Chocs A-Weigh!
To those of you who have only recently met me, it may come as a surprise to learn that I used to be a queen bee with Weight Watchers. Yes, I was half the person then I am now. It's not that my lapse hasn't bothered me, it's just lately I've had a few things on my mind - like thinking up excuses not to rejoin.
It helps that clothes sizing is done differently here. I wear a size smaller than I would at home, but confusingly my feet have gone up two and half sizes.
We hadn't been in Naperville for 5 minutes when I noticed that Weight Watchers had kindly opened an office not two minutes from our apartment. Crumbs, I wouldn't even have to drive there.
Sending someone with a life long weight problem to live in the U.S. is like sending an alcoholic to do work experience in a bar. I expect even anorexics here weigh 200lbs. Portion sizes in restaurants are enormous, snack foods in supermarkets come in bags the size of coal sacks and most of the food is slathered in fat or sugar or both.
For those of you who have recently met me, it may come as a surprise to know that Ross and I had such success with WW 10 years ago, that we not only ran meetings, but appeared in a radio ad., the national press, members magazines and I even worked as a co-ordinator for WW from Heinz foods.
Anyway, this weekend, for the sake of the blog you understand, we decided to try out the American version to see how it compared.
The first difference was that we could actually go into a shop to attend meetings. In England, meetings are mostly run out of church halls and the like. In fact they do have many meetings like that here, but it does make the whole thing seem more professional when you don't have to be weighed by an often highly overweight volunteer as the leader struggles in under boxes of programme material.
The weigh-in is also more discreet. The member stands on a scale in a booth, and does not learn the result until the weigher tells them. Personally I prefer the other method. I'm sure the weigher lied just so I need to pay for longer. It's free when you reach your goal weight. I reckon she added at least another 20lbs, but without the proof I have no comeback.
But the most amazing thing were the times. In England, apart from the odd rogue meeting, they were usually held Mondays to Thursdays. Here, not only are they every day of the week, but on a Saturday morning you could attend at 6.30 a.m.! Honestly!! I can only assume this was to give members time to go to IHOP afterwards for a stack of pancakes.
Disappointingly, all the other people at the meeting were not 350lbs, although I'm sure I could be given the encouragement. Ross and I looked at though we fitted right in.
23 hours in, I am already not happy. Yesterday's lunch comprised of a few bits of salad without dressing. For dinner Ross made us a stir fry, except we forgot to buy vegetables, so it comprised of chicken, onion, coleslaw mix and ketchup. By lunch time today I was nearly fainting, because I couldn't find sugar free cereal anywhere, and had to resort to an apple for breakfast.
As a former expert, I can assure you this is only down to my own mis-management. You can actually lose weight and eat like a king - well a prince, any rate. It's just it's hard getting back on the wagon when you've fallen off it for so long you can no longer hear the wheels in the distance.
At least that's the excuse I'll be telling my new leader next week....
It helps that clothes sizing is done differently here. I wear a size smaller than I would at home, but confusingly my feet have gone up two and half sizes.
We hadn't been in Naperville for 5 minutes when I noticed that Weight Watchers had kindly opened an office not two minutes from our apartment. Crumbs, I wouldn't even have to drive there.
Sending someone with a life long weight problem to live in the U.S. is like sending an alcoholic to do work experience in a bar. I expect even anorexics here weigh 200lbs. Portion sizes in restaurants are enormous, snack foods in supermarkets come in bags the size of coal sacks and most of the food is slathered in fat or sugar or both.
For those of you who have recently met me, it may come as a surprise to know that Ross and I had such success with WW 10 years ago, that we not only ran meetings, but appeared in a radio ad., the national press, members magazines and I even worked as a co-ordinator for WW from Heinz foods.
Anyway, this weekend, for the sake of the blog you understand, we decided to try out the American version to see how it compared.
The first difference was that we could actually go into a shop to attend meetings. In England, meetings are mostly run out of church halls and the like. In fact they do have many meetings like that here, but it does make the whole thing seem more professional when you don't have to be weighed by an often highly overweight volunteer as the leader struggles in under boxes of programme material.
The weigh-in is also more discreet. The member stands on a scale in a booth, and does not learn the result until the weigher tells them. Personally I prefer the other method. I'm sure the weigher lied just so I need to pay for longer. It's free when you reach your goal weight. I reckon she added at least another 20lbs, but without the proof I have no comeback.
But the most amazing thing were the times. In England, apart from the odd rogue meeting, they were usually held Mondays to Thursdays. Here, not only are they every day of the week, but on a Saturday morning you could attend at 6.30 a.m.! Honestly!! I can only assume this was to give members time to go to IHOP afterwards for a stack of pancakes.
Disappointingly, all the other people at the meeting were not 350lbs, although I'm sure I could be given the encouragement. Ross and I looked at though we fitted right in.
23 hours in, I am already not happy. Yesterday's lunch comprised of a few bits of salad without dressing. For dinner Ross made us a stir fry, except we forgot to buy vegetables, so it comprised of chicken, onion, coleslaw mix and ketchup. By lunch time today I was nearly fainting, because I couldn't find sugar free cereal anywhere, and had to resort to an apple for breakfast.
As a former expert, I can assure you this is only down to my own mis-management. You can actually lose weight and eat like a king - well a prince, any rate. It's just it's hard getting back on the wagon when you've fallen off it for so long you can no longer hear the wheels in the distance.
At least that's the excuse I'll be telling my new leader next week....
posted by Hilary at
2:27 PM
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