A few months ago I joined Weight Watchers after a friend of mine lost a lot of weight; she was my dinner partner for a lot of years. After being friends for at least 15 years I started to notice that she started speaking differently and acting differently when we would chat on the phone. Although I was happy for my friend, she was becoming like a stranger to me. She would talk about these meetings and the exercise that was now doing, and of course the wonderful food that she was making. She kept telling me that I should check into it because it changed her life.
I figured that if she could do it then I could too! So I went and my first impression was that everyone was very friendly, well almost too friendly, so I sat in the back of the room
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I signed up for the monthly charge that included their website and various programs online. Well I went home and called my friend, she was so happy that I joined and once again we had things to talk about! But the strange thing was that I started noticing that she was speaking about same subjects that the groups were talking about, she was using the same verbiage as the people at the center. For a while we had a lot of things to compare with our food point counting, but as the time went on, I started to feel like I was being conditioned, brainwashed into this new person.
I could see the look on my husband’s face when I would spout their propaganda about food choices and lifestyle changes; he had the same look that I used to have when talking to my friend. And the more I thought about it, the more I started to rebel internally. It wasn’t about the food, but about how they expected you to act. Be part of the program. I felt like I was in some kind of rehabilitation center, I didn’t feel comfortable there, I guess I never did.
But I do have to say that I have lost weight following their program and it really comes down to two things. Healthy choices and portion control, oh yeah and a lot of exercise. I think the program is good for some people who need that kind of monitoring but for a person such as myself, I glean what I can and run with what I have learned. I know my friend still attends the meetings