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Weight Watchers for men; actually more fun than beer

Lucy Kippist

by Lucy Kippist

28 Apr 05:40am

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Filed under: Diet, Health, Men, Society, Weight Watchers

36 comments

The average guy with a few kilos to lose has no time for celebrity-endorsed weight–loss programs, according to Weight Watchers in the United States.

But he sure loves a good beer and a bit of joke at the expense of his mates, according to their new online advertising campaign (you can watch it in the video above).

You can tell a Weight Watchers “kind of guy” by one of three possible outfits.

Buttoned-down shirt guy who’s calculated the calorie difference between light and dark beer, round-necked-sweater guy who’s trimmed the fat off his BBQ pork chops,and t-shirt guy (whose name is Erik, by the way) who brazenly points out how much better he’ll look when compared to his chubbier mates:

“Hey, I might be the one on the diet but I’m also looking a lot better than you right now,” he says to the camera.

Not being a man I can’t vouch for how successful this new campaign will be, but as a woman and therefore the target of thousands of similar campaigns, it’s fascinating to observe the differences.

For example, one sure-fire way to ensure a female weight loss program advertisement is an instant flop would be to include a woman pointing out her friend’s weight gain in the manner of t-shirt guy.

Modesty and discretion are imperative, and most women find it very hard to accept a compliment, even after post-diet success.  There’s a reason why the final image in most of the female versions of these ads are of the woman’s partner giving her the silent nod of approval as she steps out of the car on a date, or walks past in a red mini-skirt Special K-style.

Another way would be to make them dopey, co-dependent or just kind of bogan, like the three guys in the Weight Watchers ad - because the stars of female weight loss ads are positive, focused and successful.

They’re also always independent - running a busy household and career or juggling both. Nobody’s made them go on the diet and they’re determined to change their life on their own terms.

Alcohol is rarely mentioned. While all three men in this ad grieve the regular round of weekend beers, it’s the extra slice of chocolate cake or the packet chips smuggled in while cooking dinner that’s the cliché bugbear of female dieters on TV.

So are there any advantages to this kind of ad? And can anything really be gained from this lingering sense of “taking the piss” kind of joviality? Well, yes, and it’s a healthier approach to body image for a start.

Snubbing perfectly-honed celebrity perfection, à la Hugh Jackman in Wolverine, in favour of looking a bit better than your un-fit best mate in his boardies actually sets a pretty realistic benchmark for good health.

Compare this with women who remain largely unable to reject the pressure to live up to someone else’s vision of female perfection and wear themselves out in the process. Check out this female-oriented Weight Watchers ad featuring Jennifer Hudson.

Plus, if a program can help you take yourself less seriously and share the pain with your mates along the way, then it’s bound to be a hundred times more fun than slogging it out alone.

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36 comments

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    • michael j says:

      06:50am | 28/04/11

      Common Lucy the only thing better than drinking beer ,,is drinking more beer ,,
      with a rum chaser,,wish i could afford some,,,,,,,,

      Reply

    • AliceC says:

      09:01am | 28/04/11

      How many people died of starvation while you read this article, Michael J?

    • Adam says:

      09:27am | 28/04/11

      @Alice

      please, develop a sence of humour

      or visit a different site

    • trentyn says:

      02:17pm | 28/04/11

      FLAMEON
      @AliceC

      About as many as passed in the time it took you to come up with that witty retort I’d say.
      FLAMEOFF

      in all seriousness, westerners overeating isn’t why other nations are starving, its their economic management.

    • acotrel says:

      07:23am | 28/04/11

      Lucy, It’s good exercise walking to the pub!

      Reply

    • Adam says:

      07:58am | 28/04/11

      it’s even better on the way home, with all the reeling side to side and one step forward two backward I get an even longer workout

    • SimpleSimon says:

      08:58am | 28/04/11

      Incidentally, I spend most of my time at the pub doing bicep curls…...

    • KH says:

      08:17am | 28/04/11

      I wish these kinds of ads were also for women - it is more realistic than presenting some hollywood star as a role model, and claiming that you too could look like that.  Even if I became a walking skeleton I am never going to be Kate Hudson.  But the implication is that not looking like her (or whichever actor/model it is) means I have failed in some way.  These guys, like most of us, are average, and the reasons for the watching of the diet are logical and based on health or how they look.  There is no implication that they should or could look like some hollywood dude who trains 6 hours a day - they can just be themselves, only a bit lighter.

      Reply

    • Tubesteak says:

      09:03am | 28/04/11

      Us men can be a bit stubborn when it comes to lifestyle change. Essentially, you have to ease us into it. Encourage us to make little improvements like not too many biscuits and a few less beers (very painful that part). Then as the momentum builds we find the willpower to go a bit further.

      Yes, it sounds stupid and makes us look like dolts and slobs. But I don’t think you’re going to get your typical pie and chips eater to swap to skinless chicken breast and broccoli overnight and go for a run the next morning.

      There was an article on the SMH written by Michael Jarosky (sp?) a little while ago. It hit the nail on the head about these sort of groups.

      Reply

    • Tubesteak says:

      02:00pm | 28/04/11

      That’s the one, Nigel. And I spelled Michael’s name correctly! yay me.

    • Dash says:

      09:27am | 28/04/11

      OK, so I’ve never really had a weight problem. All through my time playing Aussie Rules I was trying to put the weight on rather than take it off. And now that I’m marching through the 30s at a rapid rate, I’m a little bit obsessive when it comes to time in the gym. Missing a few days over the Easter break has made me feel bad!

      I’m no expert but forget the “celebrity weight loss programs”!!!! I’ve found the secret is to maintain your metabalism at a reasonable level, not to do the starvation or fad diet! In fact, the fad diet is worse for you as the body will store more fat to compensate for the lack of energy you’re putting into it. Eat well, more portions, smaller sizes (6meals a day), lots of water. You must exercise - do both resistence (weight training) and Aerobic. You only need a short period of time 20mins a day but at high intensity will do the trick. Keep alcohol to a minimum because the body burns toxins first.

      Oh and btw, most men do not expect their women to be or look like Jennifer Hudson! Women need to relax and just be happy and healthy. Why try to look like someone else when you can be happy just being your own attractive self!

      Reply

    • Ben21 says:

      12:47pm | 28/04/11

      The logic is this mans post regarding meals and exercise is spot on. It’s really that simple. Eat six, smaller proportioned meals, of sound nutritional value, combined with weight training and aerobic exercise and you will lose fat and build muscle.

    • Stu says:

      01:23pm | 28/04/11

      Dash you are spot on.

      I went to a dietician who guided me in the foods that I can eat for my body type. Prior, I was training 6 days a week but had a constant layer of fat and my physio said it wasn’t right. Since changing a few things about what I eat, so little that I really don’t notice the difference, I lost 10kg in 2 months and my training loads have almost doubled. Its not rocket science really. The change just needs to be sustainable. Eat good quality foods with lots of fruit and veg, very little processed foods and make sure you don’t eat too much all the time.

    • Old Bert says:

      01:31pm | 28/04/11

      “Keep alcohol to a minimum….”, that’s where my interest waned, or, if I was a Dragon’s player,  Wayne’d, after this year. Fortunately I’ve been picked to play for the Knights next year. Unbelievable but true. I, on the other hand, expect my women to look like Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful actress,  intelligent, a scientist and inventor. It’s not she who needs to look like someone else, it’s me. I’m the one stuck with looking like someone else. Clark Gable. I try not to. It’s embarrasing. Wish me luck during the NRL season.

    • Kebabpete says:

      09:28am | 28/04/11

      As a guy, its amazing how easily you can relate to the guys in that advert. Unfortunately though, the problem for most of us is that beer and pork chops (with the fat left on!) just tastes so damn good!

      In the words of Homer J. Simpson, “You don’t make friends with salad.”

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      09:31am | 28/04/11

      I’m a man who has done weight watchers and benefitted enormously from it.
      I had made the point in my meeting group that the WW program was female-oriented, which makes sense as it was 80% women - men generally don’t give a toss how they look, as opposed to who they are, in order to manage their self-esteem.
      There is a male WW program and it helps to understand male motivations - you will have more success targeting men when you show the bloke who is exhausted after kicking a ball around with his kids for more than 10 minutes, rather than the current WW female motivation techniques of “Stick with it and you’ll fit into that dress from 5 years ago.”
      I got onto WW when I realised I was getting puffed walking from the station to the office and I was sluggish in my sports team. I spent 10 months on WW and lost 17kg and re-learned how to eat properly. I always ate fresh healthy food, I just ate double portions as I love food! I had to train my body to be happy with less.
      Now I have no problem playing a full 90 minutes of football at age 36, bushwalking all day with my kids, and I look better which means I can dress smarter for work as clothes hang better off my slimmer frame.
      None of this would have worked if you’d tried to motivate me with the idea of “thin is good,” or “your friends will like you more if you’re thinner,” or other female-centric ideas.

      Reply

    • Markus says:

      10:32am | 28/04/11

      Only point you raised that I’m not sure I agree with is that men generally don’t give a toss how they look.
      I believe it’s more of a case of men feeling they aren’t allowed to publicly admit that they give a toss. Any time they are queried on their motivation for going to the gym it is always ‘getting back in shape’ or ‘getting fit for the footy season’, despite some of them never having played footy in their life.

    • Arnold says:

      12:37pm | 28/04/11

      We can’t all be girlymen like you.
      PS Don’t be such a slave to fashion.

    • KH says:

      01:31pm | 28/04/11

      Well done Steve.  I notched up my 5 years as a life member last year.  What I like about it is they use real food - not some packaged foods or milkshakes or something silly like that, which is unsustainable over a long period - say, forever.  Learning to deal with real food is the best way to go, along with some encouragement to exercise.  The motivational stuff is to keep you going every week, because it is a long haul - breaking habits you took years learning won’t happen in a couple of weeks.  I would say it took me a good couple of years for things to start really becoming a new ‘normal’ - new habits I will now have for the rest of my life.

      WW should be more appealing to men - most men I know wouldn’t go for special meal replacement shakes or packages with ‘Jenny Craig’ written all over them!!

    • TheRealSteve says:

      11:09am | 02/05/11

      I feel like i’ve walked into a Weigth Watchers add. These comments sound like they have been lifted from the ‘testimonials’ on the website

    • Richard says:

      09:49am | 28/04/11

      What a load of baloney. The only proper way for men to lose weight is to hit the gym and pump iron; to play sport with their mates and play for keeps; to eat man food like BBQ steak and chicken drumsticks; and if they do drink a bunch of beers on the weekend, to burn it all off that same very night with a prolonged bout of rumpy-pumpy (preferably with multiple female partners).

      If a guy I knew joined Jenny Craig, I’d be laughing at him too, and he wouldn’t be able to use a comeback like “I look a lot better than you right now” on me either.

      Reply

    • toms says:

      10:34am | 28/04/11

      well I’ve got to admit. if you went down the pub and made the “I look a lot better than you right now” comeback you sure would drink less beer - after the hundredth gay and “does my bum look big in this?” joke made about you you’d have to quit drinking with your mates and start hanging out with the girls.

      Reply

    • Arthur fcknuckle says:

      10:45am | 28/04/11

      No real man would give a sht about this including me

      Reply

    • DS says:

      02:19pm | 28/04/11

      So men who do give a shit about it are not ‘real’? Riiight.

    • braunman says:

      11:09am | 28/04/11

      Diet programs in general do have an image problem, with the perception that only women care about their weight and it’s considered “unmanly” to count calories. Weight watchers is one of the better programs but you really don’t need to subscribe to them to lose weight (actually body fat is probably a more accurate description).

      All the program does is encourage you to keep a diary of everything you eat, but really you don’t need to pay money to do that. If you have trouble with weight loss, by all means write down everything you consume. You’d be surprised how much those additional snacks add up. No need to cut down on the beer though, beer is an essential food group!

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      12:02pm | 28/04/11

      Certainly much better ad than the patronising “Swap it” ads that taxpayers are footing the bill for.

      Reply

    • JulesG says:

      12:03pm | 28/04/11

      I’m am trying to loose a bit of weight without a formal diet. I have lost 9kg since February. The prob with diets is that at some point you stop them and regain 95% of the weight you’d lost.

      I love my pub and some things are just not negotiable. I like a wine and a beer and I have discovered that a combination of both fill me up and I fore go my evening meal. On the days that I don’t go to the pub and have an evening meal, I’m always heavier the next morning.

      So come on lads get down to your local - sup up, drink and be merry but go easy on the eating bit. A light low carb breakfast, lunch and a beer/wine sandwich for dinner and a bit of exercise - you won’t recognise yourself in a couple of weeks and the pub does an awful lot to, ‘gentle your condition’ as well.

      Reply

    • papachango says:

      03:47pm | 28/04/11

      ...trouble is you get hammered drinking on an empty stomach - then ruin it all by grabing a souvlaki on the way home anyway.

    • Steven L says:

      12:18pm | 28/04/11

      Hey, there’s four guys in the ad.  What about the first guy you see, they might not tell you, but he lost 47 lbs on weight watchers.  Yep, that guy is me and I have to tell you, that the plan really does work.  I don’t count calories and I don’t drink much beer but I do grill, like scotch and happen to be in the best shape of my life, thanks to Weight Watchers.  I follow the plan, track what I eat, and we all just talk about our own experience in the ad. The point of it really was to show that weight watchers is for men to and that you can eat, drink, and live like a regular guy.  There’s no starving yourself, or eating like a waif, just pay attention to how much you eat, make some better food choices, and stepping up the exercise.  It really does work.

      Reply

    • Macca says:

      12:32pm | 28/04/11

      “and most women find it very hard to accept a compliment”

      Really, Lucy?

      Because I find that most women gather up compliments as quickly and readily as they are available, like little acorns, when women feel good about themselves they will soak up every minute ego boost they can to ensure sustainance during the cold, hibernating, winter months when they are single and fat.

      As for Diet Programs for men, calorie caluclators - exercise conducted = weight lose.

      Go for a run, eat a brown bread salad sandwhich and you won’t look like Jonah Hill as much.

      Reply

    • Audra Blue says:

      12:35pm | 28/04/11

      Doing a piss take weight loss commercial would fall down dead for women.  You’d get the inevitable, “you’re so meeeaaaann, you don’t know how haaaarrd it is for us, you don’t have to be so naaaasty” whine and it would be depressing.

      I find it endlessly amusing that for men to feel good about themselves, they just need to drop a few kilos.  For women to feel the same way, they need to look like a supermodel.

      Weird, when you realise that most men want a woman a little on the curvy side instead of the stupid, pointless, androgynous ideal all the mags say we should achieve.

      Reply

    • Lovin' da Waifs says:

      02:39pm | 28/04/11

      No, sorry: I like skinny women. I’ve had enough of all the “average” or “curvy” women on Plenty of Fish who actually pack more weight than your average, curvy african rhinoceros irl.

    • Audra Blue says:

      03:16pm | 28/04/11

      If you look for love on Plenty of Fish, you deserve to be hornswaggled by the fat cows who call themselves “curvy”.

      I’m talking about women who are actually curvy and not emaciated and bony.  But if you like that sort of female, more power to you.

    • Shane says:

      10:21am | 29/04/11

      @Lovin’ da Waifs and Audra Blue
      And they say women are the nasty and bitchy ones. You both sound like a couple of losers who couldn’t get either a waif or a ‘fat cow’.

    • Kate says:

      12:39pm | 28/04/11

      Cute story and campaign. Thanks for the laugh Lucy.

      Reply
 
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