WW - The Anti-Diet?

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I get that whole comraderie but really, if you all feel the same way, why stay? You sure could meet somewhere else and for free. WW isn't cheap.
That was something I really didn't understand about the old ww boards. So much negatively about the plan, the company.. why stay?

If it's not working for you (general term), go find something that does.

the deserts tend to get a lot of monsoon weather. and the dry ground means the water can't absorb very well so it tends to stay on the surface and then flood.

I thought this was a great article. Very thought provoking. I think there is a tension between the idea of accepting yourself as your are (fat and all) yet also wanting to lose weight. So many I think see those things as being in opposition. That is, if you accept yourself as you are then how can you work to lose weight? And, some get tangled up in that and feel that if they want to lose weight then it must mean they don't like themselves or don't accept themselves. I liked the Oprah quote about not accepting the overweight when it raises health risks.

My mother has Type II diabetes. I think she accepts herself. But, she also does things to treat her Type II diabetes. Does that mean she doesn't accept herself. Yes, yes, I know that people can be overweight without being diabetic (or whatever). But, the overweight does increase certain health risks.

One of the interesting things in the article is the discussion that many want better "health" or to be "fit" and use those words as a proxy for saying thin. I think that there was come to be a bit of a prejudice against the idea of wanting to lose weight simply to look better. Back when I was in my 20s and 30s and wanted to lose weight, I wanted to do it to look better. Period. It wasn't really about health. I mean, at that time, even fat I was in pretty good health. I wasn't diabetic and didn't have high blood pressure or heart disease or anything else. And, I didn't think much about those things then. I got to lifetime when I was in my mid-30s and it was all about looking good.

Now - over 25 years later - it really is more about the health part. Getting older concentrates the mind on staying healthy. So, I honestly am primarily motivated by health. But, even now, I also like the fact I look better thin.

Right after the article came out, WW announced its earnings for the second quarter of 2017. Their memberships are up about 20% or so from this time last year. That is a huge increase. And, in their earnings call they talked about the fact that what really turned it around for them was trying to appeal to people wanting a holistic program. From the earnings call:


So, while in a way this is just messaging and the core of the program to me hasn't changed, I think it is a more appealing message.  Particularly for younger people, I think it is more appealing to thing about joining WW to eat healthier, be healthier, be more fit, etc.  rather than to simply say I'm joining WW to go on a diet.

And, yes, of course, people do still weigh in and have to meet a weight goal within the healthy range (unless they get a doctor's note) in order to get free lifetime.  As a business, they have to have a standard for people to get free lifetime or else everyone would join and say they were at goal when they lost 5 pounds even if they were way over a healthy weight.  Then, WW would go out of business since they wouldn't be getting income.

I guess they could get rid of the free lifetime system.  They could just charge by the meeting (or by the month) but I think that the free lifetime system does set up a real goal that is powerful and which has a very tangible reward.

But, honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if at some point they merged Meetings and Online totally -- that is you couldn't just be a meetings member -- and charge for online regardless of whether you are at goal or not (no more free etools).  I think that would be a mistake but I could see it happening at some point.  If it did, then you could set your goal wherever you wanted to.  You can now, but you just don't get free lifetime if it isn't in the goal range.

As for people staying without losing weight, I think it is fairly uncommon to do that long term.  In the earnings call they said they were starting to improve some on retention and that the average membership is 8 or 9 months.  That seems about right to me.  (And many new members aren't really new and are rejoining). Of course, there are some who join and quickly drop out.  And I know some in my meeting who have joined and come faithfully without ever getting close to a normal weight.  In a sense you might wonder what that person doesn't try something else.  On the other hand, in some cases I know that some of these members have lost a lot with WW and feel that coming helps them to maintain that weight loss even though they have plateaued.

On the idea of making the threshold for goal weight more than 2 pounds I have mixed thoughts about it.  I got back to goal 2 years ago and have stayed at goal.  But, last month I was more than 2 pounds over.  Some of it was that I have been overeating.  But, the bigger part of it is that I have some water retention and swelling from surgery that I had a couple of months ago.  When I gained 7 pounds in one week I knew that wasn't normal (I probably legit should have gained a little that week -- just not 7 pounds).  By the time I weighed in for July I had lost several pounds of it but was still more than 2 pounds over goal weight.  

And, I've been paying every week.  I have lost some but expect to still be up for another week or two.  My surgeon tells me I may still have the swelling for another month or so and that this is part of the weight gain. If the threshold was 5 pounds over I wouldn't have had to pay.  And, that would have been great. And, yet... I have had 3 very good weeks with my eating and it is because I have been careful as I want to get back to being free lifetime.  Being over and having to pay concentrates the mind.  Yes, it hasn't been wholly successful to get me back to goal (the water retention from the swelling is interfering even though I've been eating well).  But, I suspect I've done much better these last 3 weeks than I would have done had their been a 5 pounds threshold and I was still free lifetime.

Interesting article.

I have recently gone back to meetings after WW Australia launched a Flash Sale with ~40% off the cost of meeting subscriptions. Previously, I found the cost of attending meetings ($80 a month) too expensive and switched to Online membership. 

I have attended 3 meetings with 3 different leaders so far and they were all absolutely appalling. 8 months ago, I attended meetings at a purposely built facility which was fantastic...you could book a One-on-one 15 minute meeting with a leader at any time convenient to you (7am-5pm, 5 days a week) at a premium price of $95 a month, or attend any of their weekday group meeting times (10 sessions a week to choose from) and no matter what time I went, there were at least a dozen ppl in attendance.

In the time since I dropped my meeting membership, they moved out of that lovely facility and leased 2 places in the CBD, with just a choice of 6 meeting times a week. I can't attend the early morning meetings I used to because walking in the city in the dark is quite scary (it's winter here in Oz and still dark at 7am). The 3 different meetings I have attended only had 3 or 4 ppl in them, and for 2 of the meetings, the leaders had us watch a video off their iPad for the majority of the meeting. The 3rd meeting only had me and one other person in it, and the leader pushed products and did high pressure selling unlike anything I have ever experienced before. 

I can't believe the difference in just 8 months!

WW Australia is still adamant about not granting LTM free eTools (I have spoken to customer service about it many times). Instead, they offer the usual free meeting if you're no more than 4.4 pounds (2kg) above OR below your goal weight. If you consistently weigh in 4.4 pounds below your goal weight, you will be asked to adjust your goal weight. If you still want Connect and eTools, they charge a fee that equates to a 10% discount off an Online membership.