Weight Watchers' New Challenges

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corysmithsmail
corysmithsmail Posts: 166 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just came across an interesting article that mentioned how new trends are affecting Weight Watcher's program. Specifically noted how a lot of people are moving from processed foods to more natural foods and the impact of apps like My Fitness Pal to their program. Interesting 5 minute read I thought I'd share.

https://msn.com/en-us/money/companies/weight-watchers-renames-itself-because-fewer-people-are-dieting/ar-BBOy9cE?ocid=spartanntp

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  • corysmithsmail
    corysmithsmail Posts: 166 Member
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    MelanieCN77 wrote: »
    To be fair I skimmed after the meat of it, which was interesting, so did the article say what they actually call themselves now? WW is a mouthful, no pun intended.
    If MFP cleaned up the database and gave the app a cosmetic overhaul, I for one would pay for premium.

    Honestly I skimmed after the first chunk as well lol

    But now it's just called "WW" and they are trying to push more complete wellness instead of just weight loss. Trying to make it more general to reach a wider audience. But I find MFP good enough for me, it could be better but it's not the worst.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Lol at the MFP shoutout.

    There's one called Noom that's really been pitching the wellness angle and aiming at a younger demographic, playing into the "my mum did Weight Watchers" kind of image that that brand has.

    I've not seen any of the others advertise at all, but Lifesum is the same where you can pick your goal which can be to just eat healthier and get pointers for that instead of calories. When I go over it gives me a tired looking smiley face and advises quality over quantity, which makes me lol and not miss the angry red MFP numbers.

    LoseIt had some bonus calorie goal thing that annoyed me and I didn't last a day trying it out.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    ata1anta wrote: »
    I called customer support yesterday and when the person answered, she called it "Double-u double-u". If [native English speakers] find this a mouthful, what about the poor ESL people?

    So the name has gone from 3 syllables to 6. Fail!

    I can get it down to 5: "Double-double-u", but that's it.
  • corysmithsmail
    corysmithsmail Posts: 166 Member
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    ata1anta wrote: »
    I called customer support yesterday and when the person answered, she called it "Double-u double-u". If [native English speakers] find this a mouthful, what about the poor ESL people?

    Oh wow....I thought the just labeled their products and things WW but verbally called it Weight Watchers. That's odd to me. Like as if they are starting to read of a website. lol
  • meatbal263
    meatbal263 Posts: 32 Member
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    JaxxieKat wrote: »
    Points Plus helped me lose the first 50lbs, and for that I'll forever be grateful to WW. With that said, Freestyle is a disaster for people who are trying to maintain or just need to lose about 5lbs. There's no way to enjoy small portions of certain foods, like pasta or quinoa, without burning up a ton of points, so you end up relying on fat-free and sugar-free versions of foods, because they are 0 points.

    I have tried WW Freestyle alongside MFP and there were many days I didn't eat more than 1,000 calories, but went well over my daily points.

    I am in total agreement with everything stated above. I tried to talk to them but we all get the same blanket response. As of this week I am 7 points over for the week. Most days I average 1250 calories. I run and take bootcamp classes. I refuse to stick to eggs, chicken etc t get my proteins. they are losing lifetime members and those who have less to lose.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    corysmithsmail wrote: »
    ata1anta wrote: »
    I called customer support yesterday and when the person answered, she called it "Double-u double-u". If [native English speakers] find this a mouthful, what about the poor ESL people?

    Oh wow....I thought the just labeled their products and things WW but verbally called it Weight Watchers. That's odd to me. Like as if they are starting to read of a website. lol

    The change from Weight Watchers to WW was partly how Chief Executive Officer Mindy Grossman "earned" $33.4 million. While she was at Home Shopping Network that was shortened to HSN as well.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-05/oprah-backed-weight-watchers-awards-ceo-grossman-33-4-million
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/weight-watchers-renames-itself-because-fewer-people-are-dieting/ar-BBOy9cE?ocid=spartanntp
  • countcurt
    countcurt Posts: 593 Member
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    There are no surprises here. The only surprise will be if the rebranding works in the long run. Here's what I thought when Oprah first became involved:

    https://countcurtblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/the-oprahfication-of-weight-loss/
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
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    I belonged to WW for most of my adult life. I only did the online program towards the end but NEVER made it to goal weight. When Freestyle came out I quit and came here. I lost the weight and have been at goal for over a year. All for free! I am convinced that everyone has to determine the eating style they can live with. Over the time that I was losing I SLOWLY transitioned to healthier eating but it was a gradual change which I now maintain. Weight Watchers new program is different from previous ones like a gentle shove is different from a cattle prod.

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