Carol Buchanan
Almost
one year ago to the day I joined Weight Watchers. I decided that I had watched
my weight go up long enough and now it was time to watch it go down. I had
started walking with my sister about three months prior to joining Weight
Watchers. I’m sure we didn’t break any land speed records on our walks. In
fact, I’m sure we talked much faster than we walked BUT we were moving. Anyway,
the exercise alone wasn’t helping with weight loss probably because I was
eating more to compensate for the energy expended. I tend to rationalize
overeating.
So,
I decided that for Lent I was going to join Weight Watchers. I knew the program
would work if I worked it. I was a lifetime member having reached my goal after
the birth of my youngest child (decades back). I reached it AGAIN when I was
fifty and now AGAIN at sixty (plus a few years). I’m counting on the cliché
“third times a charm” holding true.
I
know that some people think that giving up something for Lent that can bring
personal gain isn’t the way to approach Lent. I think God blesses any attempt
to give up a bad habit. He certainly did this for me. I could not have been
successful on my own. I am a “foodie” through and through. First off, I’ve been
in food service for the past thirty years; it’s my career. My favorite place to
shop is the grocery store. I can browse for hours in Whole Foods. The only
magazines I’ve subscribed to in the last few years have been Cooks Illustrated
and Food Network. I collect cook books. I like to cook. You name it; if it’s
related to food I’m in. But, I also know that prayer changes things and I
prayed. I thought for a while God wanted me to stay overweight. I thought
wrong.
I
followed the program religiously (no pun intended) which included being persistent
not perfect. WW stresses eating a variety of foods,
keeping track of food eaten, drinking plenty of water and exercising. All
through last winter, spring and summer I ate what was recommended, drank lots
of water, tracked almost every morsel I put in my mouth and walked with my sister.
At the beginning of the school year my sister and I started having difficulty
getting together for our walks because of schedule conflicts. About that time
Gail Busam came along and asked everyone in our department if we would join in
the fitness center challenge. At first I thought it was too much of a
commitment. I had tried it the year before and gave up almost as soon as I
started. Gail was a true cheerleader and convinced me and several others in
food service to get involved. I believe exercise has been the main reason that
I have continued to lose weight. I know that the eating program that Weight
Watchers recommends helps the weight to come off but the exercise makes it come
off faster and keeps it off. I need both.
I don’t believe this was a coincidence. My sister and I couldn’t get together for
exercise. This would have been a time that I could so easily have stopped
working out. God provided another way to get me moving. When people ask me “How
did you lose weight?” I say, “Divine intervention and Weight Watchers.”
