1/20/16

Nine Years With Weight Watchers


There was a discussion on one of my WW message boards about the statistics of weight loss and maintenance.  I tend to gauge success as being those who lose at least 10% of their body weight and have keep it off for at least five years.  It was NINE years ago this month that I joined WW.  I can’t even believe it has been that long. 

Since it is the start of a new year, I was looking at my weight record to see what my “official” WW weight was in January of 2015.  I wanted to compare it to what my “official” WW weight at my meeting this week.  In January of 2015 my weight was 196.6.  My weight on Monday was 227 pounds.






I lost at total of 130 pounds and I have kept off 77.8 pounds.  Since my starting weight was 304.8 pounds, 10% of my body weight is 31 pounds.  Regardless of re-gain and the ups and downs of maintenance, I am still a glowing success statistic.  Sometimes we just need a new perspective on how we are doing.

The sobering fact is that I have gained 30.4 pounds in just one year. *gulp*

This is something I need to work better on combating.  I have started to make small changes this week and am happy with these changes.  I am reminding myself daily that it isn’t about being perfect but it is about being consistent.  Just like you can’t swallow an elephant whole, if I break down this 30 pound gain over 12 months it is an average gain of 2.5 pounds per month.  With that being in the forefront of my mind if I can work to focus on a loss of as much as 2-3 pounds in one month then maybe this will feel less overwhelming and more manageable. 




Perhaps I can stick with this longer than the first sugar craving to hits?

Nine years has been quite a journey.  As with any journey there are highs and lows.  I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it hasn’t been for WW and all the support I have received through the years.  I might currently be unhappy with the new program tweaks, but WW will always be where my home is.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on 9 years!! That is awesome! :)

You are the boss not the sugar dragon!

Anonymous said...

What a great post Lindsay! YOU ARE A SUCCESS.

Personally, I'm not too happy with Smartpoints either. It's the formula. I really liked Pointsplus because I took the easy way out I learned on the WW boards: That 1 pointsplus averaged 40 calories (there's a great article on Wikipedia explaining this in their Weight Watchers article). So what I would do when I didn't have my calculator with me is divide the calories per serving by 40 and that was my point value. That worked just as well, and I lost the same. So now that Pointsplus is gone, guess what...I'm back to that formula again, still taking advantage of the free fruits and veggies. I say, take a weight loss plan, any weight loss plan, and tweak it to make it work for you! I learned that on a blog called Runs For Cookies. It is so true.

In any event, sorry to digress. Congratulations Lindsay!