The LONG HAUL

Wouldn't it be fun to think that we could come to Weight Watchers for a short period of time, reach the weight loss goal that we desire, find our body is able to maintain that goal weight forever and let that be enough for the rest of our lives?  Unfortunately, in order to keep weight off for the long haul, we have to continue doing the things that created that healthy weight loss in the first place.  The day in and day out work includes planning, tracking, measuring, attending meetings and recovering from setbacks.  It doesn't look very sexy and doesn't always feel like a fantastic moment.  However, it is the life long work that is required.

As Weight Watchers members who are looking to achieve weight loss, health, wellness, fitness, etc.--we start by making small changes that we can live with.  Those small changes become habits over time, and those habits that feel so good we don't want to give them up--become our new healthy lifestyle.  After a period of time, we choose to take a walk instead of hang out on the couch.  We choose to make healthy meals in advance, because we feel so much better and in control.  We start realizing that turning to food for comfort or in times of stress just doesn't work any longer.  The healthy life is the good life, and it rewards us not just with a certain number on the scale, but with wellness that informs our family life, our work life, our social life.

There is a tendency to think that somehow we can reach a certain weight loss number through hard work and that we can return to previous behaviors.  Ask anyone who has ever gained their weight back, they will tell you that the only way to keep the weight gone is to continue engaging in the same healthy behaviors that got the weight lost in the first place.  In short, we are always Weight Watchers members who are either going to goal or maintaining a healthy goal or returning to goal after a setback.

As works in progress, now and forever, we can accept the fact that we are not perfect.  There is no end point where we can sit back, relax and think that our Weight Watchers work is over.  A healthy person is always investing in a healthy lifestyle to a greater or lesser extent.  We are those people. We are those people who accept that the challenge before us is ours to face.  We are those people who know that we can succeed if we keep choosing to succeed.  We are those people who want so much more for our present and future than what we had in the past.  In the end, we are those people who find ways to keep going, by breaking down the work one moment at a time.

I often tell members that if they left the meeting at their perfect goal weight, they will still have the same work in front of them as someone who joined WW that very day.  The work is the same.  Our acceptance that this is our choice and this is our work is what has changed.  For the better.