Exactly. If it was truly sustainable, all their customers would get to goal, stay at goal with no special effort. That would also mean no one would need to continue to pay their monthly fee, and since it's all about making money on the hopes and dreams of people who are desperate to lose weight without giving up their bread, pasta, and birthday cake, its never going to be a sustainable diet. The list of free foods may give the idea that there's a lot of food you can eat that won't count towards your points - and there is a long list (I like that they finally don't need to spend so many points to eat a tiny serving of protein), but they will never be revamped to the point that it's sustainable long term. If they did that, they'd miss out on the January surge of New Year's Resolutioners, and the Swimsuit Weather's Coming surge of new customers.


I think when (most likely WHEN, not IF) she balloons up again on this diet, her following will care - but in most cases, it won't be in a critical way. It'll be in a sympathetic way. They'll identify with her struggles to stay on plan, and you can be sure nothing will be said about it until she's ready to go back on plan, but then her followers will be thinking "Aww, poor Oprah, she has trouble sticking to a diet too, even one as wonderful and freeing as WW. I don't feel so bad now about needing to go back on it after gaining all my weight back. Besides, I know it works, I just have to get back on the diet, just like Oprah." Meanwhile, Oprah will be raking in the $$$$ from their gullibility.

Unless she decides to sell her interest in it instead - can you imagine the damage she could do to WW if (after years on the diet, being spokesperson for how great it is), she sold her interest in the company, then criticized the diet as being damaging or unsustainable?