So I have survived my first official Weight Watchers meeting. Overall I enjoyed the experience...except for the mass of insane people that seem to overrun the place.
Walking in, I signed up with Jill*, one of the leaders who was very helpful, but felt it necessary to share her whole story with me as she tried to manage the technology of signing me up. She weighed me in (egad...not a good number, and I had to keep my shoes on because I had no socks on. Damn it. So I had a seat in the mostly empty group meeting area and looked through the startup materials.
*names have been changed to protect the crazy.
Slowly the room started to fill up. Jill said it would probably be a small group since schools are out & people go away. Well if this was a small group, remind me to bring the advil for other days.
I boldly sat with my newbie nametag in the 2nd row in the center of the room. Soon, two women sat in front of me. Little did I know how much they were going to be the bain of my existence.
The meeting started at little after 7, when Jill came in and loudly asked the question to all "At what point did we begin to use food as a solution to our pain?"
Am I the only one that doesn't really do that?
While a very nice person, Jill has a very abrasive voice and I found myself cringing as she would reach pitch culminations that could get the felines meowing and the canines howling. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but I think I might have to invest in some earplugs if I continue to go to her sessions. So we went through a half an hour of discussing how to incorporate healthy foods into our lives and how our mis-perception of food is based on what we learned when we were little. As grandma feeds us a meatball or a cookie when we're hurt to help us "feel better."
I never really used food when I was feeling crappy. My deal with food is that I love it--I love to try different flavors, I love eating different ethnic foods with friends, I love desserts, I love junk food...Whether I'm eating too much when I'm out with friends or family or if I eat when I'm bored in front of the tv...or computer...or with a book...that's the issues I have to get past. I never drowned my sorrows with Ben & Jerry, I enjoyed the smooth creamy ice cream with chunks of whatever the flavor theme was.
Anyway...the real fun came after the group meeting at the introductory "getting started" session. The two women who had sat in front of me were also new. Let's call them Leila (a quiet southeast Asian woman with beautiful eyes and probably about my size with a larger belly), and oh...what would be appropriate??...Esther (an 70-something relatively normal sized woman with dyed Jet-black hair, RED lipstick, pale skin, and a cavalcade of questions). So it seemed Jill met her match with Esther as she could barely get through her presentation without Esther asking one question or another about the plans, jumping ahead and just not really getting the point of the whole thing. And then she kept going on and on (and on) about how she can't understand how people don't know their limits of eating, and don't people realize how fat they are and why don't they do something about it.
Meanwhile poor Leila with her Buddha belly (and I mean that in the most respectful and adorable way) is sitting there probably wondering how this woman can make these comments sitting right next to someone who is overweight. And for that matter, if you're such an expert (who apparently attends "overeater's anonymous" meetings), why are you even here? Really she was such a nuisance, though somewhat amusing since I was following the presentation. But I couldn't imagine she got anything out of it, and I hope that Leila was able to walk away motivated rather than ashamed as I might have been if I were in her position.
Anyway-I'm sort of excited about starting this whole thing...there are a few reasons why I decided to join WW. 1) To re-learn how to eat with right sized portions and right food choices, especially now that I'm living on my own & doing all this for myself; 2) To re-motivate myself to get back to exercising on a regular basis; 3) to improve my health and overall well being; 4) To look smokin' hot in my bridesmaid dress at my younger brother Joe's wedding in August
I'll be making goals along the way too. They recommend the goal to lose 10% of my current weight. That's 23 lbs. (I know--yikes). With 19 weeks until my brother's wedding at the end of August. Average weekly weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week. That means if I stay on track I could lose between 19 and 38 lbs by that time. If I lost the 19 lbs, I would be at my lowest weight in probably over 1o years. That's a crazy thought. But that's what's going to keep me motivated :)
Here's to the new me!
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