Weight Watchers has a special place in our hearts. Sandrine’s mother joined Weight Watchers several times and Rhonda’s grandmother was most proud of her WW pin denoting her 25 pound weight loss.
Our book Change Your Mind: Lose Weight takes a different approach from Weight Watchers, but what we have in common with the program is attention to weight loss and healthy living. The bottom line is that our program differs largely on one thing, which is that we want you to pay attention to your inner journey, as opposed to deriving motivation from anything outside of yourself.
The points system developed by Weight Watchers has received much acclaim, and many people who follow the system lose weight. Yet, just like any diet you try, you will only be as successful as your inner motivation allows. In other words, Weight Watchers or any other program will “work” because you are working the program. It is you who are doing it. You are losing the weight! You will be successful if you have done the inner work, which is what we help you do in our book.
Bottom line is that losing weight is a calories in/calories out equation. No matter how you lose weight—by counting calories, by counting points, or by not counting at all—you will only maintain that weight loss if you do the inner work. How do you know if you have done that work? You will make food choices most of the time that are based on sound nutrition. You stop thinking points and calories and begin to think about how to nourish your body.
Another sign that you are there is that you are not obsessed with food. You live your life and then your stomach grumbles and you realize you are hungry. You are likely not planning your lunch while you are eating breakfast. You are just enjoying your breakfast. The idea of overeating makes you sick. Once you are almost full, you feel good, and you do not want to take another bite. It is this kind of success that we see as life-changing. There is no longer a fear of gaining weight because overeating does not appeal to you. You go to a party and taste this or that. You never binge. Why would you? Eating too much is uncomfortable and you know this at your core so overeating is just something you would never want to do. And you exercise because you want to, and not only to avoid gaining weight.
Getting to that place requires doing more than counting calories or points, or using behavioral methods of compliance. You can lose weight by following WW guidelines, but maintaining a weight loss requires more than just following the rules and it requires more than learning about nutrition.
Getting there means you must take that inner journey. You have to know yourself and love yourself. When you are at that point, you will make generally healthy choices and that is what we see as success. Success is not how many pounds you lose. Success is how you live.
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