To help support and augment medical management for people living with diabetes, WW (Weight Watchers Reimagined) offers a new program that helps users manage their weight and build healthier habits.
“In addition to solid professional and medical management, people living with diabetes need to maintain a healthier body weight employing better patterns of eating, being and staying active, getting a good quantity and quality of sleep and enjoying a helpful mindset,” said John Birnhak, president of WW Philadelphia, which has locations throughout Lower Bucks County. “When it comes to a food plan for people living with diabetes, there is no one size fits all diet. A variety of healthful eating patterns are often considered essential as part of the control and management of diabetes.”
The 2022 WW program innovation is ensuring that members living with diabetes will experience all of the benefits of the new PersonalPoints program individualized to fit their needs. Most weight loss plans do not understand what it is like to live with diabetes. They dole out strict meal plans and make people cut out foods they like and enjoy, but that’s not real life.
“And that’s where the PersonalPoints program differs,” said Birnhak. “It offers an individualized path to weight loss built for people living with diabetes.”
Historically, a big stigma has been attached to a diagnosis of diabetes and can contribute to stress and feelings of judgement.
“At WW, we provide acknowledgement and normalization, so members are supported and not judged,” added Birnhak. “Our expertise lies in coaching to support behavioral change and shifting toward healthier habits on the WW program. Our new weight loss and wellness program is strategically tailored for people living with diabetes.”
Statistics from the CDC show that more than 34 million people in the United States have diabetes and one in four of them do not know they have it. In addition, more than 88 million U.S. adults, one in three, have prediabetes and 90 percent of them don’t know they have it. Being overweight, being age 45 and older and being physically active less than three times per week are important risk factors for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. In 2017, the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. was $327 billion in direct medical costs and $90 billion in absenteeism, reduced productivity and inability to work.
Visit wwphl.com or call 215-648-1000 to learn more about the WW PersonalPoints program.
