Weight Watchers Diet Works! (According to Weight Watchers-Funded Study)

According to a new study, people following the super-popular Weight Watchers dieting program for a year were able to lose 15 pounds -- two times as much as people who followed normal medical weight loss advice from a doctor or nurse. The research was funded by the Weight Watchers corporation. But it was published in a very well-respected medical journal called the Lancet... so it's probably not total BS!

Researchers followed nearly 800 obese and overweight people for 12 months. Half of them followed the Weight Watchers program and half attended special 1-on-1 "weight management" meetings with their doctor every month. About 60% of the Weight Watchers group stuck with the program for the entire year and lost 15 lbs. Even those who dropped out lost weight, about 11 pounds on average.

Experts believe that the social/group support/accountability aspect of Weight Watchers -- which includes weekly weight-ins to track progress -- is what makes it more effective than typical medical weight loss approaches. According to Dr. Michael Jensen from the Mayo Clinic:

"It's not terribly surprising that a group whose whole career is basically helping people with weight management would do a better job than a primary-care group that has a lot more responsibilities on top of that."

Other commercial weight loss programs -- like Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and other pre-packaged diet food programs -- have provided similar results in other studies. In fact, a 2010 study funded by Jenny Craig found that women were able to lose about 20 pounds in a year while using the program.

We say: We think weight loss and fitness programs that involve healthy amounts of social peer pressure are going to become more and more popular -- because they work. There's nothing worse than being the only person in a social support group who's actually getting fatter!

Learn some mo': Dieters in Weight Watchers study drop up to 15 pounds in a year