Weight Watchers - New Program?

So, I was reading the Independent today and came across an article about WW declining enrollments in the UK.

"Linda Huett, chief executive of Weight Watchers International, promised a revamped, simpler programme would be launched next year."

Anyone heard any rumblings about this?

I've heard that WW is "tweaking" the program and we would see the revamped program in January (in the U.S.) but I don't know if that has anything to do with this...

The decline in meeting is not just in the UK but in the US and many other places because of their online program.

They revamp the program with tweaks here and there about every year to year and a half.

January 07?

Actually, I have to disagree. The article listed declining enrollments specifically due to competition from other diet programs. The new program the lady was speaking about was supposed to be a variation on their flex program to make it easier to follow, so that it could compete with other diet programs. She further said that some people found the original program too restrictive and the adjustments to their lives too difficult to make. This particular bit confused me greatly. Emphasis is placed on making healthier choices, but what restrictions are they talking about? Quantity of food? Dairy and healthy oils? Maybe the points pies are too difficult? Or is simply calculating points too difficult? I realize there are differences in the UK program and the one here in the US, but are they so very different? That's why I was looking for information about how they were going to go about making their Flex plan easier. I'm just curious. I thought they created Core to compete with the whole South Beach/Atkins craze. So, which is it now the Sonoma/Mediterranean phase?

i think i read something awhile back about making it a must for ppl eat all of theyre ap's as well as wpa's in addition to their daily target.

January '07?

Yes, this is what I heard about "tweaking" the program in the U.S.

`thanks princess should be interesting....

I was just confused by the whole "too restrictive bit" they were talking about. I know counting points takes some practice, but I didn't think it was rocket science.

lol on the rockert science....

I have done some reading on LiveJournal where a woman was part of a test group for the new plan. It figured out points slightly differently, based on the activity level in your day in addition to your wieght. For example, if you are a salesperson walking all day in your job on the floor, you might get one or two more points a day than an office worker who sits at a desk all day. I can't remember if there were any changes to the points formula.

I heard mention about this the other day. Nothing specific and nothing much different to what you have already said here. It sounded to me like they are wanting to make the new plan more of just a healthy eating plan, possibly with no point counting, just making sensible choices in order to lose weight. If only it were that easy, we would all be stick insects!!!
FYI, the UK plans are, from what I've learned here on 3fc, pretty similar. We have the full choice plan, which is basically counting points (although the points are calculated differently so we have to be careful to alter values when following US recipes!) and we have No Count, which is very similar to Core.