In 1961, when Jean Nidetch, a housewife from Queens, New York, invited a small circle of overweight friends to her home and conducted what would become the blueprint for Weight Watchers meetings worldwide, she had no idea she was onto something big. Desperate to lose weight after years of fad diets, the thirty-eight-year-old was armed with only the New York City Department of Health guidelines for losing weight and her conviction that sharing support and information was the key to lasting weight loss. Within two months her group had expanded to forty members and the format of getting together weekly to discuss eating and nutrition challenges had proven to be a winner.
How successful was Jean’s formula? Two short years after that first meeting, she partnered with friends and business associates Al and Felice Lippert (both of whom had also found success on the Weight Watchers plan) and incorporated the name Weight Watchers International. By 1966 there were two hundred branches worldwide, and Jean published the first Weight Watchers cookbook to great acclaim. The flourishing company went public in 1968. The stock opened at $11.25 per share, and by the end of its first day of trading the value had soared to $30. That same year Jean estimated that her company had helped members lose a staggering 17 million pounds since its inception.
Within a decade of its founding, the Weight Watchers Program had received the acclaim of both the medical community and health organizations across the country. Jean had appeared on every major radio and television talk show and established a magazine, and Weight Watchers secured its place as a part of American culture. Many things about the Program’s Food Plan evolved in the 1970s and 80s as it adapted to new scientific research and responded to consumer needs, a trait that would become one of the company’s hallmarks. In 1972, foods like bananas and spaghetti became “legal” for the first time, and members were allowed to add alcohol to their meals. An exercise component was added in 1978, making it one of the first weight loss companies to do so.
In 1977, the POINTS Food System was introduced and became the model for the current program in which no foods are “off-limits” and members are encouraged to make food and behavior choices in line with proven nutritional science. Today the Program draws an estimated 1 million members to weekly meetings worldwide, and countless others participate in an online community at WeightWatchers.com. Former NBA star Charles Barkley became the first male spokesperson for the company in 2011, the same year that the Food Plan highlighted the importance of fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy lifestyle.
While the plan may have changed through the years, the one element that has always remained constant is Jean’s philosophy that support from, and sharing success with, a group of likeminded individuals is the key to healthy weight loss—a core belief that continues to this day in Weight Watchers meetings held around the globe.