Here’s a photo of everyone who came to my noon Weight Watchers meeting today:
God. That was painful.

My ego is both large and fragile, so showing up to lead a meeting where no one bothered to come was a dark and difficult moment in time.

Of course, I understand that this is a terribly difficult time of year to be focused on weight loss, and people tend to basically throw in the towel until the start of the New Year. Heck, I was one of those people at the end of 2001. Stuffing food into my face non-stop and feeling terrible about it, and gaining so much weight that none of my clothes fit. It was pretty awful.

It’s not hard to see why people don’t think of a weight loss support meeting as a high priority right now.

Still, I’m disappointed. If anything, when people are least happy with themselves and feeling like weight management during the holidays is impossible, that’s when I have the most to offer them. If only I had done a better job of explaining to people that the reason for coming to meetings isn’t to see the number on the scale go down. It’s to get support, exchange ideas, find motivation and share experiences. Every person who didn’t show up today robbed themselves AND THE OTHERS of the opportunity to make some positive headway.

I guess telling people they don’t have to get on the scale just wasn’t enough

Fortunately, I did have a couple of other meetings this week that went well. In one of them, I was very, very happy because a particularly discouraged member showed up, weighed in and stayed for the meeting. I was just as delighted to have her there as the woman who received an award for reaching 15 pounds lost. Really good meetings need both of those kinds of people.

What was awesome about that meeting is that I asked them for all the things they could get from coming even if nothing is going right for them at the moment– no food journal, unhealthy choices, lack of motivation, etc. After all, what kind of support do you need when you feel like you just don’t care!

In the end, the group decided that it helps both to see when people are succeeding and when they are not. They noted that sharing ideas, getting remotivated, learning new strategies, and just staying in the game are all good reasons to “come when you don’t want to come.”

Just listening to them talk made me realize that it goes for me too. Even though I’m feeling discouraged and unmotivated, I have a hell of a lot to celebrate. I haven’t gained all my weight back, I’m still reaching out for help, I continue to listen to the experiences of others, and I’m using the meetings to help find my bearings.

I guess Woody Allen was right when he said that “90% of life is just showing up.”