How does weight watchers work?

Weight Watchers was originally based on the diabetic exchange diet.

Diabetics have to carefully control their intake of carbohydrates to moderate their blood sugar and to reduce the amount of insulin they need. They are also prone to high blood pressure, overweight, and heart dissease so they have to watch their fat as well as total calories to stay healthy. To simplify the diet the American Diabetic Association came up with exchanges of food, instead of knowing how many calories/carbs/fat are in every food, they group similar foods together and call the size of a small standard serving an exchange. They control the various factors of the diet by allowing specific numbers of exchanges in the various groups for each meal and snack.

While this all sounds complicated in practice it doesn’t take long to learn how much of each group is an exchange. 1/2 cup of most cooked vegetables is an vegetable exchange. 1 oz of lean meat is a meat exchange. Don’t worry, you get multiple exchanges.

The current points system recognises that ordinary people don’t need to be as careful about their diet as diabetics do so all of the exchanges are considered points that can be used any way the dieter wishes.

Another aspect of Weight Watchers is group meetings and weigh-ins for support and peer pressure. They also encourage eating more fiber and less fat and getting exercise.

Like any diet it works if you stick with it.