I have been a Weight Watchers member twice and a Jenny Craig member once and only once did I lose a significant amount of weight. The first time I tried Weight Watchers was just after my first son was born. I had gained about 60lbs carrying him and had only lost about 20 of those pounds in the first few months and decided to try Weight Watchers. They were having a New Year special so I signed up for 6 months. I lost about 25lbs but couldn't afford to keep going so I stopped going. I was able to lose about 10 more lbs on my own.
I tried Jenny Craig when my second son was a year old on a friend's advice. I didn't like it at all. I didn't like eating so much frozen food and never sure if it was ok to eat real food. It was very expensive and there was little to no result and I quit that very quickly.
When my now husband and I had picked out a wedding date I thought I would try weight watchers again in an effort to lose some more weight. But this time I struggled. I didn't put my heart into it like I had the first time. Also the meetings were just not the same.
My first leader was great. Her meetings were straight to the point and she offered us recipes and personalized ideas to help us along. She spent a huge portion of her meeting talking to us, answering questions and letting us share ideas with others. My second leader spent most of her meeting selling weight watchers. We would spend the entire meeting every week listening to her compare Weight Watchers to Jenny Craig, Atkins, the cabbage soup diet and countless other 'bad ways to lose weight' diets and programs. It was always the last 10 minutes that we rushed through the material she planned aand we never got a chance to share ideas or address our struggles. I didn't lose even 10lbs this time and didn't bother going back.
I think for me the secret to weight loss success will be learning to simply make healthy choices and exercise. Writing this blog and reading other blogs to me is more beneficial than any weight watchers meeting. Writing allows me to clear my head, celebrate success and plan goals for myself. Reading your comments are like a warm hug or a kick in the butt (depending what I need that day). So from now on I will save my money and use common sense to get myself through this life long journey.
I tried to lose weight before my wedding too - several years ago - and at that time I thought I was the only bride who had to have her dress "let out." That wasn't fun.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have tried several different things and I was most successful on WW. I was also a WW Leader at one time. The meetings are great when you're just starting a "diet" but after awhile you can do it on your own. The support is nice, but I sometimes thought, "If I have to listen to another person whine about not having birthday cake on their birthday, I just might lose it." LOL. The most important thing I learned as a Leader is that everyone seems to lose between 1-3 pounds per week - no matter how much weight they need to lose. Take the number of weeks it took them to lose the weight and divide it by the amount of weight they lost - ummmm, 1-3 pounds. No need to rush it - eat sensibly, use common sense, as you said, that is the only way to be successful in the long run -- oh yeah, and happy too.