Dear Judy,
There are a few things in WW life that I've come to accept.
The reality is that not everyone is ready. Not everyone is truly committed. For many, while the stated goal is to lose weight, the implied goal is really not to gain weight.
That's how you get the cluster of older ladies in your meeting who've been doing WW since the days of making your own ketchup and never show any meaningful progress.
In their minds, the alternative of gaining weight is enough to put their butts in the seats, but the reward of actually losing weight and being healthier isn't strong enough to incite them to action or to change their habits.
Like Anastasia, they "track" intuitively. They've done the program so long that they just kinda "know" what they're eating. In reality, they don't. And if they're honest with themselves, they probably don't care all that much either.
Working with these folks at the scale is a real challenge. Your first instinct is to try to help. But, they don't really want the help because they don't really want to change. It's remarkably frustrating.
The reality is that not everyone is ready. Not everyone is truly committed. For many, while the stated goal is to lose weight, the implied goal is really not to gain weight.
That's how you get the cluster of older ladies in your meeting who've been doing WW since the days of making your own ketchup and never show any meaningful progress.
In their minds, the alternative of gaining weight is enough to put their butts in the seats, but the reward of actually losing weight and being healthier isn't strong enough to incite them to action or to change their habits.
Like Anastasia, they "track" intuitively. They've done the program so long that they just kinda "know" what they're eating. In reality, they don't. And if they're honest with themselves, they probably don't care all that much either.
Working with these folks at the scale is a real challenge. Your first instinct is to try to help. But, they don't really want the help because they don't really want to change. It's remarkably frustrating.
They are long on excuses why they can't do this or that because they are busy with bridge club or church or whatever. Those excuses are what they use to justify the lack of progress on their WLJ, when it's really a commitment issue at the heart of it.
Anastasia is one of those ladies. We are her blue-haired friends (in the computer) that she will show the pictures of the grandkids to. We are the ones that go on that weekly 20 minute walk with her while she talks about her nephew's wedding in Peru. Or her 9th cruise to St. Croix. Or how she felt like Shamu on the last cruise and *this* time she's serious about dropping the weight.
And we'll knowingly pat her hand and tell that she can certainly do it. We'll offer to join in that effort and do an extra lap with her that day because that's what good friends do.
We'll commit to an extra walk a week - to Starbucks, of course. Where we get scones because we earned them with our heavy-duty exercise walking to the corner and back.
And then the first rain conflicting with the walk comes and we just decide to drive to Starbucks instead, don't we?
And we go to that meeting every week and nothing changes.
We can only try kicking people in the butt so much, before you come to accept the futility of that effort. They have to want change and act upon that desire.
MANY of us in here aren't there yet. MANY of us are likely destined to drive Buick Regals, 20 miles under the speed limit, in the left lane. Because we're in a hurry to get to our WW meeting...................
Anastasia is one of those ladies. We are her blue-haired friends (in the computer) that she will show the pictures of the grandkids to. We are the ones that go on that weekly 20 minute walk with her while she talks about her nephew's wedding in Peru. Or her 9th cruise to St. Croix. Or how she felt like Shamu on the last cruise and *this* time she's serious about dropping the weight.
And we'll knowingly pat her hand and tell that she can certainly do it. We'll offer to join in that effort and do an extra lap with her that day because that's what good friends do.
We'll commit to an extra walk a week - to Starbucks, of course. Where we get scones because we earned them with our heavy-duty exercise walking to the corner and back.
And then the first rain conflicting with the walk comes and we just decide to drive to Starbucks instead, don't we?
And we go to that meeting every week and nothing changes.
We can only try kicking people in the butt so much, before you come to accept the futility of that effort. They have to want change and act upon that desire.
MANY of us in here aren't there yet. MANY of us are likely destined to drive Buick Regals, 20 miles under the speed limit, in the left lane. Because we're in a hurry to get to our WW meeting...................
No comments:
Post a Comment