I tried weight watchers when I was curing my ham-ways, after I'd lost some weight but before I'd finished. Yes, it's basically calorie restriction. Almost everything about WW is branded horseshit. They sell WW candy, WW frozen dinners, they license WW points to other companies so those companies can sell with packaging declaring the WW points in their food. That said, their "points" system is more or less accurate. 50 calories per point, more for fatty foods and much less for fresh fruit and veg. But the meetings. Holy shit, the meetings. Weekly weigh ins, no big deal. Followed by an hour of masturbatory self-promotion like "I ate a salad instead of cheesecake!" [applause] Or "I turned down fast food!" [applause] And then a presentation on something like, and I shit you not, why kiwis are a super food. I was one of three dudes in a crowd of 40 women, and all of us kept giving each other disbelieving glances. It's an estrogen fest of fee fees. It felt almost exactly like a cult in there. So TL;DR yes, portions and calories hidden behind a layer of bullshit and cultish behavioural programming.