Weight Watchers is betting that it can reverse its long decline and
win back some of its 20 million lapsed members by changing how it helps
people lose weight. The company is replacing its eating plan with a new
program called “Beyond the Scale,” which includes revamped food
guidelines, more emphasis on fitness and new motivational tools to “find
and fuel inner strength.”
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1 Push to Eat Smarter, Be Kinder
The new “SmartPoints” eating plan favors eating more lean protein,
fruits and vegetables and less sugar and saturated fat. But members will
no longer keep tabs on their BMI in their meeting booklets.
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Under the new plan, bacon, butter and fast-food cheeseburgers now
have more “points,” the value that users count when budgeting their
daily food consumption. Lean flank steak, shrimp and chicken breasts
count for fewer points. Values for wine, peanut butter and turkey
sandwiches stay the same.
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3 Exercise for the sake of it
Members will get personalized fitness goals, and exercise no longer
translates directly into earning more food points. A new app suggests
1-15 minute workouts, such as office heel raises.
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Inner-strength training includes learning nonfood coping skills, tips
on finding life balance and ways to feel good independent of what the
scale says.
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Oprah Winfrey said she stuck to her Weight Watchers plan and still
enjoyed her Thanksgiving meal at New York’s Rainbow Room restaurant,
overstepping her point allowance by only three or four points. “It was
one of the best Thanksgiving meals I ever had, and I did not overeat,”
she said. “First time that’s ever happened.”