Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, Richmond Hill Liberal, Copyright February 07, 1990
As a continuation of my recent columns on dieting and weight loss, I will today review some of the more popular weight-loss programs. I take this information from a magazine called “Self” (November, ’89).
The three major groups in Canada are Weight Watchers, Diet Center, and Nutri/System. There are many more (Diet Workshop, Physicians Weight Loss Clinic, Diet Weigh, etc.) but I just don’t have enough information regarding each of these groups to talk with authority about them. Lets compare the three main groups in four different categories: The weekly routine and what you must commit yourself to do if you want to succeed, the type of food you eat, the length of the program and the costs involved.
EASY ACCESS
Weight Watchers is easily the hands-down winner when it comes to easy accessibility and proven success. You can find Weight Watchers meetings in 24 different countries and you can take your pick of any one of 25,000 meetings. The cost is $7 to $9 per week with a $12 to $20 initial fee. The program length is variable and they will monitor you as long as you continue to attend their meetings. The basic diet is a very simple, straight-forward 1,000 to 1,350 calorie a day diet.
They want you to weigh out your portions of food and you are supposed to use “food exchange” groups to help you make your food intake a bit more interesting. (Wow! For lunch I can have three pieces of lettuce instead of my carrot stick. I can hardly wait!) You must attend meetings every week which last one or two hours.
They usually have anywhere from 15 to 40 people in each meeting. Each week you are given a book to keep track of your food intake. Each new book also keeps you informed of which “”new” foods you will be allowed that week.
Exercise and behaviour modification are recommended but not stressed.
GREAT PROGRAM
Weight Watchers is a great program, proven over the years, doesn’t cost much and it will work if you stick to it. For those who didn’t want to stand in front of 40 strangers and tell everyone how you raided the fridge and pigged out all weekend, this group is not for you. There is no privacy and no private counseling. If you have a problem like a love of pizza, be prepared to tell everyone and have them all yell suggestions at you from all directions.
ONE ON ONE
Nutri/System has weekly one-on-one sessions with a nurse or a “dietician”. They have weekly group sessions which stress behaviour control and modification of eating habits. Their meals are freeze dried or come in sealed pouches and from all accounts are quite palatable. A normal diet on Nutri/System should be between 1,000 and 1,200 calories a day.
The program will last as long as you need it and often there will be “incentives” to allow you to return for “free” to keep your weight off. The costs of the program vary as this seems to be the one group which is always having some sort of special advertised somewhere. The food itself will cost you about $60 a week in addition to the program costs.
I have several patients who have done very well with this program and it certainly is one of the more popular ones around these days (and growing).
However, there are two concerns I have. First, the cost is prohibitive for many people. You must pay twice, once for their food and once for the group sessions.
FREEZE DRIED PACKAGES
My second concern is the principle. I discussed last week about the importance of getting on some sort of exercise/diet routine which you can stay on for the rest of your life. A diet which feeds you watermelon and seaweed might work in the short term but never over the long term, because you just cannot eat that food forever. Nutri/System tells you to change your eating habits, but then tells you that you must buy their little freeze-dried packages. You will lose weight on this diet but I object to what they are teaching you.
You will not always be able to buy their food. A good diet should allow you to lose weight whether you are in the desert, on a boat or in an airplane. You should know what to eat, how to eat it and how much to eat.
DIET CENTRE
The final group of diet clinics I want to discuss is the “Diet Center” chain. I left it for the end because I feel it is the best of the “big three” diet groups. A description and my reasons will follow in next week’s edition of “Getting, and staying thin in 1990.” Now go and eat that last piece of cheesecake.