Alison Wetton: How I muscled in on weight loss

While working at WeightWatchers, Alison Wetton spotted a gap in the market between the established weigh-loss businesses. Five years after launching her business, it was pulling in £3m a year.

It was while working as a group leader at WeightWatchers that Alison Wetton realised "there was something missing". The market was split between established organisations, such as WeightWatchers, "who helped you lose weight gradually", and newer firms with "drastic diets that cut weight quickly". Wetton felt a firm that combined quick weight loss with long-term planning and group support would win customers from both camps. So in 2004 she decided to "take a step back" from the sandwich-making business she ran with her husband.

She surveyed hundreds of people who were trying to lose weight and analysed the food offerings and group meetings of her competitors. By 2005 she had decided All About Weight would "borrow all the best bits" of existing firms. It would place clients on customised diets built around its own range of foods. It would also offer support online, or via weekly group sessions. "What made us different is that we offered everything from get-slim-quick diets with liquid meals, to more gradual options."

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.