Rules, Rules, Rules

I recently had a Weight Watchers friend email me about some of the Weight Watchers rules.  She is a Lifetime member who has gained back some of her weight.  I know that we can all relate to gaining back some of the weight lost whether we are a Lifetime WW member or never a member at all.

She emailed me hoping to get my opinion and get the answers to the rules.  She was one of my members at my meetings when I was a WW Leader so she knew I would probably know that answer to her questions.  She also knew that I have been a WW Lifetime member who has had to lose the weight again.

Here are some of the things I told my friend that I thought many of you would find both interesting as well as helpful:

Lifetime WW members have to weigh in at least once per month.  They must weigh in at the first meeting that they attend each month.  If they are over goal by more than 2 pounds, they pay the weekly fee that week.  If they weigh in again the next week and are over goal again, they pay the weekly fee again.  If they weigh in any week during the month and are at or under 2 pounds over goal, they are free that week and every week for the rest of the month no matter what they may weigh.  Those are the rules and have been ever since I was a leader. It's a bit confusing but I really believe that they make sense.  Weight Watchers has found that these rules help Lifetime members keep their weight off because they are wanting to weigh in free.

Lifetime members who are free also get etools for free.  This is a new rule that I absolutely love.  It's one more reason to keep the weight off.  If you are paying for etools and would like to attend meetings each week (which I would highly recommend) then I would just buy a monthly pass which will include your etools plus your weekly attendance fees.  As soon as you are back to your goal, you can drop the pass and get etools for free. One of the benefits to being a lifetime member is that once you are back to less than 2 pounds over your goal you will be free again.  You do not need to get all the way back to goal to be free again, just back to the 2 pound range.  Another benefit to being lifetime is that you don't need to go through the 6 weeks of paid maintenance all over again.  When you are ready for maintenance though, I would recommend talking it through with you leader each week to be sure you're used to maintenance again.

This is one of these rules that I used to discuss in the meeting when people became lifetimers because it was so confusing, but most people didn't really understand it unless they were currently going through it because they were over goal.  It's one of those rules that most people don't pay much attention to until it affects them.

I'm very proud of my friend because she is going back to WW even though she is over her goal and may have to pay.  After being a free Lifetime member, it's hard to justify paying again. My advice to her and anyone thinking of joining or returning to WW is: If you can swing it financially, I would go back to the meetings each week to get that weight off so you can feel good about your body.  It's must easier for us to take care of others when we are feeling good about ourselves.

One thing I would also recommend to anyone returning to WW is to reconsider your goal.  If that goal is no longer the best thing for you, don't be afraid to change it.  You can change it any time as long as it's in the healthy weight range for your height.  You will find that chart (I think) on your weight record.

My friend wanted to know what I have been doing as far as paying or going for free. Here's what I've been doing.  I am a free lifetime member right now.  Even though I am still trying to lose weight, I am within my goal range.  When I became a lifetime member I made my goal the top of my healthy weight range for my height.  I hadn't been that weight in 10 years and wasn't even sure if I could get that low again.  I did get that low and was thrilled.  After I made my goal, I continued to try losing weight once in a while to see if I could get even lower.  Some weeks I practiced maintenance and some weeks I tried to lose.  I know that I had been lower in high school and wasn't sure if it was possible, but wanted to try.  I was able to continue to lose weight and eventually got back to that "high school weight".  Even though I was continuing to lose weight, I was doing it as a free lifetime member because I was under my goal.  This is something that Weight Watchers does not recommend.  Their main reason for discouraging it is because it's hard for someone to be motivated to lose weight when they are coming for free.  Paying for meetings is a big motivator!  I'm sure you agree with that.  Even though they do not recommend it, their rules do not prevent it so it's really up to you if you choose to do this or not. When I reached a weight that I was truly comfortable with I could have changed my goal to that number and still have been free but I didn't.  I kept my goal the same because I didn't know if I was done having children and I wanted to be free again without having to change my goal.

Weight Watchers also has a rule about Free Lifetime members who just had babies.  They can attend meetings for free after the baby is 6 weeks old if they were free when they got pregnant until the baby is 3 months old.  They can continue to attend meetings for free if they are nursing with a doctor's note.  I provided that doctor's note that gave me until Samuel was 6 months old to get back to my goal.  I just squeaked it in there.  I now attend meetings for free.

Anyone who is finding themselves in a situation similar to this one I would tell you to bite the bullet and get to a meeting.  You'll feel so much better when you get to a healthy weight for you and only you and your doctor know what that is.


The whole thing has me thinking about rules.  How can they help us?  How can they hinder us?  How have you used them to your advantage?  Have you let them frustrate you to the point that you have given up? Use the rules to your advantage.   Maybe they are hard for you to swallow now but you will see the benefits of them later.

Corinna

"The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites - everyone whose spirit God had stirred - got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem." -Ezra 1:5  Are you attentive to the stirring of God in your heart?