Weight Watchers on its own never worked for me except in the very short term. I believe now that I’ve had a damaged metabolism since I was anorexic (probably, but never officially diagnosed) at age 14 to 15 (9th grade).
That year, I didn’t eat until I got home (no one noticed I was skipping breakfast and didn’t know I wasn’t eating lunch at school), I would eat half a tuna sandwich and 1/2 cup of green veggies when I got home and I would take a nap because I was always tired. I excercised like crazy. I bet I was eating 500 calories per day or so during that year and doing maybe 4 hours of excercise a day (running, riding a bike and calisthenics). My dad bought me some multivitamins and insisted I take them because he thought I was starting to look sickly. I was 5’5” and weighed 105 lbs. I could fit into a pair of jeans from the third grade (I made them into shorts).
When I started Keto, I joined Weight Watchers at the same time. I didn’t follow their diet, but I felt it kept me accountable by weighing in each week and the meetings were actually helpful. I liked being part of a community that was sharing their efforts to track their food intake (I didn’t use their app, I used Chronometer). The leader was compassionate and thoughtful. I really liked him.
Then about January 2018 WW changed to their new Freestyle program. The meetings became intolerable. Instead of focusing on changing habits and looking at all the other aspects of one’s life that affect weight loss (eg psychological), it became about the differences in following the freestyle program. Freestyle ruined WW for me, it stopped being helpful. I stopped being able to contribute in the meetings. It took some time to come to this realization.
The entire time I was participating in the weekly meetings, I noticed people with the body type which indicated insulin resistance to me. I would think to myself, ketogenic eating is the answer these people are looking for. But then came the week I was waiting to weigh in and the leader was in the corner with a (comparatively) new member in the corner. She was in tears and I could clearly hear their conversation. She was desperate, she had been perfect. She was following the program meticulously and not only was she NOT losing weight, she had actually gained.
Between my feelings about the changes that the introduction of WW Freestyle had brought to the weekly meetings and the sincere despair of this young woman, I never went back again. I felt it was the wrong venue to preach a ketogenic way of life. And I didn’t think I could watch these people struggle and keep my mouth shut any longer. So, I was done!
Many people start and stop WW many times. They aren’t particularly successful. They come back because it may be the best answer in CICO model. In my opinion, they come back because they don’t see any other reasonably affordable alternatives. They blame THEMSELVES for the failure of the program. They come back determined to work it right this time. If the program REALLY worked (if CICO REALLY worked for even a good percentage of the severely obese members), people wouldn’t fail so often and come back to try again years later.
WW is a failed model for the severely obese, insulin resistant population. In my hopeful moments, I believe that the decline of WW stock value is a sign that more and more of these individuals are finding a ketogenic way of life and have stopped going back to WW for another failed attempt. God, I hope so.
