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Series Website: shiftingthebalance.nhpr.orgShifting the Balance is a station-wide series focused on the positive impact environmental and policy changes can have on the fight against obesity in schools, workplaces, and communities. While so much of the national conversation about obesity focuses on the effect of personal choice, NHPR’s reporters and producers are examining what happens when the choices themselves are changed. Shifting the Balance will present stories of how personal habits, including exercise and consumption, can be improved when even simple changes are made to an individual’s environment, including infrastructure, available food, and the support of leaders and innovators across the culture.

Weight Watchers' new magic formula

In the world of weight loss programs, Weight Watchersrules, with more than a million members worldwide. New CEO David Kirchoff is credited with increasing meeting attendance in North America by fourteen percent, and upping online membership by 64%. Those numbers mean money, of course. Weigh Watchers is valued at an estimated at five billion dollars…double that of a year ago. Jeffrey O'Brien profiled Weight Watchers' impressive “before and after” shot for Wired. Specifically, an overhaul of the program’s trademark points system based on current nutritional science. And we also take a look at who's next in the Weight Watchers spokesperson sweepstakes.

 

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