I’ve said it a million times and I’m going to keep saying it until I start hearing it said casually on television and in commercials and on the street when I’m standing at the corner:
Obesity is incurable. But it can be controlled.
And contolling obesity takes 3 steps (not 2):
- Begin a “diet”
- Lose Weight
- Maintain goal weight
Most of our lives should be spent at step 3. But for some reason we are obsessed with the first two steps. We’re experts at them. And we know almost nothing about being successful at step 3. [More]
Weight Watchers Lifetime Memberships
Weight Watchers has a category in place that could change that if they wanted to. By expanding their Lifetime Membership Program (which isn’t a program at all right now) they would instantly be addressing that 3rd step to weight management — a step that very few other plans are addressing.
What if they kept the Lifetime Members active in the organization?
- They could have special meetings for Lifetime Members. Meetings where the members could talk about issues that specifically address the issues of maintaining a stable weight at a desired level.
- They could have celebrations on members anniversaries and special celebrations as they reach 5, 10, 20 (and who knows), 30 years of weight maintenance.
- There could be prizes and gifts through the year.
Oh, I know — This would cost a lot of money. The lifetime memberships are free and Weight Watchers, a corporation, isn’t in the diet business for charity. But if they did this right, Weight Watchers would get a significant benfit for themselves. The question is, would it be enough of a benefit to make it worthwhile?
We already know that Weight Watchers works for losing weight. Actually, any weight loss program works for the weight-loss step.
As it works now, Lifetime Members drift away from meetings after a month or two because the meetings are focused solely on weight loss (step 2). But if Weight Watchers expanded their Lifetime Membership program and made it work for people struggling to keep weight off, they would have proof that their program worked for weight maintenance.
Couldn’t Weight Watchers justify the expense of this program for the marketing power? By keeping Lifetime Members in the system, they can track the fluctuations of a maintained weight year-after-year. And they could advertise not only how much weight people lose on the program, but also how successful their program is at controlling obesity forever.
And at parties we’d talk about our Weight Watchers anniversary instead of how much weight we’ve gained back since we left.
I was a lifetime member, but I quit going to meetings for a lot of dumb reasons. When I started back a few months ago the program had changed a lot, and for the better. Did I mention it had probably been, oh, a million years ago that I quit going ?
Anyhow, this time it’s working very well for me, and I’m going to stick with it. In spite of my vacation– I last weighed in officially 10/4– I had in fact lost a pound as of my weigh-in today.
I really don’t want the family to have to get the super-sized casket !
I agree that cultivating the life-time member garden would be a great idea, and I am going to promote it at the meetings I attend.
Hi Catdog, I’d love to hear more details about the new Weight Watchers options. I know they’ve made changes since I was last there and it would be good to learn more about them.
I am a lifetime member for 5 months now. I worked and continue to work so hard to keep off the 42 pounds I lost. It really is a constant battle. I have thought of the same idea about having meetings for Lifetime Members. Your idea of a whole program for Lifetime Members is even better. The awards and goals during my weight loss gave me much needed inspiration, and I miss all those during this lifetime member maintenance. It’s a lonely existence! I’ve started getting very irritated at meetings with all the whining and failures that go on. I want to just be with people in my same situation, not get dragged down by the others’ failures. I don’t think WW will ever have a program like you and I suggest for LT members. They want LT members at the meetings to inspire the others. They also hope that we will eventually fail, too, so they can collect more money from us. If everyone became a LT member, Weight Watchers would go out of business-no money would be coming in. The only thing I’ve noticed is a separate check-in box for LT. It’s a small box of LT members compared to several big boxes of other members. I’ve been searching the internet for a community of LT members. Also, I’m going to start asking and figuring out who the LT members are at my meetings so I can talk with them. I think the only community of LT members is the group that works for Weight Watchers (leaders and staff are LT members). I really enjoyed your article, thank you.
I’m pleased to meet you, Did it!
And I really hope you make your Lifetime Membership work for you.
I’m not a lifetime member. I very successfully lost quite a bit of weight in the program several times. But, each time I drifted off before I reached my goal and never got back on the bus.
I like the structure and the format of the meetings and the groups. But, as I age, I’m less patient with the corporate goals. Not that I’m against making money — far from it.
But, I’m impatient with an organization that is so close to perfect backing off that perfection by making struggling dieters walk past tempting displays of treats to get to the meetings. And then send generation after generation of their successes out the door to fend for themselves while pretending to have a special membership level just for them.
Still, I may be rejoining them. First I’m trying You on a diet….
Are you interested in joining us?