SO MANY WAYS TO LOSE

In the Ozempic era, Weight-Watchers is remaking itself to be something for everyone meal-plan program and a tele-health prescription service. But have consumers already lost their appetite?

- Yasmin Gagne

SIMA SISTANI'S RELATIONSHIP WITH Weight Watchers began like that of millions of other customers during the company's six-decade reign as the world's leading weight-loss brand. After the birth of her first child, in 2013, she had trouble shedding the 60 pounds she had gained during her pregnancy. She tried fad diets and cleanses. Then her mother, a registered dietitian, suggested she join Weight Watchers. Sistani did, and after getting acquainted with the company's points system (every food is assigned a different value based on calories, sugar, protein, and fat), she began tracking her daily intake, always making sure to leave enough points for wine. The weight came off.

Nearly a decade later, in 2022, Sistani became CEO of WeightWatchers (then called WW). At the time, the company - renowned for its in-person support groups - was wrestling with how to create a robust digital community in a Zoom-driven world. It was facing increasing competition from apps like Noom, which offers weight-loss support entirely online. Sistani had a reputation for understanding digital experiences: The former head of media at Tumblr, she had gone on to cofound and run the social networking app Houseparty, which she sold to Epic Games for $35 million in 2019. At the time of its acquisition, it had more than 150 million users. In announcing Sistani's appointment as CEO of Weight Watchers, Raymond Debbane, then chair of the company's board of directors, declared that "her vision and expertise in the digital, social, and gaming spaces perfectly position her to help lead us through this historic moment."

Except the challenge she ended up facing was completely different. The same month that Sistani became CEO of Weight Watchers, the FDA declared the first shortage of a drug that it had approved just a year prior: Wegovy, the semaglutide GLP-1 weight-loss medication made by Novo Nordisk. It was the proverbial sea receding ahead of the tsunami.