A clinical study involving Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers and The Zone diets, published in 2005, reported that among the Weight Watchers participants the average net weight loss in a one-year period was 3.0 kilograms (6.6 lb).[citation needed] However, the study only included two months of “maximum effort”, letting the participants decide their level of adherence for the following ten months.[citation needed] Weight Watchers was the third most effective diet in terms of weight loss, and those that continued to adhere to any of the diets significantly decreased cardiac risk factors.[17]

Price

Like many other weight loss programs, Weight Watchers frequently offers promotions ranging from free registration to discounted fees if paid in advance. Members are required to pay the fees for missed meetings before a “weigh-in”, but a member never pays more for missed meetings than the amount of the new-member registration fee; if a member misses several consecutive meetings, he/she need only pay either the sum of the fees for the missed meetings or the new-member registration fee, whichever is the lesser.[citation needed]

If members are insured with particular insurance companies there are agreements that may reduce the member sign up fee or weekly weigh-in fee. However, Weight Watchers does not accept debit cards that participants receive with Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA). Instead, participants must submit claim forms to get reimbursed for payments made to the plan. Also, the companies who administer FSA plans usually require a letter from a doctor be submitted with the claim detailing why the participant needs to lose weight; these letters must meet very specific criteria.

In corporate locations in the United States, members may pay $39.95 per month for a "Monthly Pass" that entitles them to attend meetings and provides access to eTools. In return, members agree that the monthly fee will be automatically debited from a debit or credit card and the pass mailed to them each month. Members can also pay with cash or check on a weekly basis at the meeting location; the weekly rate is $12. Weight Watchers also offers an Online Only option, which forgoes meeting attendance and this rate is $17.95 per month but varies along with the company's sales specials.

Spokespersons

The current spokesperson for Weight Watchers is Grammy-Award winner singer/actress Jennifer Hudson.[18][19] Prior spokespersons associated with the product were actresses Lynn Redgrave and Jenny McCarthy, and Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.

Corporate information

Corporate history

From 1978 until 1999, Weight Watchers was owned by the H. J. Heinz Company, which continues to produce packaged foods bearing the Weight Watchers brand (and with point values clearly identified). Weight Watchers was acquired in a leveraged buyout in 1999 by Artal Luxembourg and went public in 2001. Artal continues to own over 50% of the shares of Weight Watchers as of 2010.

Corporate governance

The current members of the board of directors of Weight Watchers are Philippe Amouyal, John Bard, Raymond Debbane, Marsha Evans, Jonas Fajgenbaum, Linda Huett, Sacha Lainovic, Sam K. Reed and Christopher Sobecki.

Formulas

Weight Watchers has not provided official confirmation of the Points or PointsPlus formulas and has aggressively sent cease and desist letters to websites and a number of third party tools that claimed to provide Points, or PointsPlus, calculations. See, e.g.,[20] Nonetheless, some companies such as ConAgra Foods have computed values for their frozen meals, Healthy Choice brand, without Weight Watcher's consent. See Weight Watchers#Criticism.

Additionally, as shown in Weight Watchers patent applications, the formulas are adapted in each country based on the information regularly provided on nutrition labels within a country.

For each program there should be three groups of formulas: a formula or chart to compute (daily) target consumption, a formula for computing the cost of foods, and a formula for computing the value of activity under the program to earn extra consumption. These formulas are present in Weight Watchers patents and are presented from those patents here.

PointsPlus (US; Nov 2010-)

Food Values

In November 2010, Weight Watchers in the United States announced that its Points system was being replaced by a new PointsPlus system. The old system was based on a calculation based on calories, fat, and fiber content. The new PointsPlus system is based on protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber:

PointsPlus = \max \left\{ \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{(16 \cdot protein) + (19 \cdot carbohydrates) + (45 \cdot fat) - (14 \cdot fiber)}{175}\right) , 0 \right\}

or

PointsPlus =\max \left\{ \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{protein}{10.9375} + \frac{carbohydrates}{9.2105} + \frac{fat}{3.8889} - \frac{fiber}{12.5} \right), 0 \right\}

where all units are grams. This formula is Equation 10 of [21] with the preferred weightings for the macronutrients entered. Additionally, while not confirmed by Weight Watchers it is an empirical match to the Weight Watchers calculators.

Some foods such as fruits and fresh vegetables are treated has having a PointsPlus value of 0 by Weight Watchers standards[21][22] despite having a non-zero value if entered directly into the Weight Watcher's calculator using the Nutrition facts label information.

Alcohol and sugar alcohols (sorbitol, malitol, etc.) are exceptions to the above formula. See [21] at Equation 12 (paragraph [0090]) and Equation 14 (paragraph [0094]), respectively for specific formulas for those items. As a shorthand, you can enter alcohol grams as fat grams and sugar alcohols as carbohydrates grams in the formula provided. The reason alcohol is weighted more heavily than would otherwise occur is due to two reasons, see [21] at paragraph [0089], (a) "based on the principle that alcohol is metabolized in the same pathway as fat" (treats alcohol as having 9 calories per gram) and (b) "based, in part, on the desirability of discouraging consumption of alcohol, due to the ill-healthy effects associated with this nutrient" (weights alcohol more than other sources of calories). This latter explanation is in spite of evidence linking moderate alcohol consumption to reduced incidence of coronary disease.[23] This may have been done because of the inelastic nature of the point system, which is unable to distinguish between occasional and heavy drinking.

Food with Alcohol and Sugar Alcohol
\text{PointsPlus} = \max \left\{ \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{(16 \cdot \text{protein}) + (19 \cdot (\text{carbohydrates} - \text{sugar alcohol})) + (45 \cdot \text{fat}) - (14 \cdot \text{fiber}) +(58.05 \cdot \text{alcohol}) + (11.4 \cdot \text{sugar alcohol})}{175} \right) , 0 \right\}

or after simplifying so sugar alcohols which are included in the carbohydrate count on US nutrition labels only appears once:

\text{PointsPlus} =\max \left\{ \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{\text{protein}}{10.9375} + \frac{\text{carbohydrates}}{9.2105} + \frac{\text{fat}}{3.8889} - \frac{\text{fiber}}{12.5} + \frac{\text{alcohol}}{3.0147} - \frac{\text{sugar alcohol}}{23.0263} \right), 0 \right\}

Daily Points Target

For 2010 PointsPlus, the formulas in Equations 16-19 of [21] show the basic calculation of daily points targets for adults age 19+:

TEE_m = 864 - (9.72 \cdot age) + 1.12 \cdot (14.2 \cdot weight + 503 \cdot height)
TEE_f = 387 - (7.31 \cdot age) + 1.14 \cdot (10.9 \cdot weight + 660.7 \cdot height)

Where TEEm and TEEf represent the total energy expenditure (in kCal) for men and women, respectively, on a basic day. Weight is provided in kilograms and height in meters.

The TEE is adjusted for foods treated as having a PointsPlus value of 0 despite having a caloric content:

ATEE =0.9 \cdot TEE + 200

Finally, the daily target can be computed:

Target = \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{\min \left( \max \left( ATEE - 1000, 1000 \right), 2500 \right) }{35} \right)

Note that the patent also suggests that 3000 might be the upper kCal limit as opposed to 2500 kCal and 500 might be the lower limit rather than 1000 kCal. The results of these patent-provided formulas produce a range from 29 to 71 matching the high and low range reported by Weight Watchers members.[24][25]

The above would not account for the 49 weekly points, or 7/day.[26] Nor would it account for comments on the Weight Watchers boards discussing the patent and identifying an additional constant offset from the patent by a value of 11 in the middle of the points range, or 7 + 4.[27][28] To accommodate 2012 plan changes and in order to remain in the 26-71 range and account for this constant offset, the target formula would be:

Target_{mod} = \min \left (\max \left( \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{ \max \left( ATEE - 1000, 1000 \right) }{35} \right) - 7 - 4, 26 \right), 71 \right)

Activity Points Under PointsPlus

The prior system described in U.S. Patent 6,663,564 at Col 6, lines 14-61, provided one activity point for approximately every 100 Calories expended vs. 1 Point of food having approximately 50 calories. The formulas used under the PointsPlus system must still be identified; however, if the same ratio of exercise to additional consumption is maintained, then each new activity point would correspond to 70 Calories expended vs. 1 PointPlus of food having approximately 35 calories.

ProPoints (UK, Nov 2010-)

Aside from differences in nutrition labeling resulting in a slightly different calculation of ProPoints from the label, there is no evidence to suggest the ProPoints system and PointsPlus systems are significantly different as of December 2010.

Food Values

In the UK during November 2010, Weight Watchers announced that its Points system was being replaced by a new ProPoints system. The new PointsPlus system is based on protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber:

ProPoints = \max \left\{ \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{(16 \cdot protein) + (19 \cdot carbohydrates) + (45 \cdot fat) + (5 \cdot fiber)}{175}\right), 0 \right\}

or

ProPoints = \max \left\{ \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{protein}{10.9375} + \frac{carbohydrates}{9.2105} + \frac{fat}{3.8889} + \frac{fiber}{35} \right) , 0 \right\}

where all input units are grams. This formula is based on Equation 10 of [21] and taking into account that the carbohydrate line on nutrition labels in the UK do not count the fiber. The formula also has been empirically compared with a third party ProPoints calculator.[29]

Points (US; Circa 1998-2010)

Food Values

The formula for calculating the value of a specific serving in points is described in U.S. Patent 6,040,531:

p(c,f,r) = \mathrm{round} \left( \frac{c}{50} + \frac{f}{12} - \frac{\min\{r,4\}}{5} \right)

where p is the number of points, c is the amount of energy in Calories (1 Calorie (Cal) ≡ 1 kilocalorie (kcal) ≈ 4.2 kilojoules (kJ)), f is the amount of fat in grams, and min{r,4} is the lesser of the amount of dietary fiber in grams or four.[30] The value is always an integer, with fractional values rounded to the nearest point. An alternative version mentioned in the patent and used on some Web sites rounds values to the nearest half-point.

Daily Targets

Patent Based

Various versions of the prior Points-based programs have used different approaches to calculate the daily target points (and then providing 35 weekly points). Keep in mind the new PointsPlus program is different, see Weight_Watchers#Daily_Points_Target (49 weekly points provided on PointsPlus plan).

According to U.S. Patent 6,040,531 at Col. 5, lines 4-16, the points targets were assigned based on weight bands and ranged from 18-35 Points per day.

Survey Based

The above, patent-provided daily Points targets are not well correlated with the energy requirements of typical males or females. Accordingly, in one of the later incarnations of the Points-based plans (there were several: 1-2-3 Success, Winning Points, Flex, Turnaround, Momentum) Weight Watchers switched to a survey-based approach that provided a range from 18-44 points[31] together with 35 weekly points:[31]

10% of your weight in pounds
PLUS
2 points for females
8 points for males
PLUS
4 points if you're between 17-26 years old
3 points if you're between 27-37 years old
2 points if you're between 38-47 years old
1 point if you're between 48-58 years old
0 points if you're over 58
PLUS
0 points if you're under 5' 1"
1 point if you're between 5' 1" and 5' 10"
2 points if you're over 5' 10"
PLUS
0 points if you spend most of your day sitting down
2 point if you spend most of your day standing
4 points if you are walking most of the time
6 points if you are doing physically hard work
PLUS
10 points for mothers who are solely breast feeding
5 points for supplementing breastfeeding with some solid foods or formula

The sum (bounded below by 18 and at the top by 44) is the daily target.

Activity Points

According to U.S. Patent 6,663,564 at Col 6, lines 14-61, the formula for computing the additional consumption (extra Points) available for activity is described. Analysis of the formulas indicates[32] that 1 point for activity is earned for approximately every 100 Calories of effort. Given that 1 PointsPlus could be approximated as 40 Calories, consuming activity points would still create a calorie deficit.

Food Values Outside the United States

Outside the United States, Nutrition facts labels are markedly different from those in the United States; in particular, energy is usually expressed in standard kilojoules (kJ) rather than Calories (kcal), and labels in some countries may not show fiber content. The points formula for some markets is based on energy (in kilojoules) and saturated (not total) fat. This formula is also described in U.S. Patent 6,040,531 at Col 3, lines 10-33 and Col 7, lines 10-20:

p = \frac{e}{k_1} + \frac{f}{k_2}

Where p is the number of Points, e is the energy value (in either kilojoules (kJ) or Calories (kcal)), and f is the amount of saturated fat in grams. The constants k1 and k2 are weights used in the formula. A practical implementation of this formula for a kilojoule-based calculation appears to be as follows:

p = \frac{e}{290} + \frac{f}{4}

or the following for a Calorie-based calculation:

p = \frac{e}{70} + \frac{f}{4}

The resultant value p is then rounded to the nearest half.

Note, the calorie based-formula is provided directly in Col 7, the kJ formula is a close match to the calorie based formula based on 70 kCal = 292.88 kJ.

Food Values, Alternative Calculation

An early version of the points system did not limit the fiber “credit” to four grams. Another variation, which may be explained by rounding, is that the “points finder” slide-rule distributed at Weight Watchers meetings does not reach a value of 1 unless an item has at least 70 calories (300 kJ), rather than 50 Cal (200 kJ) as the formula indicates. As a result, point boundaries are 20 calories (80 kJ) or 4.8 grams of fat higher than might be expected.

More recent versions of the program, such as that described in U.S. Patent 6,878,885, take exercise and physical activity into account to grant additional points in the daily allowance.

Calculation Aides

Members can either use Weight Watchers' published books with the PointsPlus values (or ProPoints values) for a variety of foods or they can use a Weight Watcher's calculator designed to accept the inputs required to compute PointsPlus values. The calculators sell for approximately $12.

Weight Watchers also sells small paperback books that list thousands of foods sold by fast-food and full-service restaurant chains as well as generic restaurant foods, e.g., “Mexican: refried beans, ½ cup” (120 mL), and corresponding point values. This is useful in cases where precise nutritional data are not available. These books are available for purchase at meetings and to online members via the Weightwatchers.com website.

Former Calculation Aides

Prior to PointsPlus, members were given a cardboard slide rule to assist in calculating point values of foods. Because the new program has more inputs, the slide rule approach is no longer feasible. By reading the nutrition label on any food package and quickly adjusting three slide-rule scales for energy, fat, and fiber, the point value is easily determined by inspection of a fourth scale. Weight Watchers also sells an electronic calculator that performs the same functions.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Helping People Lose Weight for 45 Years". http://www.weightwatchers.com/plan/index.aspx. Retrieved 2010-12-29. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f David Kirchhoff, Our New Program the Next Level, http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=105421, retrieved 2010-12-29 
  3. ^ "Menu from Stouffer's restaurant, probably Chicago, dated November 7, 1959: "Weight-Watcher's Luncheon ... $1.20."". http://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/j/rb03902-02.jpg. Retrieved 2012-01-14. 
  4. ^ a b c d e "Lifetime Membership FAQ". http://www.weightwatchers.com/help/index.aspx?pageid=1027981. Retrieved 2010-12-29. 
  5. ^ "Home Page". Weight Watchers of Philadelphia. http://www.wwphl.com. Retrieved 2008-06-07. "This website is operated by Weight Watchers of Philadelphia, Inc. [punctuation sic] a franchise of Weight Watchers International, Inc." 
  6. ^ "Weight Watchers Summary of Plan Options". http://www.weightwatchers.com/plan/apr/ways.aspx. Retrieved 2010-12-27. 
  7. ^ Weight Watchers Points Plus: Diet Review By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD WebMD Expert Review
  8. ^ a b c d e "What's included in the Simply Filling Technique". http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=2&art_id=65271&sc=3002. Retrieved 2011-01-03. 
  9. ^ ["http://b.feli.me/post/4959873786/ww-1972-plan" "WW 1972 Plan"]. "http://b.feli.me/post/4959873786/ww-1972-plan". Retrieved 2011-05-04. 
  10. ^ a b ["http://b.feli.me/post/4989735431/ww-1989-plan" "WW 1989 Plan"]. "http://b.feli.me/post/4989735431/ww-1989-plan". Retrieved 2011-05-04. 
  11. ^ The Weight Watchers Research Dept. (2008). "The Benefits of a Supportive Environment". Weight Watchers International. http://www.weightwatchers.com/templates/print.aspx?PageId=1064291&PrintFlag=yes&previewDate=6/7/2008. Retrieved 2008-06-07. "Research has found that those who attend Weight Watchers meetings lose three times more weight than those who try to lose weight on their own." 
  12. ^ "Weight Watchers - Bahamas". Weight Watchers International. 2007. http://www.weightwatchers.com/international/bahamas/meetings/. Retrieved 2008-06-07. "Research shows that people who attend Weight Watchers meetings lose three times more weight than those who diet on their own." 
  13. ^ Broughton, Sherri (July 2006). "Open Enrollment" (PDF). Weight Watchers International. p. 1. http://www.weightwatchers.com/images/1033/dynamic/GCMSImages/WW_EE_LMV.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-07. "Research shows that people who attend Weight Watchers meetings lose three times more weight than people dieting on their own[.]" 
  14. ^ "Sell Sheet" (PDF). Weight Watchers International. October 2005. p. 1. http://www.weightwatchers.com/images/1033/dynamic/GCMSImages/Fact_Sheet_for_employers.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-07. "It’s been proven that attending meetings leads to successful weight loss. Research shows that people who attend Weight Watchers meetings lose three times more weight than people dieting on their own." 
  15. ^ Heshka, Stanley; Anderson, James W.; Atkinson, Richard L.; Greenway, Frank L.; Hill, James O.; Phinney, Stephen D.; Kolotkin, Ronette L.; Miller-Kovach, Karen; Pi-Sunyer, F. Xavier (2003-04-09). "Weight Loss With Self-help Compared With a Structured Commercial Program: A Randomized Trial". JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association (American Medical Association) 289 (14): 1792–1798. doi:10.1001/jama.289.14.1792. PMID 12684357. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/289/14/1792. Retrieved 2008-06-06. "...[M]ean (SD) weight loss... in the commercial group was greater than in the self-help group at 1 year (-4.3 [6.1] kg vs -1.3 [6.1] kg, respectively...) and at 2 years (-2.9 [6.5] kg vs -0.2 [6.5] kg, respectively...)." 
  16. ^ "eTools, the Internet companion". Weight Watchers International. 2008. http://www.weightwatchers.com/plan/www/etools_01.aspx. Retrieved 2008-06-07. "People who both attend Weight Watchers meetings and use eTools lose over 50% more weight on average than those who attend weekly meetings alone. ...Weight loss data based on 12 week study comparing people who were instructed to attend Weight Watchers meetings and use eTools to people who were instructed to attend Weight Watchers meetings alone." 
  17. ^ Dansinger, Michael L.; Gleason, Joi Augustin; Griffith, John L.; Selker, Harry P.; Schaefer, Ernst J. (2005-01-05). "Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone Diets for Weight Loss and Heart Disease Risk Reduction: A Randomized Trial". JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association (American Medical Association) 293 (1): 43–53. doi:10.1001/jama.293.1.43. PMID 15632335. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/293/1/43. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  18. ^ Jennifer's Weight Watchers Story Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  19. ^ "Jennifer Hudson is New Weight Watchers Spokeswoman - ABC News" Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  20. ^ "Chilling Effects Notice". http://www.chillingeffects.org/derivative/notice.cgi?NoticeID=162. Retrieved 27 December 2010. 
  21. ^ a b c d e f WO application 2010025422 
  22. ^ "Weight Watchers Upends Its Points System". NY Times. 2010-12-03. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/nyregion/04watchers.html. 
  23. ^ "Frequent tipple cuts heart risk". BBC News. 2008-01-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2638399.stm. 
  24. ^ "Forum Posting 1 re New Plan". 2010-12-08. http://www.weightwatchers.com/community/mbd/post.aspx?page_size=25&rownum=1&threadpage_no=1&sincedate=12/24/2010%2012:00:00%20AM&thread_id=147816280&board_id=360&forum_id=1&thread_name=Maintenance%20Points/Lifetime%20Member?&mod_no=&daterange=2days&viewchange=OPENDATEDESC. Retrieved 2010-12-30. 
  25. ^ "Forum Posting 2 re New Plan". 2010-12-04. http://www3.weightwatchers.com/community/mbd/post.aspx?threadpage_no=1&page_size=25&rownum=5&board_name=Guys+on+a+Diet&thread_id=147701320&board_id=15&forum_name=message+boards&post_id=1265677780&forum_id=1&thread_name=Just+got+back+from+my+meeting+and...&mod_no=&sincedate=11/9/2010+12:00:00+AM&viewchange=DATECREATEDDESC&gotolast=true. Retrieved 2010-12-30. 
  26. ^ "I’ve eaten all my PointsPlusvalues, and it’s still only lunchtime!". http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=48151. Retrieved 2010-12-30. 
  27. ^ "Forum Posting 3 Re New Plan". 2010-12-06. http://www.weightwatchers.com/community/mbd/post.aspx?threadpage_no=12&page_size=25&rownum=300&board_name=Guys+on+a+Diet&thread_id=147761410&board_id=15&forum_name=message+boards&forum_id=1&thread_name=Deep+thoughts,+by+Jack+Handey+(Steve0mania)+(long)&mod_no=&sincedate=12/2/2010+12:00:00+AM&viewchange=DATECREATEDDESC. Retrieved 2010-12-30. 
  28. ^ "Forum Posting Validating Wikipedia Formula". 2011-01-19. http://www.weightwatchers.com/community/mbd/post.aspx?page_size=25&rownum=15&threadpage_no=1&sincedate=1/18/2011+12:00:00+AM&thread_id=148946590&board_id=360&forum_id=1&thread_name=Points+Plus+Target+Quiz%3f&mod_no=&daterange=2days&viewchange=OPENDATEDESC. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  29. ^ ProPoints Calculator from 3rd Party Website Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  30. ^ "Weight Watchers Points Formula". October 2005. http://www.alanlight.com/WWPoints.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  31. ^ a b WeightWatchers Pocket Guide 2010. 
  32. ^ "Old Weight Watchers Activity Points Formula". http://b.feli.me/post/5248716882/old-weight-watchers-activity-points-formula. Retrieved 2011-07-06. 

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$copyright.smallImage.alttext Gale Directory of Company Histories. International Directory of Company Histories. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Food & Nutrition Dictionary. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Gale Encyclopedia of Diets. The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets © 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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