Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in America. According to recent statistics, 127 million Americans are over their ideal weight. In fact, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 64.5 percent of Americans are overweight and 30 percent are obese. These numbers have increased over 60 percent in the last 20 years.

Weight Watchers

Consumer Reports magazine recently declared Weight Watchers the best of all commercial diets available. As with everything CR evaluates, the ratings were based on a complex analysis of effectiveness (number of pounds lost), value (how well are nutritional requirements covered), easiness of use, and success rate (percentage of dropouts after six months and a year).

Weight Watchers’ best-known program is their Flex Plan, in which a points system is used to choose what to eat and how much. The number of points allowed is calculated based on the client’s height and weight.

Exercising is rewarded with extra points, which means most people on Weight Watchers choose to exercise –Definitively a step above most diet programs. Weekly meetings (and, more recently, an online forum) are at the base of Weight Watchers, since community support is considered key to long-term success.

THE GOOD: Nutritionally speaking, Weight Watchers offers one of the best balanced plans available. Because there are no forbidden foods, people do not feel deprived and tend to stay in the program longer, which in turn facilitates success.

THE BAD: It is time consuming. Busy individuals will have a hard time counting points, measuring foods, and finding time to attend weekly meetings. Weight loss is slow and many people get discouraged before obtaining noticeable results.

THE VERDICT: “I think Weight Watchers is healthy,” says James O’Donnell, PharmD, FCP, an associate professor of Pharmacology at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “[It] helps [people] to lose weight slowly, change the way they eat, think about food.”