Weight Watchers (diet)

Weight Watchers claims that meal replacements have been shown to outperform calorie-controlled diets, as there is less margin for errors and less decision-making and cooking skills are required.

[7][8] In addition to the diet and related consumable products made by the brand, the Weight Watchers includes counseling via weekly or monthly meetings, calorie targets, and online support.

[1][7][10] The scientific soundness of commercial diets by commercial weight management organizations (CWMOs) varies widely, being previously non-evidence-based, so there is only limited evidence supporting their use, including Weight Watchers, due notably to high attrition rates.

Bringing inspiration from this successful but frustratingly difficult to sustain diet because of the lack of communication and its discouragement of peers discussions, Nidetch designed the original Weight Watchers around the same nutritional principles favoring lean meat, fish, skim milk, and fruits and vegetables, and banning alcohol, sweets, and fatty foods, but with the additional scheduling of support groups to foster discussion and motivation.

It thus had lists of allowed and prohibited foods, and was more structured than subsequent versions of the Weight Watchers program, such as recommending weighing food portions, prohibiting skipping meals or counting calories, before later adopting a more flexible point based system, while keeping the group support meetings and personalized coaching which differentiated this diet from its predecessor.