{"id":22,"date":"2011-03-09T09:44:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bulletproofexec.com\/?p=22"},"modified":"2024-02-13T09:34:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T17:34:27","slug":"the-one-big-mistake-weight-watchers-made-for-14-years-time-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bulletproof.com\/diet-articles\/weight-loss\/the-one-big-mistake-weight-watchers-made-for-14-years-time-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Big Mistake Weight Watchers Made for 14 Years!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow…<\/p>\n

In 1997, Weight Watchers made up the “points system” which helped people to count calories. \u00a0This effectively created a weight loss<\/a> company that profited from teaching people ineffective ways to lose weight, driving them to spend more money losing weight. It was bad for people but good for the revenue stream. \u00a0Nutrasweet (aspartame) uses the same business model. \u00a0It is marketed as a zero calorie sweetener with the implication that it will make you lose weight \u00a0(even though evidence<\/a> shows that it makes you gain weight.) \u00a0Convincing people to keep doing something that doesn’t really work allows them to spend a lot more money than they would if you\u00a0sold them something that fixed the problem right away.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 14 years from the time Weight Watchers began deceiving people, and the President of Weight Watchers now says, “Calorie counting has become unhelpful.”<\/p>\n

There is no news yet about whether hundreds of thousands of still-obese middle-aged people (mostly women) will sue Weight Watchers for misleading them for so long. \u00a0The truth is that you can lose 20lbs in a month. If you don’t lose weight that quickly, odds are you’re just not using the right techniques. \u00a0I know countless people who have done it and gained new found energy and mental clarity in the process. \u00a0It’s life-changing. \u00a0I figured this out in 1995 when I lost 50lbs in 3 months with a program much less efficient than the ones we have now. The former Weight Watchers method of slowly starving yourself while training your body to digest its own muscle mass is unacceptably cruel.<\/p>\n

The new Weight Watchers program advocates for eating natural, unprocessed foods to lose weight…exactly the same foods you’ll find on my plate.<\/p>\n

The main mistake that Weight Watchers is (still) making is to allow an unlimited amount of fruit. \u00a0Fruit is full of fat-creating, liver-destroying fructose. \u00a0So, the new Weight Watchers diet is better, but it has a loophole to let carbohydrate addicts stay fat on the program, keeping margins higher than they would be if fruit was limited in the diet.<\/p>\n

I would argue that Weight Watchers suggests too many carbs in general. Their current guidelines<\/a> for macronutrient breakdown are:<\/p>\n