Weight Watchers is a diet program popular since its creation in the 1960s that promotes a safe and steady weight reduction. It bases its philosophy on ongoing scientific research to determine the types and amounts of nutrition, foods, servings and exercise that will help most individuals reach their weight loss goals. Although it doesn't mandate participants lose no more than two pounds a week, many health experts believe that this may be the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off long-term.
Identification
Weight Watchers is based on a points system, with all foods given a point value determined by the amount of calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates and fiber in the food. Each person is assigned a target maximum number of points per day, with extra bonus points added each week, and points also gained from exercising. Although it's difficult to provide an exact calorie-per-point formula, one point averages around 35 calories under the Weight Watchers PointPlus plan, meaning an average Weight Watchers participant would be consuming the rough equivalent of 1,500 calories per day.
Healthy Weight Loss
Weight Watchers notes that rapid weight loss--more than one and one-half to two pounds per week--may cause serious health problems. The program does allow for the fact that in the first three weeks you may experience quicker weight loss, although after that time, you are cautioned against losing more than 1 percent of your body weight per week. This is to help prevent you from suffering nutritional deficiencies, malnourishment and dehydration.
The Science
One pound of fat equals approximately 3,500 calories. Spread out over a week, this would average 500 calories less per day to lose one pound. Therefore, losing three pounds would mean averaging 1,500 calories fewer per day. Severely restricting calories during weight loss lowers your metabolism as your body gets more efficient and needs fewer calories to survive. Exercising more can help, but it takes 5.5 calories per pound of body weight per day to maintain your current weight, and to lose one pound of fat solely through exercise, you'd need to burn an additional 3,500 calories above that number per week. For a 170-pound adult, this would be equivalent to walking 14 to 20 miles per day.
Expert Insight
A study published in the journal "Digestive Diseases and Sciences" in March 1996 reported that an extremely low-fat diet used by moderately obese subjects for rapid weight loss resulted in gallstones. A separate study in the July 1992 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" cautioned that the use of starvation or semi-starvation diets for weight loss in obese people has caused sudden death from heart ventricular arrhythmias, due in part to nutritional deficiencies in protein, copper, potassium and magnesium.
References
- Weight Watchers: History and Philosophy
- Weight Watchers: The Starvation Myth
- Weight Watchers: Body Weight and Exercise
- "Digestive Diseases and Sciences"; Similarity in Gallstone Formation from 900 kcal/day Diets Containing 16 g vs 30 g of Daily Fat; William C. Vezina, et al.; March 1996
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Cardiac Effects of Starvation and Semistarvation Diets: Safety and Mechanisms of Action; Janis S. Fisler; July 1992
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