Lisa's Weight Watcher's Journey
After
I have lost 40 pounds on Weight Watchers, and have cut my pants size in
half!
Before:
My Journey
We have been trying unsuccessfully for a second child since just before
I started WW, and have been having recurring miscarriages ever since, so
that has complicated the journey. After my first miscarriage, I spoke
with my favorite aerobics instructor, and she shared that she had lost a
lot of weight on the program,and given my respect for her I decided to
try it.
I joined Weight Watchers in mid January 2000. I had a lot of
preconceived and inaccurate ideas about what the program would be
about. I almost didn't join because of them. However, I had tried
exercise, I had tried eating better and seeing a nutritionist, and my
weight still kept slowly creeping up. I was starting to feel that
there was nothing I could do about it, but I thought I would give it a
shot.
When I first went into WW I had a lot of rationalizations for my
weight. I don't call them excuses, because these were really a
self-protection mechanism, and I don't beat myself up for them. For
example, I figured this must just be the way I was made - after all, I
had been trying hard, exercising a lot, even going through a phase of
skipping many meals and eating mostly energy bars. I felt it was
an unfair world - unfair expectations of society for me to want to be
different than my "natural" weight. I had a lot of resentment
toward people that were thin, and judged them harshly if I saw them at
WW, figuring they were perfectionists that didn't know what a real
weight problem was.
Over time, I came to realize that no-one,
or almost no-one, is happy with their body, and that often those "thin"
people I saw at WW were people that had been where I was, and had worked
their way to where they were. I realized that there is a dichotomy
in our society, where portions are huge, eating is a central part of our
social connections, and yet, all of the models are completely
unrealistic in size. However, instead of feeling trapped by this,
I eventually accepted it as "what is" and learned to find my own path
between the extremes.
I lost over 25 pounds in my first year and a half on WW, took a few
months off (another miscarriage), started back up again, lost a few more
pounds, and then got pregnant again. This one lasted longer than
the others (12 weeks), and was much harder. I ended up taking a 15
month break from WW. My weight would start to creep up for various
reasons, and I would try to do the WW program on my own, but I never
could keep it going. I did manage to maintain my weight within a few
pounds, which was a big success for me.
I started up again in January 2003. Many people have asked me how
I became motivated to start again, and the truth is, I don't really know
- it just was the right time and I was in the right mindset. The "straw"
that made me go back was that my aerobics instructor and mentor was
coming back after a long absence, and I decided to get back on program
before she returned. Since then, I've lost another 15 pounds and reached
my goal (at least for now). My doctor doesn't want me to lose any
more while we are trying to have another child.
For anyone consider WW, I urge you to try it. Although it can't
replace therapy for emotional eating, it is much more support and
information about nutrition, positive self-image, and many other areas
than I ever imagined.
(P.S. - I am not associated with WW, though I might consider becoming a
leader someday).