WW—The Post You May Not Be Allowed to Read

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I would have posted this yesterday as a Monday Merchants post except it was New Year’s Eve.  And technically, this is not a sponsored post. WW is not paying me to write this, even though they really should because I feel quite passionate about this! They do have a nice referral program (for anyone, not bloggers specifically) so I will include that link.  But hey. I’m a nurse and I truly care about health. Even if you’re anti-WW, read on for random encouragement to do better, unless you are one of those banned people.

Ah. The list of people who are not allowed to read this post. I already mentioned the ones who spend the holidays eating carrots and the ones who “can’t eat sugar because it’s much too sweet.” I’m not saying I don’t admire you. I’m just saying you aren’t allowed to read this post, because you definitely won’t be able to relate! Good-bye. 

Then there’s my nephew David, who I will have to ban from reading this post as well, although since he’s only six, he probably won’t care. The other day, David’s mom asked him to try on a pair of pants.

“It looks like they aren’t going to fit you,” she said. “You’re just too skinny.”

As the story goes, David burst into tears. 

“Mom,” he wailed, “please don’t call me skinny! You can call me a rack of ribs if you want, but don’t call me skinny!”

Well, there are the Davids of this world, and I hear that being too skinny is just as stressful as being overweight. I definitely don’t want to minimize the frustration of not being able to gain weight, but that is another topic.

Then there are people like me who burst into tears for quite a different reason than being called skinny. I have had a weight problem basically for as long as I can remember, losing and gaining in a cycle, but finally climaxing in 2007 when I was at the highest weight I had ever been. I was stressed, eating fast food a lot, and trying not to think about the scales and the many times I had crash dieted and then re-gained the weight I had lost, when I forced myself into what was then called Weight Watchers. (It now goes by WW, for Wellness that Works, and has a much better program even than the one I used in 2007.)

Well, WW has this thing that you have to pay to be part of the program until you get to your healthy weight range. After about a year, I got to that weight range, and although I’m not there now, I’ve never gained all that weight back. I should have stayed on, week after week, fighting to hold that spot, but I got careless as people tend to do. Still, to have not returned to that highest weight for over a decade is progress for me. 

I was at a pretty good place when we got married, but after our wedding, I gained weight rather rapidly. Finally, in August, I realized I had to get serious, and I did what always convinces me that I’m serious: I peeled out the $30/month fee and went back. (The charge increased to $46/month after 3 months.) I was pleased to find that the new program is even better than the one I remembered, with 200 free foods. I want to tell you five reasons that, even in my imperfect state of having eaten too much over the holidays, I feel certain that WW is worth the cost for me at this point in my life, and why I put “going back to WW” on my list of 100 Dreams in the 2018 section.

1.  Poor health costs much more than $46/month.

Have you seen a medical bill lately? Diabetes, breast cancer, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and joint problems are all more common in people carrying extra weight. I’m high risk for breast cancer and I can’t change the fact that my mom died of this awful disease. But I can work on reducing the risk factor of being overweight.

2. Gifts cost more than $46/month.

I like to give gifts and I’ve often spent a lot more than $46/a month on gifts, such as in December. But there’s no better gift to give to the people around me than to be healthy. I often think of the airplane recording: “Put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others.” Women especially, I think, forget this truth. They tend to put their families first and just slide along themselves. 

3. Putting the $46/month into my health is a reminder to myself that I mean business.

I think the program is effective partly because it costs money.  And only people who are really serious about their health are joining.  Why couldn’t I just lose weight myself for free, you might ask. Hmmm. That’s a good question, and I have.  But unfortunately I didn’t get to where I am by being good at losing weight. I do believe I am continuing to improve each year in some of the disciplines required to stay healthy. But overeating is a big struggle of mine, even affecting me emotionally. I cannot afford to leave it to chance.

4. Tuition costs more than $46/month.

WW is a kind of education combined with accountability. It may be the best secular course of study I have ever taken.

5. As always, you get what you pay for.

You can’t just show up and expect to lose. You do have work. But WW has a reputation to defend as being the best. They want me to succeed because if I (and people like me) don’t succeed, they lose their business. You are paying WW to research and streamline to make a system that works. Recently I’ve been seeing ads that mock WW for being antiquated. Well, Tupperware is an old company too, but they also know their stuff. If you really want a good container that seals when you turn it on its side, you spend the money to buy Tupperware. WW is good at what they do, and as you surround yourself with people who care about their health, you will change too. 

Right now, I go to the meetings and use the app, because I need the accountability. I want to be part of an accountability system that is bigger than myself, one where I have to force myself every week to physically WALK INTO A ROOM AND WEIGH MYSELF. I know that the meetings will go on, even if I don’t feel like going on myself. Almost without fail, I leave the meeting feeling energized, even though most of my fellow attendees are retirees because I attend a weekday morning meeting.

Some people do the WW app only and skip the meetings and lose weight. It’s cheaper…. I think it’s maybe $20/month? I’m happy for them, but I hate to tell you that I didn’t get to be overweight by being disciplined on my own. When I am serious about my weight-loss, I like a place to show up at.

As a nurse, I saw so many people who had never reined in their weight,  unable to care for themselves. Hospitals have had to restructure their rooms and operating rooms to account for a population that is much heavier than it used to be. I remember Dr. Halloran sighing and complaining about the ever-increasing weight of the population coming in for heart surgery. How’s it going, fat guy, he would address a patient occasionally, and people around the room would chuckle because it was too true. (He was usually nicer to women!)

Anyway, that is not who I want to be. There are a lot of people marketing weight loss strategies. But WW continues as it has for many years, as a leader in the pack. I don’t see a lot of testimonials in ads. I just hear them at my meeting, where almost everyone has lost weight to some degree, whether 15, 50, or 80 pounds. Losing weight is what WW helps people do.

Like I said, all members are welcome to refer people. If someone signs up through my referral link, both of us get a free month at WW. 

So if you are thinking about getting healthy with WW (even for a couple of months, although long-term is always key), consider doing it through this link to help you and me both save money in the journey toward better health. And if you can come to the Wednesday morning meeting in Elkhart, I’ll like you even more! 

Katrina’s Referral Link

Best wishes and Happy New Year!