I've been really unhappy with myself and Weight Watchers lately - I've lost just about a whopping 7 lbs in the past year. Woo. I swear, even tho I know the program and follow it most of the time, I get home from work and all my day's goodness goes out the window. Work must sap the energy & motivation out of me, since I'll get home & suddenly turn into a lump. I don't want to DO anything from clean the house to exercise to take the dog for a walk. And I'll also suddenly be ravenous for food. I know I can't possibly be truly hungry, since I'll pass up the fruit and go straight for cereal or something.
Then I got one of their regular emails.......this is copy / paste but I'll include the link, too. The italicized parts are theirs - my comments are in green. Now that I read over this - maybe I should have said my ~excuses~ are in green, because that's what they sound like.
When You're About to Quit
Sometimes life can throw a few curveballs that can throw off a weight-loss plan. We gathered 8 expert tips to help you keep it going even when you feel like you can't.
You're bored. Frustrated. Exasperated. Tired. Just too busy to even think of trying to lose weight. You want to quit. YES !!!
Don't despair. You've reached the point in your weight-loss project that truly determines whether or not you're going to get to your goal and stay there. Now it's up to you.
"Most people trying to lose weight go through periods when they're discouraged," says Dr. Howard Rankin, a Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, psychologist and founder of the Institute for Mind-Body Medicine. "One of the factors that distinguishes people who are successful from people who aren't is that people who are successful quit for a day or so, then get back on. Unsuccessful people quit and give up for good." Yeah, bite me, buddy!
Quit or Keep Going: It's Up to You
Picture yourself standing at a fork in the road toward your weight goal. Go one way, and you're off track completely. The longer you keep going that way, the harder it will be to get back to where you were. Or, choose to keep going and make it to your ultimate weight goal that much quicker. But that's much easier said than done, right? Not with the right tools. Consider these suggestions from Rankin and from Palma Posillico, general manager of training and development for Weight Watchers International:
Expect it.
Wanting to give up is normal, says Rankin. And if you plan for what to do when quitting crosses your mind, you'll be more likely to decide to stick with it.
Get a move on motivation.
If you feel like giving up and want to give your efforts a boost, says Posillico, try using Motivating Strategy, a useful tool from Weight Watchers Tools for Living. Picture yourself at your weight goal—how does it feel? Spend a few minutes each day imagining what it will be like. (Subscribers only, click here for more information on Motivating Strategy.) One message board user says she looked at Weight Watchers Success Stories for motivation. "I would visualize myself in their place. I thought of what my pictures would look like, what 'tips' I would share." Try it.
Eliminate the word "quit" from your vocabulary.
Perhaps instead of "quitting," you're deciding to maintain the weight you've already lost, just for a little while, until you get your motivation back. "Learning to maintain along the way is a very successful strategy," says Posillico. I seem to be going this OK.
Don't let plateaus put you off.
Another user says: "I almost quit when I was still a few pounds over my weight goal. A lot of resentment grew between me and the scale." If your weight loss has slowed or even stopped, despite what feels like your best efforts, keep at it. Take another look at your Winning Outcome (another powerful tool from Weight Watchers Tools for Living), the goal you set when you first started. "The thing that kept me going and striving to lose those last few pounds (and it took me months)," says the user from above, "was that I wanted to be a Lifetime Member." Hmm, maybe I need to check that out.
Figure out what's worked in the past.
Look through your Journal at weeks that have worked for you—if you're a subscriber, clicking on the weights in your Progress Charts will bring you to your Journal for that week. What did you do? This week, focus only on the task of repeating what you did that week. See if it works again. I see an issue - I haven't filled out my progress charts in several weeks.
Try Meal Ideas.
If you're bored with eating the same foods, or sick of figuring out plan-friendly options, Meal Plans are a great way to diet without deliberation. WeightWatchers.com subscribers get weeks' worth of Meal Ideas. My main problem here is my picky-ass family. I try to get the girl to eat more veggies, and then the hubby turns around and says he doesn't like this or that. DAMMIT! I said when I started WW that I wasn't going to make separate meals, and I don't want to since I hate menu planning anyway - figuring out 2 per night would make me insane!
Find a meeting.
Get yourself in the company of people who you know will help motivate you, like the people at Weight Watchers meetings.Post on the message boards.
About six months ago, meetings member Elaine almost quit. "My motivation had just vanished," she says. She turned to the message boards, and, she says, the people she found on them helped get her going in the right direction again. I've been running in to get on the scale but not staying for the meetings. I guess because it's embarassing that I haven't lost more, considering how long I've been going and also discouraging when I hear all these other people getting their little awards & stuff.
Don't despair. You've reached the point in your weight-loss project that truly determines whether or not you're going to get to your goal and stay there. Now it's up to you.
"Most people trying to lose weight go through periods when they're discouraged," says Dr. Howard Rankin, a Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, psychologist and founder of the Institute for Mind-Body Medicine. "One of the factors that distinguishes people who are successful from people who aren't is that people who are successful quit for a day or so, then get back on. Unsuccessful people quit and give up for good." Yeah, bite me, buddy!
Quit or Keep Going: It's Up to You
Picture yourself standing at a fork in the road toward your weight goal. Go one way, and you're off track completely. The longer you keep going that way, the harder it will be to get back to where you were. Or, choose to keep going and make it to your ultimate weight goal that much quicker. But that's much easier said than done, right? Not with the right tools. Consider these suggestions from Rankin and from Palma Posillico, general manager of training and development for Weight Watchers International:
Expect it.
Wanting to give up is normal, says Rankin. And if you plan for what to do when quitting crosses your mind, you'll be more likely to decide to stick with it.
Get a move on motivation.
If you feel like giving up and want to give your efforts a boost, says Posillico, try using Motivating Strategy, a useful tool from Weight Watchers Tools for Living. Picture yourself at your weight goal—how does it feel? Spend a few minutes each day imagining what it will be like. (Subscribers only, click here for more information on Motivating Strategy.) One message board user says she looked at Weight Watchers Success Stories for motivation. "I would visualize myself in their place. I thought of what my pictures would look like, what 'tips' I would share." Try it.
Eliminate the word "quit" from your vocabulary.
Perhaps instead of "quitting," you're deciding to maintain the weight you've already lost, just for a little while, until you get your motivation back. "Learning to maintain along the way is a very successful strategy," says Posillico. I seem to be going this OK.
Don't let plateaus put you off.
Another user says: "I almost quit when I was still a few pounds over my weight goal. A lot of resentment grew between me and the scale." If your weight loss has slowed or even stopped, despite what feels like your best efforts, keep at it. Take another look at your Winning Outcome (another powerful tool from Weight Watchers Tools for Living), the goal you set when you first started. "The thing that kept me going and striving to lose those last few pounds (and it took me months)," says the user from above, "was that I wanted to be a Lifetime Member." Hmm, maybe I need to check that out.
Figure out what's worked in the past.
Look through your Journal at weeks that have worked for you—if you're a subscriber, clicking on the weights in your Progress Charts will bring you to your Journal for that week. What did you do? This week, focus only on the task of repeating what you did that week. See if it works again. I see an issue - I haven't filled out my progress charts in several weeks.
Try Meal Ideas.
If you're bored with eating the same foods, or sick of figuring out plan-friendly options, Meal Plans are a great way to diet without deliberation. WeightWatchers.com subscribers get weeks' worth of Meal Ideas. My main problem here is my picky-ass family. I try to get the girl to eat more veggies, and then the hubby turns around and says he doesn't like this or that. DAMMIT! I said when I started WW that I wasn't going to make separate meals, and I don't want to since I hate menu planning anyway - figuring out 2 per night would make me insane!
Find a meeting.
Get yourself in the company of people who you know will help motivate you, like the people at Weight Watchers meetings.Post on the message boards.
About six months ago, meetings member Elaine almost quit. "My motivation had just vanished," she says. She turned to the message boards, and, she says, the people she found on them helped get her going in the right direction again. I've been running in to get on the scale but not staying for the meetings. I guess because it's embarassing that I haven't lost more, considering how long I've been going and also discouraging when I hear all these other people getting their little awards & stuff.
Well crap. I don't know what I need to do anymore. Guess I should start over reading the entire website and maybe I'll get the old excitement back. I skipped last week's meeting and the next 3 weeks I really don't have an excuse to miss, since the girl has extra dance classes and I won't need to be shuttling her back & forth.
I also need to get rid of that damn Easter candy in my house! Chocolate is sent by the Devil, I'm sure!
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