#WakeUpWeightWatchers (My WW Story)

A few weeks ago, Weight Watchers announced the company would be offering free signups for adolescents this summer. In a press release the company voiced, "Weight Watchers intends to be a powerful partner for families in establishing healthy habits. During the summer of 2018, Weight Watchers will offer free memberships to teenagers aged 13 to 17, helping the development of healthy habits at a critical life stage." The same release also revealed the company stands to increase revenue by more than $2 billion by new member growth and retention. 

This is both disturbing and problematic the company would take such a bold move to "hook" an audience and following at such a young and vulnerable age. With much of society targeting children and adolescents with alarming (and skewed) statistics citing that today's generation will be the first to not outlive their parents due to obesity, the company seems to be taking advantage of a "global problem." 

There is much that could be said on this subject and I'm sure there are numerous articles and information you can read which will share all of the data and research as to why this is such a bad idea. Instead of sharing that information again, I thought I could lend to speak to you from experience.

When I was 12 years old, Weight Watchers was my first introduction into the diet world. At this young and vulnerable time, I don't even remember being "overweight," or what society may have deemed as overweight for an adolescent. What I do remember is attending the meetings with my Mom and thinking that it looked like fun. I was intrigued by the community the women had and the idea of a weekly weigh-in where I would be showered with positive attention (if I lost weight) sounded like something I wanted to be a part of, too. Joining Weight Watchers felt like a rite of passage because all women who are grown-ups are on some sort of a diet - or at least that's what I believed.

Obviously I was young, at the age of 12, but I thought I would share here my memories that stand out the most for me from my experience of being a participant of Weight Watchers as an adolescent. My hope is that if you are a parent considering this for your child, that you will reconsider.

What Weight Watchers Taught Me:

• That losing weight was positively rewarded and reinforced, while gaining weight was something to be ashamed of. Many women would even have meltdowns and end up crying after a "bad weigh-in" at the back of the room.
• Lunchtime at school became very complicated and uncomfortable while on WW. During my time at WW, tuna fish sandwiches and carrot sticks were all the rage. So, while all the other children at school were enjoying their lunches with fun snacks and well-rounded meals, I was eating tuna fish and crackers. I remember it feeling very isolating.
• Weight gain was something to be ashamed of. I can remember our WW counselor once posing the question, "What good things come from weight gain?" It was as if implying that only bad things come from weight gain, when really, this shouldn't even be part of the conversation we're having because a specific weight is not the only indicator of better health.
• My Binge Eating began while I was a member of WW. It was almost a known fact that all the women would congregate after the meetings and have a "cheat meal" out together somewhere after the meeting. I can remember eating so much that afterwards I always felt sick and miserable. 

These are specific memories I have, but there are many other take-aways for how being an adolescent in WW would have a negative impact on my life for years to come. The program would be my first experience in positive reinforcement for weight loss, thus solidifying in my young mind the falsehood that a thinner body is a better body. Weight Watchers would be the first of many diets that I would try for the next two decades. Like many other individuals who are susceptible to an eating disorder after dieting, Weight Watchers would become my gateway onto this path where I would later struggle with anorexia, binge eating and exercise bulimia.

Considerations Before Enrolling Your Teen

Meeting Are Not Led By Professionals - Perhaps one of the most notable faults of Weight Watchers in considering the program for your teenage child is the program lacks medical or mental health professional guidance. Most community meetings are hosted by a "leader." The Weight Watcher leaders (at least during that time) were untrained professionals who usually were "graduates" of the program having reached their goal weight. As such, they have practically no training as a medical or mental health professional.

Diets Are Not Conducive for Development - Another criticism is the fact that due to this lack of professional guidance, the program would most likely lack the information and knowledge needed to be able to provide adequate care for a developing adolescent body. In present day media, we see numbers and bold, fear-mongering statements indicating that the vast majority of Americans are overweight and are just on the cusp of death! Other statements also tend to claim that childhood obesity is at it's highest ever recorded. However, there is very little said about how many young children and adolescents will actually gain weight during puberty. This is NATURAL and supposed to happen. I'm sure at some point, you've probably heard the statement that children, "grow out, then up." Placing adolescents on a diet could deprive their growing body of the needed nutrients and resources to aid their bodies in the maturation process. This could have a significant impact on brain development, psychological functioning, as well as cause lack of energy.

What Message Do We Want To Send Our Youth? - Lastly, another consideration - do we want the conversation with our youth about better health to be based on their appearance? If as a parent, the concern is of your child's health, are there other areas you can provide improvement without labeling them as a WW member? Are there sports clubs or groups they can become involved in which may also lend to healthy discussion about their changing body? For example, Girls On the Run is a national organization which teaches young girls about their body and has mission to encourage confidence, self-respect and empowerment. There may be other ways to help your adolescent rather than a central focus on their weight and appearance, which could only further solidify a negative relationship with their body.

As stated previously, it is my hope that this discussion will give you pause and consideration before you decide to sign your teen up for Weight Watchers. Perhaps instead of Weight Watchers, you might consider an intuitive eating or Health At Every Size therapist for your teen's weight concerns. I would be more than happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have! 

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Dear Diet - A Journaling Activity

Below is a journaling activity we complete in Beat the Binge. I challenge you to write your own letter to your diet(s) and see what comes up. 

Dear Weight Watchers,

You were my first introduction into the dieting world. At only 12 years old, I was introduced to you SO YOUNG. Perhaps probably most messed up of all, was the fact that I didn't even join you because I wanted to lose weight, but because I wanted to be "in the club." I wanted to be part of this adult world and feel included with my mom when she went to meetings. I wanted to "weigh-in" with others and feel like I belonged. However, the fun was over when I began having to take tuna fish sandwiches to school and watch my other friends eating their normal lunches. You set me up for my first experience binge eating when every week we would "celebrate" weigh-in day by going out to eat afterwards. Because I knew I would be faced with another week of tuna fish sandwiches, I would feel compelled to eat as much as possible during these meals. I remember I would leave feeling stuffed, sick and guilty for eating so much. Weight Watchers, you did nothing for my life but make me feel like being on a diet was a mandatory passage into adulthood.

Dear YM Magazine (and others)

This particular issue in this magazine became a "diet bible" for me. It introduced me to over 100 diet tips that became a way of eating for me. In addition, YM Magazine, your publications brainwashed me into believing I would never be loved, never feel like I belong and never find happiness unless my body looked a certain way.

YM Magazine Cover

Dear Suzanne Somers,

I found your diet book in a box of yard sale items in a family yard sale. I remember sitting down and reading it from cover to cover. Your weird diet of combining different food pairings had me taking the bread off my sandwiches at school some days and eating only the meat and cheese on others. Dear Ms. Somers, you were my first introduction to "fear foods" many of which I sometimes still feel slight discomfort when eating even today. For nearly 6 years, I avoided white pasta, white bread, potatoes, potato chips, white rice and even carrots, peas and corn.

Dear Food Rules,

I spent the better part of my college years not allowing myself to have an enjoyable meal more than once a week. I usually would "splurge" on breakfast once a week, and the rest of the week I would stick to strictly "healthy" items. In addition, I also only allowed myself to have one dessert a week and three cans of soda a week. My friends marveled at how disciplined I was, but you only provided a false sense of security. For any deviation from you, including going out with friends for pizza, would send my guilt into a downward spiral. I would then feel compelled to run miles and miles afterward. I missed out on so much of the college experience because of you.

Dear Calorie King

I can't even remember where I found your book, but I remember it was my first introduction into counting calories. After discovering your book I could no longer go out to eat without first methodically looking up each meal and item of food in the book to see if it "fit" into my daily calorie intake. Mr. Calorie King you sucked all the fun out of dining out and taught me an entirely new approach to obsessively controlling my food.

Dear Weird Hot Dog Diet,

My coworkers first introduced me to you and I thought you sounded silly, but then I witnessed them losing weight. It sounded disgusting that I was to subsist on hotdogs, tuna fish, bananas, eggs and other weird items. But I gave you a try anyway. Dear Weird Hot Dog Diet you did nothing but make me hate feeding myself for a total of about 2 weeks. I definitely did not look forward to meal time during this 2 weeks, but maybe that was the point.

Dear MyFitness Pal,

When I first discovered you, I thought you were the greatest thing to have happened in my "health" journey. When I first computed my goals into your system, you told me I needed to eat 1100 calories a day to reach them. I began eating this amount calories and did in fact lose a considerable amount of weight. However, I also lost energy, became hyper focused on food because my body was actually slowly starving. Over time, my body adjusted to this low calorie intake and began to actually start gaining weight, despite the low calorie intake. I became more and more focused on you and more and more depressed and confused that I didn't understand why you were no longer working. Over time, this low calorie intake caused many other physiological responses in my body, including depression, loss of my cycle and even hair loss. Dear MyFitness Pal, I understand you are useful for some, but for me you're just another diet that causes me to feel crazy around food.

Dear "Clean Eating"

Once again I was fooled into thinking this was THEY way to be eating and the epitomy of health. Your philosophy of avoiding all foods that were processed and not naturally from the Earth were somehow evil to my body. You convinced me that foods such as chocolate, cheese and even cereal should be avoided. I believe you masquerade as healthy, but you're actually just another diet. You imply restriction and define the moral code of "good" and "bad" foods.

Dear Intermittent Fasting,

You almost had me again. After reading some "research" that seemed to indicate you might, indeed, be the solution to weight loss I believed that maybe I should give you a try. In order to make you work it meant giving up my favorite meal of the day, breakfast. I would spend the better half of the morning tired and lethargic because I had no energy from not eating anything. After the designated window of eating time opened, I would be so starved that I would sometimes overeat at lunchtime, which would leave me feeling stuffed, sick and leave my stomach upset for the rest of the day.

Dear Atkins,

You came into my life during a time when I was really trying to work on not dieting. However, after witnessing and overhearing my coworkers having success from following your plan, I almost decided to try you, too. I felt more and more confused about your way of eating because how could vegetables ever be considered "bad" for you. But on your plan I was only "allowed" so many ounces of vegetables on meals. On another note, I was to exist on literally no carbohydrates, an important source of energy for any human body to live on. I hated how I was having to focus on every meal and it seemed like I was having to relearn how to eat, when eating should be a natural thing.

Dear MyFitness Pal,

You continued to lurk in the background during my visits with the diets in between. I have spent years having an affair with you from the other diets. When I was engaging in another diet, you were always there in the background, whispering to me and telling me lies like, You know I worked before, I can work again. You know you've been eating more than 1200 calories on some days. You know this is the REAL reason you haven't lost weight. You know if you just would focus on every little item and put it into the plan it would work. MyFitnessPal, I finally decided to get rid of you once and for all and delete you from my phone. You bring me nothing but constant reminders of a time that I have moved away from now because I'm doing something different.

My Fitness Pal Delete Screen

Dear Diets, All of You,

You have been there overshadowing some of the most important moments in my life. No matter how happy of occasion or amazing it should've been, you've been there to partly ruin it. Dear Diets you suck. And you do nothing but suck the joy out of my life. No. More.

Different Types of Diets - From Break the Mold Course

What would you say to your diet(s)?

If this type of post resonates with you, then I invite you to check out my online courses Break the Mold: Building Body Positivity or Beat the Binge. 

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