Weight Watchers rebrands itself for an anti-diet era

UP A STEEP flight of stairs just off Fifth Avenue, in New York City, a dozen people trickle into an early evening gathering. The furniture is soft and Scandinavian, the group mostly female. Acoustic background music is occasionally drowned out by a car honking. The only giveaway to why people are here--to attend one of 31,000 weekly Weight Watchers meetings that are held globally--is hidden behind a curtain in another room: the scales. Scales used to be central to Weight Watchers meetings, or "W...