Weight Watchers Diet
A very popular weight loss diet today is the Weight Watchers Diet which is developed by esteemed health professionals but even so, it is highly recommended that you first seek medical assistance before starting this diet.
What is the Weight Watchers Diet?
The Weight Watchers Diet is a weight loss program that first began in the 1960s and it encourages dieters to lose weight by choosing healthy foods and making changes to promote a healthy lifestyle. The main concept in this diet is to promote a holistic approach to a healthy life by stressing out the importance of mental and physical well-being.
This type of diet does not deprive a dieter from eating certain types of foods instead, dieters are encouraged to make healthy choices and take on regular exercise. There are actually two diet plans that Weight Watchers Diet offer:
- The Points Plan
In this type of diet plan, foods are assigned with points based on their caloric count, fat content and dietary fiber. The dieters are allowed to eat any foods they like as long as they do not exceed the points they are allotted with. - The Core (no counting) Plan
This dietary plan is based on the consumption of wholesome foods from different foods groups ranging from fruits to vegetables, grains, starches, lean meat and poultry products.
Goal of Weight Watchers Diet
The goal of the Weight Watchers Diet is to actually help people make healthy decisions and encourage them to engage in physical activity to promote natural weight loss in a healthy way. This diet actually leaves dieters two options, they can either join meetings or for their convenience, they can have the online system.
During the first phase, the goal is to lower the body weight by 5 to 10 percent but the main goal here is to have BMI that is less than 25. For those who happen to be overweight, the goal of the dieter is to lose weight with increments of 10%.
How Do Weight Watchers Points Diet Works
The most common type of Weight Watchers Diet Program chosen is the Point Plus Program. This is because dieters are not deprived of eating foods instead the program works by factoring how the body processes food. This way, people on the diet is taught to choose the right foods and know the right portion size as well as learn how to keep up with an energy deficit. The whole dietary program actually works with its basic pillars which are:
- Making healthy choices – when a dieter starts using this program, he/she will learn how to make right choices when it comes to picking foods to promote a healthy lifestyle.
- Not deprived of any specific foods – as mentioned earlier, this is not the type of diet that will tell what and what not to eat. All it takes is to follow an easy plan that will give you choices on what foods to include.
- Given a list of “Power Foods” – these so-called “Power Foods” are satisfying yet healthy and most importantly will help you in losing weight.
You will be given two options when you follow this diet, you can join Offline Meetings or if you don’t have the time you can go for the Online System.
Offline Meetings
During the offline meetings, you will have to visit the nearest Weight Watchers Center where meetings are being held which you will be obliged to join. There have been studies that shown that people who join offline meetings are proven to lose three times more than those who don’t. The offline meetings are composed of the following:
- Weekly meetings that are centered on teaching dieters basic techniques that will help in losing weight. The necessary materials needed for this are being provided such as cookbooks, tools and a step-by-step weight loss plan.
- There is social interaction involved as dieters get to meet other people who also have the same aspiration as they do. There are also Weight Watchers Leaders who are actually people who once were under the program and now share their success with other people.
- There is close monitoring on the progress you have by means of weigh-ins and is strictly between the dieter and the leaders.
Online System
As for the online system, the following are part of this program:
- Dieters will be provided with the same weight loss guides like those who are on the offline meetings.
- Interactive tools are being accessed by dieters such as food and activity trackers that will allow dieters to actually monitor their weight, foods they have eaten and the physical activities they have done.
- Dieters are given recommendations on foods that are advisable for them to eat when eating out.
- Dieters are handed with over 3,000 recipes and over 40,000 food choices that are approved by the Weight Watchers Program.
- Tips and advices are also given that may be handy during workouts and improves fitness level.
Advantages of the Weight Watchers Diet
- Proven and tested to be effective as it has been around for over 40 years
- No harmful drugs are used when following this program
- Dieters are allowed to eat the foods they want and need
- Because there is no starvation or food deprivation involved, dieter is ensured of eating foods that are nutritionally balanced and includes major food groups
- May be followed by vegetarians
- Easy to incorporate in whatever lifestyle you have
- Support groups are available for dieters on this program
Disadvantages of the Weight Watchers Diet
- Requires a dieter to make drastic changes in one’s lifestyle
- There is no “short cut” in this diet as it has no fat burning pills or appetite suppressants compared to other diets
- This weight loss program has no refund guarantee
- The weekly offline meetings can be time consuming
- Weight loss happens much slower
Precautions
The Weight Watchers Diet is not for everyone this is why it would be best to first seek medical advice before starting the diet. There are people who might not be comfortable with the offline meetings but there are still dieters out there who find these weekly offline meetings helpful because of the motivation that the whole group has. Just like other diets, this weight loss program also has certain precautions which need to be considered and they are as follows:
- Children aged 10 and below are not accepted
- Pregnant women
- Children below 17 years should present a written medical permission that they are allowed to join the program
- Teens and breastfeeding women should agree to follow a plan in order to ensure that their dietary needs are met
- People whose weight is within 5 lbs. (2.3 kg) of the lowest weight in the program’s weight range are not accepted
- People who are diagnosed with bulimia nervosa (binge and purge disorder) are not accepted
Celebrities who have used the Weight Watchers Diet
Weight Watchers Diet
The Weight Watchers Diet has been so popular among celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, Sarah Ferguson, Rosie O’Donnell, Kate Wins let and Jennifer Hudson. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York is also the spokesperson of the Weight Watchers Diet and according to her, ever since her childhood she has been struggling with her weight and ever since she followed this weight loss program in 2004 she has lost over 50 pounds and has been following it for over 8 years.
Jenny McCarthy has lost over 60 pounds with Weight Watchers Diet and the reason why she loves the diet is because she can eat whatever she wants as long as she sticks to her daily points. After joining American Idol, Jennifer Hudson slowly rose to fame as her weight slowly dropped and she has lost over 50 pounds with the Weight Watchers Diet.
How many people have used and benefited from this diet?
The Weight Watchers Diet first began in the early 1960s and is the ingenious idea of an overweight housewife Jean Nidetch. She first invited a few of her friends to New York and discussed how it can work for weight loss and eventually joined her after her dietitian recommended a diet and they started having regular meetings until the group grew larger and Jean was now joined by Al Lippert. For over 40 years now, millions of people from around the globe have used and benefited from this healthy weight loss regimen.
Conclusion
The Weight Watchers Diet is not made for the purpose of treating or curing any disorder. Instead it teaches its dieters to learn to make right and healthy food choices as well as come up with a healthy lifestyle which they can stick for a long time so that even if they have achieved their ideal weight, they still know how to maintain it. Because of the fact that this weight loss diet has been around for so long, people are enticed to join, after all, a weight loss program that can stick around for such a long time means they are doing something right which is why until now people are using it.
