The Magic of Accountability

I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again. October has been super busy, which means I didn’t get much of a chance to head over to Weight Watchers to give myself a little bit of a check-in.

For those of you that weren’t aware, (no hard feelings), I’ve been on (doing? attending? whatever.) Weight Watchers for just about four months now. I’m also not being paid to say anything that is in this blog post, even though I would gladly take some cash for it. (Looking at you, Jennifer Hudson!) So far, it’s been an incredibly successful journey. To date, I’ve lost nearly 17 pounds, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but that’s an average of about 1 pound a week…and also heavier than the bowling ball I used to throw back in high school. Super cool. I’m also pretty amazed at my quick success.

It took me until now to figure out really what it was that caused my success. Granted, I’m eating smarter and exercising, but it’s a little bit more than that. At least, I think so. Being a Weight Watchers member gets me (some, not many) things, including access to weekly meetings. I used to go to meetings every Sunday before I moved, and once I was settled in, I found another store that held meetings on Sunday. Wahoo! I found stability in my crazy adult life again.

This month, I could only go to two meetings. I had missed three meetings in a row, and had no idea what to expect when I stepped on the scale for the first time in nearly a month. I was mentally prepping myself to see some incredibly high number on the scale, knowing that I hadn’t exercised as much as I normally do, but still hopeful. Up just over two pounds. Awesome.

I’ll admit, I was pretty hard on myself about it. Way harder than I should have been on myself for gaining only two pounds in three weeks. Two pounds is less than the weight of an ostrich egg…pull yourself together Jackie! It was tough to shake it at first. I zoned out the whole meeting, beating myself up inside, asking myself what I could have done differently, yelling at myself for not running further or faster, and stupidly telling myself that I should try some of those drink-water-and-powder “detox” diets that are essentially equivalent to a 3-day starvation.

It took me a while to get through the mini-spiral of self-depreciation, but I went on a long run and thought about it. Yep, I gained two pounds, and yep, when I’ve finally started to try to lose weight it hurts my motivation and self esteem, but hang on a second. I (at the time) had lost 12 pounds. 12! That’s a lot. More than a child weighs at birth! I had finally gotten myself to understand that the bigger picture is what is important, and there will be some bumps along the way.

After going to a meeting for the first time in three weeks, I was kicked in to high gear and back on track. Even though I didn’t exercise as much as I would have liked, I buckled back down and had lost four pounds in a week. I credit Weight Watchers meetings.

These meetings allow you to sit in a room full of positive energy and motivation, even though it’s only for a half an hour. I’m generally the youngest in the room, but I still feel like I fit in. There’s an incredible mix of people there, and all of them have something helpful to share.

For anyone struggling with weight loss that isn’t willing to join Weight Watchers for whatever reason (no judging, I promise!), I would say this – find a group to hold you accountable. Put together some sort of “biggest loser” competition in your office, or find a group of friends that are willing to get together once a week and support each other. It doesn’t sound like the best advice, but what do you have to lose?