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It depends on how much weight you need to lose. The more weight you have to lose, the faster you'll lose it. The best folks to ask would be your doctor first, then speak to the good people at Weight Watchers. I've tried a LOT of different programs and diets over the years, and WW was the only one that worked, that felt good, and that didn't make me want to scream with frustration. It was a program I felt I could continue living with, long term.

Weight Watchers has two programs, the FlexPoints program and the Core program. The FlexPoints program lets me choose what I eat, when I eat, and how much I eat -- as long as I keep track of how many points the food contains (they explain that at the meetings), and don't go over my daily points total. Then there are 35 additional FlexPoints that you can spend in each week, which helps out if you just can't stand not having one more piece of fruit or something before bed, or if you're going to a party and can't be really sure what's in the food you're eating. The Core program is different. You don't keep track of points. You just eat what you need to feel satisfied, of foods on the Core Foods List (they give you the list). No keeping track, no counting anything. I like to switch back and forth, which you're allowed to do -- weekly, not daily -- and have a week of Core and a week of Flex, off and on.

I lost ten pounds in the entire year before joining Weight Watchers. Since joining in March, I've lost over 40 pounds. That's how much they can help. I also have two friends who each needed to lose over 200 pounds, and they're making wonderful progress. One's down about 105 pounds and the other is down about 90 pounds, so far. For myself, I'm weird. I didn't have a big start of five or six pounds the first few weeks. I started at 2 pounds per week, and my average since then has been 1.5 pounds per week. That is to say, some weeks I'll gain a pound, some weeks I'll lose four pounds, some weeks I don't gain or lose, but the average works out to about a pound and a half per week.

If you start any reasonable program (one that depends on healthy food choices and reasonable amounts of exercise) and really work that program -- do the food plan, do the exercise, and be honest about it and not cheat -- you'll typically tend to lose the most weight in the first two to four weeks, then taper off somewhat until you're down to losing anywhere from a tenth of a pound to two pounds in a typical week, on average.