Monday, January 22, 2007

A New Start

I have been pondering a question for a couple of days now. How many of all the successful weight losses here online have been from Weight Watchers?? If my memory serves me well, quite a bloody lot. Then why hasn't it worked for me, or more accurately, why haven't I worked with it?? I have always lost around a stone but never made it under the 100kg mark since I hit it in early 2001!! That was six bloody years ago. Now, I have had constant health problems lately and the trip to hospital before Christmas was really horrible. But has that scared me into changing my bad eating habits, of course not. My feet are massive, my blood pressure high and I look puffy and like a bag of arseholes. What will it take? I have the desire but seem to lack the follow through. What has made weight watchers work for you??

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, got your comment...are you a fan of the frothy shit, or as disturbed by it as me? LOL!

Anyway you and I are the same age but you have 4 KIDS! OH MY LORD! I have...a dog. And no maternal instincts! Maybe it will hit me soon!

As for WW...pffftt, I can't do it. It sucks! I know others disagree, and I WISH with all my fat arse it worked for me, but I think if it hasn't worked in the past there is a big reason.

Emily Campbell - Independent Stampin' Up!® Demonstrator said...

OK chick, I am answering this as a WW lifetime member who has successfully lost weight (28kg) and kept (most of it) off on the WW program. I am NOT trying to sound all preachy and holier-than-thou, but realise it may come off sounding that way.

The reason it worked is that I made it work for me. I had tried it a couple of times before and got nowhere. I had done other diets / programs before and got nowhere. But one day I made a decision that I was worth the effort, I was worth the time, the money, the sweat and tears. I joined the meetings, committed myself to it, and saw it through. I don't really know what the lightbulb moment was, but I just knew that this time I was going to make it work. I wanted to make this a new lifestyle, not a weight-loss plan.

Yes, the points can be a pain in the arse. Yes, writing shit down every day can be a pain in the arse (I can't even imagine this with 4 children in tow) but the main thing I learned was how to maintain a healthy balance. I was very lucky to have the full support of my husband, who ate what I ate, and exercised when I exercised (again, easier said than done with a family).

I didn't always stick to it 100% of the time. I made my own rules and allowances, but always within the acceptable framework of what I could get away with without losing control. I knew I had to make it work within my existing lifestyle otherwise I would never stick to it. And I didn't deprive myself of things, and I think that was a key too.

Sorry this is a novel, but I hope it maybe helped a little bit? I dunno, maybe it just served to piss you off! But what I can say is that 2 and a half years later, I don't see it as a weight-loss program anymore, it doesn't dominate my life anymore, I don't count points, I don't write things down. I just know my limits and I LOVE being smaller and healthier.

Hope this helps!!!

Anonymous said...

I agree with everything Emily said. It really doesn't matter what weight loss programme you go on, it is how you feel about loosing weight that counts. You have to want it 110%... you have to literally HATE how you are and want to change for YOURSELF, and no one else. Who gives a shit what other people say about us?? It is how we feel about ourselves that will motivate us to lose it.. or not.

I know I was at the point in my life where I just knew that if I didn't do something to lose weight I was gunna DIE, either from health reasons or suicide! And I'm serious, I was contemplating suicide, I was that unhappy!

I went to Weight Watchers with my mind made up that I was going to do it or die, and thanks to my own motivation, and the love and support from family, friends and the lovely ladies/men in my w/w meeting I lost 61 bloody kilos!!!

If you go to a meeting and don't feel happy with the Leader, cos she sucks or whatever, go to another one!! And make friends there, talk to someone every meeting, get to know their names, stories, ideas, etc. It helps, it really really does.

Long story over, like Emily !! Hope this helps.

Rachel said...

Track, track, track. I do the 'points' system and if I track and write everything down, I lose without a doubt. The hardest part is to keep doing it because after a few weeks I think I know it all until I start putting on again and then back I go to tracking.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jules, how ya doing babe?
It's so hard to find that motivation - and you're the only one who can find it (altough other people can tell you where to look!).
Do it for you, do it for your kids, do it for your future. Do it because you will feel bloody great when you succeed.

Anonymous said...

Um.... I really have no idea what has made ww work for me (well 22kgs SO FAR). I think I was well on the way to being healthy before I started, but ww became the tool for doing so.

There is only one person who can do this, and I think you know who it is!!

KatieP said...

Can't say low fat/low calories has "worked" for me.
I did lose a lot of weight following that plan but it was hell to keep it off. Sadly, there is only one thing worse than a fat woman, one that got skinny and then got fat again! Boy it was hard to face the thought that I couldn't eat/count points/exercise twice a day for the rest of my life - I wanted to chew my arm off I was so hungry all the time! The only other choice - getting fat again.
Long story short - I started low carb on 29 October and what a difference!
The first week was horrid, but since then every day gets better and better. I only have the final 5kgs to go and it's happening very slowly but it's happening.
My point is, find what works for you. It may not be the WW way after all.
Imagine not being obsessed about food all the time, imagine not being hungry, imagine forgetting to eat!!
That's how low carb eating changed my life after almost two years of fighting with my body.
Just an idea ...