April 3, 2016
Well, I went back to a Weight Watchers meeting yesterday morning after being gone for probably about 1 1/2 – 2 years. I went back to the same familiar place and same day/time – Saturday at 7:30am. It felt all too familiar, but still somehow different. Since I had been there our beloved leader, Nancy, had retired. She had been through it all with me, the ups and the downs. Even the receptionists were all different. The room was redecorated and the chairs were facing a different way. The Points system had changed too and I was very confused. I kept telling myself that “change is good” and lectured myself about being open to a different situation.
Let me back up a bit to fill in the gaps. I had begun my third time on my WW journey back in 2008 and decided this would be THE time to not only make it to lifetime member status (again), but to stay there. I shed 46 pounds and became a lifetime member in November of 2009. I went to meetings every single week, started menu planning and cooking lots more at home, but the one single biggest thing that I credit my weight loss success to was starting running!!!! I started walking, but that did not last long. I should have known I was much too impatient to walk! One thing led to another and I became a runner! I started doing races, discovered yoga as the most essential cross training and life changing practice and the rest is history.
I maintained my loss for a long time and kept going to weekly meetings all the while maintaining my running and yoga. Slowly, but surely I began to be a little more lax on my tracking of food. All through my loss I was extremely dedicated to tracking my food and activity. Somewhere along the line I stopped going to meetings too. I started letting portions get a bit bigger and the scale started creeping up. At first I was in denial about this. I’m a runner, afterall! I can eat whatever I want!! Not true. I am also 46 and will be 47 next month so I probably have mother nature going against me too! So I have gained a few pounds and figure I have about 25 pounds to shed to get back to goal weight (and not paying!!).
But the thing that is different about this time going back and doing a re-start, if you will, with Weight Watchers, is that this time the one thing that has stuck and has not gone by the wayside is my dedication to my activity. My life totally changed when I became a runner. I have to do it and I love to do it! It is ingrained in me and woven into my life as habitual now and I’m so happy about that!! If given the choice between being at my goal weight, and not having a habit of regular exercise or having some extra weight and having a regular committed activity plan I would choose the later every day and twice on Sunday!!
So this is the fence I straddle going back into tracking mode to shed some extra weight and, very practically, have my clothes fit a little better. I know I’m exactly where I need to be and I respect what I’ve trained my body to do. I just got done running 8 miles this afternoon. That wan’t done by a body I should be ashamed by. No, not at all! I prefer to look at it as becoming more aware of what I am putting into my body, being more mindful and giving it the respect it deserves and demands in order to perform at its best. I am not going into the downward spiral of deprivation for that is a dark place for me to be. No, I prefer to look at it as giving my body more of what it deserves and less of the other s**t. Sounds pretty simple, right? Okay, now, let’s talk about dinner…