The Cult And The Cocoon

I just couldn't help getting caught up in it.

A friend of mine joined Weight Watchers a few months ago and has been updating me weekly on her progress. She's doing great; she's lost more than 20 pounds so far and loves the program. Another friend lost 60 pounds earlier this year on Weight Watchers. And I couldn't help being just a little jealous of them both.

I didn't have 60 pounds to lose, but I did have a pesky 15 or so that I wouldn't mind never seeing again. I'd been too lazy to do anything about them. But after hearing that my friend had reached the 20 mark, I thought, if I had begun when she did, I could be done by now!

The point of Weight Watchers to is retrain yourself to eat the right foods and not eat the wrong foods. I've done programs like Weight Watchers before, and I know how they work, so it was just a matter of forcing myself to put it into practice. So I cut back and stopped the excessive snacking, and I'm five pounds down.

But a little bit of the Weight Watchers mentality couldn't help creeping in. My friend's program is through her work, so she has meetings each week with the other participants in her office. She jokingly calls it "the cult," because the people who are really into it love to talk about it and actually look forward to weighing in and sharing their stories of progress. And they don't even laugh too much when their leader says things like, "you're a butterfly coming out of your cocoon of fat."

I don't know if 15 pounds could really be considered a cocoon (I'd say that what I have is more like a muffin of fluff, or "fluffin"), but the concept is the same. And my way is working for me, although since I don't have much to lose, the last 10 are not coming off easily. But I will soldier on, and I'll keep my eye on the goal.

The point is, whether you want to lose 15 pounds or 50, whether you're on Weight Watchers or some other program, it's all in the attitude you have. You have to not want to go back, and you have to be willing to do some work and make some changes in your life. So I am. It's not like I'm making a drastic lifestyle change; it's just a little extra fluff. But reaching a goal -- any goal -- is very gratifying, so I'm looking forward to the day I say farewell to the fluffin.