Weight Watchers has announced the launch of its new weight loss plan and companion app, Simple Start, which is available on iOS and Android platforms.

Simple Start, which is only available to Weight Watchers subscribers, is a part of the company's winter ad campaign. The app offers users two weeks of sample meal and snack ideas. As the user flips through pictures of the meals, which are meant to be the suggested portion size, the idea is they will learn point values even though the app isn't focused on them, thus easing the user into the Weight Watchers program. The mobile app also allows users to save meals that they like, receive motivational tips when they are on the go, and see dining out suggestions.

Weight Watchers timed this launch to coincide with the holidays.

"People have enough to think about as they enter the new year. With Simple Start, Weight Watchers is making it easier for members get off to a great start," Gary D. Foster, co-chief scientific officer said in a press release. "We know our members need guidance on smart choices wherever they are, which is why developing a mobile app for Simple Start was a priority. This app is going to be a helpful companion along the way, providing Simple Start meal suggestions, tips and reminders and motivational support."

In October, a study conducted by researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center found that users in a Weight Watcher's program who received messages, motivational tips, lost an average of 4.5 pounds more in a 12-week period than those who didn't.

Another study conducted earlier that month by Baylor College of Medicine and sponsored by Weight Watchers found the strongest predictor of the Weight Watchers groups’ weight loss was the group meetings, when tested against app and website use. Of the Weight Watchers group, those using all three programs to a “high degree” — which means more than half of the weekly meetings or two or more uses of the website or app — had the greatest weight loss when the program ended, at 19 pounds. Those who used two programs to a high degree lost 9.5 pounds and those using one lost 9.3 pounds.

When Weight Watchers held its second quarter meeting this year, Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Hotchkin addressed the company’s declining earnings, attributing some of the loss to the “sudden explosion of interest in free apps and activity monitors".