^{Image courtesy of New Jersey Associates in Medical Weight Loss Management}

I joke about my middle-aged flab a lot.  I give a hard time to my boss — who is skinny — because he’s always cold while I’m plenty warm because of my “protective fat layer.”  “Does that come in middle-aged fat-guy size?” I ask people at the store.  I’m not fat, really; just typical middle-aged guy overweight.  And no matter what I can do — cut my intake, walk two-three miles a day, do isometrics at home, get one of those weird vibrating bar bells — I don’t lose weight.  Well, maybe I should try the new Weight Watchers iPhone App.

The Weight Watchers people say that they’re here to help.  Their new app helps you compute, compare, track, and store “points” according to their system, helping you keep on target for your weight loss goals.  It allows you to create shopping lists from recipes, create and maintain “cheat sheets,” and gives you articles that contain tips and stories (to keep you inspired).

So if you’re a middle-aged flabby person, perhaps you should give it a look.  After all, it’s free.

Full info after the jump.

The app allows Weight Watchers Online and Weight Watchers eTools subscribers to use their iPhone or iPod touch to access a suite of weight-loss tools included with their subscription wherever and whenever they want and at no extra cost. Whether at a restaurant, the grocery store, on vacation or just out and about, the app offers convenient access to helpful content from Weight Watchers including recipes, articles, a shopping list creator tool, cheat sheets, success stories and a location-based meeting finder.

“We’re excited to launch the Weight Watchers App for our current subscribers and for anyone who is seeking credible health and weight loss information in an easily-accessible format for iPhone or iPod Touch,” said Peter Philips, senior vice president at WeightWatchers.com. “Being fully engaged with Weight Watchers can help subscribers be successful in achieving their weight loss goals and the app has been designed with this in mind.”

All users of the Weight Watchers App, whether or not they’re a Weight Watchers Online or eTools subscriber, can:

• See a new Weight Watchers Featured Recipe each day, and save their 10 favorites
• Create shopping lists from recipes with the tap of a button
• Learn to make smarter food choices with interactive Cheat Sheets that show you what to look for and how to better understand the foods you eat
• Get inspired by success stories and get valuable tips and insights from articles
• Find a convenient Weight Watchers meeting time and location anywhere in the country

In addition, subscribers to Weight Watchers Online or eTools can access the following app features, included in their subscription:

• Track POINTS® values for food and activity
• Quickly calculate POINTS values of items in restaurants or on grocery store shelves
• Search the Weight Watchers Online database of more than 31,000 food options, plus meals, recipes and restaurants
• Save time by storing POINTS values for “favorite” and “recently added” foods
• View personal weight history
• Compare POINTS values and make smarter food choices with a full suite of interactive Cheat Sheets

“As a chef and owner of five restaurants throughout Texas, my schedule is hectic, so, when I decided to dedicate myself to dropping a few pounds I had to select a plan that would give me the freedom and flexibility to access my plan wherever I am – these factors led me to choose Weight Watchers,” said Kent Rathbun, Dallas-based executive chef and owner of highly-acclaimed Abacus, Jasper’s and Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, who has lost weight using Weight Watchers and found the Weight Watchers Mobile tools, including the iPhone App, incredibly helpful. “The Weight Watchers App now allows me to create menus, calculate my POINTS values and track what I eat and drink, whether I’m in Dallas or Fiji. It’s the perfect solution for those like me who are constantly on the run.”

The Weight Watchers App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

After the initial launch in September 2009, the Weight Watchers iPhone App was updated with the new recipe, article and cheat sheet features as a result of user feedback. Please visit www.WeightWatchers.com/iPhone for more information about the Weight Watchers App or www.WeightWatchers.com/Mobile to learn about other mobile solutions from Weight Watchers.