These before-and-after photos show why the future of Weight Watchers is uncertain
There's the 21 Day Fix.
The 21 Day Fix is coupled with a workout program.
The workouts include pilates, yoga, cardio, and upper and body strength training. People who order the workout DVDs through Beachbody get a seventh bonus workout.
The workouts are led by trainer Autumn Calabrese.
The crux of the 21 Day Fix is portion control.
The plan provides containers for each food group.
The large green container is for vegetables, purple is for fruit, red is for protein, yellow is for carbs — there's not off limits! — blue is for healthy fats and cheese, and orange is for seeds and olives. You also get to drink Shakeology shakes, and you can have a teaspoon of liquid healthy fats, like olive oil, and nut butters.
Like in Weight Watchers, the diet permits followers to have some small indulgences.
People post wild results, and there's an embedded Instagram community.
"For me, coming from being the trainer, I think that it's huge in the fact that it is all about sharing your success or sharing people's success," Calabrese said to Business Insider in an interview this past April.
It's not devoid of criticism, though.
The diet "is just what they call it — a fix. To maintain a healthy weight and mentality, you need to make a lifestyle change. I don't like the idea that the name deceives you a little bit here," Kait Hanson wrote on The Huffington Post.
There's the Whole 30, which has taken Instagram by storm.
The Whole 30 eliminates a lot of food groups.
There's a list of foods that are off limits, like legumes, grains, sweeteners, dairy, and additives like carrageenan. You also can't "recreate" baked goods with healthy ingredients, as you can do on the Paleo diet — though there's a burgeoning industry of companies selling Whole30 products, like RxBars and avocado-oil mayonnaise.
The diet, which has been around since 2009, swears that by eating "real" permitted foods, you'll "change your life." It's a lofty promise, but judging by the many photos on Instagram, it's clear that many people are inspired by this concept.
The emphasis on eating whole, real foods — versus processed snacks — makes some of Weight Watchers' iconic prepared snacks seem antiquated.
You also aren't encouraged to count calories and you cannot step on the scale. Weight loss is a pleasant side effect, not the goal.
"You are not allowed to step on the scale or take any body measurements for the duration of the program," the website reads.
Still, that doesn't stop people from posting impressive before-and-after photos.
Whole 30 participants share their meals, too — that's a huge part of the program, and a huge part of the company's inherent community.
"The site is used by dieters as a modern version of sticking photos on the fridge, a support program without the hassle, public exposure or cost of joining a group in person," The New York Times' Katie Rogers wrote recently, discussing her own experience using Instagram while on The Whole 30.
Perhaps one of the most viral wellness programs out there is Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide.
The 25-year-old mogul has crafted an empire without even opening a gym. Her workouts and diet plans are available through PDFs or in her app, Sweat With Kayla.
She's also coming out with a book.
But perhaps most notably, people who take on her diet — which encourages women to eat multiple servings of carbs a day! — post impressive before-and-after photos.
Itsines has said she regrets calling her business the "bikini body guide." She frequently posts body positive messages on her website.
"Do I regret calling my guides Bikini Body? My answer is yes," Itsines said to Bloomberg Businessweek last month. "That’s why when I released the app, I called it Sweat With Kayla. Sweat is so empowering. I love that."
She posts photos that stress women to not focus on the number on the scale.
The group that follows Itsines' plans calls itself "Kayla's Army," and they've truly fostered a community.
There are other Instagram fitness and wellness brands that have similar programs to Itsines, like the Fit Body Guide and Tone It Up. They also post dramatic transformations of their followers.
It begs the question: does the Instagram community make Weight Watchers meetings obsolete?
Weight Watchers, however, has been stressing its sense of online community, too.
Additionally, Weight Watchers has made several efforts to appeal to society's shifting values.
"Our SmartPoints food plan, the cornerstone of the Beyond the Scale consumer platform, nudges consumers towards better food choices, while delivering even better early weight loss. Indeed, our members on SmartPoints are experiencing impressive weight loss results," CEO and President James R. Chambers said on a recent earnings call.
Chief Scientific Officer Gary Foster told Time several major changes the company made in December at the time of the launch of the new program, "Beyond The Scale."
For example, one of Weight Watchers' new core tenets is focusing on achievements that members achieve that cannot be measured — which thereby encourages a sense of body positivity.
Time also noted that the company would no longer let all calories count as equal. For examples, sugars – or refined carbs – are now tracked differently than complex carbs are tracked.
Additionally, Time reported that company no longer operates on a one-size-fits-all basis: points are more personal — not everyone gets the same lump extra 49 points a week. Further, Foster said to Time that exercise has become a core tenet of the brand — something that bodes well with the current atmosphere that values fitness.
That's important, because there's been a massive shift in the industry where people may be looking to lose weight, but they're looking to be their best selves. Health, not being as skinny as possible, is what's important to most consumers now.
An October 2015 report from the market research firm Mintel noted "the diet industry faces downward pressure as US adults also remain skeptical of the ingredients in diet-specific products and their effectiveness in managing weight."
People still post impressive before and after photos, so it's not entirely defunct. It's proof that trends aside, it works.
Don't forget, the company has Oprah.
Oprah bought a stake of the company in 2015 — and the stock surged. It surged again when she said she lost 26 pounds using Weight Watchers.
"Going forward, I believe for the Oprah Winfrey Weight Watchers partnership the best is yet to come. From our earliest conversations with Oprah, our strategic priority has been on maximizing our potential for winter 2017 and beyond," Chambers said on a recent earnings call.
And her iconic commercial about "eating bread" has telegraphed something that people love about Weight Watchers: flexibility.
"For example, the now famous Bread ad telegraphed to audiences that the new Weight Watchers food plan is livable, not restrictive, and still delivers weight loss," Chambers said on a recent earnings call. Consumers felt Oprah's joy and connected with her, and with Weight Watchers."
Further, the company really seems to be appealing to the body positivity movement — and that the diet is a lifestyle, not a quick fix.
But more than anything, consumers today advocate being strong and living healthy lifestyles over being skinny. It's in part linked to the body positivity movement.
"The current body positivity movement is driving a message that we should accept and make the most of our bodies, as opposed to see it as something our bodies as something that needs to be fixed and changed," Ruth Bernstein, Chief Strategic Officer of YARD, said to Business Insider earlier this summer. "Many consumers are more focused on being strong instead of skinny, and while that shift doesn't eliminate our desire to evolve and shape our bodies, and replace fat with muscle, there is a new understanding that in order to be fit and healthy, we need the proper nutritional intake."
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