Jennifer Hudson

Diet commercials. We've all seen them. Celebrity spokespersons and users alike spouting the benefits of joining a weight loss program. To be fair Weight Watchers (WW),  and Jenny Craig claim they are lifestyle choices and not diets, but just the same they tout the success of their programs and forget the losses. Case in point, me. I joined WW years ago and lost several pounds. I was just 10 lbs. shy of my goal weight when my lack of funds made it impossible to continue the program. I still looked good for my wedding. Just not as good as I had hoped. I know it must be something about me that lets the weight creep back on. I have a love for sugar when I have mountains of papers to write, when there is no end to my frustration, and yes when I celebrate milestones. Geneen Roth would have a field day with me. We could be binge buddies. Sensing my frustration, (ok, I gripe about my weight on a daily basis), my husband bought me a membership for WW. I thought "great, now I could lose that last 10 lbs. plus the additional 15 I added on after I married. "The good news was that WW had changed the plan and now fruit didn't have to be deducted from my daily allowance of points. For anyone who doesn't know on WW you get a daily point intake based on your weight loss goals and each food item is designated an amount of  points per serving. In the past fruit lovers suffered as certain fruits had a zero point value while others could have substantially more. Well now the rules had changed and I could fill up on as much fruit as I wanted to curb my need for sugar. Hurrah! Well, I guess the new rules don't apply to me as I struggled to lose a single pound for four months. I didn't and still don't understand it. I ate according to the rules, worked out and abstained as much sugar as I could and still no change. Well, that's not true. I lost five lbs. after a sore throat made it impossible to eat anything but chicken soup. Unfortunately,I gained it back as soon as I could swallow solid foods. After paying for months and not seeing the scale budge I gave up and canceled my account. Now, I don't diet so much as try not to overdo it. I try to avoid the scale and instead try to walk faster or push harder. Still, it irks me to watch TV and see Jennifer Hudson, and all those other WW  "losers" gaining confidence after losing weight and saying "losing weight clicked for me."  In all honesty the concept is easy. Eat right, exercise more and lose weight. And yet, losing weight is hard. The weight loss industry is a billion dollar industry, perhaps more than that. Why doesn't weight loss click for all of us? Or does it just not click with our body even as much as we try to enforce it? Does our body just give up after years of torturing it, denying it, overworking it just to like what we see in the mirror?