Saturday, May 7, 2011

Manning up the nerve to talk about food

We first launched Weight Watchers Online for Men about four years ago.  Prior to that, the Online product was unisex other than the fact that it had lots of articles that arguably had a feminine slant (Stress Eating?  Take a Bath Instead!).  Weight Watchers Online for Men basically took all of the same tools, but packaged them around articles and features more suitable for a mannish lifestyle.  All the usual cliches applied such as beer, grilling, etc.  We developed a nice base of dude subscribers, including me.  

The only thing missing was the little issue of not really telling anyone about it.  Lots of guys kind of assume that Weight Watchers is only concerned about women, so it doesn't even dawn on them to look for something designed for the hairier sex.  

It made my heart glad the other morning when I saw a Weight Watchers Online for Men ad pop up while I was eating my oatmeal and watching CNN.  The male race had finally arrived in the world of Weight Watchers, and Weight Watchers was finally spreading the good word to the other 50% of the population.  

Here is one of the spots...


I like this spot a lot mostly because all three guys are actual subscribers who have had great success, and they get the whole Weight Watchers thing.  And they're pretty funny to boot.  

However, there is also a part of the ad that is arguably a little sad.  The spot has to get into things like BEER and GRILLING and other overtly mannish signaling devices as if to say "Hey guys, jump in!  The water's fine!".  It also pokes fun at the unseen other guys who were clearly teasing one of the three guys for doing Weight Watchers.  It seems a shame that the ad has to go out of its way to prove that Weight Watchers is OK for guys, and that it's OK for guys to deal with their weight issues. 

The reality is that many guys still don't feel comfortable talking about weight issues let alone doing something about them.  We still need to be convinced that it's OK to consciously make healthier choices and to burn more calories than we take in.  The advertisement is merely a reflection of this reality, and it does its noble best to begin to break down some of these calcified perception issues.  

Men are very happy to blog prolifically about their exercise routines and share notes all the time on matters of biking, running, lifting, etc.  However, they rarely seem to share notes on food choices, managing portion sizes, and they certainly don't get into the emotional aspects of eating.  

Do a search of weight loss blogs, and see what percentage have female scribes vs. male ones.  I'd have to guess that 95% of the weight-oriented blogs are written by women.  Men just don't talk about this stuff.  In fact, the reason I first started writing this blog was that I believed that there were not enough men out there talking about weight, weight loss and healthy life.  I'm grateful for every other guy who does the same, even this guy out in California named Jack Sh*t, who likes to make fun of me.  

I certainly write about my own experiences.  Do I talk about them too?  Most definitely, but usually with the women I know.  That said, I have some dude co-workers who are willing to engage on the topic, but mostly to make fun of each other.  Frankly, teasing beats silence, so it's something.  Outside of work, most of the guys I know almost seem embarrassed to talk about what they eat or what their struggles are. They usually don't get much further than making fun of themselves for being out of shape and having a belly.  

Does it matter?  I am starting to think it does.  If we guys feel self-conscious about talking about eating more healthily and eating less, then we may feel the same way on actually carrying out healthy behaviors.  Is it actually embarrassing or unmanly to eat healthily?  I hope not, but I do worry.  

Talking about food choices and nutrition should be the most natural thing in the world for a guy to do.  We share notes on cars and gadgets all the time.  We obsessively track stats from the sports pages and stock market.  We love keeping score.  Why not talk about the fact that scallops have practically no PointsPlus values, yet they have tons of protein.  Why not talk about the fact that a bowl of fruit is a huge amount of food that keeps you full, but it has relatively few calories compared to most processed foods.  

I'm not preaching here, because I have been (and sometimes still am) one of those guys who feels a little shy about the topic.  I think that the shyness comes from not wanting to admit that I'm on a "diet".  The shyness comes from feeling badly about not having enough "will power" to conquer my food demons.  The fact is this:  there are still lots of stigmas and emotional issues around weight and weight loss, and none of them are helpful.  This has always been the case for women, and it's increasingly the case for men too.  They just come in a different form.  

In my utopian view of the world, we would all treat weight, healthy lifestyle and obesity as a math problem to be solved.  On some basic level it is just that:  the first law of thermodynamics.  Use more energy than you take in, and fat stores go down.  It's all numbers and keeping score from there.  When we look at the topic in this construct, there is nothing whatsoever about it that is deserving of embarrassment or shyness.  

Btw, here is a fun little fact about the men who subscribe to Weight Watchers Online:  in our satisfaction surveys, they rate the product at least as high as their female counterparts.  More importantly, they have some pretty impressive weight loss results.  The simple truth is this:  counting and keeping score works in weight management.  Nothing un-masculine about that.  

Cheers,

dk

13 comments:

  1. I'm happy to see the guys at meetings but you rarely see one by himself. He's usually with the wife or girlfriend. I was never able to get my husband to go to meetings but he was willing to eat on plan as long as I controlled everything. :)

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  2. "I like this spot a lot mostly because all three guys are actual subscribers who have had great success, and they get the whole Weight Watchers thing. And they're pretty funny to boot.

    However, there is also a part of the ad that is arguably a little sad. The spot has to get into things like BEER and GRILLING and other overtly mannish signaling devices as if to say "Hey guys, jump in! The water's fine!". It also pokes fun at the unseen other guys who were clearly teasing one of the three guys for doing Weight Watchers. It seems a shame that the ad has to go out of its way to prove that Weight Watchers is OK for guys, and that it's OK for guys to deal with their weight issues. "

    My thoughts on the ads EXACTLY. I love hearing the same from you!

    It's funny, my fiance (man) is way more comfortable talking about calories and all that (he's not on WW) than I am, but I realize he's in the minority. He's always trying to help his partner at work (they're paramedics and work 48 hour shifts together) eat better...his partner has ideas of what is "healthy", but not how many calories are in what. So he switched from some "unhealthy" breakfast to a GIGANTIC bowl of yogurt and granola every morning, or from a snack of a Snickers bar to a GIGANTIC bag of "yogurt" covered peanuts (because, you see, yogurt is good for you, and nuts are good for you), which is easily 4 times the calories of the candy bar. My fiance does his best to educate once or twice, then just shuts his mouth, hahaha.

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  3. I just wanted to thank whomever at WW it was that finally rearranged the nutritional information order on e-tools. I'm not sure how long ago the change happened (b/c I've sorta not been tracking for a while), but I am back at it and it was a HUGE help tonight when I had to enter the NI of a couple of foods from their labels.

    And, a former male co-worker just reached out to me two weeks ago about my success with WW and his desire to join so I was able to forward your blog post to him as encouragement.

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  4. I'm so glad to see this! My brother just re-joined WW after a year's "hiatus" (in which he only regained about 30 of what he'd taken off). I have another friend who lost 75 pounds but stopped attending meetings because he couldn't find one that seemed to fit him or address the issues of guys needing to lose weight.

    I'm thrilled to see that WW is helping the guys see that it's okay to admit problems with food, with weight issues. I hope that soon, our culture will wake up to treat obesity and weight/food problems as a health issue and not merely one of vanity!

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  5. I agree - great idea to reach out to men. My husband definitely feels like weight watchers is for women. I have seen a few men at meeting but they are much older and probably there for health reasons. I love your weekly blog. It inspires me and makes me laugh. I was a little disappointed that today of all days "Mother's Day", when Mom's are being swarmed with food your blog was all about MEN!!!

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  6. I nearly fell over earlier this weekend when my husband and I saw a WW for Men advertisement on ESPN! It was an exciting moment. (Okay, it's the little things... Little for me, big for you.) Anyhoo, another interesting post. Thanks :)

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  7. Good Post. Men's nutrition and health seems to center on how to build bigger muscles and getting ripped. Not enough about good nutrition. BTW, David how much was your highest weight? Thanks for the inspiration.

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  8. We were watching the Military Channel when we first saw the spot. It led to a very interesting discussion! I understood right away why it focused on WW Online vs. meeting rooms -- men DO NOT want to sit around and talk about weight loss...conquering it in the privacy of their own home = brillant!

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  9. Just a thought... you know how gyms have family plans, one signs up, a discount to add the spouse? One spouse goes, and gets the other one to go, and maybe both get healthier. Yeah, if we believe the stereotype, it's men getting wives to go. What if WW offered a family plan.... one wife signs up, one spouse gives it a try, too. Maybe both get healthier. And sabotage goes out the window, and support gets more supportive. My .02.

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  10. Most of the guys I know can look in the mirror and think they look okay, in spite of the fact that they can't see their belt - or even their toes! But I do work with several guys that discuss WL with me - and I work at a utility company in a predominately overweight area of CT. Maybe one day WL for men will become mainstream - if only for health reasons.

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  11. Great post Dave...When I started I was one of two guys in the meeting. The numbers have gotten a little better, but it is still 10 to 1. I have had great success on the program (lost 135) and people are surprised that I did it via Weight Watchers...it is really odd, but I just tell them the truth it is a great program for guys too. I think it just comes down to it is hard to ask for help, to admit that there is even a problem. That was what took me so long to go...but once I was in there it really works.

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  12. There are many wonderful indications that the walls have truly come tumbling down in terms of men being welcome in Weight Watchers, but none of them is more amazing to me than this blog. I've been a member since the late 90s when I became accustomed to being the only man in the meeting, so I've seen the gradual rise in our numbers as well as the the predictably tentative, nervous corporate response. But with all of those changes I still find it hard to believe - and overwhelmingly delightful - that the most intelligent personal weight-loss blog on the internet is being written by the male CEO of Weight Watchers. This is patience rewarded in the extreme.

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  13. I like that WW is gearing itself more towards men. My husband made a very valid observation the other day when we were looking at flavored powders to put in our water; they were all "girlie" flavors. He is not much of a strawberry-kiwi kind of guy. I wonder if manufacturers of these products will soon start to realize that it's not just about the girls anymore?

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