Weight Watchers

Stimulus money, where did it all go? Some went to sending women to Weight Watchers and a local gym to help them get in shape before they start having children. The idea was to try to reduce Baltimore's infant mortality rate, which is almost twice that of the state. A Baltimore Sun story explains how the city used federal funds to develop the program for women in their teens through mid-30s. It says: "To make a true dent in the problem, officials realized, they needed to focus on women's health before conception.

After all those well-intentioned New Year's resolutions have yielded to the force of habit, many of the nation's 79 million obese adults will have a day of reckoning with their primary care physicians. Lose weight and get active, the doctor will order, or risk developing diabetes. Then the MD will scribble a prescription. For most patients, the prescribed treatment will not be a pill. It will be a 12-week program aimed at preventing Type 2 diabetes by getting obese adults to shed as little as 10 pounds and exercise for a little more than 20 minutes a day. That regimen -- the Diabetes Prevention Program -- may soon become the blockbuster prescription medicine you've never heard of. In 2013, it is poised to become the envy of pharmaceutical companies, a new rival to programs such as Weight Watchers, and a target of opportunity for healthcare entrepreneurs.

NBA Hall of Famer and TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley will soon be adding a new job title to his resume: Weight Watchers pitchman. The former power forward weighed about 250 pounds when he played for the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers. But after retiring from the league in 2000, he added another 100 pounds to his 6-foot-6 frame. This year, Barkley's doctor told him it was time to shed those extra pounds, according to this account at the Game On!

So here many of us are, pledging as we have before to drop some pounds, get into shape and just generally eat better.  Maybe this year!  How are we going to go about it -- and keep the weight off over the long haul? Surprise: Our choices may not always be the wisest. Gluten-free diets will be hot among consumers in 2013, according to a survey of 200 registered dietitians by the health and wellness marketing and PR agency Pollock Communications. But, as this article at FoodNavigator.com explains , that doesn't mean these diets actually help people lose weight . There's scant evidence to suggest so. Consumers will also continue to want natural, simple and minimally processed foods, the dietitians predict, and are less likely to embrace low-carb and low-fat diets . The experts also predict that Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers will continue strong.

Following the Weight Watchers program for a year helped people lose twice as much weight as following doctor's weight loss orders in a randomized trial, researchers reported Thursday in the journal The Lancet. Primary care physicians in Australia, Germany and the U.K. recruited 772 overweight and obese adults.  About half were assigned to 12 months of care from a doctor, according to their country's national treatment standards.  The other 377 got a free yearlong membership to Weight Watchers.   Over the course of the year, researchers took measurements of the patients' weight, fat mass, waist circumference and blood pressure.  Ultimately, 61% of the Weight Watchers group completed the 12 months; 54% of other doctor-treated groups did.  The researchers compared the patients' weight loss using several different methods.  On average, weight loss for the Weight Watchers members was 11.16 pounds, versus 4.96 pounds for the patients receiving standard care.

TNT announcer Charles Barkley may have caught some flack after calling his shedding of 38 pounds in three months for a Weight Watchers campaign a " scam " (comments that he sort of seemed to mean in a good way, allowing the company a graceful response). But in spite of that hot-mic accident -- and though the former Phoenix Suns power forward has been known to trade snappy remarks with the Miami Heat 's Dwyane Wade -- he and the younger basketball player share an emphasis on getting fitter and eating right.

In a head-to-head contest pitting a pair of psychologist-led "behavioral weight loss" programs against a 48-week membership to Weight Watchers, a new study found that subjects participating in the ubiquitous commercial program stuck with their regimen longer and shed more pounds. Compared with people who met regularly with a professional counselor, those assigned to Weight Watchers were more likely to lose at least 10% of their body weight by the 48-week mark. On this measure, Weight Watchers also bested a hybrid program that researchers had expected to be the most effective - a 12-week introductory course led by a clinical psychologist to jump-start subjects' weight loss, followed by 36 weeks of Weight Watchers.

After Jessica Simpson seemed to confirm her second pregnancy Christmas Day on Twitter, via a photo of baby girl Maxwell on the beach with "big sis" written in the sand, the Weight Watchers spokeswoman made it extra official Wednesday in a new ad that confirmed there's a little one on the way. "I'm having another baby," she says outright in the ad. "I feel like I'm on top of the world. " Also news, though not mentioned in the commercial: She won't be following the Weight Watchers program during her pregnancy.

After all those well-intentioned New Year's resolutions have yielded to the force of habit, many of the nation's 79 million obese adults will have a day of reckoning with their primary care physicians. Lose weight and get active, the doctor will order, or risk developing diabetes. Then the MD will scribble a prescription. For most patients, the prescribed treatment will not be a pill. It will be a 12-week program aimed at preventing Type 2 diabetes by getting obese adults to shed as little as 10 pounds and exercise for a little more than 20 minutes a day. That regimen -- the Diabetes Prevention Program -- may soon become the blockbuster prescription medicine you've never heard of. In 2013, it is poised to become the envy of pharmaceutical companies, a new rival to programs such as Weight Watchers, and a target of opportunity for healthcare entrepreneurs.

Weight-loss programs are perennially popular for many trying to shed pounds. But do all of them work? A new study finds that people who join the national nonprofit weight loss organization Take Off Pounds Sensibly lost a modest amount of weight over the course of a year, but by sticking with the program they tended to keep it off. The study focused on people who joined TOPS in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (TOPS allowed researchers access to member data...

If only our collective memories worked a little better, we might recall that facing the new year with a little extra weight is what we did a year ago. And the year before that. Were those extra helpings of whatever it was - can you even remember? - worth it? No matter, diet season is here for many of us. Maybe your 2013 resolve is not to be at the same threshold in 2014. But for now, you might be thinking about which diet will work best, fast and with the least pain. Are you willing to spend money?

After Jessica Simpson seemed to confirm her second pregnancy Christmas Day on Twitter, via a photo of baby girl Maxwell on the beach with "big sis" written in the sand, the Weight Watchers spokeswoman made it extra official Wednesday in a new ad that confirmed there's a little one on the way. "I'm having another baby," she says outright in the ad. "I feel like I'm on top of the world. " Also news, though not mentioned in the commercial: She won't be following the Weight Watchers program during her pregnancy.

Jessica Simpson's new Weight Watchers ads are slated to begin airing Dec. 25. She's reportedly lost about 50 pounds since daughter Maxwell Drew was born in May. Some of the weight loss was apparent when she and sister Ashlee toured last month, promoting the Jessica Simpson Collection at department stores including Macy's and Dillard's.  [People] The Kardashians' annual holiday card has the whole crew dressed in white, with confetti, balloon designs and champagne toasts making it look more like New Year's Eve than Christmas.

Five years ago, flyweight boxing champ Nonito Donaire felt as if his body had shrunk as he dieted to make the 112-pound weight limit to defend his title. Blood was in his urine before the bout, Donaire recalled. "Everything about you is not there," he said. "You feel like an animal. " Donaire won that bout, but he later moved up in weight to avoid such trauma. On Saturday he fights in a super-bantamweight title unification bout in Carson against Toshiaki Nishioka at a more comfortable 122-pound limit.

In a head-to-head contest pitting a pair of psychologist-led "behavioral weight loss" programs against a 48-week membership to Weight Watchers, a new study found that subjects participating in the ubiquitous commercial program stuck with their regimen longer and shed more pounds. Compared with people who met regularly with a professional counselor, those assigned to Weight Watchers were more likely to lose at least 10% of their body weight by the 48-week mark. On this measure, Weight Watchers also bested a hybrid program that researchers had expected to be the most effective - a 12-week introductory course led by a clinical psychologist to jump-start subjects' weight loss, followed by 36 weeks of Weight Watchers.

Jessica Simpson is strutting her post-baby stuff, and all we can think is: She looks like a million bucks. Or $3 million. Or maybe even $4 million, depending on who you believe. "Just taking a walk around the block... Street legal???," Simpson said Friday on Twitter as she posted a photo of herself, above left, flashing massive amounts of mama cleavage. Compare that to her look from "The Dukes of Hazzard," above right, circa 2005. The difference now is that Simpson is under contract with Weight Watchers, CNNMoney reported a while back, and millions are riding on her ability to take her 5-foot-3 shape from a reported high of 210 pounds while pregnant down to a goal weight of 130. Simpson and fiance Eric Johnson welcomed daughter Maxwell Drew Johnson on May 1. Maxwell was delivered by C-section, meaning Jessica had to do some healing before hitting the gym. Back in 2005, a 25-year-old Simpson, then married to Nick Lachey, got in shape for those Daisy Duke short-shorts with a low-carb, high-protein diet and two hours a day, six days a week of running, squats, lunges and weight-resistance exercises, under the guidance of trainer Michael Alexander.  Now it'll be Points Plus for the new mom, who turns 32 next month, and workouts with trainer Haley Pasternak, according to InTouch, which reported that the fashionista recently hit the gym five times over 14 days.

CoolBrands International Inc., the maker of Eskimo Pie and other frozen desserts, was accused by Weight Watchers International Inc. of breaking an agreement by stockpiling ice cream products licensed by Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers alleges in documents filed in New York State Supreme Court that Markham, Canada-based CoolBrands intended to keep a supply of Weight Watchers Smart Ones and sell them for a year after the expiration of a licensing agreement.

Weight Watchers Food Co., a division of H.J. Heinz Co., said Monday that it will close its Orange executive offices as part of the company's ongoing efforts at cost cutting. All 100 Orange County-based corporate employees were offered positions with the company in offices either in Pittsburgh or Connecticut. So far, 15 employees have indicated they plan to make the move east with the company.

TNT announcer Charles Barkley may have caught some flack after calling his shedding of 38 pounds in three months for a Weight Watchers campaign a " scam " (comments that he sort of seemed to mean in a good way, allowing the company a graceful response). But in spite of that hot-mic accident -- and though the former Phoenix Suns power forward has been known to trade snappy remarks with the Miami Heat 's Dwyane Wade -- he and the younger basketball player share an emphasis on getting fitter and eating right.

When we diet, most of us eat more fruits and vegetables, many choose an established weight loss program, and one in four of us gets some help from a smartphone app. Those are some of the results from a recent ConsumerReports.org survey of 3,201 subscribers who shared their experiences about becoming more healthy. With a few days left until you begin your new year's resolutions to lose weight, get in shape and feel good in 2012, perhaps some of these enlightening tidbits will help steer you in the right direction.