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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Donna Ferguson

The end of WeightWatchers? How the dieting club lost out to slimming drugs

Jean Nidetch who co-founded WeightWatchers.
Jean Nidetch co-founded WeightWatchers in 1963 as a support group for New Yorkers looking to shed the pounds. Photograph: Phillip Harrington/Alamy

It began as a support group for overweight New Yorkers in 1963 and ballooned into a multimillion pound global enterprise that has spent decades selling people the dream of long-term weight loss.

The trademark WeightWatchers’ points-based programme has been followed by millions, with accompanying cookbooks, groceries, weekly weigh-ins and “judgment-free” meetings, and a food-tracking app.

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