

They know that relationships with other people give human beings the accountability and inspiration that motivates us to lose weight. They need a community.”Ĭommunity is a fundamental piece of WW’s value proposition, not a program adjacent to the business model. “People find that they need structure, tools, and support to be successful. Some of the people who went to WW in New York and experienced incredible results were so inspired that they opened a franchise when they moved elsewhere.Īfter researching Weight Watchers, three community-building insights stick out to me: Community Insight #1: Shared interests get you to show up. Jean’s model of programming and social support spread quickly and organically. They needed a space in which they could talk openly about the physical struggles and daily humiliations of walking around in a fat body, and just how much that sucked.” As Taffy Brodesser-Akner writes in this beautiful, frank piece: “ What fat people needed was one another. Jean knew from the very first days that the problem wasn’t just food. Jean’s approach - a clear weight loss strategy and a heavy dose of directness about dieting - was a breath of fresh air for people in the 1960s who were mostly left to worry and wonder privately about what they might do to lose weight. The meetings grew in size, Jean ran out of chairs, found a formal space, and Weight Watchers (“WW”) was born.

She kept the diet the program gave her, mimeographed it and handed it out to a group of six friends that she invited to her apartment. Jean was finally able to lose the weight she wanted in her late 30s when she went to a city-run obesity clinic. Weight Watchers’ signature program was born out of personal experience.
#Rejoin weight watchers movie
In 1963, Jean Nidetch held the first Weight-Watchers meeting above a movie theater in Queens.
