How Does Group Support Meetings Make Weight Loss Fun?

Losing weight is rarely associated with fun. Doing the stuff you have to do to lose weight isn’t usually very fun.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

What’s fun about eating less? What’s fun about rejecting a second serving of something that tastes really good? For that matter, what’s fun about rejecting food that tastes really good ever? We’re not talking about a second serving. We’re talking about not having something you love because you want to lose weight. Definitely not fun!

Ugh, and what about exercise? Not fun! It’s painful, sweaty/smelly and boring, but I have never heard anybody say weight loss workouts are fun. Some people say they’re happy after they complete a workout session. They’re not happy because it was fun. They’re happy because they did something positive for themselves.

Losing weight is rarely fun and going it alone can make weight loss both no fun and lonely.

Joining a weight loss support group doesn’t sound like much fun either. I know that’s what I thought. I rejected the idea for years. I heard about Weight Watchers. I heard people talking about their meetings and I thought that sounded absolutely awful. I didn’t care if it worked better than trying to lose weight on my own. It sounded so awful that I’d keep trying to get to goal on my own before suffering through a weekly weight loss group support meeting.

I knew I could lose weight by myself, but the way I did it wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t anything I wanted my young daughters to witness and ever try for themselves. I did what I really didn’t want to do. I joined Weight Watchers and started going to meetings.

The first time I went to a meeting it wasn’t so bad. There were a lot of people there. Some were sort of like me. Youngish, 30ish mothers of school-aged children. There were also women who were closer to my mother’s age. There were a few men there too, and several of those guys were memorably comical. I made friends. It was fun.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

One guy, who celebrated a 100 pound weight loss the night I joined, could have been a stand-up comic. He was killing us describing his former eating and exercise habits. He had us laughing a lot and other members often said funny things. Sometimes the leader made us laugh. Meetings were definitely fun.

Sometimes we would talk about an aspect of weight loss that wasn’t fun. Things like plateaus and unexpected gains were not fun. I can’t think of one time, though, that a discussion that started out on a negative note didn’t end on a positive note. Even the bad parts about weight loss had a way of turning into something fun.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

The fun I had in meetings empowered me. I started to trust myself to say “yes” to foods I used to be afraid to eat when I was losing weight. I replaced the the feeling of deprivation with a sense of strength.

Even my attitude towards exercise changed. I learned through meetings and hearing other members that exercise benefits could result from doing stuff that I enjoy. Playing, riding horses, swimming, paddling kayaks, skiing, and even cleaning stalls!

My experience at Weight Watchers meetings is the reason I became a leader. I had fun as a member and decided I could keep having fun and get paid for it too. Why not??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I’m still having fun at Weight Watchers meetings 24 years after I went to my first one!

 

 

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.