Weight Watchers: Godsend or grinchy drag?

If you want to lose weight, are you thinking of trying or returning to Weight Watchers?

I haven't hit a WW meeting for at least 5 years, so you might expect me be critical, but I'm positive, with reservations.

Deja Pseu, in her insightful post "Extreme Maintenance" says WW made her "obsessive, self-involved, self-righteous, anxious". I too was briefly caught up in the nit-picky weirdness of counting half-points and weighing to the microgram. If you have these qualities, a highly structured program can bring them roaring to the fore- but I also learned to laugh at myself if I got too "Watchy".

So don't throw the plump-cheeked baby out with the bathwater.

WW teaches three things: how to
1. Control portions: how much you eat
2. Choose what you eat, especially healthier options (like high fibre bread instead of a croissant, dammit),
and most significantly, to
3.Take accountability for one's own behaviour.
It's not the restaurant, my partner, my colleagues who "make me" eat way more than I need, it's me.

All the related behaviours (e.g., counting points, keeping a diary, attending meetings, weighing in) are there to point you toward those three outcomes.

When a friend says she doesn't, for example "like all that counting points at Weight Watchers", I wonder if she's unwilling to do the heavy lifting of taking personal accountability just now. (I mean, she learned to play bridge to the Masters level, right?) If ready, she may not like every aspect of the program, but will give it an honest shot.

The whole package (changing behaviour, eating fewer calories and increasing activity) is no small challenge, and means WW is sheer hard work. When results are slow, it's easy to decide the program isn't for you. Maybe you need to eat more, take things very gradually, and I've seen people tell their WW leaders so. A good leader says, just come. One woman spent a year just absorbing the counsel before making changes.

Not everyone concerned with managing weight needs WW's structure and support.

From what she's written, I infer that Deja Pseu is fully capable of making wise choices autonomously. She has knowledge (both of herself and nutrition), self-direction, and a wise perspective on social pressure.

And there's my colleague Kieran, exhausted, dumpy, short of breath when his baby was born two years ago. He calculated how many calories he'd be eating at a healthy weight, studied Canada's Food Guide, downloaded a calorie counter, and kept precise track of intake. He never uttered the word diet, he "modified his eating".

But if you have tried and tried, and just can't do it alone, work that WW program honestly for 90 days. Then you can carp, knowing it's less likely a screen for avoiding the work.

(There are other weight management strategies, such as hiring a nutritionist, a long Canyon Ranch stay, or signing onto the Zone Diet delivery, but this post is about WW.)

Some things irk me about WW (besides not getting to eat what I want, whenever I want it). I loathed their thin-adulation, such as their slogan "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." Whoever wrote this never tasted fresh french fries from a Quebec chip wagon.

A few of the leaders were dippy, but most were stand-up funny, encouraging and realistic. WW's goal weights seem low for some people's body composition- so set your own goal if you don't think theirs makes sense. I didn't need the rewards; if you don't want a gold star and applause at a milestone, don't wave your hand to announce it.

Their products, which they sell at meetings, were unpalatable but they don't require you to eat them. And there's the cost, which some people find high.

But are these criticisms just excuses to keep from getting on with it?

At my first WW meeting, I was enormously relieved to have tools and moved by the support. They taught me to accommodate entertaining, travel, my chocolate fetish, my foodie husband.

Weight Watchers did not advocate yo-yo dieting. They want you to achieve your healthy weight and maintain it, and their target weight ranges increase with age.

If you have tried on your own, if your health is suffering and you cannot face another year in that shape, go. (If you want to lose to conform to a social stereotype or hang on to a 'young' self-image, read Pseu's post and have a nice restorative martini.)

WW is kind of like an all-inclusive Caribbean resort, minus the dance contest: you pay to enter a particular experience, and it's more enjoyable if you get into it. You can alter some things, but it's their program. Stay open and try it.