Journalist Marisa Meltzer was influenced and inspired by Weight Watchers, specifically by its founder, Jean Nidetch.
 
Meltzer describes her introduction to Weight Watchers, stemming from her “slightly morbid habit” of reading the New York Times obituary section and discovering that Nidetch had died. She learned that Nidetch had lost 70 pounds and kept it off, utilizing her own invented system of weight loss that involved assigning points to all food items, restricting one’s daily point intake, regular scale checks, and attendance at meetings that were part of a large, successful franchise personally overseen initially by its founder. Two years later, Meltzer went to her first Weight Watchers meeting.

"Meltzer’s extensive and very personal homage to Nidetch, as well as her wise and often witty analysis of weight and its inner meaning, can serve as direction for those seeking an ideal of external self-image."

The ensuing story has many jumping-off points for further investigation, all worth pondering. Overweight since early childhood, Meltzer followed Nidetch’s system for a year. At first, she shopped around for a Weight Watchers group most like herself. This seemed to provide stimulus since the system involves interpersonal sharing, much of it based on the question “What is your why?” --- a starting point for participants to pour out their personal stories of battling fat. The diet worked for Meltzer but became, as is often the case, boring and hard to sustain, causing her to branch out to other systems, fairly described in her narrative.

Throughout, Meltzer returns to Nidetch and her struggles, depicting her as an extrovert who was able to maintain her weight loss because it made her proud, garnered attention and offered her a chance to proselytize in a variety of public settings. Her novel ideas came along at a time when Americans were on a fat roll --- new, delicious convenience foods were being touted, and everyone was encouraged to chow down. For those who worried about how that trend was affecting their own bodies, Nidetch offered hope with her innovative self-help model.
 
Meltzer explores some of the philosophical issues that can arise from physical weight and appearance. She also notes that many feminist females now refuse to lose fat, regarding body acceptance by oneself and others to be a part of social and gender parity. Still, we are reminded that Nidetch was “a stone-cold pioneer” in the complex world of body weight. As she was for the author, she can be for those newly acquainting themselves with her system and message. Meltzer’s extensive and very personal homage to Nidetch, as well as her wise and often witty analysis of weight and its inner meaning, can serve as direction for those seeking an ideal of external self-image.