Weight Watchers Group Meetings Blend Diet, Therapy and Spirituality

A new study shows Weight Watchers group meetings offer diet, therapy and spirituality.

According to the authors, “even if  Weight Watchers advertisements make it sound as if it were only about weight loss, the social function of weekly meetings extends far beyond the tricks of the weight loss trade.”

The authors, Risto Moisio of California State University, Long  Beach and Mariam Beruchashuvil, California State University, Northridge, interviewed female members and group leaders while observing at weekly Weight Watchers meetings.

“Pursuing weight loss is an immensely daunting project fraught with many troubles whether psychological, social or physical. To overcome these challenges, consumers turn to Weight Watchers,” note the authors.

“As consumers evolve into full-fledged Weight Watchers members, the support group becomes their therapeutic companion,” the authors write. “The presence of fellow Weight Watchers is equally therapeutic as it is spiritual: it transforms the support group into a greater, spiritual power that engenders therapeutic aid to members struggling with their diets.”

“The support group gives meaning to members’ at times trauma-ridden overweight condition, grants forgiveness for members’ weight loss failures, offers valued oversight and overarching guidance needed to make it through the trials and tribulations of the week, as well as casting the occasional weight-loss successes in a veneer of much-needed glamour,” the authors conclude.

With it’s 1.5 million members worldwide, Weight Watchers is the worlds’ largest support group.

The new study that shows Weight Watchers group meetings offer a blend of diet, therapy and spirituality is in the Journal of Consumer Research.