WeightWatchers 2007 Annual Report Download - page 15

approximately 1.6 billion, primarily driven by improving living standards and changing eating patterns, along
with increasingly sedentary lifestyles. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between
2003 and 2004, 66% of Americans over the age of 19 were considered overweight and almost half of these were
obese; similar research conducted between 2005 and 2006 indicated no statistically significant change in the
reported obesity rate. Numerous diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure and Type II diabetes, are
associated with being overweight or obese. We believe the growing population of overweight people who are
motivated by both an increasing awareness of the health benefits of weight loss and the desire to improve their
appearance is fueling the growth in demand for weight management programs. This growth is also a result of an
increasing willingness of employers and governments to promote and contribute towards the cost of weight
management programs.
Our Services and Products
Our Weight Management Plans
In each of our markets, we offer services and products that are built upon weight management systems
tailored to local tastes and habits. These weight management systems are comprised of a range of nutritional,
exercise and behavioral tools and approaches. For instance, we currently offer TurnAround in the United States
and Canada. One of the features of TurnAround is to give consumers the choice of two weight management plans
to follow, the Flex Plan, also known as the POINTS weight management system, and the Core Plan.
Under the Flex Plan, each food has a POINTS value determined by a patented formula based on the food’s
calories, fat and dietary fiber. Subject to certain nutritional guidelines, consumers on this plan can eat any food as
long as their total food consumption stays within their POINTS value “budget” for the week. Since nutritious
foods generally have low POINTS values, this approach guides consumers toward healthier eating habits.
Under the Core Plan, consumers eat from a list of wholesome foods from all the food groups, i.e., core foods
that provide eating satisfaction without the need to count POINTS values. These core foods are intended to
satisfy consumers’ hunger by directing them to foods with low calorie density that do not trigger over-eating. The
Core Plan also permits consumers to eat non-core foods within an allotted weekly POINTS allowance.
Our Meetings
Clinical studies have shown that consumers who attend Weight Watchers meetings are likely to lose more
weight than those who diet on their own. Our group support system remains the cornerstone of our meetings.
Members provide each other support by sharing their experiences, their encouragement and empathy with other
people experiencing similar weight management challenges. This group support provides the reassurance that no
one must overcome their weight management challenge alone. Group support assists members in dealing with
issues such as emotional eating and finding time to exercise. We facilitate this support through interactive
meetings that encourage learning through group activities and discussions.
We present our program in a series of weekly meetings of approximately one hour in duration. Meetings are
conveniently scheduled throughout the day. Typically, we hold meetings in either meeting rooms rented from
civic or other community organizations or in leased locations.
In our meetings, our leaders present our program that combines group support and education with a
structured approach to food, activity and lifestyle modification developed by credentialed weight management
experts. Our more than 15,000 leaders run our meetings and educate members on the Weight Watchers method of
successful and sustained weight management. Our leaders also provide inspiration and motivation for our
members and are examples of our program’s effectiveness because they have lost weight and maintained their
weight loss on our program.
Meetings typically begin with registration and a confidential weigh-in to track each member’s progress.
Leaders and receptionists are trained to engage the members at the weigh-in to talk about their weight
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