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Post by DebDoesWW on Sept 21, 2020 14:29:02 GMT
You ladies are amazing! Thank you for sharing your stories ❤️
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Post by bbbearsmom on Sept 21, 2020 16:50:16 GMT
The stories are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
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Kitty
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Kitty on Sept 22, 2020 6:39:57 GMT
DebDoesWW , bbbearsmom , borntexan , dar1965 , finreporter , jamescat1 , cathygeha , mac [Edit: Wow. This is longer than I thought. I think I used writing this to work through some of my thoughts about WW then and now.] Thanks so much for your stories. I absolutely enjoy reading them. And so much really resonates for me. My mother first took me to the doctor for my weight when I was 14 or so. I really did think of myself fat then. I look at pictures, though, I was normally weight. I didn't have a perfectly flat tummy (which I hated) but I was normal. I was probably in the 130s or so (my highest BMI normal weight is 146). While I was in college and law school I gained a few pounds every year. When I graduated I weighed a little over 150. I felt so, so fat. I moved to a small town which I hated. The only fast food in the town was the Dairy Queen where I had a cheeseburger, and fries and a shake almost every day. Within a year I was up to 180 pounds. I was on the front cover of the newspaper in connection with my work and it was a full length side photo and I just hated it. So after a year I moved to a big city (this was around 1980). I was happier and I did lose some weight. But I yoyo'd up and down. I had heard of WW but had heard you had to eat liver which I hated. So I never considered. A friend told me I was wrong so I joined in February 1988. I weighed 167 pounds. Hmmm...about 2 pounds above where I am now. Sigh. I lost rapidly and it about 6 or 7 months I got to about 142. But, my goal was 125 pounds. Why? It sounded like a good number. Then I quit for about 4 month and regained about 12 pounds. Lost down to the high 130s Then took another 6 month or so break (weighing in a few times). This was all on the exchange plan which I truly loved. After a little over a year and a half from when I first joined I decided to buckle down. I came to every meeting. I started doing video tapes for exercise. By May of 1990 I was down to 126! One pound over goal. Then I had major jaw surgery and I couldn't eat solid food for almost 8 weeks. During that time I got to goal, lost down to 119 and became lifetime. Of course my maintenance period had been totally distorted because I wasn't eating food. Then I could eat food and I was sent out of town for work for 2 weeks to Baton Rouge. So many restaurants and we ate out 3 times a day. I came back from the trip a little over goal. Not a big deal really. But I am embarrassed to go back to my meeting. I had lost almost 50 pounds and could I slink back in over goal? It never occurred to me that if it really bothered me...I could just go to another meeting. So I decided to go back when I got back to goal.... I gained up to about my goal weight now (around 146) and ended up getting married at that weight. During the next few months as DH and I ate the same foods each night for dinner he lost the 20 pounds he needed to lose and I gained weight (since I didn't need the calories he needed). I was at about 163 when I got pregnant. Yay! My son was born 8 days after I turned 40. A week after delivery I weighed....180 pounds. For years I battled that. I joined WW a couple of times but couldn't stick with it. I worked with a trainer for a time got down to 155 then we moved....and it all came back. In the early 2000s, DH and I joined WW together but we would go for a few meetings then quit. When I gain weight DH gains weight and he needed to lose probably 75 pounds. My high weight in about 2007 was 207.4 pounds. I maintained that for awhile. In 2010, DH retired and I semi-retired and we decided to tackle weight. We started going to WW together in August 2010 and vowed to not miss any meetings except for something dire. We stuck with that. I was doing well when a few months later Points Plus came out. I liked it but 30 points a day (the initial lowest amount for a female) was too much for me and weight loss stalled. But WW changed the minimum to 26 and then went great again. I even went on vacation to London for 2 weeks in 2011 and lost 3 pounds on the trip. At the start of 2012, I was down to about 163 pounds. Then we decided to move and that derailed me. I quit meetings and got up to....193. So dispiriting. In late 2013 I decided I had to commit to going every week and I decided to start a blog to help me stay accountable. I wrote the blog for almost 5 years. Everything went great in 2014 and I got back to goal at 146 in early summer of 2015. (DH had lost 75 pounds and got to goal in April). Things were great. I wanted to lose a few more pounds maybe (really improve body composition more than that but it was great). I was able to easily maintain and when SP started it was ....OKish for me. Because I had the maintenance points I could maintain and I was exercising regularly with a trainer. So it was...fine. But increasingly I didn't like SP and the calories disconnect. The one thing I didn't like was that I had a ton of loose skin, some from pregnancy and some from losing weight. In mid-2016 I had plastic surgery twice. I had started out to just do a tummy tuck bur realized I wanted more. So I had first had a facelift and eye lift and then 3 months later had a tummy tuck and a breast lift. I have never for one moment regretted my surgery. Pre-Covid I was visiting with a friend and her husband and he was surprised I had surgery. He said I didn't need it. I showed him my before pics. He said, "Oh. I understand." The tummy tuck shaved off about 6 pounds and I hoped to keep that off. And at first I did. I would gain and lose 5 pounds repeatedly. Then Freestyle came. A few months later we were moving again and this time to a different city. In just a couple of months I gained nearly 20 pounds. I planned to buckle down when we moved. Then my mother became very ill and was in rehab. We were dealing with that while trying to find a permanent house to buy (we were in a short term rental). Just a couple of weeks after we closed on our house my mother died. So then I spent months dealing with moving to a new house and dealing with all the estate stuff. I did OK really. I realized shortly before my mother died that I wasn't in a frame of mind to lose so I decided to just work on maintaining. And, I did. In late 2018 I decided to start losing again. At Christmas I weighed about what I weigh now.... Things went well. I joined Half Size Me and did coaching with Heather. I joined a gym. I got down to 149! Only one pound away from free lifetime status! Then we started getting deeply involved in remodeling (second half of 2019). I was about 157 by the time that was over. Just about to start working out again and paying attention to food (calorie counting)....when Covid happened. So I'm about 165 now.... Decided to try Points Plus again using iTrackbites. So far I like it. I probably would have gone back to WW if I felt safe in going to meetings which I don't feel safe doing. To me, the most important thing about WW was usually the meetings. Although the last meetings I attended (summer of 2018) were lackluster. Still I might try it but for Covid. I tried green and it would have been OK for maintenance but not weight loss. So I might do calories or even PP and go to meetings if I could. But I won't go to in person meetings and I won't pay an in person price for virtual meetings..... When, if, I feel confident about going to meetings I might try again. My old leader is no longer with WW so would have to find a new one though....
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Post by cathygeha on Sept 22, 2020 13:53:49 GMT
Your story resonates with me. I have been where you were and done some of what you have. I, for some reason, avoided the body change surgery thing perhaps because my husband is 14 years older and because my mother had a horrendous life threatening infection with anaerobic and aerobic infections I had to dress (as a nurse) when she had her tummy tuck. Anyway...
Thank you for sharing and I hope it gives you insight into your past journey, present place on the trail and where you plan to move on to next.
I am in it to win it - hope you are, too!
Also...
Give yourself a hug for doing this cathartic exercise!
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Post by susan092907 on Sept 22, 2020 15:05:33 GMT
Great stories everyone - thanks for sharing. Here's mine. I had no weight issues growing up. I gained almost 10 pounds my first year of college and I felt huge. At the end of that school year my mother said we're going to Weight Watchers, so I went. That was June 1971. My mother had a friend who was a neighbor of Jean Niedetch, so that was how she knew of WW.
I've lost weight and gained weight and have been on and off WW from then until now. I first became a Lifetime member in 1990 and got back to goal weight 3 times more since then.
My last time rejoining WW was September 2009. I saw a picture of myself and was horrified about how I looked. I got back to goal in 2010 and have maintained below goal since them. I haven't followed any WW program since the change from Points Plus to Smart Points, but I've got free etools until July 2027 and weigh-in monthly at a WW center. At least I did pre-Covid and will get back to doing that when I feel safe enough to enter a center. Ugh I mean Studio.
My personal goal weight now (which is below my Lifetime goal weight) is the weight that I was the very first time that I joined WW in 1971 and felt so big. Now it feels great.
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Kitty
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Kitty on Sept 22, 2020 18:53:15 GMT
susan092907, I feel like we are almost weight loss twins. I also first got to lifetime in 1990. I rejoined in August 2010 although my path back to goal was a little longer.
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Post by cherryt38 on Sept 23, 2020 14:04:24 GMT
I was skinny as a kid and through high school. When I married the first time at age 20 I weighed 120 lbs. Then after 4 kids I had gained but I don't remember how much. I had lost much of what I had gained when my marriage fell apart and was at a reasonably good weight when I married the second time in 1980. Then I started gaining again because of a good life, eating out and going to bars with friends. At some time during that time I joined Weight Watchers and lost again. Awhile back I was going through some things and found my WW record book and had made lifetime at 129 pounds. Then we moved out to Seattle in 1989, then to Great Falls, MT and then back here in 1998 and all the while I kept gaining until I was at my highest weight of around 204 lbs. I joined WW again on line.
Joined WW Online Jan. 2008 (204.5 lbs) Made goal March 2009 (150 lbs) Core all the way
I kept that weight off for quite awhile, then developed Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), a condition that causes pain, stiffness and inflammation in the muscles around the shoulders, neck and hips. The treatment is prednisone, which I took for about a year. It was working fine, I was backing off and was down to a minimum dosage when all the pain came back again with a vengeance. I went back to a higher dosage of prednisone. Then I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Maybe it was RA all along, who knows. I went on a clinical study where I took one of two different drugs, either methotrexate or the new drug they were studying. I was and am still on 10 mg of prednisone, and since I found out I had been on the methotrexate I have had to continue with the prednisone. They work together. During all that time I continued to gain until I was back up to 193. Then I changed my way of eating to a mostly plant based diet, probably close to a Mediterranean style diet. Since I started that I have been losing and a couple weeks ago I finally got back to my goal of 150. I have not been on WW since that goal in 2009.
Bottom line is that I learned a lot from WW Core program and have continued using the things I have learned, including the concept of eating only until satisfaction. I feel that I can continue this lifestyle and way of eating indefinitely.
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Post by bbbearsmom on Sept 23, 2020 17:08:09 GMT
cherryt38, Wow, what a great story. You've done a great job.
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Post by mac on Sept 23, 2020 17:22:36 GMT
Cherry, Great job on getting back to 150, way to go!!!
You said you were doing a plant based diet and it appears you dropped weight on it.
What plant based diet are you using, can you explain what you are doing?
Two years ago my blood pressure doctor at Mayo Clinic recommended a plant based diet to me as he also eats plant based. He very highly recommended Michael Greger's book, "How Not To Die." I did buy a copy, very interesting read, and would like to give it a try.
So any information you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Cherry!
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Post by neen on Sept 23, 2020 20:01:42 GMT
I joined WW for the first time with my mom back in the mid 90s. I lost maybe 10-15 pounds. I didn't stick with it.
I re-joined with at work meetings in the early 2000s because my employer offered a discount to join. I lost 75 lbs! (I was down to about 175!) Of course I stopped going and gained it all back and then some! I re-joined around 2014 but just couldn't get my head around the program. I quit and did keto for awhile and lost 30lbs. I just could not do what is now the "blue program." I NEEDED more accountabilty. I was so happy to have the green plan and have lost 25lb since novemeber. I have about 50-60 more lbs to go, but baby steps right!
My real reason for joining back in 2014 is that I had been at Scout camp with my sons. There was a bad weather and a tornado warning was issued. Our camp site was in the very back of the camp and we were heading to the shelter (at the front of the camp) when the wind picked up! I told the boys to run and they all ran and left me (which was fine, I told them to) and I COULD NOT RUN or even move very fast. Scared the bejezus outta me! I did make it to the shelter with out any incident. It was at that point I KNEW I had to do something. I know I will never be a runner, but now, with what I have lost and the the strenght I have built, I would be able to move a lot faster!
My heaviest weight was 250.2 lbs in October of 2012. I am currently at 206 lbs.
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Post by bbbearsmom on Sept 23, 2020 21:25:53 GMT
neen, Another great story. I too was very happy when the Green program came out I didn't do well on Free Style (now the Blue program).
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Kitty
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Kitty on Sept 23, 2020 21:30:13 GMT
cherryt38, neen, Wow those are both great stories! I am so much enjoying reading these.
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Post by luanne on Sept 23, 2020 21:45:53 GMT
I first dabbled with WWers way back when. I never joined, just bought Jean Nidetch's book and tried to follow the program from that. My ex mother in law had lost a lot of weight on WWers and I thought I'd try it. I really don't remember how long I lasted.
Next time around was 1991 after the birth of my second daughter. I decided I would lose the weight and not be "one of those". You know, the ones who gain it back. I joined at At Work meeting, which made it very easy for me to attend. I had a fantastic leader. I was highly motivated and at some point dh joined as well. I lost the weight pretty quickly, but then kept on losing. I really never learned how to maintain. I think this was the Exchange program. Anyway I got down to weight too low for me to comfortably maintain. I did keep it off for a couple of years, but then "stuff" happened and I gained it all back, plus more.
I decided that I would just accept the weight, but I couldn't be a happy fat lady. I got to the point where thing started going. My blood pressure went up, my cholesterol was rising and the final straw was that I was afraid I would have to have my wedding ring cut off. I talked to my doctor to ask for her advice and recommendation. She asked what I was willing to do. I decided to give WWers another try. This time, in 2002, I went back to traditional meetings. I was lucky in that my fantastic leader from the At Work meetings was doing a meeting that I could easily attend. This time I lost more slowly (it was one of the points programs) and when I got to a weight that I felt was more maintainable, I stopped there and really learned how to do maintenance this time around.
I went to work for WWers as a receptionist (very part time as I still had a full time job) and that helped me stay on track as well. I probably would have worked for WWers longer, but we moved from California to New Mexico in 2012.
At this point I have maintained for 18 years. I couldn't get into the meetings here, but I was going in each month to weigh in and get my free e-tools. I stopped weighing in around the end of last year, and I also stopped using e-tools. I don't track points any more, I've been continuing to maintain by writing down what I eat. This may not work for anyone else, but so far it's been working for me.
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Post by borntexan on Sept 23, 2020 22:16:13 GMT
luanne You are my role model. I can't imagine not having to track and still maintain.You are a rock star. All you ladies have done amazingly well.Thanks for sharing. I'm beginning to think I am the only one that wasn't thin as a child or in high school.
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Post by luanne on Sept 23, 2020 22:29:10 GMT
borntexan, Iguess I should have added to my story that I wasn't really thin as a child. I was pretty much average. But from high school on I felt like I needed to lose weight. I really started gaining in college. My mom fed us pretty healthy, and not huge portions. When I got to college and had unlimited food..............well, you know the rest. So from college on I was pretty much always on some kind of diet. I didn't get really heavy until around 40, after my second child.
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