What is Weight Watchers?

Weight Watchers has two parts:
•    Membership meetings take place in cities and towns in over thirty countries around the world. You get support, and beyond that, you get information that makes your success much more likely. Each country has its own plan, tailored to the specifics of that country. This article refers to the U.S. one.
•    Weight Watchers Online  is a completely online version with lots of information, thousands of recipes, goal setting and progress logging, a free public forum, mobile tracking, and fitness workouts with videos. It includes a specific section called Weight Watchers for Men.

While the two are separate programs, people who take part in membership meetings can also take part in the online program for an additional fee. People who don’t have time for meetings, or dislike meetings, or live a long ways from meetings, will likely prefer the online version.

Weight Watchers began back in the 1960s when Jean Nidetch, an overweight housewife in New York, formed a support group. She and others in the group found that the caring atmosphere they created was essential to their successful weight loss, and through word of mouth, more and more people came to the meetings. They soon outgrew using their homes and had to rent halls to meet in.  The methods used have gone through various changes, but now it offers a very flexible approach, so flexible that you can even do it while using another weight loss eating plan to choose what foods you eat.

In a nutshell, there is a PointsPlus™ program, not counting calories as such but evaluating every food in terms of calories, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, and so on. You have a number of points you can eat in a day, plus some extra points you can use any time during a week. If you exercise, you get more points, and fitness is considered important. It is not a program that has forbidden foods and must-eat foods; rather, it guides you to making the best food choices in a supportive atmosphere. You create good habits, including getting more exercise, suitable to your situation. The general food guidelines include plenty of vegetables and fruits, some dairy products and other lean protein, enough liquid, some healthy oils, and the like.

There is a Weight Watchers Magazine, which anyone can subscribe to (Amazon link). It provides recipes, nutritional information, and motivation.

Is this an effective program? Yes. It works if you do, and it gives you the tools and support to make it happen. The support is from other people who are using the program to lose weight themselves and people who have reached their goals and now help others. Here’s a book of stories of people who used Weight Watchers, which I am currently reading on my Kindle: Weight Watchers Start Living, Start Losing: Inspirational Stories That Will Motivate You Now

Weight Watchers Reviews

Overall, reviewers liked this program, though of course some of them preferred other things.

Here are ten of the most useful points I found, in wading through dozens of reviews and online forums:

1. The flexibility of this program turned up in many reviews as a PLUS, but in some as a MINUS. In short, this is not a plan for someone who wants to be told exactly what to eat.
2. Although you are not counting calories, you are keeping track of everything you eat, and some people don’t like to do this. Others do like it. Feelings were mixed about the PointsPlus method vs. Just counting calories.
3. The program for men tailors not only their different nutritional needs but also the ways they like to do things differently from women. (This is the best program I have come across for men.) See http://www.weightwatchers.com/men/
4. Users of the online program like being able to login from work, home, or anywhere, to track what they have eaten or to get support.
5. It’s a good choice if you have a family, because you can cook meals that everyone can eat. Whoever is on WW eats less.
6. Eating out is easier on WW than on many other programs, because of the flexibility and because some chain restaurants provide Weight Watchers information on their menus.
7. Since fruits and vegetables have no points, it’s up to you to pay attention to whether you are eating too many avacadoes and not enough lettuce!
8. One review felt it was a drawback that Weight Watchers doesn’t encourage fat burning or appetite suppressing supplements. I would have to consider this an advantage. While some of these supplements may be safe and useful, I have my doubts about many of them.
9. Several reviews pointed out that WW does cost something to use. There is a sign-up fee (sometimes waived in promotions) and then a monthly fee. Reviewers point out that many of the benefits of the online program can be found elsewhere online for free — things like camaraderie and recipes. But the specific WW approach, with all the PointsPlus data, is really only available there.
10. Because the program gives you a lot of freedom of choice in how you eat, they don’t give you a guarantee that you will lose weight.

So In Summary…

Weight Watchers  is an excellent, proven program that is well worth doing. If you live near where a meeting takes place, think about trying the meetings version, as the personal support is valuable. If you don’t or would prefer an online program, it is still one of the top choices, as the Weight Watchers reviews proved to me.

This article is Weight Watchers Reviews from Gottaloseweight.com

• Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which give you fiber and nutritious carbohydrates… but you stay away from “bad carbs” like white flour or sugar
• Olive oil, canola oil, and other healthy unsaturated fats… but not “bad fats” like a lot of fat from meat
• Fish, lean meats, beans
• Low-fat dairy foods
• Desserts with healthy ingredients and sugar substitutes
• Coffee and tea, with the caffeinated kinds in moderation.

This is about the quality of the foods you eat as well as about the amounts. And unlike so many diets, you don’t need to count calories. Dr. Arthur Agatston, the cardiologist who created this diet, explains  that South Beach is a balanced diet, neither extremely low-carb nor utterly low-fat. He actually didn’t start it as a weight loss program. It was designed to help his patients lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. When they began losing weight easily as well, word spread fast.

Does the South Beach Diet Really Work?

There are South Beach diet testimonials all over the internet. You’d expect them on the company’s website, but many blogs also describe how the bloggers have lost weight and how the diet has worked well for them. You can also see glowing comments on the online forums that discuss weight loss plans. Based on this, and on studies that have been done, I can say, yes, this is one diet that works. It is not the only one, of course, but the fact is that it has worked for many, many people. Not too surprising, really, since it  is based on sound nutritional principles.

So what is it about this particular way of eating that makes it effective for many? And more to the point: would it suit you?  With this plan, you eat three meals a day and two or three snacks. You never need to experience hunger as you are encouraged to eat as much as you want of the approved foods. You will be filling up, largely on vegetables, but if that sounds boring, not to worry. You are also eating lean meats (unless you are a vegetarian) and much more. There are some delicious recipes in the books and on the membership website… more on these resources later in this article.

There are three parts to the South Beach diet.

Phase One

What it is: Phase One only lasts two weeks, and admittedly it is on the challenging side. You can choose from a wide list of vegetables, beans, low-fat dairy products, and lean meats, but you can’t have bread, grains, fruits, potatoes, carrots, or alcohol. No sugar or honey is allowed, but substitute sweeteners are.

How Does Phase One Work? By cutting out the foods just mentioned, cravings and hunger drop off or at least way down. You can expect to see fast weight loss when you get on the scale—which they suggest you only do once a week. By skipping carrots, beets, winter squash, and other foods that are high on something called the glycemic index, blood sugar stabilizes and thus so do energy levels and moods. The glycemic index is important in this way of eating: it is simply a measure of the effect that different carbohydrates have on blood sugar levels. As you digest the carbs, some will more quickly metabolize into simple sugars than others. You will be avoiding the faster ones.

Of course, people have different results with Phase One, but the exultant reports of significant weight loss are easy to find online! Belly fat often shrinks too.

Phase Two

Phase Two of the South Beach diet begins after you have done Phase One for two weeks. Sometimes people want to stay on Phase One, but this is really not recommended. It’s such a restrictive way of eating that you are not getting enough nutrition in your diet to eat that way for more than a short time. In Phase Two, you follow a suggested schedule to add back in grains, fruits, and other things—including, if you wish, one ounce of dark chocolate a day. (Yes, I admit to checking that out right away!) You are eating three meals a day and snacks, and you can have a little wine with meals at times.

How Does Phase Two Work? In Phase Two, you are setting the stage for a what can become your lifetime way of eating.  The rate of weight loss slows but should still be satisfying, especially when you consider that fast weight loss is less effective long term than slower. Deprivation diets all too often become yo-yo dieting, which is when your weight goes down and back up like a yo-yo!

In other words, on a too-fast weight loss program, you may lose the weight very quickly but in the process an ancient metabolism device kicks in. Throughout history, when people have been in starvation situations, their metabolisms have slowed down, to help them live. So if you try a deprivation diet, your body will slow down your metabolism to keep you alive. Not what you want, and this in a nutshell is the reason that crash dieting so often leads to weight gain soon after.

In contrast, on Phase Two of the South Beach Diet, you are eating moderately and your exercise plan (more about that in a moment) also helps you to lose weight. Phase Two may take some patience on your part now and then, but it works. By the way, some people can start the diet at Phase 2: this would be people who have less than ten pounds to lose AND who don’t experience any cravings normally. How long you stay on this phase depends on how much weight you have to lose.

Phase Three

This is the lifetime plan. The old saying “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle” certainly applies here. You go on Phase Three when you have reached your target weight. It consists of all the veggies you want, plenty of protein, low-fat dairy, and whole grains including breads. You can have occasional decadent treats, even made with sugar.

How Does Phase Three Work? By eating a variety of healthy foods, you are getting a wide variety of nutrients in your diet. By almost always staying off bad fats and bad carbs, you are doing your body a great favor. By this time, you are at your target weight and may be feeling better than you have in some time!  If you do eat too many bad  things, and gain some weight, just go back on Phase One for a few days.

No specific food is totally banned in Phase Three. By the time you get there, you will understand the South Beach principles well enough to follow them routinely. People report that by removing the bad fats and the bad carbs from their meals, they have more energy, they get hungry less, and cravings drop to nothing… or close to it. YMMV, of course. (Your mileage may vary… and even that seems to depend on how much “cheating” on the diet you do.)

Exercise and Fitness

When The South Beach Diet  was published in 2003, the book was focused on the diet. There weren’t specific exercises in the book. Cardiologist Arthur Agatston, M.D., the author,  felt that at that time he didn’t have anything new to add to the discussion of exercise and weight loss, though he was a big advocate of exercise for health. He later teamed up with exercise experts and now there are exercises as an essential part of the program. You alternate days of interval walking (or another interval activity if you prefer)  with core exercises. It can all be done at home, or you can go out and do sports if you like.

Interval walking — If you are already walking for fitness and weight control, but not using interval walking, you may be pleasantly surprised that you can get more health benefits in less time. This method  consists of walking at varying speeds, for about twenty minutes a day. For example, you might walk for a few minutes at a regular pace, then for one minute at a very fast pace. You would repeat this cycle throughout your walking time. The result is that walking at different rates kicks your metabolism into higher gear and you burn more energy. Even people who are out of shape can do this, changing between very slow and a bit faster, with their own doctor’s okay of course.

Dr. Agatston uses an amusing but useful analogy to explain how interval exercise (walking or anything) burns more energy, that is, more calories. We are all familiar with how we get worse mileage in stop-and-go traffic than if we are driving along at a steady speed that would be the average of all those stops and starts. We don’t like it in that situation, but it’s great when it’s our bodies using more energy!

Core Exercises— Core exercises are exercises that strength our core muscles, which are all the muscles around the core of our body. Back muscles, abs and other pelvic muscles, shoulders, and more would all be called core muscles. In this world of labor-saving devices where we ride around in cars and sit hunched over computers, it is all too easy for our core muscles to be weak. This can lead to back pain and all the other problems so many people have. Core exercises help with balance, with strength, and with flexibility. A short but intense core workout is now included in the South Beach approach to healthy living. Of course, you do it to the extent that you are able without overdoing it.

Who is the South Beach Diet For?

It’s really for just about anyone. If you are a vegetarian, if you eat a gluten-free diet, if you are diabetic, or if you have any other specific needs, you can easily tailor the South Beach diet to meet your needs. So this is a way of eating that can suit everyone. This is certainly convenient at home, when different people have different food needs and desires.

Should children go on South Beach? Dr. Agatston says they can eat according to the principles of of the diet, but he doesn’t advocate any diet for kids. If they need to lose weight, get them outside playing more than inside with their video games, for one thing. He is very concerned about the future of our children and says a lot more than we can do justice to here.

Want to Find Out More About the South Beach Diet Program? Here’s How…

I first found out about this method by reading a book titled The South Beach Diet Supercharged,  by Arthur Agatston, M.D.—the cardiologist who created the program—with Joseph Signorile, Ph.D—a professor of exercise physiology who contributed to the exercise section. That link goes to Amazon, where the book is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle versions. (Much as I love  Kindles, I recommend an actual book as a better choice here. I have read and marked up my paperback copy.) There are quite a few South Beach cookbooks you can find from that page as well.

Don’t read the original book, The South Beach Diet, as the supercharged South Beach is much more current and includes exercise and newer food lists.

For doing the exercises, there is a DVD: The South Beach Diet Super Charged Workout at a very low price.

The South Beach Website

A friend of mine became so interested in doing this diet herself that she explored South Beach online and  joined the official website at http://www.southbeachdiet.com. There is a modest fee. The site has a lot of friendly and enthusiastic people, mostly women—no surprise there, since most people who go on weight loss programs are women. She likes the site. One thing that is fun is that many people on the forums use colorful tickers to show their weight loss, and it is inspiring to see how much weight some of them have lost!

(There are also a lot of free weight loss forums online, and some of them have South Beach sections. But one drawback to them is that people are not always following the SB diet accurately. Another problem can be that many of these boards are not that active, so questions don’t get answered soon, if at all. )

So if you have been wondering, “How does the South Beach diet work?”  I hope that now you know—and that you will consider trying it.

This article is How Does the South Beach Diet Work? from Gottaloseweight.com