The reasons I'm quitting Weight Watchers are entirely practical--that thing charges me $17.95 a month and I hardly use it anymore. I need to be better about tracking my food intake, but I don't need to do it via points--I can just track normal calories on a free site. And also, I have most of the recipes that I use printed out, though I do intend to go on one last recipe-printing run before I cancel my membership. So, I'm going to cancel my membership and start using free resources instead.
But quitting Weight Watchers has made me think critically about weight loss and health. Weight Watchers helped me so much in learning about nutrition and health and making good choices for myself. Quitting it feels like the end of an era, even though really it's just a transition in strategy.
But it's more than that. I've been thinking about fat acceptance recently, mostly because I found this blog, which is a really fascinating and intelligent read. I have not been terribly impressed with the fat acceptance movement in the past, mostly because it's seemed hypocritically unsupportive, and I've read horror stories of people who were shunned by all their former friends if they lost weight or otherwise somehow violated the unspoken code.
But this blog isn't like that at all. It talks articulately and fascinatingly about all the problems with our societal obsession with dieting and being thin. It articulates a lot of thoughts that I've had before, like the ones I expressed in this post. It's an amazing blog and one that really helped me gain some distance from the whole healthy living thing and some perspective on my recent plateau.
I don't take it as far as they do; in fact, I think they would be incredibly unimpressed with my entire healthy living thing, or at least the Weight Watchers and weight loss components of it. They call calorie-counting tools "reprehensible"; although I understand why they think that, I disagree, and I also don't think that counting calories necessarily has to do with weight loss so much as conscious food intake decisions. I think it's possible to use fat acceptance as a movement to avoid taking control over your own health, but that's not what this blog is doing; instead, it's just trying to disengage the concepts of "fat" and "unhealthy," which have become so completely, and incorrectly, intertwined.
New Recipe: Greek Penne Pasta
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This recipe sounded delicious to me when I came across it, and it turned
out that it was. Also, I've reached the point with cooking where I can make
a few ...
14 years ago
Like people who exercise, sometimes you just need to change things up a bit. Nothing wrong with quitting WW so long as you don't quit caring about keeping yourself healthy, which I don't think you'll do.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for trying something new! I think a healthy living plan sounds better than Weight Watchers any day.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely sounds like the right move for you - WW seems like a fantastic resource for thinking about your food in a more structured way, and understanding what you need to take in and why, but I can see how it would be just as convenient to do that on your own as well.
ReplyDeleteThat blog you like to is really interesting- I love the internet for sites like that. We really have all bases covered out here don't we? Even if they can be a little full throttle, it's good to know that there are educated and articulate voices of acceptance out there. Goodness knows the other voices are just about everywhere.
(If you're looking for trackers try The Daily Plate, it's really good & has a huge food/exercise database! Including how many calories per hour you burn in a shark attack. For real. Like a shark attack lasts that long.)
WW gave you the tools to make the choices that are best for you. I guess it's kind of like growing up and moving out of the house.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to that acceptance site. It is awesome! I hope to learn to be more tolerant of my appearance.
i have a lot of respect for WW and their methods - the one and only time i tried "real" dieting, i found some pirated lists of 1 and 0 point foods and used those religiously, and was impressed with the results - but you're right, once you learn the tools and methods you can branch out on your own. like going to weights classes at the gym to learn *how* to lift; then you can go off and lift on your own using those skills.
ReplyDeleteIs this your big news? I completely agree with Nilsa that keeping a healthy lifestyle is important, but that doesn't mean it has to come via WW.
ReplyDeleteI have problems with the fat acceptance movement also for the reason that it tends to disregard any attempt to be or get healthy- as you already discussed. I think ideally if someone were eating healthy and exercising and they were still not considered "thin" in some way, then the idea of body acceptance has true merit. If it is used as an excuse by some to be very unhealthy then I don't think it's the the original intent - or at least, a positive intent. Of course there are variations on what is "healthy eating" or "healthy exercise" but I think it is possible to reach a basic level of agreement there.
ReplyDeleteKudos for you for taking your healthy eating program to the next level. I'll be interested to read along and see what you discover.
Disclaimer: uh, that was my generally uninformed opinion. Go gentle on me if it's too nieve. My exposure is limited; I once attended a sort of fat vs unhealthy book reading and the author had a lot of faulty arguements. A lot of topics were brought up during that reading that sort of formed the basis for my little opine up there.
ReplyDeleteEeeek.
I happen to agree with you. Eating health consciously and counting one's calories in an effort to not only lose weight but to become a healthier person is not reprehensible - it is common sense and smart. I think the word 'diet' has such a bad rap that some mistake a person's effort to become healthy as a bad thing rather than a smart thing. Truth is, it does matter how much one weighs in their overall health, that is scientifically proven. I wish more people took the approach that you are, you actually inspire me.
ReplyDeleteI, too, quit WW and now just count calories on my iPhone with a special application that I downloaded. Points are a great way to get started and learn what portion sizes and kinds of foods are best, but I think that regular old calorie counting is just as easy, once you learn how to do it properly.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your quest of getting healthier.
I really can't believe I don't read Kate Harding, it totally seems like something I'd be into, and I hear her name EVERYWHERE.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check it out.
very interesting..I havent thought about a lot of that and I like that you bring it up.
ReplyDeletep.s. www.sparkpeople.com is a great free weightloss site!
great post!
Kate Harding's blog IS good. I concur. I've struggled to find my place in the fat acceptance movement. I want to be healthy and comfortable in my own body but are my standards dictated by a society that hates fat in any form? Probably. So I feel stuck most of the time. I'd love to see more women standing up for themselves, regardless of what size they wear because beauty comes in every size.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I went off on Oprah in the lunchroom. I think I have some "issues" to work out. :-)
Makes sense to me! :)
ReplyDeleteWell cheers, do what you think you need to do! You'll be fine regardless since youve made the choice ot be.
ReplyDeleteI know you can do it without WW. And in this economy (and perhaps your news is that you are buying a house or car?) you need to cut where you can!
ReplyDeleteIt's not "quitting", it's graduating! It's like when you leave college - you still (hypothetically) use the skills and knowledge you gained there, but you no longer have to go to class, write essays and finish up projects on last-minute deadlines.
ReplyDeleteI think you need a diploma, and a hat, and a party.
xox
WW has taught you what you need, and you don't need it anymore. I agree with those who have said you are graduating. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteI exercise to "The Biggest Loser" series, and on each of the dvd's is an inspiration section. One of them was a lovely lady who talked about how, when she started, her goal was entirely weight-loss, but halfway through it changed to HEALTH. After her stint on The Biggest Loser people would tell her "But you're not thin!" Her response? "That's right, I'm not. But I can run SEVEN miles. Can you?"
ReplyDeleteI love that.
Sara, I love that!
ReplyDeleteAnd I quit WW too when I moved to California. Funny thing for me is that when I stopped paying attention, I lost weight.
Oh gosh I LOVE Kate Harding. (Favourite post is about blogging with your real name: http://kateharding.net/2007/04/14/on-being-a-no-name-blogger-using-her-real-name/)
ReplyDeleteShe's such an awesome feminist. Good for you for being ready to quit WW! You are so self confident. Hooray for healthy lives!
I don't think that quitting WW is a bad thing at all. It was right for a while and it seems like you've gone as far as you can with it (though I totally advocate the printing all the yummy recipes before your membership runs out).
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that WW worked that way for you. I tried it briefly a year or two ago, and while it forced me to watch my intake better, I also ate fewer "real" foods. "Real" foods don't come with a nutrition label. It was so much easier to calculate the points of things that come with labels, and those are the things usually full of preservatives and such. I decided instead what I really need to do is focus on eating more food in its natural state (not prepackaged, etc.). My success at this comes and goes in phases, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI need to check out that blog! I have also been unimpressed with the fat acceptance movement. I want to read more about living healthy, but accepting people who aren't stick thin, size 6 or whatever. It's okay to be larger and healthy!
ReplyDelete