Competition Heats Up for Your Diet Dollar

The New Year marks the time for a new beginning, out with the old and in with the new. The ‘new’ traditionally includes resolutions, and a very common one is that of diet and weight loss. However, according to a new survey, more than 60% of Americans feel frustration when dieting and 71% break their diets by the end of the first week.

The survey given to 14 million ediets.com readers also revealed that 70% of respondents felt that learning how to eat healthfully ‘as a way of life’ would make them feel better about themselves. Perhaps that is why many companies have shifted gears and are changing their emphasis to healthy living versus the traditional diet message.

Phil Lempert of Supermarketguru.com said, “We’ve moved from diet for appearance to diet for wellness. It’s not just about fitting into clothes, it’s about being healthy for the next 10, 20, 30 years.”

Last year marked the arrival of the over-the-counter diet pill Alli, which seems to be stiff competition for companies that market diets. For instance, NutriSystem has seen new customers drop by 20%. And executive vice president of Weight Watchers North America, Kevin Eberly said, “Consumers told us that increasingly they feel diet weary but weight loss hopeful. And they’re looking for options in what they consider to be a culture that is overcome with diet options. Fad diets, quick fixes, restrictive diets. They’re looking for things that are more sustainable and manageable over time.”

Now the race is on for your diet dollars. From the internet to the airwaves and even electronic billboards, the weight loss businesses are sending their message. And since diet companies make or break their bottom line in the first few months of the New Year, they are getting serious fast. “It’s going to be like the old Coke and Pepsi wars. But it’s going to be about over-the-counter versus diet foods,” said Phil Lempert.

And it’s not just the diet industry sending a different message. Kellogg’s and other giants in the food industry are also emphasizing wellness. The vice president for marketing of Kellogg’s Morning Foods Division, Kim Miller says, “The opportunity to get into the weight management category has gotten to be more and more appealing for a wide range of companies. So what we see is that it really keeps us on our toes every year to up our game in terms of new products we launch.”

However, no matter how hard they try, the industry cannot change the bottom line: losing weight is simply about eating less calories and exercising. Nutritionists agree that there is no way to skip working out and keeping to a diet and exercise plan. Even Eberly of Weight Watchers acknowledges, “There is no magic bullet that we’re aware of. We think the only sustainable way of losing and maintaining weight loss is to adopt a healthier lifestyle.”