Weight Watchers is a program designed to help participants lose weight.
The program differs from others because it the participants are allowed to purchase and cook their own food options.
It has been proven to be effective and is a great diet option for those who want to lose quite a bit of weight and for those who may just have a few extra pounds that they would like to be rid of.
Weight Watchers also has a separate program for those with special dietary needs.
Online or Face to Face There are two ways to sign up for weight watchers.
The first and more traditional way is to find and attend face-to-face meetings.
Meetings are generally once a week and include discussions, updates, the sharing of resources and weekly weigh-ins.
Online Weight Watchers is for those who are either uncomfortable with face to face meetings or who prefer the convenience of working with the program online.
Both methods are proven to be effective.
Food Points To make Weight Watchers work, participants share their weight loss goals, eating habits, and activity preferences.
The system then generates a daily points average.
This average is found by considering how much weight participants want to lose and what the current body weight is.
Every day the participants record the foods and quantities that they eat.
These foods are assigned point values, and the goal of the participant is to remain within the average points that they are allowed for the day.
This teaches participants to eat healthily and to come to an understanding of what they should avoid.
For example, a cheeseburger may be 12 points.
If a participant only has 20 points total for the day, then eating a cheeseburger will take up over half of their daily points.
They can still eat the burger if they would like to, but in order to stick to the diet, they only have 8 points to use for all of the rest of their meals and snacks.
But if that person instead had a cup of rice with a side of baked chicken and some spinach, they may only use 7 or 8 points, meaning that they can have more options for other meals.
This teaches participants what foods are worse or better than others.
Those who sign up for weight watchers are also given a predetermined number of reserve points that they can use whenever they would like.
These points can be added to daily totals or can be saved until the end of every week.
Activity Points Activity points are used to reward exercising.
Many different forms of exercise are considered acceptable, from running, to swimming, to gardening.
The duration and intensity of these activities determines how many activity points awarded.
These points can be used if bonus food points have already been depleted.
The more participants stay active, the more flexible their food options are.
This encourages participants to couple good eating habits with good exercise habits.
Weigh-Ins Weight Watchers weigh-ins occur once a week.
For face-to-face meetings, participants weigh themselves in front of their group members as a sort of bonding process.
The weights are recorded and advice is given according to the amount of weight loss or, if applicable, weight gain, for the week.
For online weigh-ins, participants enter their weights into the computer each week.
Resources Weight Watchers offers many resources for their members.
From recipes to tips and advice, members can find information on how to diet and stay healthy at the same time.
Weight Watchers offers do's and don'ts on how to eat and the best ways to lose weight and establish healthy routines for many kinds of people in a variety of lifestyle situations.
Maintenance Another unique aspect of the weight watchers program is that it teaches its participants how to keep the weight off and how to keep up with their new healthy lifestyles and it does this while the program is still running by teaching members what is better for them to eat and why.
The program becomes second nature, and instead of just providing members with pre made food, it teaches them to pick better portions and options.
The program differs from others because it the participants are allowed to purchase and cook their own food options.
It has been proven to be effective and is a great diet option for those who want to lose quite a bit of weight and for those who may just have a few extra pounds that they would like to be rid of.
Weight Watchers also has a separate program for those with special dietary needs.
Online or Face to Face There are two ways to sign up for weight watchers.
The first and more traditional way is to find and attend face-to-face meetings.
Meetings are generally once a week and include discussions, updates, the sharing of resources and weekly weigh-ins.
Online Weight Watchers is for those who are either uncomfortable with face to face meetings or who prefer the convenience of working with the program online.
Both methods are proven to be effective.
Food Points To make Weight Watchers work, participants share their weight loss goals, eating habits, and activity preferences.
The system then generates a daily points average.
This average is found by considering how much weight participants want to lose and what the current body weight is.
Every day the participants record the foods and quantities that they eat.
These foods are assigned point values, and the goal of the participant is to remain within the average points that they are allowed for the day.
This teaches participants to eat healthily and to come to an understanding of what they should avoid.
For example, a cheeseburger may be 12 points.
If a participant only has 20 points total for the day, then eating a cheeseburger will take up over half of their daily points.
They can still eat the burger if they would like to, but in order to stick to the diet, they only have 8 points to use for all of the rest of their meals and snacks.
But if that person instead had a cup of rice with a side of baked chicken and some spinach, they may only use 7 or 8 points, meaning that they can have more options for other meals.
This teaches participants what foods are worse or better than others.
Those who sign up for weight watchers are also given a predetermined number of reserve points that they can use whenever they would like.
These points can be added to daily totals or can be saved until the end of every week.
Activity Points Activity points are used to reward exercising.
Many different forms of exercise are considered acceptable, from running, to swimming, to gardening.
The duration and intensity of these activities determines how many activity points awarded.
These points can be used if bonus food points have already been depleted.
The more participants stay active, the more flexible their food options are.
This encourages participants to couple good eating habits with good exercise habits.
Weigh-Ins Weight Watchers weigh-ins occur once a week.
For face-to-face meetings, participants weigh themselves in front of their group members as a sort of bonding process.
The weights are recorded and advice is given according to the amount of weight loss or, if applicable, weight gain, for the week.
For online weigh-ins, participants enter their weights into the computer each week.
Resources Weight Watchers offers many resources for their members.
From recipes to tips and advice, members can find information on how to diet and stay healthy at the same time.
Weight Watchers offers do's and don'ts on how to eat and the best ways to lose weight and establish healthy routines for many kinds of people in a variety of lifestyle situations.
Maintenance Another unique aspect of the weight watchers program is that it teaches its participants how to keep the weight off and how to keep up with their new healthy lifestyles and it does this while the program is still running by teaching members what is better for them to eat and why.
The program becomes second nature, and instead of just providing members with pre made food, it teaches them to pick better portions and options.