A few weeks ago, I joined Weight Watchers again. The last time I joined was shortly after my daughter was born and I was very successful. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the meetings and the weekly accountability it provided. When I changed jobs, I also lost the ability to go to meetings because of the times, and instead switched to exclusively using their app and online services. As it turns out, though, those meetings were pretty key to my success.
Life has changed quite a bit since then, and now I'll be attending meetings on Thursdays unless my job doesn't allow it for some reason. If that happens, I'll do my best to find the next best time/location. To help maintain that accountability, I'm also rebooting this blog. One of the things we're supposed to be doing this month is make a habit of spending five minutes each day to reflect on the things we did 'right' in the previous twenty four hours. This seems like a good outlet for exactly that. Additionally, it acts as a sort of anchor for me, keeping these healthy habits I'm trying to reestablish at the forefront of my thinking. My plan is to write a little something at the end of each day, as well as a longer post after each week's meeting.
Speaking of anchor's, today's meeting was about exactly that. In this context, it's something that helps remind you of what you're working towards, your positive feelings about that, and it should help encourage you to continue working towards your goals. Basically, it's something that keeps you grounded. Some examples in the book include a woman who decorated a shirt with her pounds and percentages lost in rhinestones that she wears to her meetings. Another was one woman's collarbones: she'd been so overweight for so long she didn't realize how buried they were until she could feel them again. The reader recommends using something like a completion medal for a 5k, or the WW keyring you get after attending so many meeting.
After thinking about it, I've decided I have a few anchors. One is WW's PointsPlus system itself, and specifically the tracker/app. It's right in front of me all the time, reminding me of what I'm doing and helping me feel like I can make the positive choices necessary to lose weight. Next is my wedding band. I've gained so much weight in the last year that I can no longer get it on my finger.I'd like to be able to, so like someone else might use a bikini to motivate themselves, I'm using my ring. Finally, and this is more temporary, I have to go to the doctor's for a check up in six months. I had an awful allergic reaction to something last week and ended up going in to see him. We ended up talking about a whole host of other things, including my weight and what I was doing to bring it down. He wants my cholesterol and fasting blood sugar checked. It's so very adult. But it needs to be done, and I already made the appointment so now I have to follow through. Hopefully, having that deadline looming over my head will help motivate me to work that much harder.
What are everyone else's anchors? What keeps you motivated? What do you hold onto when you don't want to get up and exercise, or there's a bunch of donuts in the break room for the fourth time this week?
Finally, once a month, I'd like to post about my progress. I figure it's a little easier than spamming each day or week how much I've lost, and will also help keep me from obsessing over the number since my ultimate goal isn't necessarily to be skinny as much as it is to be healthy and prevent the host of health problems the women in my family face.
Starting weight: 249.2 lbs
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