Weight Watchers International

175 Crossways Park West

Woodbury, NY 11797

Phone: 516-390-1400

To find the nearest Weight Watchers^® meeting location, call 1-800-651-6000, or click on the Find a Meeting link at the top of the homepage.

Weight Watchers International was founded in May 1963 by Jean Nidetch. The company became a publicly held corporation in September 1968, and 10 years later became a wholly owned subsidiary of the H.J. Heinz Company.

The company appears to be thriving under the new owners and as a publicly owned company separate from H.J. Heinz. It continues to dominate the American commercial weight loss centers market, #1 with revenues from weekly meetings and registration fees, and some merchandise like scales, cookbooks and exercise gear, of about $1.2 billion per year. The company has recorded very strong gains in attendance in the United States after the low carb trend faded, but has struggled to maintain that growth in 2006-2007. 

After 44 years, it is one of the most recognized brand names, and it is fully capitalizing on its huge database of current and past customers. Its program is affordable, flexible, and safe.  Initial registration varies from $12-30/week (registration plus 1st week) plus a weekly meeting fee.  The registration fee is often waived via promotions.  Weight Watchers^® weekly meetings range in cost from $8.95/week (for loyal customers that attend regularly) to $12/week for those who come as they please.  Also offered is a Monthly Pass fee arrangement:  $39.95/month (or about $9.22/week) includes access to unlimited meetings each week, free registration and free access to the e-Tools internet website.

The company sponsors 48,000 weekly meetings taught by a network of 13,000 classroom leaders and sees attendance of roughly 1 million members per week, the legacy of its 44 years in business. Weight Watchers^® brand name is recognized by 97% of adult women in the U.S., and by more than 90% in its other primary markets, and the company’s database of 20 million former members makes for efficient and targeted marketing. 

There is also an At-Work Program that operates on-site, where employees can attend meetings either before work, during lunch hours, or after work.

Weight Watchers^® customers are loyal. Half of all first-time attendees return to enroll as a member and the probability of rejoining for another session (8-10 weeks) after the first one is completed is 75% - 80%. Historically, members enroll for an average of 4 sessions over their lifetimes, with a typical lag period of 18-24 months in between enrollment. With the average Weight Watchers^® participant trying to lose 30 pounds in the UK and 50 lbs. in the United States, it usually takes the members at least 20 weeks to achieve his/her goal (assuming 1-2 lbs. per week weight loss).

When you sign-up for the Monthly Pass fee program, you pay for your meeting fees one month at a time. You get a new Monthly Pass card in the mail every month until you cancel.  You show your Pass as  proof of payment each time you attend a meeting. Your credit card is automatically charged each month at the monthly rate (currently $39.95/month, or $9.22/week) until you cancel, so there's no need to make a payment when you attend a meeting. Benefits of the monthly pass are that you can attend more meetings per month than under the old plan and save a little money from the normal weekly meeting fee (which average $12.00/week) in the process.

Weight Watchers^® biggest competitor is "do-it-yourselfers"—dieters that buy diet books and use all the fad diets. However, the company believes that there will always be people that need a human being sharing their feelings—therefore, the group meetings.

WeightWatchers.com^® has a variety of free resources, including free recipes, recipe renovations, a meeting finder, BMI and healthy weight range calculators, quizzes, community message boards and safe and sensible editorial content. The Momentum™ Plan offers weekly meetings offered at locations worldwide.  Meetings sites for Weight Watchers^®  include local company centers, YMCAs, churches, synagogues and community centers. Meetings can also be offered at one's place of business as many corporations participate through their employee wellness programs. Self-help dieters can may also take advantage of The Momentum™ Plan 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from any location by accessing the the company's Internet Weight Watchers^® Online website.

Weight Watchers^® Online includes instant access to The Momentum™ Plan, an online journal, a POINTS calculator, a customized Weight Tracker, hundreds of cookbook-quality recipes with POINTS values and a database of over 16,000 foods to calculate daily POINTS values. Weight Watchers^® Online is available for a 7-day free trial, at the end of which you are automatically subscribed to the 3-month savings plan that costs $65 for the first 3 months, then $16.95/month thereafter. The free 7-day trial is available only to new Weight Watchers^® Online subscribers in the U.S.

How The Weight Watchers^® Program Works

The program has always been based on the use of regular store-bought food, supplemented with Weight Watchers^® food items that are an optional purchase. The focus has always been on portion control and moderate, not rapid weight loss. No foods are "off limits", but you do account for everything and assign a point value to it, trying to stay within a certain daily point level. Exercise, on your own, is encouraged.

The program is based on the use of regular grocery store food, but if you should find it more convenient to have the meals prepared for you, one can choose from hundreds of company items founds in the supermarket (dinner entrees, breakfast foods, snacks, ice cream, salad dressings, you name it). What differentiates this program from Jenny Craig and NutriSystem, for example, is that you are not forced to buy Weight Watchers^® diet foods at a set price per week. You buy whatever items you want. If you want more convenience, you can buy more already-prepared Weight Watchers^® items. In other words, YOU control how much you spend on the program.

The Weight Watchers^® weight loss program is basically a 5-week reducing plan, based on regular foods. The emphasis has always been on portion control.  Weight loss is safe, slow and gradual (avg. 1-2 lbs./week), earning high marks from dietitians and others. If members achieve their goal weight and maintain it for 6 weeks, they become a lifetime member and don’t have to pay ongoing weekly meeting fees.  Prior to the just announced 2009 Weight Watchers^® plan, members had the choice of following two plans: the POINTS Plan or the Core Plan.

The program's POINTS Plan used a point system which assigns "points values" to foods.  The POINTS value is calculated using the number of calories, fat grams and fiber grams for each food.  Members take a short quiz which determines the total number of points they should eat each day to ensure adequate nutrition and a proper calorie level to lose weight or maintain their goal weight.

The POINTS Activity System was designed to complement the POINTS food system. Based on a proprietary formula that includes body weight, time, and intensity, all types of physical activity can be assigned a POINTS value. Weight Watchers^® members are provided with a POINTS Boosterä to calculate points on their own.

If members did not wish track and calculate points, they could follow the Core Plan instead. The Core Plan did not require members to keep track of their points, instead providing food choices from the various food groups and recommending that members pay attention their body's hunger cues -- only eating when actually hungry, and then stopping when satisfied.  The focus of the Core Plan was a list of wholesome, nutritious foods without tracking or counting. The Core food list included foods from all food groups - fruits and vegetables, grains and starches, lean meats, fish and poultry, eggs and dairy products - to ensure that all nutritional requirements are met. Core members were also advised to make frequent use of foods that had a higher fiber content, and therefore more filling with less calories. To maximize livability, members following the Core Plan were allowed to choose occasional treats in controlled amounts.

Weight Watchers^® offers workout guides to trim the abdomen, arms and legs. These workouts compliment the Momentum™ Plan, and includes an option to swap Activity POINTS for additional weekly Food POINTS.  Special  topic sheets are provided with tips for women in menopause, diabetics, nursing mothers, and vegetarians.