Weight Watchers...

..in the USA receive backlash for offering free membership to teens...here is the link together with some comments...

https://honey.nine.com.au/2018/02/14/15/17/weight-watchers-free-membership-for-teenagers

They claim this is not about putting teens on a diet more to encourage them to develop ‘healthy habits at a critical life stage’.

As you can see, most of the comments are against putting teens on diets for various reasons...my response to that would be...should we just let them get fat and develop life threatening illnesses such as diabetes/heart problems etc instead?

My heart bleeds for some kids I see in supermarkets who are bordering on obesity when they are still in single figure years of age. Their obese parents tragically filling the shopping trolley with fast food and bottles of coke. Lollies and chips favoured over fresh fruit and vegetables. Maybe encouraging them to develop 'healthy habits at a critical stage' is not such a bad idea.

Your thoughts please?

Love how you're finding this hot topics, Hellon! Also, I cannot help but my responses have gotten super long lately, so excuse my rambling and just kick me out if you're annoyed ;)

I have kind of a different perspective on this? If I'm sharing too much of my experience, let me know. I want to hear others too, especially those who HAVE used Weigh Watchers and/or other programs. I've never used any of the programs. My parents used to use NutriSystem but it got to be too expensive. They had enough resources and decided it was all about discipline and moderation for them. They could have tried a hundred different methods but it came down to self-control. When you have the tools and know what you should be giving your body, it's then up to you.

(Possible content/trigger warning) I struggle with binge eating. I'm not technically diagnosed, and I also restricted calories back freshman year of college. My binges are, thankfully, not as bad as they used to be. I used to hide HUGE amounts of food in my closet. And go to the grocery store at odd hours of the night and spend over $30 on food I didn't need. I would alternate between that and sometimes going days and days eating less than 300 calories. I kept track. At the time, I had other mental health issues that were more impending and needed to be addressed so I when I eventually saw a therapist, I never really disclosed the restricting or binging.

I think what affected me the most is knowing that I used to be the most healthy one in my family. Both of my parents are obese. My brother used to be obese but is now extremely healthy. He lost a lot of weight pretty quickly. For years, my weight had fluctuated and I'm currently at an unhealthy weight. I'm not a therapist but I'm betting that each family dynamic is different. Growing up, we used to sit down for dinners (and we still try to), and my mom would make a balanced meal with meat, a side and a vegetable. We didn't go out too much and we all went through our phases of having soda/ice cream/chips available every day at our house, to only having it every few weeks if someone specifically requested it. It was a treat to get a dessert at the grocery store, not something demanded or expected. Now, it's completely on me. I make my own money and even though my mom cooks family meals (my brother and I still live at home), it's super easy to either restrict and say I grabbed something at work, or go out every night and blow my money.

I grew up watching my parents struggle with their weight for so long that I subconsciously vowed to never be like them. That's kind of ugly to admit. I used to be called "stick thin" by friends and even my brother's friend. So to suddenly gain weight and feel out of control? How was I supposed to handle that? When I saw my brother, my best friend, go from not caring about his weight to being controlling about what he packed for himself, then I felt completely at odds and like my world was skewed. Maybe that was selfish, but that was also my brain telling me I had to do something drastic in order to lose weight.

I don't think the free memberships for teens are a problem. I think, as I've read several accounts, it's a problem if the parent or relative is dieting and tries to push that and force the child. Yes, in an ideal world, the parent should be the model example. And the parent should, if financially able, be cooking balanced meals and keeping a healthy stock of food so if the child has to grab something on the go, their choices aren't compromised. But it's all too easy as a teen to be caught up in the trend of things, in fitting in, knocked down by your low self-esteem... it's all too easy to become obsessed with weight.

Disordered eating is SO common. Yesterday, I read a NY Times piece on Adam Rippon opening up about male starvation in the Olympics.

A teen needs to first be educated on how to eat a balanced diet, but then they also need to choose what foods are best for them and say, if they like to eat more sweets, what kind of exercise they will enjoy and feel happy about. Not punishing themselves.

IMO, you have to be in a good state of mind to start a lifestyle change or program like that, otherwise, you can get caught up in expectations and wanting to rely solely on the scale. Marketing for teens could be a slippery slope, especially if parents have planted this idea in their child that they need to be careful of their figure. That pressure is then pushed onto the teen and can spiral out of control.

I cannot help but my responses have gotten super long lately, so excuse my rambling and just kick me out if you're annoyed ;)

^^^

Absolutely not MA...I love that you take the time to respond and that you open up different avenues that, perhaps, I hadn't thought of before. That's what these threads should be about...people sharing thoughts and experiences with each other.

My parents were strict about my diet while I was growing up. We had to finish our vegetables at meal time, drink milk with dinner, and we only had dessert food once a week or less. We didn't have many snacks at home, unless they were healthy. Our portions were controlled, not massive. Also, I was required to play a sport every year of K-12. My parents were and are incredibly athletic, healthy people, so it wasn't like they were enforcing rules that they themselves didn't follow. They set excellent examples. I hadn't heard about Weight Watchers until adulthood because our family's lifestyle was active and healthy on its own.

I didn't start managing my own diet until I started working and buying my own food, and then I rebelled. I gained some weight and my weight has fluctuated for the last 10 or so years (not by much, just a standard deviation of +-15 lb.). Most of the ideas about food are still instilled in me from childhood. I don't eat fast food, except In-N-Out once in a blue moon. I eat a balanced diet. I feel weird if I don't have vegetables throughout the day. I try not to binge on carbs. I eat meat once a day at most, and usually white meat. My guilty pleasures are dessert and wine, which I have too often. Especially wine. Sometimes I play with dieting or exercise regimes designed to help get me in better shape, but I'm not good at sticking to them.

My boyfriend, on the other hand, was raised by a very overweight mother and a fairly overweight father. The family ate fast food (Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Round Table, you name it) at least once a day. They also enforced a "eat everything on your plate before you leave the table" rule, so even if the boys were stuffed, they had to keep eating, and there was zero portion control. Kevin's family would eat the same portion size as my family would eat between the 4 of us, but per person. The first time Kevin tried Weight Watchers was in elementary school... when he told me that, I cried. I was so angry with his mother for making her son overweight and not teaching him how to take care of himself. At only 9 or 10 years old, he was counting calories and starving himself to try to lose weight. He lost 50 lb. in one school year. He still counts calories and keeping weight off will always be a struggle for him because he started his life off overweight.

This is how I feel about it, right or wrong, and it definitely might be wrong: Parents should not put their children in the position where they need to think about diet programs, like Weight Watchers. It's your job as a parent to look out for their weight, not theirs, at least until they're teenagers. But if somehow a child is overweight, then maybe helping them follow a program, like Weight Watchers, is within reason.

Obesity is a growing concern for governments not least because of the long term unsustainable costs to the health services. The problem is that kids have little control over what they get to eat and if parents are not feeding them wisely then they can quickly pile on the pounds reaching their teens with no clue on how to eat healthily.

I think people complaining about the Weight Watchers offer - worrying that it is putting undue pressure on their teens to lose weight are voicing an old concern. For years the fashion industry promoted unrealistically thin bodies as being beautiful causing many young women to starve themselves into anorexia or other eating disorders.

Much of this has been alleviated over recent years due to fashion companies introducing more fuller figure models in their attempts to reach a broader audience and promote the fact that beauty does come in all shapes and sizes.

The dieting industry is a lucrative one with increasing numbers of competitors. Weight watchers therefore need to constantly keep on top of its strategies to retain their market share. Against for example companies who deliver ready to cook diet foods and the popular free diet apps like My Fitness Pal with 75 million users.

The Weight watchers claim that they are aiming to encourage the teens to develop ‘healthy habits at a critical life stage’. may have some truth to it I have no idea what the plan on teaching them.

It appears to me that they have a much stronger motivation for the free memberships that they are offering to the teens. If they are taking a leaf out of Microsoft's marketing strategy (giving out software for free) then they are fishing for long term customers. Hook the teens in for free then charge them when they become adults already indoctrinated into the ethos of Weight watchers so securing their future.

I couple of things interest me here Milly. First of all, it's very true that kids have no control over what ends up on their plates but, the sad thing is, most parents when questioned as to why their trolleys are full of frozen pizza, chips and other fast food items will tell you that its because they can't afford chicken or meat. My answer to that is BULLS**T ! A chicken can give a family of 4 two meals...cooked anyway you wish one night and a great pot of soup for lunch next day. Mince is a relatively cheap meat to buy and it's so very versatile. Then there's the good old ham hock...pot of soup + quiche + pate or just a sandwich in the lunchbox...all relatively healthy, wholesome food and much cheaper than a frozen pizza and chips.

I do understand that it's a very lucrative market although I believe weight watchers offer life term free membership after a certain period of paid membership (At least they used to??). What I think is this, if someone is offering a way to help educate these kids to eat a health affordable diet then they should be applauded.

Jane...my parents were very much working class people and my diet reflected on that. Sometimes we only had soup for dinner but it was always homemade and full of veggies and legumes. We filled up on bread if need be. Not many people had fridges back then (Scotland was like living in a fridge anyway haha) so everything that was cooked was bought fresh that day. Veggies, came home in brown paper bags, cheese and fish in parchment paper..there was nothing wrapped in plastic. Milk was free in lower school so we got our daily calcium intake. We played outside after school and all day during the weekend so we all got plenty of fresh air and exercise. There were no obese kids back then that I remember...no food allergies and no ADHD.

Gawd...I now realize I sound very ancient but...I'm still in really good health :)

That all sounds wonderful, Hellon. I want something similar for my children if possible. We didn't have TV in my house until I was in my late teens or even early adulthood, so I spent a lot of time playing outside a well, whether walking my dog, playing lacrosse, horseback riding, hiking, etc. I can't say the same for most of my peers, who spent a lot of time in front of the TV. My parents also limited our internet time (though of course it was dial-up AOL back then, which came out when I was in 5th grade). Kids these days are so wired in, it freaks me out. I've babysat a few young kids in the past 5 years, and they all had iPads. I don't even have an iPad. And they're allowed to be on them for hours and hours a day. What!?

I don't have any allergies or asthma or anything, and I think part of that is due to having so many pets and to being outside playing so much. Maybe fresh, healthy food is part of that too. I agree with you.

We didn't have a TV either Jane...I used to get teased about it in high school like this for example. A group of my friends talking about some show that was on the night before and saying "Did you see Stevie kiss Rachel...Oh, sorry forgot you didn't have a TV" It didn't bother me at all and, if they were being b**ches it just rolled off my shoulders (I don't think they were to be honest) . We never had a phone either. Did I feel depraved? Absolutely not! I remember my dad coming to my high school smelling of engine oil (he was a motor mechanic) to pay a 20 pound deposit so I could go to Switzerland with the school....God only knows what he sacrificed for that :)

All in all...my childhood was brilliant looking back on it now...

In the UK schools used to teach healthy eating in home economics I don't know if that's still the case. There have also been crusaders like Jamie oliver who was in the media, visiting schools etc showing that you can cook and prepare healthy tasty meals very quickly. Again I don't know how well his campaign worked.

With social media there are plenty of sites and blogs sharing methods of how to feed a family on as little as a pound a day and as mentioned abive mince and chicken can be spread out over several meals

The challenge is getting people (not just teens).to want to eat healthily in a time where the temptation is to go for quick instant processed foods

I saw the Jamie Oliver show here...not sure if he was visiting Australian schools or if it was a UK program but the kids all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The challenge is getting people (not just teens).to want to eat healthily in a time where the temptation is to go for quick instant processed foods

^^^

So very true, especially with parents who work but cooking cheap healthy meals is achievable even for busy parents, it just takes a little planning and the effort is surely worthwhile. I mean, an obese, unhealthy child will reflect back on the parents and so it should for they are responsible. If you have a fat kid who is teased and bullied at school then look in you shopping trolley next time and put all the junk food back...it will do both you and your child the world of good....honestly.