Another year, another change in the Weight Watchers world….only this time it’s the biggest change to be rolled out yet. Rebranded as WW, the emphasis has shifted away from weightloss and moved more towards wellness and feeling good.
Personally I am delighted with this approach because it is what I have come to incorporate in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The programme has been leading up to this for a couple of years now. Programme materials included a booklet about mindfulness and doing more of the things that make you happy. Also meeting talks including these topics have become more frequent.
As well as being ideal for WW Gold (Lifetime) members who are trying maintain their weight rather than lose more. I believe that learning these skills early on in the journey will put you in a great position when you reach your goal and transition to maintenance.
It has taken me a considerable amount of time to reach my current level of wellbeing, as the saying goes, ‘old habits die hard’. Even though my body was changing and fitness increasing, my mindset was trailing behind. Self confidence and self esteem didn’t come easily, I doubted myself and my ability to keep going. Deep inside I always felt like I was one step away from it all falling apart and my progress would be wiped away, inevitably I was destined to be obese and unhealthy for life.
So what changed?…… Hope. The flicker of hope that I felt when I first started was still there. Then I believed. I believed the messages given in the meetings… if I just changed this one small thing, it would make a difference. I tried and I saw some benefits. The slightest result had a positive effect and spurred me on to keep making small changes. Even when a week didn’t go as I planned or expected, just the knowledge that something worked before kept my hope alive. Eventually I believed in myself which made me feel good about myself.
Somewhere along this long and winding road I came to realise that I’m the one who is responsible for my own happiness. I don’t know why I’ve gone through life looking to others to make me happy and ultimately determine if I felt good about myself or not. I’m understanding more about my own wellbeing so the wellness overtone of WW is ideal for me.
Through reflection and mindfulness, I have embraced my experiences both positive and negative, after all they have shaped me into the person I am today. I have a balance within the strands of my life… who I am, what I do and the choices I make. I have a feeling of freedom that I can be flexible in the choices I make.
As a result of this I’ve made the decision to reduce my weigh-ins to once a month and rely on healthy habits rather than the scales. So far so good, I’m no longing just living in hope but with real wellness that works for me.
Soli Deo Gloria
