There are so many, many people who try and give up. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I can do to help them stay with it. Then I think of the many wonderful members who keep coming to meetings, week in and week out. The ones who have lost 10, 25, 50, 100 lbs. The ones who have changed their lives. It makes me happy that I have a front row seat to witness the miracle of the resilience of the human body and spirit. Now they know that it’s possible too. One by one we’ll try to give hope and courage to those who want to change.

If you feel hopeless please don’t give up. You have so much to live for. You can lose weight and keep it off. Believe me – I’ve seen it happen – Never Give Up!!

Hugs, Lanette

Another member received her 30 lb. award today. She wants to continue and lose a substantial amount of weight. She shared her new belief that she actually can reach her goals. She’s absolutely right! Losing weight is not a small thing. Setting a goal that is so important to health and well being and then reaching that goal is literally a life changing experience.

My only hope is that I can help convince everyone who cares to listen that they can get healthy – just keep trying – Never Give Up!! Your life depends on it!!

Hugs, Lanette

It’s easy to say, Don’t let your weight enter into your self-esteem. The truth is that you probably will feel better about yourself when you’re at a healthy weight. Not because you’ll be better than anyone else, because what you weigh certainly doesn’t do that for you. It’s because you’ll know that you actually followed through, accomplishing something that you really want for yourself. Taking the time and energy required to get healthy is something to be proud of but you can’t even start unless you realize that you are worthy, valuable and perfectly wonderful at any weight. If you don’t really believe that, where will you ever find the strength to keep working at making your dreams come true?

Make peace with the scale. Make peace with the process. Don’t be in such a hurry – it takes time to figure out this puzzle – you can do it!

Hugs, Lanette
NEVER GIVE UP!!

Success = Effort over Time

I lead meetings for Weight Watchers and day after day, year after year I see a pattern emerge. It’s the pattern I experienced personally. There are basically 3 groups of people (speaking in sweeping generalities):

1. Come for 1-4 meetings then drop out. For a variety of reasons the majority of people who start WW stop coming in the first 4 weeks.

2. The 4+ week group. These are people who come, see success, have some challenges, keep coming then start to miss meetings here and there and eventually just drift away. Usually they come back but the majority follow the same pattern and often drop out in the first 4 weeks of their return.

3. This is a small and hearty group who are so determined to reach their goals that they come to meetings faithfully and for the long haul. They may go for a year or more without much weight loss but they keep coming. This is the group that sees success. Now that I’ve been with Weight Watchers for over 4 years I can see that the secret to weight loss is to stick with the process. When the scale is not moving there are still big changes going on.

Attending meetings, investing a little time and money in focusing on a healthy lifestyle brings change. Effort over Time is Success! There are a few people in each of my meetings who fit the 3rd category and they are successful at weight loss – in a big way! Do they get discouraged and want to quit? Yes, but they keep coming. When I decided I was not going to give up on losing weight. When I made a weekly meeting my priority – everything changed – I lost 65 pounds and have kept it off for 4 years. I have attended a weekly meeting consistently for the last 5 years and that has made all the difference.

Consider your definition of success – don’t get discouraged – keep at it – you can change!

Hugs, Lanette
NEVER GIVE UP!!

Let me say this as delicately as possible. I frankly don’t care what my friends weigh. I know – My job is weight loss but what you weigh has absolutely no effect on my life whatsoever. Think about it – do you really care what anyone else weighs? The only person who should care is the person living in your skin. That and your spouse – I only care that Dave is healthy – I worry constantly that he will have a heart attack. In that way I guess I care about my friends but when people lose weight it doesn’t make me love them more.

The bottom line is that we have to lose weight for ourselves. Not so that people will think we look good. I wish my friend would stop talking about her weight. It makes me sad that she assumes we all think less of her because she is overweight. These self-depricating thoughts keep us stuck in self-loathing which keeps us from feeling powerful and capable. You can lose weight and keep it off, not for others but for yourself.

Hugs, Lanette

If you focus on all the eating challenges in the next week, you pile them on this one moment and it is overwhelming. The challenging times will come but why lump them all together in one stressful heap? Instead think about today – what is your plan? If you have a party, think about how you’d like to handle it. Please don’t worry about how you’ll do a week from Thursday!

To illustrate, a sweet member said, I don’t think I can do this – I have a pot luck and a birthday party this week. I tried to talk her off the ledge by saying, “OK today is Monday – when are the events?” “Friday and Saturday”, she replied. She had 5 perfectly good, easily managed days! By the time she left things were in proper perspective.

Don’t pile it on – do your best today – dust off your tracker – write down everything you eat and drink – stay within your daily Points target (use some weekly Points if you need them) and you’ll start chipping away at those fat cells today!! How fabulously exciting!!

Hugs, Lanette
NEVER GIVE UP!!

Here are some other ideas:

1. Always have vegetables and fruit washed, cut and available. I often put a plate of vegetables out on the counter – you’d be amazed how fast it disappears. Especially when everyone is hungry.

2. You can use the search for this blog and find videos about roasted vegetables and kale chips. Roasted vegetables are seriously the most delicious thing ever!

3. Don’t forget old standbys like celery with peanut butter. You can also make a healthy ranch dip with plain yogurt, fat free sour cream and a dry ranch packet. Vegetables taste good with dip!

4. Try new vegetables like red peppers and jicama.

5. Prepare your vegetables when you get home from the store. They’re much more inviting if you can just grab and go with them. That includes salad greens – just wash and prepare them and you’ll be amazed how many vegetables your family will eat.

Our bodies need nutrition and fruits and vegetables are stars in that department. Notice how much more satisfied you are when you eat healthy foods – you’ll see the cravings diminish and the weight melt away. OK maybe not melt away but it will seriously be easier to stay in control.

Hugs, Lanette
NEVER GIVE UP!!

We talked about many things and finally came upon what might be the problem. Sally’s husband passed away 8 years ago. He loved her cooking and she enjoyed cooking for him. Even when he was very ill he got great pleasure from eating just a few bites of her creations. She realized that she hated to cook for herself now – it wasn’t worth the effort with no one to share it. We talked about how the overeating allowed her to be upset and frustrated at herself about the food rather than dealing with her pain of loneliness. I’m not a psychologist but it makes perfect sense to me.

It is painful to deal with emotional issues. Food lets us escape for a few minutes of enjoyment and then offers us an avenue for channeling the emotions away from the real pain. As long as we play to helplessness we can keep eating and not feel the feelings that come with life. Next time you feel driven to lose control and overeat, sit with yourself and figure out what is really bothering you – start writing your feelings and see what you learn. Stuffing yourself with food is not the answer.

It seems to me that everyone needs to decide that they want to change. I want to find the best way to help. The problem may be that what helps one person may annoy another. We all need support and encouragement. This is my quest – to figure out what I can do to help people keep coming to WW meetings because in my 4 years as a leader I’ve seen clearly that those to keep coming to meetings are successful – over time – with ups and downs. We just have to keep trying and the meetings reinforce that.

One problem may be the shame, guilt and embarrassment that some feel when they don’t feel that they’re following the plan. That is the one thing I want to abolish. There is no place for these things on the journey to health and fitness. They lead to giving up and that leads to gaining weight which none of us want. Well I’ve babbled on long enough – if you have ideas about what would help, I’m all ears!

Just when I’m on a roll we’re taking a quick trip this weekend – I thought about writing a few posts and trying to find a computer to publish them but I think I’ll just take a break and get right back on Tuesday when we return.

Keep working on your goals and NEVER GIVE UP!!

Hugs, Lanette

This was a great discussion and pointed out the problem many people have with getting healthy. We just don’t want to let go of our treats. I know from personal experience that it’s very convenient to keep things around for “the kids” when truth be told I wanted them.

There are things like peanut butter in the example above, that we need to have around but may find difficult to control. A great strategy to manage these foods is to make them inconvenient choices. I keep the peanut butter on the top shelf, in the very back corner. This puts some time and effort between the impulse and the possible unplanned overeating episode. It also reduces the trigger of seeing the jar front and center every time you open the cabinet.

If you can’t bear to clean the junk out of your house try making it inconvenient to eat. It gives you a minute to think about what you really want – a healthy life!

Hugs, Lanette