Healthy Weight Loss Diet Plan: The Jean Nidetch Story: An Autobiography (Paperback) Review

On Columbus Day, October 12, 1923, Jean Slutsky was born in New York City. Her father was thin. Her mother was fat. Young Jean weighed only 7 pounds-plus at birth but grew steadily larger than she should, a roly poly baby, a chubby teen. She lost some weight to marry in 1947 an even fatter husband, Marty Nidetch, a happy-go-lucky bus driver. Their greatest joy was dining out together, always on the lookout for places that served free second helpings.

In September 1961, just before her 38th birthday, now a mother, 5' 7" Jean Nidetch weighed 214 pounds and sported size 44 dresses. Marty was 5'10" and weighed 265 pounds. In a supermarket that day a friend asked Jean when she was "due." Not pregnant, Jean was shaken. Within weeks she had enrolled in a New York City Department of Health Obesity Clinic, with a very rigid list of those foods and only those that might be and must be eaten. In the first ten weeks Jean lost 20 pounds but found no one at the Obesity Clinic who wanted to pat her on the back for her success. Any whining by Jean or other dieters was cut off ruthlessly.

Jean decided that she would never lose the 74 pounds the Obesity Clinic demanded without sympathetic overweight friends who could empathize with her struggle. Going it alone with no "atta girls" was not for Jean. She called six girl friends together and told them the drastic diet she was on that had made her shed 20 pounds (despite nighttime cheating with chocolate marshmallow cookies). Their first reaction: "You don't look it!" (Ch. 4, p. 41)

But the group kept meeting every week, pledged to follow the New York City diet. As Jean lectured away, part mother hen, part advocate, the group kept on growing. On October 30, 1962 Jean Slutsky Nidetch met her weight loss goal: down 72 pounds to 142, dress size from 44 to 12. And her friends did well, too.

Soon, with some legal help, Jean founded WEIGHT WATCHERS, INTERNATIONAL. And the rest, as they say, is history. Its 1961 creation, the weekly adult education, weigh-in and support group meeting, remains at its core.

I found this a fascinating read, full of insights and tips. For example, early on Jean decided there had to be a reason why some people are thin. Did it have to do with their eating style? She soon noticed that thin people put their forks down between bites. Fat people never set down a fork! They gestured with their forks. Their forks were almost an extension of their personality.

And on and on: fat people lie to themselves. Every fat person has his or her "Frankenstein," a favorite food not to be given up under any circumstances, they say. For example, chocolate marshmallow cookies, doughnuts. Jean persuaded one man to give up doughnuts until he shed 88 pounds. He did. When he was where his weight should be, he rushed out for doughnuts. But almost gagged on them, it would seem.

Traditional diets, Jean said, you can't wait for them to be over and done with -- and then regain what you lost. Weight Watchers, Jean argues, is different: not a crash diet but a new, healthy steady as you go lifestyle. You are determined never again to be separated from the new, slim, healthy you.

This is not Mrs Nidetch's first book. It is chatty, low-key, modest. She never managed Weight Watchers, the corporation. But she was its founder and remains its number one spokesman in popularity. For a simple, brief (128 pages) first person narrative, THE JEAN NIDETCH STORY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY is a convincing retelling of the old Horatio Alger rags to riches narrative of American entrepreneurship.

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In the interest of full disclosure: I am a 6' 1" 74-year old male semi-couch potato, who spends most of my days reading, writing, lecturing and teaching occasional adult education classes. If I am lucky, I do an hour of exercise a day, including tai chi. I have been a Weight Watcher for three-plus years. I lost 11 pounds on my own just before starting the program. Under Weight Watchers, with more than one falling off then climbing back on the wagon, I have lost another 34 pounds. I need to lose 31 more to hit my maximum upper weight limit of 189 pounds. Obviously, I am not setting a record for speedy weight loss.

I am also a moderately active investor in stocks. In November 2007, over the objections of my financial advisor, I bought 20 shares of Weighwatchers International (NYSE: WTW) stock at $49.98/share. The last time I looked, my 20 shares had lost slightly more than half their value. I still own WTW for the same reason I bought it: to make myself read annual reports and think about and understand both the good and debatable things that WTW is doing for shareholders as well as for its employees and for overweight people like me. My doctor has prescribed membership for me. I admire most things about WTW, but do not shill for it. End full disclosure.

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Product Description:
Readers everywhere will be inspired by the remarkable journey of Weight Watchers founder, Jean Nidetch. In her new book, The Jean Nidetch Story: An Autobiography, Jean chronicles her transformation from a Queens, New York, housewife to a healthy-living icon. Read about her personal struggles, rags-to-riches rise, and sunny, can-do attitude. The book includes a foreword by the poet Maya Angelou and an introduction by Weight Watchers president and CEO David Kirchhoff.