Weight Watchers

"It's not a diet—it's a lifestyle. " Yeah, I'll remember that when I'm sweating over a food scale weighing four ounces of sodium-free deli meat to put on my 50-calorie rice cake.

Weight Watchers, or 'WW' as they now call it to avoid being labeled a diet, has been a staple of diet culture for decades - it evolved from a community of women looking to slim down to a cult-like corporation worth hundreds of millions of dollars - inspiring eating disorders around the globe.

Madi Mayfield (who I interviewed in the last episode - check it out!) sits down with me to discuss the history, pitfalls, and personal experiences we've both had with Weight Watchers. We go over its villain origin story, why Oprah resigned from the board, and why the FTC is fining the company 1.5 million dollars for an app affectionately named Kurbo. Brilliant.

Share your personal experiences or submit questions for the pod at [email protected]

Follow Madi Mayfield:@mindfulmadijane

Follow your host Morgan Lorraine Gallo: https://linktr.ee/morganlorrainegallo

@morganlorrainegallo

0:00 Intro to Weight Watchers

1:00 The Origin of Weight Watchers

03:44 What is Weight Watchers Today

05:54 WW is a Cult

09:09 Personal Experience With WW

18:03 The Controversy of Kurbo

23:31 The Shift of Diet Culture

25:31 Madi's Experience with Ozempic

30:16 Getting to Body Neutrality

33:28 Morgan's Experience with Weight Watchers

36:46 Weight Watchers is a Game

39:17 My Last ED Hoorah

41:57 Recipes

42:50 Resources

43:42 Listener Question

46:58 First Time I Felt Fat

50:16 Where To Find Madi