I am reviewing weightwatchers.co.uk as I have a good few years of experience of this website! Unfortunately for me as wouldn't it be great to never have to go on a diet!
Anytime I have to lose a few pounds, I know where to turn, my computer! Not the healthiest choice you would think, but weightwatchers.co.uk has everything you need to change your outlook on food and become healthier!
I am now a member again for the third time, hoping to lose my baby weight from my second baby born Aug 2011. Now three times isn't bad going, as the 1st time was turning 18 (drinking and eating junk) 2nd time baby number 1 and now baby number 2! Each time however I have managed to keep the weight off until certain life events as above have came along!
A bit about weightwatchers
Weightwatchers was started in the early 60's thought up by an obviously amazing woman, Jean Nidetch, from New York. She discovered the best way to lose weight was to be able to eat normal food and support from others. She started up holding meetings for her friends in her house then eventually teamed up with a business man named Al Lipert.
4 years after weightwatchers was formed meetings in the UK started. In the UK 6000 meetings are held each week. Now that gives you an idea of how big a company this is. Weightwatchers is an international company.
Points System
It was only in 1997 that the original points plan was introduced. This was worked out based on calories and sat fat. In November 2010 weightwatchers launched there new plan propoints. Propoints basically bring weightwatchers in to the modern way of thinking for weightloss. Propoints is based on Protein,Carbs,Fibre and Fat. When Propoints was launched, most adults where allowed 29 points a day. This has been reviewed and most adults start on 26 points. There is exceptions though and this depends on other factors eg your weight,sex etc.
Everyone gets a weekly allowance of 49 points which can be spread throughout the week or used on a blowout. It is entirely up to you.
The Price
There is 3 options for weightwatchers. These are introduced on the weightwatchers homepage.
option 1 - online only - currently an offer to sign up free (registration usually about £29.00) and pay 3 month in advance. costing a total of £32. After 3 months is up you then pay £10 a month which isn't too deadly.
option 2 - Meetings only - £6.00 for a meeting currently you can get a coupon on line for free registration and first meeting free. You can still access some of the weightwatchers website eg the forums
option 3 - Monthly pass - this is what option I am doing. This is £15 for the 1st month £20.00 thereafter. I do monthly pass as this allows you all online access plus you can dip in to the meetings using your monthly pass.
The Website
Okay so this is what I am supposed to be reviewing! There is shed loads of info,help and support at weightwatchers online that I will never be able to explore everything. I will try and break it down into sections.
Registering - So if you suscribe to online only or monthly pass you register online.
This is easy enough to do and you fill in the required information. However if you do not suscribe, you can still register to be a community user. This allows you access to the forum boards and tons of recipes.
Format/Appeareance - I am going to review this based on my usage as a logged in online subscriber. I think the format is laid out well but there is a lot of reading to take in. This can only be a positive though as there is just so much information on this website. The colours are nothing too special but it seems to have got more interesting in appearance over the years, at least the adverts are a bit brighter!
After logging in (you can tick a box to keep you logged in) it takes you to Your Plan. On this page is your name, your photo if you have uploaded, your table showing weight loss and your weight loss statistics. It also shows your daily targets. Below your details it shows what week of weightwatchers you are in and recommends things to do/articles to read for that week. I think this is very helpful particulary at the start.
There are 7 main tabs/categories on the website.
Home page - This is a bright and colourful page and the easiest one for me to find what I want to do. It includes your tool bar (Propoints tracker,weightloss tracker,activity tracker,recipe finder) all great tools by the way. It also has links to most recent and relevant articles, motivation , news, cheat sheets etc.
Your Plan - As described after Log in
Food and Recipes - all sorts of tools , ideas and articles for yummy food.
Fitness and Health - interesting articles, excercise demos motivation etc
Success Stories - real weightwatchers stories, before and after pics etc
Community - This is huge, loads to do here, blogs, message boards, challenges, recipe swap, celebration wall. This section is full of inspiration.
Shop - where you can purchase weightwatcher products, There is also a link to what supermarket sells what.
Under each category there is even more subheadings usually about 3 or 4 to further organise what you are trying to find.
Tools
On the left hand side of the page there is link to your tools. Now your tools is something you will most likely use everyday . It is here where you can look up the points of thousands of foods, and track them daily on your propoints tracker. It takes a few minutes for mines to load, but once up in a separate window works fine. There is a bar at the top which has all your points details for the day. This is also where you will find your weighttracker (which is plotted in a graph or on a table). You choose what date you wish to enter your weight in each week. You can also record body measurements.
Find and Explore
Here you can browse foods,recipes and quick meals for ideas.
Recipe Builder
You can build your own recipes and save them so they are easily added to your tracker.
Additional Info
You can access your account at the top of the page to change any of your personal details or account info. You can also find a meeting, access help , or find ww on twitter and facebook.
My Overall Opinion
In my opinion for me this is a must for doing weightwatchers! There is just so much information , help and support on here , not to mention motivation! I love the food ideas and recipes and also the forums. I think weightwatchers really works, but it does help you stick with it when you have access to all these resources to help you with the plan.
The website can take a bit of getting used to or quite a bit of exploring.
I find it so much easier to track my food with my tools. It is great to see my graph go down in my weightloss tracker. This website does so much that I cannot possibly cover it all.
Weightwatchers as a plan suits me but I am aware its not everyones cup of tea. But if you have never tried it, I would certainly recommend a look at this website . Don't let the tons of information put you off, take in what you want from it.
This review is mainly of weightwatchers.co.uk and not for weightwatchers plan or meeting, although I have included some mention.
Skinny you at your fingertips! 
