Jean Nidetch, a New York housewife who tackled her own obesity problem, then shared her guiding principles with others in meetings that became known as Weight Watchers, the most widely known company of its kind, died on Wednesday. She was 91.

She died at her modest one-bedroom home near Fort Lauderdale, her son, David Nidetch, said. She had lived at a senior complex in Parkland, Florida.

Jean Nidetch had once been plagued by a weight problem since childhood and had tried all manner of fad diets, pills and treatments in failed efforts to slim down.

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Deat at 91: Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers, pictured in 2011, died on Wednesday in Florida at her modest one-bedroom home near Fort Lauderdale

Her story: Jean Nidetch was once 214-pounds and after going to an obesity clinic she began dropping the wight and sharing her weight loss secrets with her other overweight friends

She was carrying 214 pounds on her 5-foot-7 frame when she went to an obesity clinic sponsored by the New York City Board of Health in 1961 and began picking up the tips that slowly seemed to work.

No skipping meals. Fish five times a week.

We ourselves hold the instrument that makes us fat. I just shake my head when I see someone eating cake and saying, "Oh, I wish I wasn't heavy." But they keep eating the cake! Jean Nidetch

Two pieces of bread and two glasses of skim milk a day. More fruits and vegetables.

She took off two pounds the first week but disliked the way the clinic's leader imparted information and how little the obesity group's members shared.

So she gathered six overweight friends in her Queens living room to share what she'd learned and talk about their own food compulsions. She found it a relief to share her struggle with others, and they did too.

Nidetch reached her goal weight of 142 pounds on October 30, 1962.

As the weekly meetings at her home grew to include dozens of people, two of them — Felice and Al Lippert — convinced Nidetch she had the makings of a business. Weight Watchers International was founded in 1963.

By the following year, classes were being held across New York, with dozens of participants going on to lead sessions of their own.

Franchises were opened, a cookbook sold millions and by 1968, the company went public with adherents across the globe.

Million-dollar idea: As the weekly meetings at her home grew to include dozens of people, two of them — Felice and Al Lippert — convinced Nidetch, pictured in 1965, she had the makings of a business

The Weight Watcher's Diet The claim: Participants of the diet are expected to drop two-pounds per week. The theory: Dieting doesn't need to mean eliminating all foods. The Weight Watchers Diet recommends that all foods be eaten in moderation. Participants are taught that they can fill up more on healthy foods but may still indulge in tiny treats. A modified diet points system established in 2010 assigns every food a points value, based on its protein, carbohydrate, fat and fiber. The old system was based on a calculation based on calories, fat, and fiber content Healthier foods 'cost' less points than unhealthy ones. The point system is individually catered to fit a person's weight loss needs. The point system allows for three meals a day and at least two snacks Do's and Dont's : The diet recommends people eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and that they limit their alcohol intake as that can contribute greatly to weight gain. Time-span: The Weight Watchers concept promotes a healthy lifestyle and encourages participants to continue making wise diet choices. Cost: All new members pay a $20 starter fee plus a standard monthly fee of at least $19.95 for told and online services. A more inclusive pay package is a monthly pass that includes all essentials and costs 44.95. Participants can opt to pay as they go with meetings costing $12 to $15 per week in addition to the registration fee. Advertisement

By the time the company celebrated its 10th birthday, 16,000 people attended a massive gathering at Madison Square Garden, Bob Hope was on stage and a snaking line of people waited for Nidetch's autograph.

The fat housewife, as she once thought of herself, was now sitting beside Johnny Carson on television, her face staring out from boxes in the frozen food aisle. She would never be overweight again.

Jean Evelyn Slutsky was 7 pounds, 3 ounces, when she was born in Brooklyn on October 12, 1923, to a manicurist mother and cab driver father.

As a child, she remembered struggling to squeeze out from behind her desk in a fire drill, and never riding a horse on a merry-go-round, afraid of what she'd look like climbing atop it.

The pounds piled on, with food her antidote for any hurt or sorrow.

'I don’t really remember, but I’m positive that whenever I cried, my mother gave me something to eat,' she recalled in a memoir called The Story of Weight Watchers in 1970.

'I’m sure that whenever I had a fight with the little girl next door, or it was raining and I couldn’t go out, or I wasn’t invited to a birthday party, my mother gave me a piece of candy to make me feel better,' she added.

Keeping off the weight: Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch, posing alongside a photo of her overweight self, always prided herself in keeping the weight off by allowing herself treats every now and then

Before she even reached high school, she was attempting diets of every kind. She tried fasting, eating nothing but eggs and grapefruit, mixing oil and evaporated milk and drinking it three times a day.

She'd drop some pounds, then gain it back, often more. When she married Marty Nidetch on April 20, 1947, she wore a long navy dress, size 18, with the bustle and sides let out.

When she finally shed her extra weight, though, she said she felt like she'd found the Fountain of Youth.

For years after, when she'd wake up in the morning, she'd reach down and feel her hipbone to make sure she was still thin.

She dyed her hair blonde and styled herself as a weight-loss champion.

Nidetch traveled the world preaching Weight Watchers' simple gospel and became a millionaire along the way.

Along with the Lipperts, she sold the company to H.J. Heinz Co. for about $71 million in 1978, but remained its most recognizable face for years afterward.

What became of her millions isn't entirely clear. She retired to a one-bedroom apartment at an unpretentious retirement community northwest of Fort Lauderdale.

Slimming the world: Jean Nidetch, pictured center in 1995, founder of Weight Watchers International, always said her greatest legacy was helping millions of people in America lose weight

In a 2009 autobiography, 'The Jean Nidetch Story,' she said, simply, 'I'm not a millionaire anymore.'

Asked in July 2011 by a reporter, she said 'Maybe I am, I don't know.'

Her greatest legacy, she always said, was the millions of men and women who lost weight using her plan. And she took great pride in the fact that she maintained her weight loss, too.

Since reaching her goal weight, she said she never topped 150 pounds.

She would sometimes eat potatoes, desserts, or an extra piece of bread, but she never again touched her beloved chocolate marshmallow cookies.

'Why would I want to see that movie again?' she asked in her book.

Nidetch's first marriage ended in divorce in 1971; Marty Nidetch died in 2003. A second marriage, to Frank Schifano in 1976, lasted just a few months before ending in divorce.

A son, Richard, died in 2006. She is survived by her son.

To the end, she was unwavering in her message and still received rock-star treatment when she attended Weight Watchers functions, prompting standing ovations, the flash of cameras and requests for autographs.

She believed nearly anyone could achieve what she had done herself, and taught so many others to do, too.

In a July 2011 interview with The Associated Press, she offered a bit of the blunt, no-frills advice that was her trademark: 'Drop the damn fork!'

'We ourselves hold the instrument that makes us fat,' she said, waving an imaginary fork in a 2011 interview with The Sun Sentinel of South Florida.