The Ups and Downs: Yo-Yo Dieting

I first joined Weight Watchers around 2004. At the time I weighed 173 lbs. since I had lost a bit on my own after university. But, by the time I left for teacher's college in the fall of 2005, I was down to about 155 lbs. and felt fantastic! Teacher's college was a great year and I continued to attend WW meetings in North Bay. Those meetings were some of the best meetings I have ever attended. The leaders were motivating and creative with their "gigs" to get us inspired. They'd share low-points food, grocery ideas they'd found locally, or WW-friendly recipes. But one of the things I liked best at these meetings was that they made sure to have "non-scale celebrations" every week. As those of us who have struggled to lose (or gain) weight know, the scale can be an obsession. We put so much emphasis and importance on that little (or big!) number on the scale. That number can lead to feelings of euphoria or feelings of desperation(see more about my relationship with the scale in a future post). What I am trying to say, is that I loved the non-scale celebrations. Members would mention things like: fitting into smaller-sized clothing, increasing their level of exercise, tracking all week, etc. For me, a big non-scale celebration was finally being able to see pictures of myself that I actually liked. That hadn't happened for a long time. Still to this day, it is hard for me to look at pictures of my over-weight self. For a long time, I kept them hidden and felt like I didn't need to bring them out again. Just recently however, I decided to pull them out to see how far I'd come. I really couldn't believe it! Pictures tell the truth - but this time the truth didn't hurt so much. In fact, it just reinforced how much all of my hard work has paid off.

I found staying at the WW meetings was the most helpful. Just having a chat about the issue with others in the same boat, re-motivated me for the week. Of course, the weeks when I lost weight, were the most exciting. WW gives out a lot of incentives too, ribbons and key chains for milestones like 10% of body weight loss, and 5 lb.-loss increments. As cheesy as this may sound, it's very rewarding to receive one of these tiny gifts, and you feel very proud when you do!

Unfortunately attending meetings was not always easy for me. There were times when I lived in communitities that didn't have meetings. There were other times when I just plain didn't want to go. There were times when I thought I had "mastered" the plan and could do it on my own (boy, was I wrong). Then there was my attempt to do WW Online but the lack of accountability just didn't work out for me.

What I know now is that meetings keep me accountable. WW is wear I learned almost everything I know about eating healthy, exercising, making better choices, reaching my goals, and ultimately living a healthier and happier lifestyle. Yes, when I attend the meetings now some of the information may be old news to me, but I know that it's because of WW that I am where I am today. That's why I have recently made the decision to become a WW Leader. I sent in my application card just yesterday! Soon I will receive more information and perhaps one day in the near future, I will be leading my own meetings and motivating others and helping them achieve their goals! I will keep you all posted!