AN INVESTMENT IN
HUMAN CAPITAL

Better employee health truly does lead to a healthier corporate bottom line. Not only will your organization's weight-control initiative create goodwill among employees, you can — and should —expect measurable results.

A study by Dee W. Edington, PhD, of the University of Michigan and his colleagues was the first to examine the relationship between medical costs and the six weight groups (underweight, healthy weight, overweight, plus three different obesity designations based on body mass index).

Controlling weight and obesity-related health conditions —is especially important to corporations,— the study authors said, “where the percentage of revenue spent on medical benefits continues to increase.”

Average annual medical costs were lowest for the healthy-weight group. Medical costs steadily increased as body mass index increased, for the most part regardless of gender or age.

Our goal — yours and ours — is to keep low-risk employees at a healthy weight and assist higher-risk employees in lowering their weight. Even incremental drops mean dollars (and lives) saved. We'll work with you to get short term results and long term results.

SHORT-TERM RESULTS
Corporate measures of success include: tracking the number of employees (and dependents and retirees if included), adding up the total number of pounds lost, logging the percentage of attendees who reach their interim weight goals and final weight goal, and following participants for one year or more to monitor long-term weight maintenance.

LONG-TERM RESULTS
Your company must look at an investment in a weight-management program just like you would assess any capital investment. Only this time, the smart investment is in human capital.

Popular belief says that pounds lost are soon found again. But at Weight Watchers we can dispel that myth! A 2003 study shows that when it comes to weight maintenance, how you lose the weight does matter in maintaining weight loss over time. This study examined people who attended Weight Watchers meetings, achieved their weight goal and completed the six-week maintenance phase of the program. The national random sample showed that after two years, the participants had maintained 66% of their weight loss. After five years, the participants had maintained 48% of their weight loss.* These are excellent results.

Why such great results? The Weight Watchers program combines a science-based eating plan, behavior modification, regular activity and group support in weekly meetings that directly affect an individual’s long-term weight-loss success. Through weekly meetings, the Weight Watchers program is designed to assist members in learning how to eat more healthfully, to increase their physical activity to burn calories, and to handle all the daily challenges and barriers encountered to achieve and maintain weight loss.

*Weight Watchers makes no claim that these results are representative of all participants in the Weight Watchers program. For many dieters, weight loss is temporary.