Yesterday my blogosphere was all a buzz about the new WW plan- “The Beyond the Scale program. A new way of points, and ohh and OMG- Oprah. There had been some whispers but yesterday was the first time me a casual out of the loop person had heard it being unveiled.
I am not currently a member of WW. Though I was at one time and had a 75 Pound Magnet on my refrigerator door to remind me that I was in fact, kicking ass at Weight Watchers. This was in 2002-2003 if my memory serves me correctly, though I could be off a smidge because It was a time I had ultimately lost overall 125 pounds and the exact time frame of the WW dates could be off. I would attend on Wed evenings all by myself and I loved my leader and it was great. I had been going for a while at lunch with some friends from work and DIDNT like the leader. No offense but that leader’s goal weight to hit had been under 20 pounds. She is a very little woman in frame and I have no doubt those 20 pounds weighed heavily on her and that she did work to lose them. However, it is a different dragon to slay all together if you have a lifetime of food abuse, or the headspace of feeling overweight, or the last time you had shopped at a regular store in the mall had been in 6th grade when you busted out of the juniors size 13. (these jeans I still remember to this day because Ya’ll it was the 80s and there were pleats and stripes and they were awesome). Back to my tale of WW-We were laid off of that job and I just started going on Wed nights by my house and I Loved her. She understood me. She talked in a way I got. So I was rocking it and enjoying my Wed night meetings. Then my (ex) husband got on board the weight loss train. We were both big people, eating was what we did together. It was a big part of how I ballooned up over 300 pounds at one time. When I decided to lose weight, I did cook some healthier foods he would eat but was very careful to keep that kind of his own choice, if he wanted to lose weight or not. He decided that he wanted to come but he didn’t get home in time to make the Wed night meeting. Bah crapolla- we switched to Saturday mornings and I was with my husband and didn’t talk to others. He was a guy so he lose like 900 pounds each week which also just pissed me off.
Anyway, I took a break from WW. I had started seeing an Eating Disorders specialist who told me I needed to quit WW because it was still just controlling food. She also told me that while it was not a bad program, they make money rooted in failure. At the time with everything going on, it all clicked in as the perfect reason to quit. After all, they DID make money because you failed and keep coming back and I DID want to learn to change my relationship with food and not diet forever.
Fast forward to now- I gained back over half that 125 pounds I lost and currently am in the 230’s. In July I was nearing 260 so YAY. I have walked into WW probably once every 2-3 years because I have never “fixed” my relationship with food. The first time, they had changed the points from my original first time and honestly, I didn’t care for the Points Plus compared to the original points. Something about Banking maybe just intrigued me more. Also I work a crap load of hours now and every location is at least 8-10 miles from me for any meeting so it seems harder to commit that I can make it.
Still- The bright shiny new program is calling me. I do still think WW makes money when you fail. But I realize they are not equipping you to fail. It is just the statistic of dieting that most of them fail. They do WANT you to make Lifetime and be the best advertising ever. Because THAT is what makes me want to join the most is hearing how it works for other people.
I have a feeling I will end up in a meeting in the next week. If it’s meant to be, I am hoping it will be a leader who strikes a chord with me. I think the whole body approach is a good one and maybe It is that I WILL have to do this for the rest of my life to be successful so a program with a “Lifetime” commitment will be a good one.
And there is Oprah- I mean seriously I LOVE OPRAH.
Taking Back Someday 
I lost 92 pounds just by eating only three meals a day with half portions, no snacks and a lot of prayers. I’m in my 60’s