Weightwatchers; watching the pounds disappear (Weight Watchers)

Member Name: bilbob20

Product:	Weight Watchers
Date:	02/07/09 (241 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It really is a handy tool to lose weight

Disadvantages: Hard to follow if you like certain foods

I have battled with my weight since my early 20's. When I was much slimmer, and healthier, I would laugh at people who spoke about weight battles. I mean, how can it be a battle to just not stuff bucket loads of fatty foods down your throat. That's not a battle, I would say, its just an excuse not to do anything about it. Now, 5 stone overweight, I can relate to that difficulty. It is hard to keep the weight off, even if you don't eat a huge amount of food. Its not always the amount of food you eat, but rather what you eat.

I don't do an awful lot of exercise unless absolutely forced to. My lifestyle is that I work in an office, and quite often go home and laze around on the sofa with a DVD, or meet a friend for food and drink. Exercise comes with all the mythical moans; I hate it, I'm no good at it, Its no fun. Then when I'm at the gym, or the baths, or even just walking home with my ipod on; I love it. Why is it that the thought of the gym fills me with such dread and yet I get so into it when I finally pluck up enough annoyance at myself to actually go.

Two months ago, I joined the weight watchers plan. Like the gym, I was always resistant to weight watchers. Why pay money to stand on scales and be shamed into losing weight, when you can do it at home. Well, for me, it was exactly that. I am doing this for myself. However, there is an element of responsibility to my fellow weight watchers and to my advisor to stick to it. As it gives you a weekly tracker and a guide to their points system, I also find that I'm not now thinking about that 5 stone that I want to have lost by this time next year, but instead I am just thinking about that all important meeting a week from my last weigh in.

At the start of my weigh-ins in May, I was 17st 11. Five weeks later, and before my two week holiday to Turkey, I was 16st 7. That was a weight loss of 18lbs in that first five weeks. Since being back from holiday, and admittedly having difficulty in focusing, I have gained 2 and a half lbs. Whilst any gain is disappointing, I am putting it down to a two week holiday where I didn't track and the difficulties in getting focused when your summer holiday is over. This is my second week of tracking since being back, and again I am having difficulty in sticking to the point system. Having already had the gain though, I will find a way of focusing. I have also taken on an evening job that is 3 hours on my feet, so this will hopefully make a difference.

Weight watchers was first founded in 1963 by Jean Nidetch, but has now found its way into over 30 countries. It operates on a point system, which allows the points to be allocated to food and drink groups according to the calories over the saturated fat. When you are given the introductory pack, there is a manual calculator that allows you to monitor what you are eating, as well as a manual tracker that allows you to keep a track of the points that you use. The points allocated are based on whether you are man or woman, active or non active, as well as allocating points in accordance to your age and your weight. For instance, somebody who is 16 stone may well have 4 points more than somebody who is 12 stone, etc.

The meetings are held weekly and you can find yours by going to the website www.weightwatchers.co.uk and putting in your postcode. Per weigh-in, you are charged £5.50, and you get your fresh tracker for the next week as well as a booklet entitled "Yourweek" which gives you many handy tips and recipes to help you try different and fresh ways to balance your food intake. For the first 6 weeks, you are also given little glossy books to add to your nifty folder pack that gives you guides to eating well, how to eat out without gaining weight, and how to exercise without straining yourself.

You can also join the monthly subscription, which lessens the cost slightly. Instead of paying the £5.50 per week, it'll be a monthly fee of £17, which you activate online once purchased. There is a signing on fee, although I'm not sure if that's just a mythical fee to convince you that you are getting something for nothing. I have never met anybody who had to pay it, and I certainly didn't have to. What you get when you sign up for the monthly pass is free access to the e-source tracker. This usually has a separate monthly subscription, but the cost is waived as part of your monthly weight watchers subscription.

E-source is one of the best ways to count your points. It has an online tracking system which has a wealth of existing foods and allocated points. It isn't always accurate so its handy to double check, but the e-source will do calculations for you which saves you hunting down your wee introductory pack to find your manual calculator. The manual calculator also only goes up to foods of 400 calories, so if you've went over, then e-source will count any amount. You can also add foods that don't exist in their database as it is a growing community rather than just a dogmatic tool from those who think they know better.

As well as the online tracker, which is the best function of the e-source, there is also a tracker to keep tabs on your weight loss. Each week after your weigh in, you just enter your new weight and this will keep you on track. Rather than striving for your final goal though, weight watchers encourages losses of 5% and 10% of your BMI, depending on how hard you are finding it. As I have gained last week, they have put me on a 5% loss goal, which makes it easy for me to see my target coming. This is a tool of encouragement that stops you from thinking "I've only lost a stone, and I've still got 5 to go".

There is also an online forum on the weight watchers site that allows you to communicate with other members of the site, and people who are sharing the same experience. There are excellent tips, and people with experience of weight loss small and large. I find it handy to vent at other people who are currently also experiencing a lull in their weight loss, or just getting tips on how to manage the points system.

The points system is a great way to track food, but I'd imagine it to be harder the less points you have. I have 31 points a day at the moment, and find that if I eat healthy, I sometimes struggle to use them all. However, if you are a woman who is 11 stone, you might find that you are only on 20 points or similar. This would be much harder to maintain, and would involve being quite strict with yourself. However, weight watchers really genuinely works, and is an excellent way to learn how to balance your healthy foods with foods that you enjoy but probably cant afford to have.

As mentioned at the beginning of the review, its easy to be scathing about people who are overweight. Being overweight sometimes creeps up on you. I was only a stone heavier than my former skinny self, and didn't even notice other than a slight pinch at my jeans. Then, another stone went on, and then another. Before I knew it, I was looking in the mirror at somebody much larger than me. When you're not active, and you like to eat out often, its very easy to just keep on piling on the pounds. I wish I had been much less sceptical about the cash cow weight watchers, because if I had done it five years ago, I would never have gotten to the size I now am. Maybe though, I had to get to the point where I struggled to buy clothes from trendy shops, or have trouble climbing the stairs without gasping for air to finally kick my own butt and do something about it.

Update 13/07/2009: Have managed to get back on the wagon and sustain a week of point counting. At my most recent weigh-in I lost 2lbs, that puts me back at 17lbs lost.

Summary: An excellent points system allows you to shed the pounds