When I look at some other websites of my fellow 50+'ers, I'm amazed how beautiful my chat-board friends are. When I first started doing Weight Watchers I never EVER thought I'd be like them, but 42 pounds later, I would like to think I can join their ranks.
What got me started? Well, let me give you a little background information. In high school, I was always active. My junior and senior years I was in Show Choir, so for an hour or more a day, we'd practice choreography, and when we weren't practicing, I was creating choreography. I didn't drive until after graduation, so I was always walking home from school (well, when I wasn't sponging rides off Vanessa, Lisa or other suckers--I mean friends!). I was never a size 0, but I was healthy, I was thin.
Then I started community college. I started a full-time job. I started gaining weight. When I met Aaron in September 1999, I was still pretty thin (a size 8 I think). As we became more serious, I began slowly but steadily gaining weight. It was when we were planning our wedding (the first time around, before breakups, cancer and cancellations), I was trying on wedding dresses and had to go into size 12's. Now, I realize that a wedding dress labeled a size 12 is really a size 10 in normal clothing, but I was denying to myself that I had gone up a size in less then a year. When Tamir and Vanessa got married (within a year of each other), I had steadily packed on more weight. I had to get my dress for Tamir's wedding let out and the dress I wore at Vanessa's wedding was a (tight) size 15.
Fast forward a few years. I had done nothing to lose the weight, but had still gained more. In December 2002, I realized that something had to change. My best friend Nicole and her mom Janet were both lifetimers and I knew first hand how easy WW could be. I made the decision during a class one night, when I realized just how much over the sides of a chair my thighs were. I wanted to cry in the middle of a class--never a good situation to be in. I joined WW in January 2003. I haven't quit since.
Has it been easy? Oh my god, no. It took me a year and a half to reach goal. There are still days when I struggle, there are days when I want to say "screw it! I don't care anymore". It all about learning why I'm saying those things, and dealing with the emotions and reasons behind them.
Has it been fun? Absolutely. I look and feel better then I have in a long time.
Has it been worth it? You bet your sweet ass it has been.
If you have any questions, email me, or post me a thread on the boards. I may not respond right away, but trust me, I will get back to you ASAP. Take care of yourself and remember to have fun while you're doing this. If you're not having fun, you're not going to stick with it and if there is any words of wisdom I can give you, it's this: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths, but by the number of moments that take our breath away." The day you have your first loss, the day you get your 10% keychain, the day you realize you can walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded, the day you reach goal, the day you fit into your skinny jeans...whatever your "moment" may be, work your ass off for it, because in the end it will be so totally worth it.
To paraphrase a great teacher I had this past semester, "if it's not hard work, it's not worth it." Well, Weight Watchers is hard work, and it is totally worth it.
