Any Weight Watchers Leaders or Ex-Weight Watchers Leaders?

Paulina_Fortune

Hi,

I'm thinking about becoming a Weight Watchers leader and I'd like to pick the brains of any current or former Leaders.

I basically want the unvarnished truth about it, which I suspect I won't get when I apply!

I would appreciate any information you could give me. Message me if you don't want to put your comments on the forum.

Thanks.

Home_Alone_2

Haha Weight Watchers and Slimming World - a load of codswallop. The reason they are still going is because they allow a person too much to eat. Consequently you have to keep going, losing a pound, gaining a pound, staying the same. Oh dear, I follow it to the letter, why aren't I losing. You are not losing because they allow you to eat too much. 31 points on WW for a super obese person - no wonder they aren't losing. It's way too much to eat and if you don't eat it all they say you won't lose because you are not eating enough. Slimming World is just as bad with unlimited food, equating to masses of calories. The best way to lose weight is calorie controlled and upping exercise. Rant over. Oh, your original question. Sorry I haven't a clue!

anoraktoysuk

One of the main problems with WW is having enough storage space for all the stock your expected to hold, unless you have a spare room or secure garage it can quickly take over your house.

eternal_sunshine

Home_Alone wrote: »

Haha Weight Watchers and Slimming World - a load of codswallop. The reason they are still going is because they allow a person too much to eat. Consequently you have to keep going, losing a pound, gaining a pound, staying the same. Oh dear, I follow it to the letter, why aren't I losing. You are not losing because they allow you to eat too much. 31 points on WW for a super obese person - no wonder they aren't losing. It's way too much to eat and if you don't eat it all they say you won't lose because you are not eating enough. Slimming World is just as bad with unlimited food, equating to masses of calories. The best way to lose weight is calorie controlled and upping exercise. Rant over. Oh, your original question. Sorry I haven't a clue!

funny how i've lost 4 and a half stone on weightwatchers and it hasn't gone back on...

OP-hope someone comes along with some helpful advice, good luck to you if you decide to go ahead

scotty_lawrie

eternal_sunshine wrote: »

funny how i've lost 4 and a half stone on weightwatchers and it hasn't gone back on...

OP-hope someone comes along with some helpful advice, good luck to you if you decide to go ahead

i also lost nearly 4 stone with Weight Watchers, and not put a pound of it back on. I still go to keep it in check, along with excercise, but i know i couldnt have done it without them .

heretolearn_2

Yep, I've lost weight too since October, and we have a lot of long-term successful members at our group. I think it's one of the few 'diets' that does work, mainly because it isn't really a 'diet' in the trad sense.

I've wondered about the leadership as well, for the future. I suspect you don't exactly make a fortune. Add up the number of people at an average meeting, most of our members are now on £20 a month direct debit, so you can add up rough income. But now take off a % (only guessing but lets say 20%) as the payment to WW, plus hall hire, teas/coffees/other expenses and advertising. We have about 4 people assisting at our meetings: I've no idea if they are paid, get free meetings in return, or just volunteer to be nice! She runs a small shop but doesn't sell much.

I worked out (roughly) that she probably clears about £50 per meeting, if it's busy. She does 3 groups a week, but then again you've got to take off travel expenses etc...also the time isn't just the 1 hour at the meeting. There's quite a lot of admin, the travel, probably training and updating time...

It might be worth it as a top-up (for me) but I wouldn't see it as a decent sole income/business.

Paulina_Fortune

My thanks to everyone who took the time to post useful replies.

Weight Watchers does work and I think that the support people get at the meetings really makes a difference.

I actually already help out at one meeting, so know a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes.

I think I'll take the plunge and find out more about it from Weight Watchers. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thanks again.

Paulina.

paulwf

I think heretolearn is on the right track, do some rough calculations on how much you can make (after expenses) per meeting and multiply that by the number of meetings per week. Remember that is self employed income so no sick pay and holiday pay which can be a considerable amount over a year.

I would think the main question to ask when you have the interview is what size territory do you get and is it exclusive? My area seems to be absolutely saturated with Slimming World classes.

I would also ask what the arrangements are if you are on holiday or are sick. Also ask yourself how flexible you are with holidays and what your sick record is like.

IMHO these sort of things work best for someone that is assertive and prepared to get out and about to promote their business (our local SW rep has a stall in the town centre sometimes and always gets herself in the paper). If you hate selling or interacting with the public then it will be much harder to get clients.

jillyflower

I used to be a weight watchers leader but it was about 10 years ago so can only comment on what it was like then but I found them very good to work for, very supportive and at that time no fee to be a consultant, you had to pay a deposit of £50 for your training but if you remained with them for 6 months you got it back.
Unfortunatly I've gained all the weight I lost so am attending classes again but again I'm thinking of reapplying to become a class leader. I left because I was pregnant (I didn't have to leave just wanted to).
some one asked about sickness and holidays in an earlier post well they used to cover that with another leader from the area.
Hope this is of some help, but as I said it was a while ago.

corky2

They are now employees since WW lost against HMRC last year