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Making Weight Watchers Work for YouSep 08 '02 (Updated Jun 08 '06) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Weight Watchers teaches you how to eat proportionally with variety. You have to be mentally ready to lose weight in order to make it work for you. I could simply have said, BEEN THERE DONE THAT” this time around but I didn’t. I could have said, WEIGHT WATCHERS DOESN’T REALLY WORK, but I didn’t. I also could have said, TO HELL WITH LOSING WEIGHT, but I am glad as hell that I didn’t! Flashback eleven years… long story short, I met my husband at a Weight Watchers counter in a town not too far from where I lived. We had both been going to Weight Watchers at the same location but on different days and had never crossed paths. That day we both happened to stop in to a completely different Weight Watchers location and the rest is history. Present day… we are quite happily married (10 years in November) but we have both gained ALL our weight back (and THEN some although I bore two kids in the last 4 years… does that count?). LOL! MY WEIGHT WATCHERS HISTORY I joined Weight Watchers in 1989 and lost weight on the program. Back then we were counting Optional Calories and had to eat according to the five food groups. It worked, but I felt it was hard to maintain for myself, hence all my weight gain. I rejoined in 1994 or 1995 on their Fat and Fiber plan. I thought it was all that and a bowl of brown rice but it was completely unmanageable for me. I never achieved any weight loss and threw in the towel on weight loss completely. THE SPIRALING DOWNFALL My weight affected everything. I had in my closet a size 8 dress all the way to a size 24. I ballooned up to a whopping 232 pounds on my 5ֺ” body. I suppose the worst was the fact that I had gestational diabetes during my first pregnancy and it NEVER WENT AWAY. I became a full blown, insulin injecting, anti-diabetic pill popping Type II diabetic. My kidneys were working overtime and my eating was at fault. I was at risk of eye problems, renal failure, poor circulation amongst other things. It became a burden for me to even tend to my two kids and not feel completely exhausted. Oh, and did I mention that I am only 36? Hmmmm, I thought to myself, I’d better get with the program and the program I chose was Weight Watchers. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WEIGHT WATCHERS The very first thing YOU need to know is that you must take responsibility for EVERYTHING you eat and EVERYTHING you do. Nobody is forcing food down your throat except yourself. Nobody is shackling your extremities and forcing you to order the super size at Mickey D’s. You are in charge. You are in control. Say it like a mantra and BELIEVE IT. Take THIS first step and you can win this battle. Here’s what I did: 1 - I joined. I paid the prepay price of $89 for 10 weeks. I took responsibility by committing to 10 weeks via the money. 2 - I found a Leader I liked and I attend his meetings. You simply cannot pay the weekly fee and NOT attend the meeting! If you want, you can send ME the money and I will weigh you and send you on your way. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, it is my opinion that you attend AS MANY MEETINGS as you can until you find THE RIGHT LEADER FOR YOU! They are all so different. I chose a male leader this time and I have no regrets! 3 – I listened and took heart. I ask questions. You may think that your question is dumb but 100% of the time, there is at least a handful of others with that same question or feeling. Share. It’s cheaper than a therapist and more fun. 4 – I bought the scale. Nothing says reality than the scale showing the numbers and the actual ounces of that piece of chicken. The scale is streamlined (older models of their scales were AWFUL… this is great). 5 – I bought the food guide. It will be your food bible. You will use it almost daily and you will happy you have it. Lastly, you MUST write down what you eat. Writing it is admitting you ate it and owning up to it. In order for this plan to work for you, you have to work at IT. The journaling is the only way you can truly see what you consume and learn from it. Many people complain about it and end up abandoning it but in my opinion, it is the only way to truly be made aware of your food consumption. MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS Free yourself from the guilt of what is in the past. Realize WHO is in control. My leader, Ron, said this one simple statement to me (and my friend who was with me): “You can control what you feed your children but you are not able to control what you feed yourself. Why?” It was a light bulb moment for me. It empowered me. The simplistic nature of that statement said to me that I needed to be in control of MY eating, not just for my 1 and 4 year olds. I found that this control issue was the first thing to conquer. I began by controlled my picking habits (pick their mac and cheese, pick their french fries) first. I controlled my portion sizes next, and then I controlled my sweet tooth. I am modeling healthier eating for my kids, thus controlling THAT too! Ron’s statement to me was so simply stated but it moved a mountain for me. His next saying was ACHIEVE BELIEVE CONCEIVE as our mantra ABC’s. You need to know that you can do this, you can lose weight but you need to know that your mental state is key. THE WEIGHT WATCHERS PLAN This plan fits all lifestyles. My husband and I order in virtually every night. We did this before joining Weight Watchers and have continued to do so. I have not changed my lifestyle that much. I simply make the right choices and balance my points throughout the day. It’s a completely manageable plan. Look at it this way… let’s say you are entitled to 25 points in a day. Equate it to carrying 25 pennies in your pocket and spend that money accordingly. If you spend 10 cents on breakfast and 10 cents on lunch, you will most likely not have enough for a satisfying dinner. And the word SATISFYING is important here. It’s not enough to eat veggies only (they are free for the most part) but you need to spend some of your pennies/points on solid nutritional items. You can carry over unspent pennies/points daily but my recommendation is not to make this a habit! Your body likes and needs continuity, not starvation one day and massive consumption the next. As your weight goes down, the number of points you are allowed to consume daily decreases as well. This is a catch22 for many of us. You get used to eating your daily intake of points and you are rewarded in pound loss but you are also instructed to decrease the daily points to, let’s say, 22. Three points is a lot! But, if you’ve worked to build new habits, then you should be able to accommodate this additional change. The plan works. Stick with it. HELPFUL HINTS I found a website (heard about it through the grapevine) called Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone. It is not officially endorsed in ANY WAY by Weight Watchers but I’ve found many Weight Watchers members visit it… including myself. Her site is www.dwlz.com and it is worth a visit. I often visit the RESTAURANT section because it covers many more common restaurants than the Weight Watchers Dining Out guide. Another thing you should know about the Weight Watchers plan is this… weight loss goes hand in hand with exercise. I’ve reached a weight loss plateau that will only change with the addition of exercise into my week. I’ve been neglectful here but I thought that I’d change my eating habits FIRST and work on my exercise habits next. That is the stage I am at now. I’ve lost 48 pounds so far and I plan on keeping it off for life this time. My mental state is different now… maybe that comes with age? But I have to be healthy and well for the sake of my family. Weight Watchers is helping me do this. One final note, with my weight loss, my Type II diabetes is gone and I am no longer taking ANY medication for it. Again, the plan works. That is all you need to know! Good luck! And if you need tips to help you with this, feel free to read 50 Ways to Make WW Work for You.  |
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