I was back on my way and this time I was determined to make it the road to success! I had achieved 30 pounds weight loss in the 12 months since returning to Weight Watchers after having a baby, which left me with 30 pounds left to lose. There had been the occasional small gain here and there, but for the most part I was cruising along nicely and I felt good.
What could possibly stand in my way? Because I had already experienced a similar level of weight loss before having my baby break, I had some preconceived notion that it would be plain sailing because I knew what I was doing. And yes, while I had learnt the basics – how to plan, healthy food choices, portion control and being active. I had no idea about the way my body would react to the transformation it was going through.
I had been morbidly obese for years and it seemed like on the whole my body was very comfortable with that. My mind and spirit on the other hand would no longer settle for that and knew that I could be a better version of myself, indeed, my best self. It felt like I was in a battle with my body to get rid of the excess fat. As my weight reduced, my body seemed to resist more and more. Another 4 months passed and the gains began to become more frequent, it may have only been half a pound gains but it was just not what I wanted to see on the scales. Then I hit another dreaded plateau, 4 whole weeks of staying the same! What’s a girl gotta do!
Yes, there were tears and thoughts of throwing in the towel. I’d come so far, I was 80 pounds lighter, my health had improved, I’d dropped dress sizes, all great reasons to celebrate so surely it didn’t matter if I just stopped now. It was at this point that I became most grateful for my Weight Watchers leader and meeting group. Having the support and encouragement of people who have experienced the same struggles and truly understand was and still is invaluable to me. They rallied around, allowed me to let my frustrations and emotions out, picked me up and helped me plan what I would do in the next week to get me moving again in the right direction. (To read more about dealing with plateaus click here.)
They didn’t let me quit and in reality it wasn’t what I wanted to do either. Many people are able to achieve weight loss success independently or through online programmes but personally for me, the meeting group played a major part in me getting to my goal and maintaining it. I’m happy to say the following week I registered a 2 pounds loss at the scales, which meant I had less than 1 stone to go.
I’d often heard people say that the last few pounds are the hardest to lose. Now I know from experience that they are not wrong. Success doesn’t come easy. It’s also said that ‘anything worth having is worth fighting for’, once I hit the home straight, it would be a fight to the finish.
Soli Deo Gloria