This is what a Weight Watchers Workshop is really like

In our over-subscribed, frantic-feeling days, it’s easy to believe, “there’s no way I can add one more thing.” If you haven’t been attending Weight Watchers Workshops, you may think they’re just a nice-to-have that you’ll get to…some other time. But what if adding that one thing could make your whole week feel lighter, easier, and more fulfilling? 

That’s the whole point of Workshops, which offer both practical support — like ideas for a healthy, tasty, simple dinner you can make tonight — and emotional support — like how to navigate a big birthday dinner with friends who order everything on the menu and tend to leave you feeling out of control. As a result, members who attend 3 Workshops per month lose twice as much weight as those who attend only 1 Workshop per month.* Here’s what else you can expect from your attendance.

Weight Watchers Workshops used to only happen in person. And while that’s still an option if you’re interested, these days there’s a new place to meet: virtually, from wherever you are. You can expect 20+ Workshop options every day of the week, ranging from 6am to 8pm. (Coaches recommend picking one that works for you and blocking your schedule around it so you can attend every week.) Some members do one Workshop a week, others do several per day. You can find all of the offerings by tapping Workshops in your WW app, or by visiting Find Your Workshop.

Your Coach will start every session by introducing themself, and then dive right into the conversation. “Think of me as your hype girl!” says Coach Emily B. “I want you to feel seen about whatever you’re going through and confident to keep going.” Coach Branneisha agrees: “I’m not trying to be the expert with all the answers. I’m showing up as someone who’s lived this journey myself, so members know they don’t have to have it all together to be welcomed into the conversation.” The Coaches are trained in bias-free, stigma-free counseling and behavior-change techniques. They also intricately understand the Weight Watchers philosophy, so they know how to help you leverage all of the program components.

Maybe a high-energy Coach is exactly what you need on a Monday morning, or maybe one with a dry sense of humor works better for you. “Finding your favorite Workshop is a lot like speed dating. Try as many as you can and then decide whether you want to go on a second date,” says member Sarah B., who attends several regular meetings per week. “Every Coach has their own personality and approach, and naturally you’re going to click with some more than others. Keep going — there’s truly someone for everyone.”

In-person Workshops include an opportunity for a weigh-in, as do the Weigh In With Me virtual Workshops, where you can step on the scale in real time with your Coach and the other members — but all other Workshops do not. “Workshops aren’t all about the scale. It’s less about reporting your results and more about having honest conversations with people who get it,” says Coach Branneisha.

Just as there is a wide range of Workshop days, times, and Coaches, there is just as wide a span when it comes to Workshop topics. Whether you want to take a mid-day dance break, get tips on how to stop late-night snacking, or minimize GLP-1 side effects, there are options galore, including on a typical week:

Community

• Weekly Workshop

• Living with Diabetes

• Living with Diabetes on GLP-1 Success

• Better Together

• LGBTQIA+ Workshop

• Moms

• The Real Room

• The Real Room: Food, Fear and Feelings

• The Real Room: New Bodies, New Questions

• Come As You Are

• GLP-1 Success Newbie Meetup

• Life on Maintenance

• Happy Half Hour

• GLP-1 Real Room

• Black Women's Workshop

• Latinas' Workshop

• The Men's Wellness Playbook

• In Your 20s and 30s

• Millennials

• Gen X

• Over 60

• 25 Pounds or More

• 50 Pounds or More

• Shot Talk

• On The Road

• Century Club

• Delta Sigma Theta

• Women of Color

• Night Owls

• Flying Solo

• Next Chapter

• The Uplifters

• A & Friends Cooking Club

• We Are WW
  

GLP-1 Success Program

• GLP-1 Success

• GLP-1 Workshop

• Curious About GLP-1s? Let's Talk

• Thriving on a GLP-1

• Beyond Physical Hunger: Emotional Eating on a GLP-1

• Food Noise Fridays

• GLP-1 Life on Maintenance

• GLP-1 Foodies

• Éxito con GLP-1

• Shot Day Made Simple

• Ask an RD: GLP-1 Edition

• How to Eat on a GLP-1

• Myths of Weight Loss and Science of Hunger
  

Tools and Techniques

• Declutter Your Week

• Get Weighed With Me

• Weekly Connections

• Heart to Heart: Coach Conversations

• Wine Down Wednesday

• Weekly Connection

• Boundaries as Self-Care

• Self Compassion

• The Bright Side

• Plan With Me: Weekend Edition

• Goal Getters

• Science in Sweatpants

• Science of Small Wins

• Learning Lab

• Fit It In Fridays

• Coffee Talk

• Joy Party

• Letter To Yourself

• Reframe: Gratitude Lab

• Planifica Conmigo: Tu Espacio Semanal en Español

• Rise & Reset

• Deep Dive

• Building Body Confidence

• Technique Express

• Starting, Starting Now

• Set Yourself Up For Success

• A Full Life

• The Great Weight Debate

• Life Hacks

• Worthy Work

• Small Steps, Big Wins

• What I'm Proud Of

• Body Acceptance

• Mindful Momentum

• Find Your Inner Voice

• Journaling 101

• Self Care Sunday

• Victory Lap

• It Matters To Me

• New Week, Fresh Start

• The Weekend Shift

• Over the Hump

• Refresh & Reset

• Get Past Perfectionism

• What's Trending Tuesdays

• Coffee Time w/ Friends

• Midweek Connection

• WW Game Night

• Life On Vacation Mode Live
  

What to Eat

• Chat and Chew

• Eating Out

• Late Night Snacking

• Fast Food Fridays

• Tips, Tricks & Grocery Picks

• What's In Season

• Snack Hacks

• Foodies

• Meal Prep With Me

• Farmers Market Finds

• Veggie Lovers

• Recipe Roundup

• Chloe In The Kitchen

• Kitchen Essentials

• Cook With Me

• Fav Food Finds

• 30 Minute Meal Prep Club

• Food Joy

• Sweet Swaps

• Mindful Eating

• Kitchen Shortcuts

• Dine and Dish

• Grilling Essentials

• Haulin' on a Budget

• Snack Hack Haul

• Breaking The Fast

• Nutrition Myth Busting

• WWalk & Shop: Grocery Store

• WWalk & Shop: Farmer's Market

  
  

WW 101

• Points Program 101

• GLP-1 Success Program 101

• Track It, App Edition

• Eat This, App Edition

• What's New In The App

• Newbie Meetup

• ¡Pregúntele a un entrenador!

• WW101 - Maximize Your App

• WW101 - Ask Me Anything
  

Activity

• Strength Training Foundations

• Reset & Sweat

• WW Walk & Talk

• Step and Strength

• Dance Break

• Let's Move

• Movement Made Simple

• Strength Training Workout: Chair Champions

• RockSolidCore: Your Powerhouse, Refined

• Breathe and Stretch

• Motion & Momentum

• Fitness Your Way

• Align & Activate
  

Menopause

• Perimenopause

• Menopause

• Menopause Real Room

• Midday Meno-Pause

• Menopause 101
  

Experts & Specialists

• The RD Is In

• Clinician & Conditions
  

Español

• Café sin Filtro

• Spanish Ask Me Anything

• Weekly Workshops Spanish

Another fear that can stop people from taking a Workshop? Worrying they’ll be put on the spot. “The biggest misconception is that people fear they’re going to be judged, called out, or forced to share personal information in front of strangers,” says Coach Branneisha. The reality is you never have to turn on your camera, you never have to share — and you’ll never be called on at random or put on the spot. Member Cedric B. says he listens to Workshops, muted and camera off, while he prepares meals or does landscaping work, instead of playing music or a podcast. “You can gain a lot by just listening. Sometimes the most powerful thing is simply realizing someone else is experiencing the exact same thing you’ve been struggling with,” says Coach Branneisha.

That said, even if you start out as a lurker, you might find yourself feeling comfortable enough to share sooner than you thought. “I’ve watched members who were once quiet observers become some of the most encouraging voices in the room,” she says. “They start by listening…then gradually begin sharing their own experiences, celebrating others, offering support, and helping newer members feel welcome.” And lots of people are proud keyboard warriors who don’t share aloud, but have vigorous conversations in the text chat that runs throughout the Workshop.

Some people attend Workshops to get strategies they can enact around nutrition, routines, or exercise. For example, at a recent virtual Weekly Workshop led by Coach Karmi, she encouraged members who said they felt stuck in a food rut to climb out of it by trying one of these strategies:

• A 30-day challenge of eating a different fruit or vegetable every day of the month

• A week-long challenge to eat the rainbow

• Adding a new recipe one day a week — planning ahead for it to fall on your least-stressful day — to mix things up

Then, they brainstormed healthy, simple recipes; veggies for every color of the rainbow; and what the heck they tried to get to 30 different fruits and veggies (squash blossoms, edible flowers, pesto made from garlic scapes, pickled ramps from the farmers market, golden kiwi, tomatillos, and golden beets roasted with cinnamon, among other ideas). Coach Karmi also explained what nutrients tend to be common in each color of produce and gave encouragement to join the next Workshop to see what other new produce the group had tried. 

Other Workshops focus less on practical tips and wade into deeper emotional waters. “While we absolutely celebrate weight-loss victories, our conversations often go much deeper,” says Coach Branneisha. “We talk about food noise, perfectionism, emotional eating, fear of hunger, trigger foods, body image, navigating outside opinions, and the mindset shifts that happen throughout a wellness journey.”

One example of the mindset shift can be shaking off old myths about who you are or what’s expected of you. “The Journaling Workshops help me reframe my thinking about this journey and myself,” says member Achea. “In the Black Women’s Workshops, I’ve learned a lot of wisdom. I became able to put myself first. Before, I couldn’t do that without feeling guilty, like I was being selfish. These Workshops helped me realize that self-care isn’t selfish — it’s necessary, because if I’m not good, I’m no good to others around me. Now I’ve lost 20 lbs., gotten off blood pressure medications, and I feel amazing in my body.”

For the most vulnerable, get-into-it conversations, look for Workshops labeled as Real Rooms, which are specifically designed to go deep, with candor. 

“When I started attending Workshops, I quickly built friendships with people I had never met in person — and I consider them some of my closest friends,” says member Sarah B. “The reality is that talking about weight struggles with ‘regular people’ in my life can be hard. They love me, but they don’t always understand things like the mental gymnastics of food noise, the temptations, the setbacks, or the body image challenges I’ve had after a lifetime of struggling with weight and health. But the people in Workshops immediately, intimately understand because they’ve lived it, too.”

You can find your people in Workshops specific to weight loss — like Food Noise Fridays — as well as ones specific to identity. There are Workshops for men, for Black women, for people using a GLP-1, for the LGBTQIA+ community, and more. Some Workshops are en Español; others have an ASL interpreter. You can build your best support system by choosing the same Workshop each week, because regulars often get to know each other, so it can quickly feel like friends you’ve known forever.

V. is a member who typically attends two Workshops a day, three to five days a week. “I listen more than I share,” she says. “I leave fueled to continue my journey. The Workshops — and energy of the members and the delivery of the Coaches — constantly provide tools and education that teach and inspire me. I’ve learned how to meal plan, meal prep, and how to not quit on myself. Most of all, I’ve learned how to enjoy my journey.”

Coach Branneisha says that’s a common feeling. “There have been so many times when we’ll start a conversation and someone will say, ‘I thought I was the only one who felt this way.’ Then suddenly the chat lights up with people sharing similar experiences. Those moments are incredibly powerful because you can almost see the relief happen in real time. Members realize they’re not failing or broken; they’re simply human. To me, that’s the magic of Workshops. People may come looking for weight-loss support, but often they leave with confidence, perspective, and a community that reminds them they’re capable of more than they thought.”

Workshops are welcoming, inclusive places where you can find everything from practical support to digging deeper into emotional issues around your health journey. In every one of the 158 different types of Workshops, you’ll find a supportive Coach and community; you’ll never be put on the spot to share, weigh in, or turn your camera on. When you’re ready to give it a try, go to Find Your Workshop or tap Workshops in the WW app.

*Johnston CA, Moreno JP, Hernandez DC, et al. Levels of adherence needed to achieve significant weight loss. Int J Obes (Lond). 2019;43(1):125-131. doi:10.1038/s41366-018-0226-7