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Why is America turning away from Weight Watchers? Because it's hard work Why is America turning away from Weight Watchers? Because it's hard work
(about 2 hours later)
Weight Watchers announced on Friday that the company has suffered an astonishing $11m quarterly loss, this in spite of snagging an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey, who joined Weight Watchers’ board of directors last year.Weight Watchers announced on Friday that the company has suffered an astonishing $11m quarterly loss, this in spite of snagging an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey, who joined Weight Watchers’ board of directors last year.
Personally, I think that’s kind of a shame, because in a culture that’s obsessed with losing weight and which offers thousands of ineffective ways to do so, Weight Watchers is one of the few plans that actually works.Personally, I think that’s kind of a shame, because in a culture that’s obsessed with losing weight and which offers thousands of ineffective ways to do so, Weight Watchers is one of the few plans that actually works.
Six years ago, US News and World Report ranked Weight Watchers the best and most effective commercial diet plan, but apparently, “Eat less garbage” is entirely too simple and straightforward a methodology for losing weight. Americans want magic transformations.Six years ago, US News and World Report ranked Weight Watchers the best and most effective commercial diet plan, but apparently, “Eat less garbage” is entirely too simple and straightforward a methodology for losing weight. Americans want magic transformations.
In 2010, I was dating this awful guy who constantly looked askance at me whenever I’d reach for the basket of bread at dinner.In 2010, I was dating this awful guy who constantly looked askance at me whenever I’d reach for the basket of bread at dinner.
“We don’t eat carbs!” he hissed at me once with all the vehemence of Joan Crawford finding her favorite mink draped over a wire hanger, all because I’d ordered the pasta special. (The “we” meant gays, by the way, who in his mind must apparently deny ourselves bagels in order to remain thinner and more desirable than our straight counterparts.)“We don’t eat carbs!” he hissed at me once with all the vehemence of Joan Crawford finding her favorite mink draped over a wire hanger, all because I’d ordered the pasta special. (The “we” meant gays, by the way, who in his mind must apparently deny ourselves bagels in order to remain thinner and more desirable than our straight counterparts.)
It was then that I realized that carb-phobic Atkins dieters really embody everything that’s absolutely horrible about our culture and its attitudes toward food. Loathing their bodies, they adopt an expensive, resource-depleting diet plan that allows them to dump a bunch of weight – but only in the short term – while eating as much flesh, fat and grease as they want.It was then that I realized that carb-phobic Atkins dieters really embody everything that’s absolutely horrible about our culture and its attitudes toward food. Loathing their bodies, they adopt an expensive, resource-depleting diet plan that allows them to dump a bunch of weight – but only in the short term – while eating as much flesh, fat and grease as they want.
If magical thinking and American exceptionalism had a baby, the Atkins diet is how they’d feed it. And like America, it would end up bloated and barely able to squeeze itself into a single airline seat in later life.If magical thinking and American exceptionalism had a baby, the Atkins diet is how they’d feed it. And like America, it would end up bloated and barely able to squeeze itself into a single airline seat in later life.
At the other end of the spectrum, of course, are the orthorexic vegans, juicers, sporadic fasters and the dupes who somehow manage to spend thousands and thousands of dollars each week to eat virtually nothing.At the other end of the spectrum, of course, are the orthorexic vegans, juicers, sporadic fasters and the dupes who somehow manage to spend thousands and thousands of dollars each week to eat virtually nothing.
Witness the furor that arose over LA juice bar owner Amanda Chantal Bacon’s “food diary” published in Elle, which documented how the businesswoman spends upwards toward $800 per day eating chia husks, bee pollen and slices of raw zucchini so thin you could read a clean-eating Instagram feed through them.Witness the furor that arose over LA juice bar owner Amanda Chantal Bacon’s “food diary” published in Elle, which documented how the businesswoman spends upwards toward $800 per day eating chia husks, bee pollen and slices of raw zucchini so thin you could read a clean-eating Instagram feed through them.
Because ultimately everybody knows that’s how you lose weight in America. You spend money. You purchase things. You take lots of pictures of yourself. You reject normal foods as poisonous and sneer sanctimoniously at people who still eat them. You humblebrag to as many people who will listen how complicated your life has become now that you’re only eating raw.Because ultimately everybody knows that’s how you lose weight in America. You spend money. You purchase things. You take lots of pictures of yourself. You reject normal foods as poisonous and sneer sanctimoniously at people who still eat them. You humblebrag to as many people who will listen how complicated your life has become now that you’re only eating raw.
And in six-to-ten weeks, when that hasn’t worked out, you’ll pick up some other fad weight-loss plan. You’ll cut all legumes except Himalayan organic orange lentils out of your diet and start larding everything you eat down with organic peach pit oil or something moronic and revolting like dumping butter into your coffee. You’ll fast on days with the letter “r” in the name and only eat bananas and room temperature water on the others. And in six-to-10 weeks, when that hasn’t worked out, you’ll pick up some other fad weight-loss plan. You’ll cut all legumes except Himalayan organic orange lentils out of your diet and start larding everything you eat down with organic peach pit oil or something moronic and revolting like dumping butter into your coffee. You’ll fast on days with the letter “r” in the name and only eat bananas and room temperature water on the others.
Contrast to that mentality the boring-but-sensible method of portion control and I guess it’s no wonder the company is struggling. I’ve seen coworkers and family members take off weight and keep it off with Weight Watchers, but why would you want to do all that work when someone else is telling you that you can reshape your body and change your life just by using This One Weird Trick? It’s like magic!Contrast to that mentality the boring-but-sensible method of portion control and I guess it’s no wonder the company is struggling. I’ve seen coworkers and family members take off weight and keep it off with Weight Watchers, but why would you want to do all that work when someone else is telling you that you can reshape your body and change your life just by using This One Weird Trick? It’s like magic!