Diets, New and Improved

Jan. 12, 2011 -- The big three of dieting -- Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem -- have tweaked their offerings for 2011, giving dieters new and innovative ways to shed pounds.

Diet industry observer John S. LaRosa, president of Marketdata Enterprises, distinguishes between major and minor changes.

Major he calls Jenny Craig's decision to offer customers an electronic BodyMedia FIT Armband that accurately and automatically records the number of calories they expended on exercise and during everyday activities like washing the dishes, climbing stairs or taking out the trash.

The dieter downloads this information from the armband onto a home computer. Software then compares it with information already entered that tracks the person's eating habits. Voila! A chart tells you if you are eating too few or too many calories, in relation to your weight loss goals.

"The armband monitor -- that's truly a new thing," LaRosa says.

"It brings an element of high-tech to our program," says Steve Bellach, Jenny Craig's VP of marketing. "We've always been very good at measuring calories going in" -- Jenny Craig supplies customers with ready-made meals, whose calorie content is predetermined -- "but we've never had a way before this to accurately monitor calories going out. We believe ours is the most personalized program out there."

To use it, of course, you need to have a home computer. But Bellach says he doesn't see that as a problem: "Household penetration of computers is nearly 100 percent for our customers."

LaRosa says he sees the program's cost as an issue.

"You don't have the option, as you do on Weight Watchers and some other programs, of eating their food or your own. You eat theirs, and you spend $1,100 to $1,200 for three months. We're still in a period now where budgets are tight. People are more into a do-it-yourself dieting: They walk more, and they're using inexpensive meal replacements such as bars and shakes. The use of free diet websites now is very popular."

LaRosa, who has followed diet market trends since 1989, has his own website, BestDietForMe.com, which is free. It helps people determine which diet -- among the 100s out there -- is right for them.