Channel 4 dispatches Monday28 Jan 2013

farway
farway Posts: 1,264 Member
May be of interest, if only to tut tut or shout at the tele

2000 hrs, Dispatches on channel 4

" Weight watchers - How they make their money"

Replies

  • loubylou1969
    loubylou1969 Posts: 57 Member
    I shall be watching this...they've taken lots of my money over the world!
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    I'll be watching, and probably shouting at the TV...
  • paulywoo
    paulywoo Posts: 169 Member
    Thanks for that, I've set my sky to record it. I'll be interested to hear how all that processed food they sell is good for you :laugh:
  • MrsT99
    MrsT99 Posts: 148 Member
    Good grief!

    £101 per pound lost!
  • VP72
    VP72 Posts: 89
    Recording so I can watch it later!
  • WW have posted a response on YouTube here: -

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUvaEiVHMaU
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    It pretty much confirmed what I already thought about WW. I was shocked that the NHS are wasting money on them though when the long term success rates of dieters is so low.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    I'd no idea that they had a referral scheme.

    They're hiding behind the 'approach', and carefully not mentioning the products that are pushed in order for them to make money.

    I'm shocked because the products ARE NOT supported by the advice for weight loss provided to the public by the NHS, NICE, or any aspect of government advice on weight loss.
  • dovetail22uk
    dovetail22uk Posts: 339 Member
    Charlatans
  • sussexbythesea
    sussexbythesea Posts: 1,336 Member
    I'd no idea that they had a referral scheme.

    They're hiding behind the 'approach', and carefully not mentioning the products that are pushed in order for them to make money.

    I'm shocked because the products ARE NOT supported by the advice for weight loss provided to the public by the NHS, NICE, or any aspect of government advice on weight loss.

    I was shocked by this too- I have always thought it is a way to sell more processed food and we know that we should be eating real food - very dperessing
  • kendrafallon
    kendrafallon Posts: 1,030 Member
    It's a plan that works - nevermind that people weren't able to maintain their weight loss afterwards. I did, WW and Rosemary Conley and in hindsight, I actually learnt something from Rosemary Conley classes, which led (ironically) to MFP, in a round about fashion.

    It's a hard lesson to learn, that you need to eat healthily and exercise in order to lose weight and to maintain that weight loss once you reach goal Some people will always opt for what's perceived to be a quick fix or magic cure.

    Besides, these days, i'd never sign up to any 'diet' plan where I had to cough up cash!!
  • gizmo1166
    gizmo1166 Posts: 27 Member
    After years of lining the pockets of WW and other diet companies, I saw this MFP in my WHiCH magazine, and decided that I would do this for me, and save the money that I would have being sent to the big 'corporates' to give myself a real treat and not become a slave to the points sytem. Thanks MFP, I'm loving it and getting great social support along the way!
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    It's a plan that works - nevermind that people weren't able to maintain their weight loss afterwards. I did, WW and Rosemary Conley and in hindsight, I actually learnt something from Rosemary Conley classes, which led (ironically) to MFP, in a round about fashion.

    It's a hard lesson to learn, that you need to eat healthily and exercise in order to lose weight and to maintain that weight loss once you reach goal Some people will always opt for what's perceived to be a quick fix or magic cure.

    Besides, these days, i'd never sign up to any 'diet' plan where I had to cough up cash!!

    The leader at our group spouted complete nonsense and educated the group to make terrible choices. Getting people to choose simplified, high sugar, low gi options so that they fail but only just have themselves to blame is like shooting fish in a barrel.

    It was also the most sexist place I've ever been in my life.
  • Marie_25
    Marie_25 Posts: 67 Member
    May be of interest, if only to tut tut or shout at the tele

    2000 hrs, Dispatches on channel 4

    " Weight watchers - How they make their money"

    Thanks for this, it's as I would of thought. Everyone is different and some people need the support of a group. I have done slimming world on and off for years, and there were a lot of older people who wouldn't be comfortable using an online system. That said, I am loving MFP myself and am learning a lot from the online information available, and the support and stories of others.
  • Microfiber
    Microfiber Posts: 956 Member
    I watched this :noway: :noway:
  • Saree1902
    Saree1902 Posts: 611 Member
    Watched it and was slightly dismayed at the amount of crap in a weight watchers dessert! Most of their 'alternatives' are pretty foul...think I'd rather earn the calories for real ice cream!
  • jst1986
    jst1986 Posts: 204 Member
    Unfortunately I missed this, I'll have to have a look at it On Demand. I think the main thing about WW and all the rest is they can't teach 'motivation'.
  • laccy40
    laccy40 Posts: 136
    On the odd occasion I've had a ww meal I've found it really salty with not much flavour. And the portion was so small of course it was lower in calories! So I decided long ago that ww was not the way to go for me.
  • theonly1iknow
    theonly1iknow Posts: 90 Member
    I just caught up on 4od, thought this was a dreadfully biased program, I used to do ww, but gave up because of the cost, and because propoints did not seem to work for me (I was very successful on old-points) . But the meetings were nothing like the ones portrayed, yes, they had all the stuff for sale, but it IS a business, you'd have to be pretty daft to think they were ONLY there for the good of the people! My old leader often brought in recipes showing how to cook from scratch, and used motivational tools, it definitely wasn't the hard sell all the time. The meeting setting was what got me losing my weight, it was also my first ever 'diet'. I think the program was pretty poor for channel 4 journalism, certainly as poor as they were claiming the ww research articles were. Biased, and looking to prove a point.
    MFP all the way. (but I do miss the structure of a weekly weigh-in in front of someone)
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    I just caught up on 4od, thought this was a dreadfully biased program, I used to do ww, but gave up because of the cost, and because propoints did not seem to work for me (I was very successful on old-points) . But the meetings were nothing like the ones portrayed, yes, they had all the stuff for sale, but it IS a business, you'd have to be pretty daft to think they were ONLY there for the good of the people! My old leader often brought in recipes showing how to cook from scratch, and used motivational tools, it definitely wasn't the hard sell all the time. The meeting setting was what got me losing my weight, it was also my first ever 'diet'. I think the program was pretty poor for channel 4 journalism, certainly as poor as they were claiming the ww research articles were. Biased, and looking to prove a point.
    MFP all the way. (but I do miss the structure of a weekly weigh-in in front of someone)

    I don't think the program targeted the support group at all, and I think it portrayed the group leaders as people that wanted to help but had their hands tied by commissioning. I thought the program was aimed at the terrible produce they make people buy by having a weird points system.