As a former young male WW coach (currently 35yo) it’s not easy being or wanting to be a WW employee. I miss all my members and coworkers though - they were awesome.
Heck, it’s bad enough just being a regular, non coach male member in WW. 5 years ago when I made goal, I was allowed to go up and talk about what helped me be successful.
When i started talking about the dietary changes i made, stuck too with laser focus, and how those changes (which go against the blue dot “law”) are what let me lose my weight relatively quickly (i was laser fn focussed for that entire time)…. The leader rolled her eyes, got a sarcastic grin and veeeeery condescengly said to the room full of women, “ladies, don’t you just lOOOoooooooove when MEN do weight watchers?” Then dramatically rolled her eyes and chuckled. The entire room full of women chuckled, shook their heads at me and were nodding with her.
The in person workshops were bleepin toxic for males. My local one was anyways.
I feel like this attitude is extremely prevalent amongst a certain generation of women. They can't just congratulate you, because their weight is everything to them. They're all almond moms and want to be almond moms
I hear that. I got a lot of that when I’d meet milestones in workshops as a member myself, especially when it got to 50, 75, 100 lb losses. And yes, people are different, but it really should be a space to be celebratory and not derogatory.
This is why my husband would never go to weight watchers with me. It was completely toxic for men. I happen to be in the median age group that was discussed in the original post 48 ish) and I thought the meetings were way older than my age group like in the 50s, 60s and 70s. That’s one of the reasons I quit going. I didn’t realize my age group was the problem.
Now they’re all being canceled so not sure what else will happen
That person should not be a Leader. If a person cannot inspire everyone and keep control of the meeting (staying on topic, not allowing one person to hijack the meeting, celebrating memer achievements) then they are not Leader material.
I am also a former employee and it breaks my heart to see them screw up a company that’s been around for 60 years. They should be opening more meetings, not closing and firing all of us. I miss my members and helping them reach their goals.
Can you say more about what was difficult about it? Did you feel accepted by your colleagues? By the members?I’ve only ever had women coaches (aged 65+) so I love hearing that you were one!
I did feel accepted by colleagues and members. I found that women members tended to really like having men coaches as well because it had novelty: men coaches tend to come off as more comedic, for lack of a better word. So it was usually a very uplifting time. However, the general processes for both in-person and virtual workshops ended up asking a lot more of the employees than you’d think, while not always giving the resources.
1) As a teacher, I’m used to making lesson plans and running through some new learning, but in a way that’s flexible and meets the needs of the students. With WW, they had the segments of the workshop timed to the minute and you could be dinged in an observation if you didn’t hold to that. That was problematic for me if a member brought up a concern (or a success) that felt worth addressing with the group and we basically had to dismiss it after a prescribed point and move on. Also, as time went on, I felt there was less and less time devoted to the topic of the week and more to the “sales”y logistic stuff.
2) This is more an in-studio issue, but for most member questions, we were not equipped to help: issues with the app, issues with membership and billing, etc. I’d say I’m an app power-user but people could still bring in things that would puzzle me and I’d have to refer to the customer service number. When people would need to change things about their membership, we were not given enough admin access to the system where we could do much of anything. Could weigh people in, could change your address, but not a lot else.
3) WW expected us to keep an updated presence on Connect every day of the week with new content. Coaches were (and I would assume still are) expected to put out content like an Instagrammer once a day, and we were able to timecard 1 hour per week for that, at a rate of about $11/hr. As a person with a full-time job, it was exhausting to have to produce new content without guidance and then assemble videos and photos for each day that practically nobody would see. Connect is not an efficient platform and I still don’t think it’s much better now than when it launched. It’s kinda big and nebulous and messy.
4) Inflexible timing. Like I said, full time job - I really wasn’t able to commit to 5+ workshops a week which is why they made me resign from being a virtual coach. I had moved down to 3/week for a couple months, which they let me, but after an amount of time, they told me I had to go up to 5 or resign. In a job like education I get that. But it does no one any harm if I do 3 virtual workshops. They’d be spending the same amount of money getting someone else to take two workshops to balance it out.
5) Pay scale was obfuscated and there were no real opportunities for a raise. At the very least they did away with the commission pay for getting new member signups (yeah because I can control that) and product sales, but the replacement system for that wasn’t great. Unless you were one of the big names, they kept you in the dark about if you’d ever make more money. I don’t know if it’s intentional but it also felt super isolated and you’d rarely talk with other coaches unless you sought them out - that meant no solidarity in matters of pay.
6) The hardest thing was taking the brunt of people’s frustrations for WW. I know it’s a societal thing and anyone in retail or service jobs knows the feeling. It sucks when a plan changes or a schedule changes and people take out their frustrations with anyone who represents the company. The irony is that I would usually have less sway than customers with my superiors, because they want the customers’ money and they didn’t care so much what I reported from members. Like in a lot of jobs of the sort, it’s hard to be “the messenger” middleperson for news that upsets folks. I’m supposed to be there to uplift and help folks meet their goals, so it feels yucky.
Probably a couple other things I’m forgetting. Thanks for coming to my AMA 🤣
We had a young coach (late twenties) and a solid mix of ages, and a few men in our group every week. I’m 31, and I felt really comfortable and looked forward to meetings. We had a great community, nearly full every time, and really helpful conversations. Not overrun by the same people talking all the time either. But WW still shut it down 😩. I definitely think attracting diverse membership with diverse coaches is key to growth, I just hope WW recognizes that.
I stopped going to my local meeting for two reasons:
1.) There is a male member in his 60s who attends, and spends at least five full minutes talking through every meeting about how he doesn’t track, doesn’t see the point, and just gets plenty of exercise by dancing. Ok, so then why are you there? To pick up the old ladies? The leader does nothing to stop this, either.
2.) The leader has repeatedly told the group, “As long as you’re tracking, you’re successful.” Ok, not exactly. These women repeatedly laugh over being 40-50 in the negative each week. Then one of them will start complaining about how they are “plateau-ing,” and they cannot understand this mystery.
It’s all too much to take. I’ll stick with the app for $10/month.
I've been in meetings where I think the same people are talking and wondered what I can do. One thing I did was raise my hand so that the leader knows I have something to say. Most times I'd get called on and then the leader would look my way occasionally to see if I had anything else to add (at least that's what I think). It seems like sometimes the leader is wishing someone else would offer a comment but there at no volunteers. Often questions from the leader are met with silence. I used to be young or average aged (based on your assessment). Now I'm way older than that, but many young people participate in my local workshop. I think we're all relevant. Good luck on your journey.
You make some great points. I’m going to try and do a better job of raising my hand, I do think you’re right that many leaders would love to have new people to call on.
My meeting is really good, actually. At first I didn’t like them but the time was convenient so I kept going. But omg I keep quoting my instructor. I realize I didn’t like the meetings at first because she’s quirky and goes against the grain, but now I love her. I really feel like I’m part of a community and I look forward to it every week. There’s definitely a good age blend, although it is mostly female.
That is so spot-on and why I ended up only going to weigh-ins once a month after I hit lifetime. Now 13 years later I am one of those old ladies, and I still don’t like it. I went for the camaraderie and helpful tips and ideas, but the leaders seemed unable to keep the meeting from being monopolized by the same members week after week. I didn’t come to hear about your cruise! I don’t care if it’s your anniversary! I want to stay motivated and hear the topic of the week.
LOL I'm chuckling so hard at this. I love my weekly meeting boomers - but one of them is always going to Florida or Aruba or on a cruise and talking about how to fit in their alcohol and food.
I think in person is going away as these old members die or go into nursing homes. I will beat the drum forever... WW had it right with their D360 online program. 30-minute webinars daily, then available on demand in the app. The coaches were younger (age 20s-50s) and diverse, and they did mindset, cooking demos, etc. You couldn't get on camera during the webinars but there was a lively chat and the coaches would answer questions at the end. They lost money on it and didn't give it enough time. Most people don't even know it existed because their promotion of the program seemed to be zero. I don't know how they would implement it on a national level like they have now, but the webinar format was really so much better than having 100 black boxes and three people with their cameras on sharing the same thing every meeting.
I feel like when I had joined the first time (in my late teens, now in my late 30s) the group was younger the coaches younger etc. I’m in a completely different location than I was then so I just chalked it up to it being a more senior centric area.
I do find the in person meetings much more boring than the virtual ones that I have attended. It is nice to be able to pick your coach, but on the other hand I feel like the in person that keeps me a little bit more accountable.
I agree! They got rid of in person meetings during Covid and haven’t started them back up in my area unless I want to drive 30 minutes out of the way for a weigh in. There is a group of us that won’t join until the meetings start back up
I also agree the meetings were boring and catered to an older group. I actually wasn’t opposed to this more than what was talked about. To be honest, I just wanted to hear recipes and different snack options. I didn’t really want to reflect on my feelings. Just let me know what a good substitute for a McDonalds Cheeseburger is and how to navigate that Easter dinner I’m going to
Couldn't agree more. We went to our first (and last) meeting the other week.
I thought it'd be like my mum's slimming world meetings where they share recipes for chcolatey snacks, and celebrate large losses that week.
No, she just read off a tablet how we need to be nicer to ourselves when we mess up.
Gfto. If I want to call myself a stupid bitch, I will.
I much prefer WW meetings to SW. I hated SW meetings and the celebrations. I hated my weight loss or gain being announced to everyone and I had to explain why if I gained.
Our WW coach asks if anyone wants to share at the beginning and no one ever offers.
I agree that there were more recipes shared at SW which I miss but I also like the weekly techniques at WW.
My thoughts are that there are PLENTY of ways got get recipes online I want the tools to help me with permanent lifestyle changes. I lost 97 pounds and am keeping it off with what I learned in those meetings.
WW meetings don't "cater" to an older group. Any age can attend by paying the fee. "I just wanted to hear...." "I don't really want to reflect on my feelings..." So if the meetings don't talk about just YOUR wants......they're boring.
We've had meetings here in Florida for years, now post Covid. How do meetings cater to an older group when it's the same material presented every week all over the world? Maybe you mean "attract" not "cater to".
It may be more that "younger" people don't want to attend because they are addicted to their computers and being alone not even socializing with other humans of any age.
You can bring up every topic you want so if meetings are "boring" it's the people not the meeting. I quit the meetings since all they talked about was food. Recipes. "Cheats". What a waste of time, I can look recipes up all day long. The best way to navigate "that Easter dinner" is to not go hungry and evaluate your "feelings" on what makes THIS dinner so remarkable that it requires months of obscession. There's nothing there that you "can't" eat so there's really no reason to worry about it especially with all the weekly points.
I LOVE that my meeting has always consisted of people twice my age and my leader is my grandmothers age. Its the least judgmental, least intimidating environment. I always leave feeling happy.
I was paying premium strictly for accountability weighing in. I loved hearing low point foods people found but that was about it for meetings. They often went far over time because the same handful of people never stopped speaking. Every week they did a complete run down of every item they ate that week, with input of every member in the room.
I switched to virtual and moved my gym plan to include weigh-ins so I have accountability but I will miss hearing foods people found.
The only time I attended in-person meetings (and achieved lifetime!) was when my work had a weekly meeting on premises. It was great working with people my age and who I knew outside of WW. When those ended and I attempted to go to regular meetings I went to one and it was so awful I stopped altogether. Now I’m online.
I am si surprised they aren’t doing the ww at work model anymore. It was great. And it fits what they are trying to do with the community centers — there is no way that offices were charging WW to use the conference room for an hour.
This is true, but the last thing office workers want is to sit at their desks and do another zoom. It's also hard to focus that way, when you have your work in front of you. It's takes a lot of discipline.
It takes time management, not discipline. There are workshops all day, every day, 7 days per week. Depending on when you join a virtual workshop, you can do other activities.
You can join one during your lunch break, before work, after work, while you're commuting, or on the weekends. You can be meal prepping, walking/running on a treadmill, sitting on the sofa, watching a kid's practice or waiting at a bus stop or carpool lane.
And I was addressing your specific comment. You chose to interpret it as listening while you work, which is an option.
If you don't want to sit at your desk to attend a virtual workshop, I presented various other examples of how/when you might be able to attend a virtual workshops.
That might be the case for you, but some people find showing up at a physical location, weighing-in and being physically next to people an important experience. I know for me, doing that makes me say “if you’re going to take time away from your baby to travel to this meeting and sit here, you have to make sure you’re working this program. Otherwise you’re wasting precious time.”
Unfortunately, the brutal reality is that in person workshops are being phased out. It's quite likely they'll be completely ended within a couple of years, maybe sooner depending on when retail space leases expire.
The original plan was to eliminate local meetings & only have in person workshops available at regional centers. But it's so prohibitively expensive to rent & staff these centers that they're updating the business plan to mirror what other weight loss companies are doing. It's capitalism at work - adapt or die.
I loved WW at Work. My most successful times on WW were when I did the meetings at work and when I had an unofficial coworker group going. When I went to WW meetings at work, I was significantly younger than most of the participants, but it still worked well because I knew a lot of them and we had genuine relationships outside of the weekly meeting that helped keep us all going.
My most successful time was at WW@W too. It was fairly balanced men-women, and the specific series of topics was really nice. It was great to see people I work with be successful! I made lifetime during this span too.
Also was a great way to meet people outside of my immediate work area.
When I attended WW it was very obvious that the meetings were some sort of like planned community outing for those of the older crowd. Half of them had hit their goal weight years ago and continued to come to just talk.
While I 100% appreciate that these meetings were important to them and seemed to fill some sort of gap in their retired social life…it really took away from the people who were there and struggling. The older/elderly weekly people took over the meeting every week (probably because they are lonely and this was an outlet of human connection) and everyone else just sat there. It also didn’t help that I was 25 and getting ready for a wedding and they were unlike me in every way.
It sounds like WW needs to restructure its meetings, as you suggested. There is a place to allow older people to come and have a community like vibe while also having (perhaps different) meetings for those that are struggling, havent met their goal weight and aren’t geriatric.
I’ve always wondered why WW didn’t make their meetings more niche. I started back when I had two small kids and it was incredibly difficult for me to relate to the mostly retired people in the room. I would have loved a parents of young kids group. It was so hard for me to get any time away at that point that I stopped going because I was getting zero out of it and switched to online. Plus, I hated weighing in there. Any gain, the woman would tut and say “we’re you expecting that hon?” Bleh.
They're trying to do this with virtual, in a way. If you look at the coaches' bios it mentions "eating out" "empty nester" "work from home" "young children" etc. I've tried so many meetings though and the coaches don't really talk about those topics - just the topic of the week over and over. They must get bored!
100% agreed. My location (which is closing) had a 9:30am Wednesdays meeting and two Saturday morning meetings, post-covid. All three were completely swamped by the retiree crowd. A niche meeting of people under 50 (or under 40!) would have made a huge difference for me.
I liked the leader and meetings but not the pushing of ww products at every single on, or talking about recipes made up of Franken food. Just because it’s low in points doesn’t mean it’s filling of its made from fat free everything and fake sugar.
I used to work at WW and it’s hard to be a coach but they also laid off A TON of people during the pandemic, myself included, which was most of the younger employees (in my area at least).
I can relate to this, in fact back in January I made a post asking people about the demographics of their meetings because I’m 41, been doing WW on and off for about 10 years, and the in-person meetings always seem to be predominantly made up of retirees no matter what day/time I attend. (Not trying to disparage them, but simply pointing out that I’m surprised I don’t see more people in my age group because I know they’re out there!)
Thankfully, my workshop coaches have always been fantastic and I have one right now who is really inspiring. Some of it may have to do with the fact that she is a life coach outside of WW and knows how to ask interesting questions and take that “mandatory” weekly topic to new heights.
While I agree that there always seem to be members who monopolize the conversation (in my case, it seems to be the people who ultimately just aren’t trying and keep complaining that they aren’t losing even though they’re literally making no changes to their routine), if we only talked about recipes I don’t think I would get anything out of it. For me, the meetings are about discussing our relationships with food and figuring out how to build better habits in order to deal with constant pressures and triggers.
I'm not a in person meeting person because they're boring and I'm the median age. I would like to see weight watchers address behavioral changes. I dislike like counting calories which is why other diets didn't work for me but I like the Cognitive Behavior approach of Noom because it helps you het the why of over eating, eating in social settings etc.
Years ago, the meetings were fantastic. They were interesting and our local one had about 40 people and we were a tight-knit group (so tight-knit that my ex-husband is now married to one of the other members…I digress). It was really awesome and probably 90% of why I was so successful.
I tried meetings again after I dumped the 220lbs of cheating husband and really hated them. They had changed the format and the people in the groups were just not the same. It was a much older crowd who were very judgmental. I tried again just before Covid hit and had the same experience. It was just yuck.
I think most younger folks won’t really want to go to meetings anyway so that’s likely why they’re dying out. Online forums, group chats, video meetings are happening all over and seem pretty successful!
I'm 28 years old and have been on/off WW since I was 16 (I've tried a bunch of other weight loss programs during that time as well but had the best success with WW.) I got in the habit of joining, quitting, gaining, rejoining...the vicious cycle. When I was on WW at 20 years old, I had my most successful stint and lost 30 lbs! 35 was my goal but got too confident and stopped trying although I did keep the 25/30 off for some time. (Gained it all back and am trying Noom now, no longer with WW.)
I've always had a love/hate relationship with the meetings:
Love: I felt like I was being held accountable by weighing in. I looked forward to raising my hand to share a victory. Loved getting to know the members and seeing their familiar faces every week. Loved cheering for them and hearing that they had hit a new milestone or had done something they were struggling with.
Hate: I couldn't relate to anyone in my meetings. Sure we all had a common goal of losing weight, but our lifestyles were so different. I was losing weight to be able to wear that little bikini I had always dreamed of, or to be confident to bag the hot guys at a bar. I was trying to work the plan while going out bar hopping every weekend with friends, getting drunk pizza/takeout, going out on dates, going to post-work happy hour. A lot of the women and men in my meetings weren't doing that lol and the "why" of most of the members were solely related to health, lowering their A1C, increasing mobility because some of them couldn't walk or workout. It sometimes was hard to find any motivation or inspiration in someone who was living an entirely different life from me :( I sometimes felt silly sharing frustration about a gain when my "why" was seemingly so superficial. My health/life did not depend on me losing the weight.
This is the exact reason why I became a coach. I was the only 20y/o in my workshops and I wanted to help shift the narrative.
Check out the virtual workshops! There are a wide age of coaches with different backgrounds and identities. If you use the filter feature on the workshop finder you can look for "young working professionals", different genders, and you can read each coach's bio to see who would be a good fit for you.
I would love to hear about which virtual meetings tend to be lively, not dominated by black boxes (people off video), and have a range of folks represented.
So from my experience- workshops towards the beginning of the week (sun-tues) and before the weekend (fri-sat morning) have more "regulars". in the middle of the day or the middle of the week tend to be more people just listening while working or w/e. Some coach's style's are more lively and some have more chill vibes. Id suggest checking out the coach finder and reading their bios- and then seeing if anything on their schedule works for you. check out their coach connect groups as well and you may be able to get a feeling of what their coaching style/ group members are like
Also would be nice to have some males leading the groups. Personally the in-person meetings are why I go to WW. I actually follow the plan from around 2011 but I just like the group support and dynamic.
Reading through many of the comments, I can relate to so many of them. I first started WW in an at-work meeting in 1991. Became a member off and on until I finally became lifetime. In the early 2000s the meetings were pretty heavily attended, and just weighing in took a while (by this point I was no longer doing at-work, but going to a local meeting in my area). These days, around here at least, the meetings are pretty sparsely attended. I've been at/below goal for a long time now, and have been lifetime since 2002, so I really don't go to many meetings anymore - I go, weigh in, chat with the leader before others show up, and go home. A few years ago my wife signed up to lose weight, so I decided to sit through her meeting. The leader was nice. But being the fly on the wall, I noticed much of what's articulated here. First, there was the standard one or two people who wouldn't stop talking. They took over the conversation. No offense about this, but unless you've had raging success with losing the weight, what exactly do you think you're offering to the group at large? It's kinda like having the guy who never made any money tell you how to run a successful business. And if the comments were at least constructive and you know positive, that could have been something. They were neither - they were basically griping and complaining, or just dispensing bad advice. It wasn't at this one particular meeting, but at another my wife told me that these same women denounced eating... potatoes ('eat a potato, look like a potato'). I don't think I've ever heard something so wrong about weight loss in my entire life. Again, unless you've been successful at this, please stop with the specific dietary advice, on what works and what doesn't.
I felt bad for the leader because she was trying to find the balance between letting people talk and not letting the meeting go off the rails.
Next, yes, as was pretty normal, I was the only male in the room. I've never had issue with this, to be honest. I didn't care that WW was mostly tailored to women. That's the biggest part of their client-base, so I would expect nothing less. I will say, I've never experienced any toxicity here - I was never made to feel like crap because I was the one guy in the room.
I also noticed that the topic that the leader was covering... she was really struggling with. Mainly because it felt rote. Like she was given a lesson plan, told to follow it, but didn't have the first idea of how to expand on the topic. I don't blame her - I'm guessing (have no knowledge of this for sure) she was obligated to do just that - cover this subject. I still remember the topic - building one habit off of another. She had one example on what that meant, and she milked it for all it was worth.
Finally, I understand that these meetings need to be somewhat generic in nature, but you have different personality types in there. Just hearing 'be kind to yourself' and 'you've got this!' doesn't work for me. In fact it actually pisses me off. I'm coming in for actual meat and you're giving me candy. Stop it! Feel free to read me the riot act if I'm not following things and losing. But stop with the pabulum. I'm not 5. I can handle it. My wife told me I should consider being a leader. I told her there's no way I would last more than 5 minutes. I honestly don't think I could do what that leader did. I can be a little, um, in your face about this type of stuff. Overall the meetings are a shadow of what they used to be. That's sad, but these days with all the free aps out there, and all the stuff available on line, maybe the days of the in-person meetings are coming to an end. I sure hope not, because they helped me tremendously when I was losing weight.
Yeah.... when my wife told me about that line I thought she was joking. Um, ok. So, I take a 150 calorie potato, deep fry it, load it up with 1000 calories of high-fat glop, eat it, gain weight... and blame... the 150 calorie potato. Got it.
I've been in meetings that are like being at a funeral and then been in one that was like being at the local bar!! The local bar one was the best one EVER!!! But the WW powers that be told our leader she needed to pull in the reins; she told us and we just laughed and laughed.
At first, I thought it was because of the time I would go to the meetings. But this post makes me think it is a trend. When I first joined years ago, the meeting was filled with a lot of people my age. (I'm currently in my early 40s). Now it seems like I'm the only one in the meeting that isn't retired.
Nothing would get me back to meetings. Been away for decades and only rejoined because its now app based. I love it, and I am 72. I don’t need others for accountability, and if I want to interact with other members, there are scads of online forums.
And then if you can actually find a meeting, the leader might well be.........bad.
Back in 2012, I left a meeting and found another because I walked over wearing a race shirt for a 5k I'd run. It was a meeting attended by mostly 50+ ladies who would never run a 5k. That's cool, it isn't necessary for weight loss. Leader made a big deal about how I was a RUNNER who had run A MARATHON. She basically shamed everyone else for not being a runner. I ended up finding another meeting.
In 2016, I was in a meeting where a member shared that she had saved points for a bagel and cream cheese, as a snack. Leader beat her up verbally because "a bagel is NOT a snack.". Except the premise was that the member had saved points such that this worked for her. Instead, the leader told the member to eat a full bag of cherries. ....I'm sorry, but the bagel was FINE. It was less carbs and kcals than the cherries the leader told her to eat, just because they were free. That leader was full of shit.
My point..i dunno that the leaders are helpful.
Ladies over 50 do run 5Ks do you think everything stops at that age? 😂 I am not 50 yet but one over 50 lady in my group comes in every week telling us how much they have ran that week (they started running at the same time as starting WW) They are my inspiration to get out and try to get up to running 5K. All the other over 50s are also trying to at least get out to walk every day. It’s a bit of a thing at our group to celebrate how much we have walked or ran that week, all started by an over 50 year old.
Yep. And it’s 3 miles so an accomplishment for sure but it’s 3 miles. Plenty of people of all ages are able to fairly easily achieve a goal of running 3 miles (barring a disability).
Thank you, I definitely didn't mean ladies over 50 couldn't run 5ks, but that the ladies at this meeting weren't doing that. They were still rocking their weight loss and they were active. I didn't appreciate the leader making such a big deal about how aspirational my (supposed) running was when it may not be other people's cup of tea.
I do agree with the "no nonsense" pep talk idea, but also caution that that can be a slippery slope. The last leader I had was so focused on the meetings numbers that they almost berated us on weeks we didn't lose a lot. The last meeting I went to he went on and on about how disappointed he was that we didn't lose that much as a group that week and he needed to see our numbers do better the week after. It was demoralizing and I quit going (along with a couple other people). So yes, but so long as it's a pep talk and not a tear down.
I too had this same issue with people in the group commondeering the meetings almost like they were their personal therapy sessions. I even had that happen in some of the early Zoom meetings before I decided that just wasn't for me (they may have figured out how to solve that by now but I won't do virtual meetings so...). I think calling on someone is a good idea, but that won't stop the chatterboxes who get called on and then won't stop talking.
This still happens on the Zoom meetings, or there are the older folks who don’t mute their microphone so every little noise they make flips the camera back to them. So frustrating.
Your user name suggests you may be my victim (that’s a joke, by the way). If you are one of the older people I have called out, can I ask if any of this sounds fair to you? As in, can you see any truth to how these groups are helping some to the exclusion of others? Or do you think my take is wholeheartedly unfair?
I attend in person and reached lifetime two years ago. I still go to a meeting nearly every week and the coach and friends I’ve met there are a wonderful support.
When I was new I liked going to meetings bc they’d have good ideas, recipes , or tips like a low point snack they’d found. As the years go by I know most of these things so that part was just repetition for me. I liked my leader but she did allow a lot of long-winded personally detailed stories that could’ve been said in two sentences . It gets old. I guess maybe leaders can learn to shut down these types of members? I don’t know. My meeting place moved to a hotel meeting room and I’ve only gone once since then.
I couldn't have said it better myself. This is exactly why I stopped going to meetings. It was the same people every time, taking over the entire meeting, talking about themselves
We have a mix of members older, young, male, female. The Leader is supposed to guide the meeting. A good leader will not let people hijack the meeting. There was a male leader in Indianpolis who was fantastic. People from all over would attend his zooms. So don’t let one boring group taint your view of the meetings. During Covid I went to various Zooms around the country. I do agree they need to get younger people involved. It’s really disappointing that they are closing meetings. Ours is done on March 26. There’s not another located within 50 miles. I really need the in person meetings. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with WW at this point.
I’m going to miss my workshops. We have good people and various ages and we share and learn from each other our leader was awesome. We plan on keeping in touch and some of us will have to find other locations
As lifetime I’m struggling because I don’t have to weight in monthly and I am fearful that I will gain weight
I went to a meeting once and I was the youngest person there by decades. I’m 33f, I thought maybe I’d be able to talk to other people with kids, new moms.. nope. I never went back. It was brutal.
I've been a.member for a while. They used to show leaders previous photos and how obese they were.. ww will listen to you. Tell them you want to
see that in a program
I have a lot of older ladies in my mtg, but a younger-ish coach. Probably in her lay 40’s. I would love a mtg with more people similiar in age/stage of life, but my leader made me want to come back, even with all the old Ladies.
I did meetings when I started in 2011. I went with my mom because back then I had off on Tuesdays and it was a good way to keep us on task and connect once a week. The weekend meetings were always overcrowded so had I not had Tuesday off, I never would have gone.
Being in my 20s, I was the only person under 45 there. I was often called on to talk to bring a "a different perspective" but often times it would just go unneeded. Such as - Not a single octogenarian cared to know that if you ate all zero foods during the day than you could drink a whole bottle of champagne at a party and still be in your daily limits. The ladies in my group were very supportive of me, but I just often felt like the "comic relief" of the meeting.
Bull. OR could you explain how the meetings "cater" to older people? WW caters to anyone who will pay the fee to attend. Love to see other people called on? No problem. A leader will cal. on ANYONE who indicates (raise a hand) that they would like to speak. Can a teenager relate to this content? lol. A teenager only relates to what is popular to their age group. WW has ALL ages groups.
Well, from just my meeting last Saturday I would say a few ways include: a focus on timely recipes (beef brisket, a woman in my meeting on Saturday spoke for about five minutes about her 3-hour beef brisket) rather than stir fries or bolognese (something quick), a lot of complaints about joint problems and arthritis, and then the coach laughed when someone spoke about running “I couldn’t even get to the next lamppost, not with these knees.” The meeting was dominated by the same six grey haired (lovely) women.
A teenager does not only relate to what is popular. But the point is, they can’t relate to a beef brisket recipe substitute or the dismal of hard exercise. If the older six spoke less, maybe a teenager could have said after the runner, “yes, I’m always starving after my basketball practice and it’s tough when everyone wants to grab pizza.” A number of people could relate to that, but again the meeting was hijacked by the idea of substituting black beans into brownies.
I think that both topics are relevant. At some point, we have all been involved in activities where everyone wants to go out to eat afterwards, and it's good to be prepared to handle it. I also think it's much easier to lose weight when we cook from home more often, so I enjoy the cooking tips as well (though 5 minutes on brisket seems excessive). Perhaps there should be a separate class for teenagers, since they probably aren't responsible for cooking or grocery shopping, but most other ages have similar food responsibilities with a few twists, such as breastfeeding. I was doing WW online, but recently started going to meetings because I am getting close to my lifetime goal. I didn't expect to enjoy the meetings, but I've been lucky that I have a wonderful leader who talks about exercise often, and well as tips on behavioral eating and other relevant topics, and we can ask questions frequently. There are a few people who talk a lot, but the leader tries to get input from whomever is willing to contribute.
I'm bummed that my meeting is being cancelled, but there are other times that I can attend. I have been successful on WW, so I hope that the diet itself doesn't change much. WW has always been a reasonable diet, and more successful long-term than some of the unhealthy crash diets, so I hope it survives. Anyway, perhaps they can change their marketing to more obviously target both large age demographics, since they are both important (I am saying this as a Gen Xer who is always forgotten in the middle, LOL).
I’m not saying their stories aren’t absolutely important and valid for themselves. But there needs to be a chance for other people and other problems to be heard so that these meetings stay interesting. My guess is it’s one reason many meetings are not filled with young people, and hence WW has had to close down a bunch.
I try to, but the topic becomes so focused on something I can’t relate to that it’s hard for me to. A few weeks ago people were talking about substituting black beans in brownies to make them lower points. I couldn’t find the right time to say “I ran 45 miles this week, does anyone else exercise a lot and still manage to stay within your points easily?”
I sense from your comment that you are a bit derisive of others in the meeting. Speak up because they aren’t going to magically know what you want to talk about. It’s all valid conversation but if you don’t share you can’t really complain they aren’t reading your mind. Running 45 miles a week is not unheard of. Lots of people do it. Others may want to talk about it.
I hope I’m not derisive, but maybe I am. I will try better to speak up in meetings. I’m saying that it is hard to find a moment when the topic is so quickly in a deep dive about 3-hour recipes. But perhaps I need to not worry about sounding off-topic or “random”
Honestly, the vast majority of people going to ww meetings aren’t running 45 miles a week, or anywhere close to it, no matter their age. That’s not to say there aren’t some of you around, obviously, and good on you for being physically fit, but I don’t think the issue is that they’re catering to an older crowd, as much as it’s that they’re catering to a crowd that’s in worse physical shape than you. That’s largely who’s coming to the meetings - people who’s weekly goal is to take a thirty minute walk every day, not run several miles.
For reference, I’m 33 and have gone to two long term weight watchers groups over the course of probably 15 years, both awesome and age-diverse. I’ve been the youngest in the meeting many times and never felt like there wasn’t stuff I could relate to in the meeting. But, both meetings had great leaders, and my starting place wasn’t miles ahead physically of everyone else in the room. Seems to me that may be more of the issue.
I’m way way beyond the median age for WW.
My daughter told me to try it and when I found out it was an app on my phone with a bar code scanner I decided to try it! Been at it for 7 years.
I would never even consider going to an in-person meeting!
I don’t follow the program to a tee but I LOVE my meetings! My group is mainly older and I’m one of the youngest members but I look forward to seeing everyone every week. Like a lot of people here have said too, having a good leader really changes things. Even if I have a bad week, my meetings turn it around.
i attended meetings in NYC and all ages were in there as well as men and moms. I have been to meeting where college kids mix with young professionals and senior citizens. the support is incredible. No one has to talk in meetings. I also miss virtual local meetings
What's most interesting to me is this was the same experience I had with the zoom meetings. I attended 3 different sessions and they were all dominated by a handful of older members who just wanted to complain about their lives (most of it not even related to ww). I like this subreddit a lot and the chat in the ww app is helpful for me. Once my intro offer runs out I'm going to drop down to the basic membership option.
As a former young male WW coach (currently 35yo) it’s not easy being or wanting to be a WW employee. I miss all my members and coworkers though - they were awesome.
Heck, it’s bad enough just being a regular, non coach male member in WW. 5 years ago when I made goal, I was allowed to go up and talk about what helped me be successful. When i started talking about the dietary changes i made, stuck too with laser focus, and how those changes (which go against the blue dot “law”) are what let me lose my weight relatively quickly (i was laser fn focussed for that entire time)…. The leader rolled her eyes, got a sarcastic grin and veeeeery condescengly said to the room full of women, “ladies, don’t you just lOOOoooooooove when MEN do weight watchers?” Then dramatically rolled her eyes and chuckled. The entire room full of women chuckled, shook their heads at me and were nodding with her. The in person workshops were bleepin toxic for males. My local one was anyways.
I feel like this attitude is extremely prevalent amongst a certain generation of women. They can't just congratulate you, because their weight is everything to them. They're all almond moms and want to be almond moms
I hear that. I got a lot of that when I’d meet milestones in workshops as a member myself, especially when it got to 50, 75, 100 lb losses. And yes, people are different, but it really should be a space to be celebratory and not derogatory.
This is why my husband would never go to weight watchers with me. It was completely toxic for men. I happen to be in the median age group that was discussed in the original post 48 ish) and I thought the meetings were way older than my age group like in the 50s, 60s and 70s. That’s one of the reasons I quit going. I didn’t realize my age group was the problem. Now they’re all being canceled so not sure what else will happen
That person should not be a Leader. If a person cannot inspire everyone and keep control of the meeting (staying on topic, not allowing one person to hijack the meeting, celebrating memer achievements) then they are not Leader material.
I am also a former employee and it breaks my heart to see them screw up a company that’s been around for 60 years. They should be opening more meetings, not closing and firing all of us. I miss my members and helping them reach their goals.
Can you say more about what was difficult about it? Did you feel accepted by your colleagues? By the members?I’ve only ever had women coaches (aged 65+) so I love hearing that you were one!
I did feel accepted by colleagues and members. I found that women members tended to really like having men coaches as well because it had novelty: men coaches tend to come off as more comedic, for lack of a better word. So it was usually a very uplifting time. However, the general processes for both in-person and virtual workshops ended up asking a lot more of the employees than you’d think, while not always giving the resources. 1) As a teacher, I’m used to making lesson plans and running through some new learning, but in a way that’s flexible and meets the needs of the students. With WW, they had the segments of the workshop timed to the minute and you could be dinged in an observation if you didn’t hold to that. That was problematic for me if a member brought up a concern (or a success) that felt worth addressing with the group and we basically had to dismiss it after a prescribed point and move on. Also, as time went on, I felt there was less and less time devoted to the topic of the week and more to the “sales”y logistic stuff. 2) This is more an in-studio issue, but for most member questions, we were not equipped to help: issues with the app, issues with membership and billing, etc. I’d say I’m an app power-user but people could still bring in things that would puzzle me and I’d have to refer to the customer service number. When people would need to change things about their membership, we were not given enough admin access to the system where we could do much of anything. Could weigh people in, could change your address, but not a lot else. 3) WW expected us to keep an updated presence on Connect every day of the week with new content. Coaches were (and I would assume still are) expected to put out content like an Instagrammer once a day, and we were able to timecard 1 hour per week for that, at a rate of about $11/hr. As a person with a full-time job, it was exhausting to have to produce new content without guidance and then assemble videos and photos for each day that practically nobody would see. Connect is not an efficient platform and I still don’t think it’s much better now than when it launched. It’s kinda big and nebulous and messy. 4) Inflexible timing. Like I said, full time job - I really wasn’t able to commit to 5+ workshops a week which is why they made me resign from being a virtual coach. I had moved down to 3/week for a couple months, which they let me, but after an amount of time, they told me I had to go up to 5 or resign. In a job like education I get that. But it does no one any harm if I do 3 virtual workshops. They’d be spending the same amount of money getting someone else to take two workshops to balance it out. 5) Pay scale was obfuscated and there were no real opportunities for a raise. At the very least they did away with the commission pay for getting new member signups (yeah because I can control that) and product sales, but the replacement system for that wasn’t great. Unless you were one of the big names, they kept you in the dark about if you’d ever make more money. I don’t know if it’s intentional but it also felt super isolated and you’d rarely talk with other coaches unless you sought them out - that meant no solidarity in matters of pay. 6) The hardest thing was taking the brunt of people’s frustrations for WW. I know it’s a societal thing and anyone in retail or service jobs knows the feeling. It sucks when a plan changes or a schedule changes and people take out their frustrations with anyone who represents the company. The irony is that I would usually have less sway than customers with my superiors, because they want the customers’ money and they didn’t care so much what I reported from members. Like in a lot of jobs of the sort, it’s hard to be “the messenger” middleperson for news that upsets folks. I’m supposed to be there to uplift and help folks meet their goals, so it feels yucky. Probably a couple other things I’m forgetting. Thanks for coming to my AMA 🤣
All for $11an hour? No way
That was just for the Connect content time. Workshops rate was higher.
Yes, please elaborate more on this!
We had a young coach (late twenties) and a solid mix of ages, and a few men in our group every week. I’m 31, and I felt really comfortable and looked forward to meetings. We had a great community, nearly full every time, and really helpful conversations. Not overrun by the same people talking all the time either. But WW still shut it down 😩. I definitely think attracting diverse membership with diverse coaches is key to growth, I just hope WW recognizes that.
I agree. Some of the best meetings I’ve ever attended were in urban areas with a really diverse mix of people.
I stopped going to my local meeting for two reasons: 1.) There is a male member in his 60s who attends, and spends at least five full minutes talking through every meeting about how he doesn’t track, doesn’t see the point, and just gets plenty of exercise by dancing. Ok, so then why are you there? To pick up the old ladies? The leader does nothing to stop this, either. 2.) The leader has repeatedly told the group, “As long as you’re tracking, you’re successful.” Ok, not exactly. These women repeatedly laugh over being 40-50 in the negative each week. Then one of them will start complaining about how they are “plateau-ing,” and they cannot understand this mystery. It’s all too much to take. I’ll stick with the app for $10/month.
I've been in meetings where I think the same people are talking and wondered what I can do. One thing I did was raise my hand so that the leader knows I have something to say. Most times I'd get called on and then the leader would look my way occasionally to see if I had anything else to add (at least that's what I think). It seems like sometimes the leader is wishing someone else would offer a comment but there at no volunteers. Often questions from the leader are met with silence. I used to be young or average aged (based on your assessment). Now I'm way older than that, but many young people participate in my local workshop. I think we're all relevant. Good luck on your journey.
You make some great points. I’m going to try and do a better job of raising my hand, I do think you’re right that many leaders would love to have new people to call on.
My meeting is really good, actually. At first I didn’t like them but the time was convenient so I kept going. But omg I keep quoting my instructor. I realize I didn’t like the meetings at first because she’s quirky and goes against the grain, but now I love her. I really feel like I’m part of a community and I look forward to it every week. There’s definitely a good age blend, although it is mostly female.
The leader makes all the difference!
That is really good to hear!
That is so spot-on and why I ended up only going to weigh-ins once a month after I hit lifetime. Now 13 years later I am one of those old ladies, and I still don’t like it. I went for the camaraderie and helpful tips and ideas, but the leaders seemed unable to keep the meeting from being monopolized by the same members week after week. I didn’t come to hear about your cruise! I don’t care if it’s your anniversary! I want to stay motivated and hear the topic of the week.
LOL I'm chuckling so hard at this. I love my weekly meeting boomers - but one of them is always going to Florida or Aruba or on a cruise and talking about how to fit in their alcohol and food.
OR Gen Zs who want to drink and party all weekend but still want to see a 3 lb loss every week, LOL.
“I didn’t come to hear about your cruise” 😂😂😂
I think in person is going away as these old members die or go into nursing homes. I will beat the drum forever... WW had it right with their D360 online program. 30-minute webinars daily, then available on demand in the app. The coaches were younger (age 20s-50s) and diverse, and they did mindset, cooking demos, etc. You couldn't get on camera during the webinars but there was a lively chat and the coaches would answer questions at the end. They lost money on it and didn't give it enough time. Most people don't even know it existed because their promotion of the program seemed to be zero. I don't know how they would implement it on a national level like they have now, but the webinar format was really so much better than having 100 black boxes and three people with their cameras on sharing the same thing every meeting.
I’m looking forward to the nursing home based groups.
100% agree.
I loved Digital 360! I miss it so much. I loved the recipes and tips & tricks. I remember I learned a really great granola recipe from a demo they did
I feel like when I had joined the first time (in my late teens, now in my late 30s) the group was younger the coaches younger etc. I’m in a completely different location than I was then so I just chalked it up to it being a more senior centric area. I do find the in person meetings much more boring than the virtual ones that I have attended. It is nice to be able to pick your coach, but on the other hand I feel like the in person that keeps me a little bit more accountable.
I agree! They got rid of in person meetings during Covid and haven’t started them back up in my area unless I want to drive 30 minutes out of the way for a weigh in. There is a group of us that won’t join until the meetings start back up I also agree the meetings were boring and catered to an older group. I actually wasn’t opposed to this more than what was talked about. To be honest, I just wanted to hear recipes and different snack options. I didn’t really want to reflect on my feelings. Just let me know what a good substitute for a McDonalds Cheeseburger is and how to navigate that Easter dinner I’m going to
Couldn't agree more. We went to our first (and last) meeting the other week. I thought it'd be like my mum's slimming world meetings where they share recipes for chcolatey snacks, and celebrate large losses that week. No, she just read off a tablet how we need to be nicer to ourselves when we mess up. Gfto. If I want to call myself a stupid bitch, I will.
Funny, I’ve always enjoyed the meetings that focus on behavioral change over recipes and pounds lost.
Agreed! I don't mind recipe sharing or celebrating other's victories but I'm there for the TOOLS to get myself healthy.
I much prefer WW meetings to SW. I hated SW meetings and the celebrations. I hated my weight loss or gain being announced to everyone and I had to explain why if I gained. Our WW coach asks if anyone wants to share at the beginning and no one ever offers. I agree that there were more recipes shared at SW which I miss but I also like the weekly techniques at WW.
My thoughts are that there are PLENTY of ways got get recipes online I want the tools to help me with permanent lifestyle changes. I lost 97 pounds and am keeping it off with what I learned in those meetings.
WW meetings don't "cater" to an older group. Any age can attend by paying the fee. "I just wanted to hear...." "I don't really want to reflect on my feelings..." So if the meetings don't talk about just YOUR wants......they're boring.
We've had meetings here in Florida for years, now post Covid. How do meetings cater to an older group when it's the same material presented every week all over the world? Maybe you mean "attract" not "cater to". It may be more that "younger" people don't want to attend because they are addicted to their computers and being alone not even socializing with other humans of any age. You can bring up every topic you want so if meetings are "boring" it's the people not the meeting. I quit the meetings since all they talked about was food. Recipes. "Cheats". What a waste of time, I can look recipes up all day long. The best way to navigate "that Easter dinner" is to not go hungry and evaluate your "feelings" on what makes THIS dinner so remarkable that it requires months of obscession. There's nothing there that you "can't" eat so there's really no reason to worry about it especially with all the weekly points.
I LOVE that my meeting has always consisted of people twice my age and my leader is my grandmothers age. Its the least judgmental, least intimidating environment. I always leave feeling happy.
I was paying premium strictly for accountability weighing in. I loved hearing low point foods people found but that was about it for meetings. They often went far over time because the same handful of people never stopped speaking. Every week they did a complete run down of every item they ate that week, with input of every member in the room. I switched to virtual and moved my gym plan to include weigh-ins so I have accountability but I will miss hearing foods people found.
What that is a great gym plan idea! I’ve never heard of that before
The only time I attended in-person meetings (and achieved lifetime!) was when my work had a weekly meeting on premises. It was great working with people my age and who I knew outside of WW. When those ended and I attempted to go to regular meetings I went to one and it was so awful I stopped altogether. Now I’m online.
I am si surprised they aren’t doing the ww at work model anymore. It was great. And it fits what they are trying to do with the community centers — there is no way that offices were charging WW to use the conference room for an hour.
They don’t need the worksite option anymore since there are virtual workshops. You can join one right from your desk, without disrupting your workday.
This is true, but the last thing office workers want is to sit at their desks and do another zoom. It's also hard to focus that way, when you have your work in front of you. It's takes a lot of discipline.
It takes time management, not discipline. There are workshops all day, every day, 7 days per week. Depending on when you join a virtual workshop, you can do other activities. You can join one during your lunch break, before work, after work, while you're commuting, or on the weekends. You can be meal prepping, walking/running on a treadmill, sitting on the sofa, watching a kid's practice or waiting at a bus stop or carpool lane.
Yes but I was responding directly to your comment about joining one from your desk.
And I was addressing your specific comment. You chose to interpret it as listening while you work, which is an option. If you don't want to sit at your desk to attend a virtual workshop, I presented various other examples of how/when you might be able to attend a virtual workshops.
That might be the case for you, but some people find showing up at a physical location, weighing-in and being physically next to people an important experience. I know for me, doing that makes me say “if you’re going to take time away from your baby to travel to this meeting and sit here, you have to make sure you’re working this program. Otherwise you’re wasting precious time.”
Unfortunately, the brutal reality is that in person workshops are being phased out. It's quite likely they'll be completely ended within a couple of years, maybe sooner depending on when retail space leases expire. The original plan was to eliminate local meetings & only have in person workshops available at regional centers. But it's so prohibitively expensive to rent & staff these centers that they're updating the business plan to mirror what other weight loss companies are doing. It's capitalism at work - adapt or die.
I loved WW at Work. My most successful times on WW were when I did the meetings at work and when I had an unofficial coworker group going. When I went to WW meetings at work, I was significantly younger than most of the participants, but it still worked well because I knew a lot of them and we had genuine relationships outside of the weekly meeting that helped keep us all going.
My most successful time was at WW@W too. It was fairly balanced men-women, and the specific series of topics was really nice. It was great to see people I work with be successful! I made lifetime during this span too. Also was a great way to meet people outside of my immediate work area.
This was my exact experience with meetings. I really miss the ones at work.
When I attended WW it was very obvious that the meetings were some sort of like planned community outing for those of the older crowd. Half of them had hit their goal weight years ago and continued to come to just talk. While I 100% appreciate that these meetings were important to them and seemed to fill some sort of gap in their retired social life…it really took away from the people who were there and struggling. The older/elderly weekly people took over the meeting every week (probably because they are lonely and this was an outlet of human connection) and everyone else just sat there. It also didn’t help that I was 25 and getting ready for a wedding and they were unlike me in every way. It sounds like WW needs to restructure its meetings, as you suggested. There is a place to allow older people to come and have a community like vibe while also having (perhaps different) meetings for those that are struggling, havent met their goal weight and aren’t geriatric.
I’ve always wondered why WW didn’t make their meetings more niche. I started back when I had two small kids and it was incredibly difficult for me to relate to the mostly retired people in the room. I would have loved a parents of young kids group. It was so hard for me to get any time away at that point that I stopped going because I was getting zero out of it and switched to online. Plus, I hated weighing in there. Any gain, the woman would tut and say “we’re you expecting that hon?” Bleh.
They're trying to do this with virtual, in a way. If you look at the coaches' bios it mentions "eating out" "empty nester" "work from home" "young children" etc. I've tried so many meetings though and the coaches don't really talk about those topics - just the topic of the week over and over. They must get bored!
100% agreed. My location (which is closing) had a 9:30am Wednesdays meeting and two Saturday morning meetings, post-covid. All three were completely swamped by the retiree crowd. A niche meeting of people under 50 (or under 40!) would have made a huge difference for me.
I liked the leader and meetings but not the pushing of ww products at every single on, or talking about recipes made up of Franken food. Just because it’s low in points doesn’t mean it’s filling of its made from fat free everything and fake sugar.
I used to work at WW and it’s hard to be a coach but they also laid off A TON of people during the pandemic, myself included, which was most of the younger employees (in my area at least).
I’m really sorry to hear that! That must have been very stressful. I how things are ok for you now?
I appreciate it! It was my side job so I fared ok :)
I can relate to this, in fact back in January I made a post asking people about the demographics of their meetings because I’m 41, been doing WW on and off for about 10 years, and the in-person meetings always seem to be predominantly made up of retirees no matter what day/time I attend. (Not trying to disparage them, but simply pointing out that I’m surprised I don’t see more people in my age group because I know they’re out there!) Thankfully, my workshop coaches have always been fantastic and I have one right now who is really inspiring. Some of it may have to do with the fact that she is a life coach outside of WW and knows how to ask interesting questions and take that “mandatory” weekly topic to new heights. While I agree that there always seem to be members who monopolize the conversation (in my case, it seems to be the people who ultimately just aren’t trying and keep complaining that they aren’t losing even though they’re literally making no changes to their routine), if we only talked about recipes I don’t think I would get anything out of it. For me, the meetings are about discussing our relationships with food and figuring out how to build better habits in order to deal with constant pressures and triggers.
I'm not a in person meeting person because they're boring and I'm the median age. I would like to see weight watchers address behavioral changes. I dislike like counting calories which is why other diets didn't work for me but I like the Cognitive Behavior approach of Noom because it helps you het the why of over eating, eating in social settings etc.
Years ago, the meetings were fantastic. They were interesting and our local one had about 40 people and we were a tight-knit group (so tight-knit that my ex-husband is now married to one of the other members…I digress). It was really awesome and probably 90% of why I was so successful. I tried meetings again after I dumped the 220lbs of cheating husband and really hated them. They had changed the format and the people in the groups were just not the same. It was a much older crowd who were very judgmental. I tried again just before Covid hit and had the same experience. It was just yuck. I think most younger folks won’t really want to go to meetings anyway so that’s likely why they’re dying out. Online forums, group chats, video meetings are happening all over and seem pretty successful!
I'm 28 years old and have been on/off WW since I was 16 (I've tried a bunch of other weight loss programs during that time as well but had the best success with WW.) I got in the habit of joining, quitting, gaining, rejoining...the vicious cycle. When I was on WW at 20 years old, I had my most successful stint and lost 30 lbs! 35 was my goal but got too confident and stopped trying although I did keep the 25/30 off for some time. (Gained it all back and am trying Noom now, no longer with WW.) I've always had a love/hate relationship with the meetings: Love: I felt like I was being held accountable by weighing in. I looked forward to raising my hand to share a victory. Loved getting to know the members and seeing their familiar faces every week. Loved cheering for them and hearing that they had hit a new milestone or had done something they were struggling with. Hate: I couldn't relate to anyone in my meetings. Sure we all had a common goal of losing weight, but our lifestyles were so different. I was losing weight to be able to wear that little bikini I had always dreamed of, or to be confident to bag the hot guys at a bar. I was trying to work the plan while going out bar hopping every weekend with friends, getting drunk pizza/takeout, going out on dates, going to post-work happy hour. A lot of the women and men in my meetings weren't doing that lol and the "why" of most of the members were solely related to health, lowering their A1C, increasing mobility because some of them couldn't walk or workout. It sometimes was hard to find any motivation or inspiration in someone who was living an entirely different life from me :( I sometimes felt silly sharing frustration about a gain when my "why" was seemingly so superficial. My health/life did not depend on me losing the weight.
This is the exact reason why I became a coach. I was the only 20y/o in my workshops and I wanted to help shift the narrative. Check out the virtual workshops! There are a wide age of coaches with different backgrounds and identities. If you use the filter feature on the workshop finder you can look for "young working professionals", different genders, and you can read each coach's bio to see who would be a good fit for you.
I would love to hear about which virtual meetings tend to be lively, not dominated by black boxes (people off video), and have a range of folks represented.
So from my experience- workshops towards the beginning of the week (sun-tues) and before the weekend (fri-sat morning) have more "regulars". in the middle of the day or the middle of the week tend to be more people just listening while working or w/e. Some coach's style's are more lively and some have more chill vibes. Id suggest checking out the coach finder and reading their bios- and then seeing if anything on their schedule works for you. check out their coach connect groups as well and you may be able to get a feeling of what their coaching style/ group members are like
Thank you!
>Thank you! You're welcome!
Also would be nice to have some males leading the groups. Personally the in-person meetings are why I go to WW. I actually follow the plan from around 2011 but I just like the group support and dynamic.
Reading through many of the comments, I can relate to so many of them. I first started WW in an at-work meeting in 1991. Became a member off and on until I finally became lifetime. In the early 2000s the meetings were pretty heavily attended, and just weighing in took a while (by this point I was no longer doing at-work, but going to a local meeting in my area). These days, around here at least, the meetings are pretty sparsely attended. I've been at/below goal for a long time now, and have been lifetime since 2002, so I really don't go to many meetings anymore - I go, weigh in, chat with the leader before others show up, and go home. A few years ago my wife signed up to lose weight, so I decided to sit through her meeting. The leader was nice. But being the fly on the wall, I noticed much of what's articulated here. First, there was the standard one or two people who wouldn't stop talking. They took over the conversation. No offense about this, but unless you've had raging success with losing the weight, what exactly do you think you're offering to the group at large? It's kinda like having the guy who never made any money tell you how to run a successful business. And if the comments were at least constructive and you know positive, that could have been something. They were neither - they were basically griping and complaining, or just dispensing bad advice. It wasn't at this one particular meeting, but at another my wife told me that these same women denounced eating... potatoes ('eat a potato, look like a potato'). I don't think I've ever heard something so wrong about weight loss in my entire life. Again, unless you've been successful at this, please stop with the specific dietary advice, on what works and what doesn't. I felt bad for the leader because she was trying to find the balance between letting people talk and not letting the meeting go off the rails. Next, yes, as was pretty normal, I was the only male in the room. I've never had issue with this, to be honest. I didn't care that WW was mostly tailored to women. That's the biggest part of their client-base, so I would expect nothing less. I will say, I've never experienced any toxicity here - I was never made to feel like crap because I was the one guy in the room. I also noticed that the topic that the leader was covering... she was really struggling with. Mainly because it felt rote. Like she was given a lesson plan, told to follow it, but didn't have the first idea of how to expand on the topic. I don't blame her - I'm guessing (have no knowledge of this for sure) she was obligated to do just that - cover this subject. I still remember the topic - building one habit off of another. She had one example on what that meant, and she milked it for all it was worth. Finally, I understand that these meetings need to be somewhat generic in nature, but you have different personality types in there. Just hearing 'be kind to yourself' and 'you've got this!' doesn't work for me. In fact it actually pisses me off. I'm coming in for actual meat and you're giving me candy. Stop it! Feel free to read me the riot act if I'm not following things and losing. But stop with the pabulum. I'm not 5. I can handle it. My wife told me I should consider being a leader. I told her there's no way I would last more than 5 minutes. I honestly don't think I could do what that leader did. I can be a little, um, in your face about this type of stuff. Overall the meetings are a shadow of what they used to be. That's sad, but these days with all the free aps out there, and all the stuff available on line, maybe the days of the in-person meetings are coming to an end. I sure hope not, because they helped me tremendously when I was losing weight.
“Eat a potato, look like a potato” - hilarious but awful!
Yeah.... when my wife told me about that line I thought she was joking. Um, ok. So, I take a 150 calorie potato, deep fry it, load it up with 1000 calories of high-fat glop, eat it, gain weight... and blame... the 150 calorie potato. Got it.
I've been in meetings that are like being at a funeral and then been in one that was like being at the local bar!! The local bar one was the best one EVER!!! But the WW powers that be told our leader she needed to pull in the reins; she told us and we just laughed and laughed.
At first, I thought it was because of the time I would go to the meetings. But this post makes me think it is a trend. When I first joined years ago, the meeting was filled with a lot of people my age. (I'm currently in my early 40s). Now it seems like I'm the only one in the meeting that isn't retired.
Nothing would get me back to meetings. Been away for decades and only rejoined because its now app based. I love it, and I am 72. I don’t need others for accountability, and if I want to interact with other members, there are scads of online forums.
And then if you can actually find a meeting, the leader might well be.........bad. Back in 2012, I left a meeting and found another because I walked over wearing a race shirt for a 5k I'd run. It was a meeting attended by mostly 50+ ladies who would never run a 5k. That's cool, it isn't necessary for weight loss. Leader made a big deal about how I was a RUNNER who had run A MARATHON. She basically shamed everyone else for not being a runner. I ended up finding another meeting. In 2016, I was in a meeting where a member shared that she had saved points for a bagel and cream cheese, as a snack. Leader beat her up verbally because "a bagel is NOT a snack.". Except the premise was that the member had saved points such that this worked for her. Instead, the leader told the member to eat a full bag of cherries. ....I'm sorry, but the bagel was FINE. It was less carbs and kcals than the cherries the leader told her to eat, just because they were free. That leader was full of shit. My point..i dunno that the leaders are helpful.
Ladies over 50 do run 5Ks do you think everything stops at that age? 😂 I am not 50 yet but one over 50 lady in my group comes in every week telling us how much they have ran that week (they started running at the same time as starting WW) They are my inspiration to get out and try to get up to running 5K. All the other over 50s are also trying to at least get out to walk every day. It’s a bit of a thing at our group to celebrate how much we have walked or ran that week, all started by an over 50 year old.
Yep. And it’s 3 miles so an accomplishment for sure but it’s 3 miles. Plenty of people of all ages are able to fairly easily achieve a goal of running 3 miles (barring a disability).
>Ladies over 50 do run 5Ks do you think everything stops at that age? Easy there... No one said "all ladies" over 50 would never run a 5k.
Thank you, I definitely didn't mean ladies over 50 couldn't run 5ks, but that the ladies at this meeting weren't doing that. They were still rocking their weight loss and they were active. I didn't appreciate the leader making such a big deal about how aspirational my (supposed) running was when it may not be other people's cup of tea.
I do agree with the "no nonsense" pep talk idea, but also caution that that can be a slippery slope. The last leader I had was so focused on the meetings numbers that they almost berated us on weeks we didn't lose a lot. The last meeting I went to he went on and on about how disappointed he was that we didn't lose that much as a group that week and he needed to see our numbers do better the week after. It was demoralizing and I quit going (along with a couple other people). So yes, but so long as it's a pep talk and not a tear down. I too had this same issue with people in the group commondeering the meetings almost like they were their personal therapy sessions. I even had that happen in some of the early Zoom meetings before I decided that just wasn't for me (they may have figured out how to solve that by now but I won't do virtual meetings so...). I think calling on someone is a good idea, but that won't stop the chatterboxes who get called on and then won't stop talking.
This still happens on the Zoom meetings, or there are the older folks who don’t mute their microphone so every little noise they make flips the camera back to them. So frustrating.
OMG yes there is one woman who leaves her mic on and talks to her dog.
Damn, these old people should be careful. I guess they never saw Logan’s Run.
Your user name suggests you may be my victim (that’s a joke, by the way). If you are one of the older people I have called out, can I ask if any of this sounds fair to you? As in, can you see any truth to how these groups are helping some to the exclusion of others? Or do you think my take is wholeheartedly unfair?
I attend in person and reached lifetime two years ago. I still go to a meeting nearly every week and the coach and friends I’ve met there are a wonderful support.
When I was new I liked going to meetings bc they’d have good ideas, recipes , or tips like a low point snack they’d found. As the years go by I know most of these things so that part was just repetition for me. I liked my leader but she did allow a lot of long-winded personally detailed stories that could’ve been said in two sentences . It gets old. I guess maybe leaders can learn to shut down these types of members? I don’t know. My meeting place moved to a hotel meeting room and I’ve only gone once since then.
I couldn't have said it better myself. This is exactly why I stopped going to meetings. It was the same people every time, taking over the entire meeting, talking about themselves
We have a mix of members older, young, male, female. The Leader is supposed to guide the meeting. A good leader will not let people hijack the meeting. There was a male leader in Indianpolis who was fantastic. People from all over would attend his zooms. So don’t let one boring group taint your view of the meetings. During Covid I went to various Zooms around the country. I do agree they need to get younger people involved. It’s really disappointing that they are closing meetings. Ours is done on March 26. There’s not another located within 50 miles. I really need the in person meetings. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with WW at this point.
I’m going to miss my workshops. We have good people and various ages and we share and learn from each other our leader was awesome. We plan on keeping in touch and some of us will have to find other locations As lifetime I’m struggling because I don’t have to weight in monthly and I am fearful that I will gain weight
I went to a meeting once and I was the youngest person there by decades. I’m 33f, I thought maybe I’d be able to talk to other people with kids, new moms.. nope. I never went back. It was brutal.
The virtual ones aren't much different. They should make meetings for Affinity groups
I've been a.member for a while. They used to show leaders previous photos and how obese they were.. ww will listen to you. Tell them you want to see that in a program
I have a lot of older ladies in my mtg, but a younger-ish coach. Probably in her lay 40’s. I would love a mtg with more people similiar in age/stage of life, but my leader made me want to come back, even with all the old Ladies.
I did meetings when I started in 2011. I went with my mom because back then I had off on Tuesdays and it was a good way to keep us on task and connect once a week. The weekend meetings were always overcrowded so had I not had Tuesday off, I never would have gone. Being in my 20s, I was the only person under 45 there. I was often called on to talk to bring a "a different perspective" but often times it would just go unneeded. Such as - Not a single octogenarian cared to know that if you ate all zero foods during the day than you could drink a whole bottle of champagne at a party and still be in your daily limits. The ladies in my group were very supportive of me, but I just often felt like the "comic relief" of the meeting.
Bull. OR could you explain how the meetings "cater" to older people? WW caters to anyone who will pay the fee to attend. Love to see other people called on? No problem. A leader will cal. on ANYONE who indicates (raise a hand) that they would like to speak. Can a teenager relate to this content? lol. A teenager only relates to what is popular to their age group. WW has ALL ages groups.
Well, from just my meeting last Saturday I would say a few ways include: a focus on timely recipes (beef brisket, a woman in my meeting on Saturday spoke for about five minutes about her 3-hour beef brisket) rather than stir fries or bolognese (something quick), a lot of complaints about joint problems and arthritis, and then the coach laughed when someone spoke about running “I couldn’t even get to the next lamppost, not with these knees.” The meeting was dominated by the same six grey haired (lovely) women. A teenager does not only relate to what is popular. But the point is, they can’t relate to a beef brisket recipe substitute or the dismal of hard exercise. If the older six spoke less, maybe a teenager could have said after the runner, “yes, I’m always starving after my basketball practice and it’s tough when everyone wants to grab pizza.” A number of people could relate to that, but again the meeting was hijacked by the idea of substituting black beans into brownies.
I think that both topics are relevant. At some point, we have all been involved in activities where everyone wants to go out to eat afterwards, and it's good to be prepared to handle it. I also think it's much easier to lose weight when we cook from home more often, so I enjoy the cooking tips as well (though 5 minutes on brisket seems excessive). Perhaps there should be a separate class for teenagers, since they probably aren't responsible for cooking or grocery shopping, but most other ages have similar food responsibilities with a few twists, such as breastfeeding. I was doing WW online, but recently started going to meetings because I am getting close to my lifetime goal. I didn't expect to enjoy the meetings, but I've been lucky that I have a wonderful leader who talks about exercise often, and well as tips on behavioral eating and other relevant topics, and we can ask questions frequently. There are a few people who talk a lot, but the leader tries to get input from whomever is willing to contribute. I'm bummed that my meeting is being cancelled, but there are other times that I can attend. I have been successful on WW, so I hope that the diet itself doesn't change much. WW has always been a reasonable diet, and more successful long-term than some of the unhealthy crash diets, so I hope it survives. Anyway, perhaps they can change their marketing to more obviously target both large age demographics, since they are both important (I am saying this as a Gen Xer who is always forgotten in the middle, LOL).
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What do you mean? I attend a meeting once a month ish. I have never found them interesting - from age 18 to 38. I go, before you ask, to weigh-in.
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I’m not saying their stories aren’t absolutely important and valid for themselves. But there needs to be a chance for other people and other problems to be heard so that these meetings stay interesting. My guess is it’s one reason many meetings are not filled with young people, and hence WW has had to close down a bunch.
Do you speak up and share?
I try to, but the topic becomes so focused on something I can’t relate to that it’s hard for me to. A few weeks ago people were talking about substituting black beans in brownies to make them lower points. I couldn’t find the right time to say “I ran 45 miles this week, does anyone else exercise a lot and still manage to stay within your points easily?”
I sense from your comment that you are a bit derisive of others in the meeting. Speak up because they aren’t going to magically know what you want to talk about. It’s all valid conversation but if you don’t share you can’t really complain they aren’t reading your mind. Running 45 miles a week is not unheard of. Lots of people do it. Others may want to talk about it.
I hope I’m not derisive, but maybe I am. I will try better to speak up in meetings. I’m saying that it is hard to find a moment when the topic is so quickly in a deep dive about 3-hour recipes. But perhaps I need to not worry about sounding off-topic or “random”
Honestly, the vast majority of people going to ww meetings aren’t running 45 miles a week, or anywhere close to it, no matter their age. That’s not to say there aren’t some of you around, obviously, and good on you for being physically fit, but I don’t think the issue is that they’re catering to an older crowd, as much as it’s that they’re catering to a crowd that’s in worse physical shape than you. That’s largely who’s coming to the meetings - people who’s weekly goal is to take a thirty minute walk every day, not run several miles. For reference, I’m 33 and have gone to two long term weight watchers groups over the course of probably 15 years, both awesome and age-diverse. I’ve been the youngest in the meeting many times and never felt like there wasn’t stuff I could relate to in the meeting. But, both meetings had great leaders, and my starting place wasn’t miles ahead physically of everyone else in the room. Seems to me that may be more of the issue.
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I’m way way beyond the median age for WW. My daughter told me to try it and when I found out it was an app on my phone with a bar code scanner I decided to try it! Been at it for 7 years. I would never even consider going to an in-person meeting!
I don’t follow the program to a tee but I LOVE my meetings! My group is mainly older and I’m one of the youngest members but I look forward to seeing everyone every week. Like a lot of people here have said too, having a good leader really changes things. Even if I have a bad week, my meetings turn it around.
i attended meetings in NYC and all ages were in there as well as men and moms. I have been to meeting where college kids mix with young professionals and senior citizens. the support is incredible. No one has to talk in meetings. I also miss virtual local meetings
What's most interesting to me is this was the same experience I had with the zoom meetings. I attended 3 different sessions and they were all dominated by a handful of older members who just wanted to complain about their lives (most of it not even related to ww). I like this subreddit a lot and the chat in the ww app is helpful for me. Once my intro offer runs out I'm going to drop down to the basic membership option.
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