Not even the holidays could get in the way of Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King's weight loss goals. Winfrey – who is a Weight Watchers spokesperson and has a 10 percent stake in the company – took to Facebook on Thursday to share her success. "[I'm] so excited because today was my Weight Watchers weigh-in and for the first time in the history of my adult life, since I was like 23, 24, I did not gain a pound during the holidays," says the media mogul in a new video. "Usually, I gain 8 to 10 [pounds] from Thanksgiving to New Year's." Not only did Winfrey keep from gaining weight, she also lost three pounds.During the holidays," she says. RELATED VIDEO: Oprah's Best Body Weight Watchers Commercial After some of her followers were quick to assume her weight loss was a result of her "privileges and money," Winfrey went on to thank fans who came to her defense. "Thank you Sharan Williams, Faeth, Rosa and all of you who understand that the weight 'struggle' has nothing to do with money.

Yes I had chefs and 17 people at my house for the holidays," she wrote. "I watched family and friends eat freshly baked croissants and hot cronuts for breakfast. Short ribs and stuffed tortellini for dinner." This happened for the first time in my adult life... #wwsmartpoints #comejoinme weightwtch.rs/oprahPosted by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday, January 7, 2016 "Every year I've let myself indulge in the name of 'vacation' or 'holiday spirit,'" she continued. "This year I used #smartpoints for accountability." Winfrey also revealed longtime friend King stayed on the program over the holidays to keep her weight down. "One day Gayle used all but 7 of her points on the cronuts," said Winfrey. "Lucky me I don't have a sweet tooth. I'd rather save the points for potatoes!" Despite King's splurge, the CBS This Morning anchor – who documented her starting weight of 184.5 lbs. in September – also had reason to celebrate. A photo posted by Gayle King (@gayleking) on Jan 8, 2016 at 3:25am PST

"This has NEVER happened before I weigh LESS after vacation!" she captioned a photo of her current weight of 164.4 lbs. "Doing the hula & bowing to the alter of @weightwatchers!"Weight Watchers revamped its program with a plan that shifts the focus away from weight loss as the ultimate goal. The new program, called “Beyond the Scale” is in response to both changing science about nutrition and consumer sentiments, says Gary Foster, Weight Watchers’ Chief Scientific Officer. Jacuzzi Tub Access Door“The way we think about it is that we used to have a very narrow focus on weight, and now weight is one of things we focus on but it’s not the only thing,” he says. Copper Tubs For Sale“The consumer sentiment is, ‘I still want to lose weight but I’m thinking about in a more holistic way.”T-Shirt Pittsburgh Steelers

The rollout of the new program had some bumps, with some customers taking to Twitter to complain that the app, which is popular with Weight Watchers members, was not working. Some users also reported that their daily “points”—a figure Weight Watchers allots users that, if followed, is designed to help with weight loss—changed without very much public explanation. Indeed, the points for certain foods have changed, with a new points program called SmartPoints. TIME asked Foster to explain the changes—and the reasoning behind them. Food calculations: The brand has always taken complicated nutrition information and used an algorithm to turn that food into one simple number. In the past, the algorithm was based in part on broad categories including calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates. Now, Weight Watchers is using a new formula that looks at the type of fat in a given food, for instance, with saturated fat pointed more heavily. Lean protein, too, has fewer points that other meats.

And while the old formula lumped sugar in with carbohydrates, they’re now calculated separately. Roughly 40 to 50% of the foods in the system remain relatively the same points-wise, while the rest goes up or down. Fruits and vegetables still get zero points. Daily points: Weight Watchers customers may also notice that their own personal daily and weekly allotments have changed. That’s because of another formula tweak based on a new way to calculate a person’s resting metabolic rate. “The old formula was more based on folks that weren’t overweight, and the new formula is more accurate for folks who are overweight,” says Foster. Weekly points: Members may notice changes to their weekly points, which is a cache of extra points that can be used if a person thinks they are going to exceed their daily points. In the past, everyone got 49 extra points a week, regardless of their resting metabolic rate. Now, the weekly allotment is specific to individuals’ metabolic rates, and ranges from 14 to 42 points, says Foster.

Exercise points: “In the past, we framed physical activity as something that was nice to do. It wasn’t necessarily a core part of our program,” says Foster. Under the old system, every exercise point translated into extra food points. Now, users have both an intake goal, and a physical activity goal. (If members want to use their activity points as food points, they can go into the program and change their settings.) Inner strength: Weight Watchers is also encouraging members to do non-food related things that make them feel good. This will become a greater aspect of Weight Watcher meetings.On Monday, Oprah Winfrey announced a new collaboration with Weight Watchers in which she will buy up 10 percent of the company, join its board, and (she promises) shed some pounds. the company’s stock doubled and has continued to head higher today. But, as millions of Americans know all too well, starting a diet is easier than sticking to one. A plan that sounds great on paper and promises fantastic results rarely turns into a fitter, healthier body months or years down the line.

Weight Watchers participants pay an average of $377 for a year of participation in the program, and lose an average of just five pounds in that time frame. Might investors similarly be cheering a financial deal that might never result in a fitter company? Those weight-loss cost-benefit numbers might help explain why Americans have been leaving Weight Watchers for the numerous apps, sites, and fitness trackers that promise the same kind of wellness counseling for cheap or for free. Its profits have fallen, as has its stock price, from $85 a share in 2011 to around $6.80 or so right before the Oprah announcement. At the same time, millions of Americans have for signed up for one of the numerous dirt-cheap or outright-free apps — like Lose It! and MyFitnessPal — that create diet plans, count calories, measure physical activity, and chart weight loss. Others have paid a one-time fee for a Fitbit or another tracker that comes with similar holistic digital support. In contrast, Weight Watchers’ online offering costs $20 a month or so, month after month, and its membership has flagged.

The company has tried to boost its digital offerings: A Weight Watchers executive promised this year that it would “become a 21st-century technology organization, engineered for the digital era, whose innovative technology fundamentally improves the way people manage their weight, health, and wellness.” It launched its own app years ago, and it has added functionality since. Users can now sync their Fitbit, Garmin, or Jawbone with their Weight Watchers account, for instance. It has also started offering personal coaching via phone and email. (That costs $55 a month.) Nevertheless, Weight Watchers remains an analog business in a digital era, with a giant cost structure in comparison to its app-based rivals and a dwindling number of subscribers across the business. (The company spent $262 million on marketing and $242 million on “selling, general, and administrative” expenses last year alone.) “Tools alone, technology alone, food programming alone will never reach the levels of success that are possible when they are brought together and combined with expert human engagement to guide and provide accountability,” chief executive officer Jim Chambers said during an earnings call last year.

But many of the apps that compete with Weight Watchers do have a social component, letting spouses compete and encouraging friends to share their progress, or lack thereof. And one way or another, they are far cheaper.If any celebrity endorsement and investment could turn the company’s fortunes around, it would be hers. For years now, book publishers, authors, small-scale clothing businesses, the makers of baked goods, and just about every other business have clamored for a sprinkle of her fairy dust. In general, celebrity endorsements tend to boost public companies’ stock returns and sales, and the bigger the endorser, the bigger the bump. With Oprah, the bump is colossal. The delightfully named study “You Get a Book! Demand Spillovers, Combative Advertising, and Celebrity Endorsements” found that a week after she chose a book for her book club, sales spiked 6,000 percent. The Oprah Effect can last, too. Once, she mentioned a smoked-turkey company quickly during one of her annual Oprah’s Favorite Things show.