Wednesday Weekly: Support Systems

This week's meeting topic is support systems. As a life time member I can tell you that support is paramount to weight loss and maintenance. Without support, your success can be a struggle. Not impossible - we all have inner strength and can support ourselves. But let's face it - if we could lose weight on our own none of us would be turning to Weight Watchers in the first place.

So where can you get support?

First, you have to find it in yourself. Much like most challenging things in life, if you're not ready for change it won't happen. You have to be mentally and emotionally in a place where you are ready to take care of yourself and support yourself on this journey. I can tell you there have been many times over the years where my head was not in the game and my weight loss came to a standstill, or my maintenance was not longer maintaining but going up, up, up. You have to put all your chips in and play the game. If you can't support yourself you won't go very far.

Second - your meeting! Meetings are the best place to get support because everyone (and I mean I everyone) in that meeting room has been where you are. There is nothing you can say in there and be shamed because I will be willing to bet at least one other person has done it. Eaten an entire pint of ice cream? Yep. Whole tray of cookies? Yep. Eaten food out of the garbage? Yep. Eaten a whole cake over the course of a day because every time you took a tiny slice you were trying to make the cake "even"? Yep. Not only will you find people who can commiserate with you, you will find your meeting to be a treasure trove of tips, tricks, and hacks to make your journey easier. Every thing from product finds to recipes, strategies for eating out and strategies for cooking, your meeting has all the support you can ask for and more. If you're not a meeting member I would highly recommend it. I could not have been successful without my meeting. My leaders have been wonderful over the years and the people have been great too. I've made some lasting friendships from my meetings.

Third, look to your family. Not all family may be supportive, but it's a good place to start. If you're going to be successful your family really needs to work with you, not against you. So you need to ask for their help. This kind of goes back to the first support - you. You have to ask for what you need. You have to let them know how they need to help you. You have to be willing to assert for yourself what steps they need to take to help you reach success.

Fourth, find virtual support! If you're using the weight watchers app you have GOT to get on connect! It's a social media platform for weight watchers members and it's awesome. There is so much love and support there. Yes, there is some drama at times (it's social media, that's kind of a part of the package lol) but I really feel like the drama is minimal. There are tons of Facebook groups too. Area meetings often have their own private groups, and there are national groups as well. Just do a search and you're sure to find something that matches your interests.

Last, look to your friends. Here is where you will also find varied support. Some friends will support you totally, and others will try to knock you down. When it comes to friends, you will learn quickly who is a good friend and who isn't. Try to limit your time with those that are negative. You have had enough negativity in your life and you don't need more. Try to spend most of your time with people who support you.

And finally, try your best to ignore the negative nelly's and the nay-sayers out there. Just remember that haters are gonna hate no matter what you do. This journey is about YOU and you need to do whatever is going to get you to be successful. Got a co-worker that wants to comment on your lunch? Ignore. Acquaintance that just has to point out that you've never been successful on a diet before? Use that to fuel your workout. Take a kick-boxing class and imagine you're boxing that negativity away. There's always going to be someone who has to say something. Just try to remember that their negativity is all about THEM, not YOU.

Be strong, but get support when you need it. You can do it, and you don't have to do it alone.