The other day I ran into a woman I had met 12 years ago in a Weight Watchers meeting. We started our journey together and we both had similar amounts of weight to lose. So we bonded during those hard months and became each other’s motivation with a tiny hint of very healthy competition. At this time, 12 years younger, I did the Weight Watchers program pretty successfully and in a very reasonable amount of time I lost the weight I was hoping for, was fitter than ever and feeling better than I’ve ever felt before.
This woman and I finished at the same time and received the gold star to put in our “Weight Watchers 10% keychain” (for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about: when you join Weight Watchers and lose 10% of your bodyweight they give you a keychain and then you collect a couple of charms at some milestones) the golden star is symbolic that you’ve reached a gold membership. This entitles you to go to all the meetings and not having to pay for them.
Well, I reached my desired weight and thought I was “cured” forever and so I stopped going. As life went on, I gained a lot of weight back and I have never been able to reach that goal again.
Coming back to the present: I ran into this woman and we immediately recognized each other. Upon asking her how she kept her weight off and was fit after all these years she just took out her keychain and oh boy was I surprised! What I saw made me jealous and angry at myself. Her keychain had 12 stars!!! She knew she had to keep on going every year to keep the weight at bay. She did it right, she kept it up, she realize her battle with weight was an ongoing one and she needed the support.
I on the other hand, needed the support but didn’t use it. I still have my keychain with one lonely star while she has been fit and healthy for the past 12 years and that could’ve been me. I guess looking at my star now let’s me know I could do it too.
I spoke about it with a friend and she “psychoanalyzed” it and told me that it couldn’t be healthy that it was just a “safety blanket”. But boy do I want that safety blanket! In fact I need it! This also reminds me why I hate commenting about this with people close to me. (Read my previous post)
(https://jellybean10k.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/i-absolutely-hate-sharing-my-weight-loss-journey/ )
I realize that the keychain is probably a good outside motivator (that obviously only comes in second to the feeling of a fit body)
So here I am trying to go for that gold trying to go for filling my own keychain. I hope I make it this time and then I won’t stop until it’s full! Maybe by that time I’m in the habit of being healthy. Or maybe I’ll just get a bigger keychain.