Weight Watchers

Down 62 lbs, and I have them to thank. Jocelyn is the best leader. Best meeting is 6:30 Thursday, fun group always end up a cracking up. Jocelyn is entertaining, full of energy, knows about the techy stuff (Great for younger members). She really goes the extra mile to help you as does the rest of the staff here. They are very welcoming and supportive. After years of being up and down, mostly up, I have a normal bmi for the first time and the people here are really my secret weapon.

Calling all foodies! Clearly, we need a healthy way to balance out all this Unilocal food activity. I LOVE Weight Watchers! The program is uplifting, doable, and sound. The points system let’s you pick foods that help you lose weight but stay fed, and on REAL food. Weight Watchers sells a few packaged foods, cookbooks, food scales and pedometers. But, what they are really focussed on is the motivating lessons and in balancing your food choices to stay in shape. The Long Beach site is so friendly, and leader Christine is hysterical and real. If you are thinking of hiding out on-​line, do not. Go to a meeting and start getting «it» done. Men included.

The staff here is fantastic!
I come every week, stay for meetings. I have lost 20 lbs and counting. I ge personal notes in the mail from the staff, and Im learning so much. The shelves are almost always stocked with product. Well, except the 2 weeks I couldn’t get my smoothie mixes but now there are some new ones, that are delish!

I have to say that the staff here is great! They really keep me motivated and coming back for more. I’ve only been attending meetings here for a few weeks but I have already seen a big difference in my eating habits and food choices thanks to attending meetings here. This location has a lot of products in stock that are ready for purchase too. This is super convenient for those who are on a time crunch.

This location is one of the best!
Their hours are fantastic — open even on Sundays so you can drop by for a weigh-​in. They have a fully stocked shop in there, as well as private weigh-​in bays and a large meeting area. The staff here is also so, so nice and have attended meetings here before, too.
Love everyone I’ve run into!
(Weight Watchers, you should be much nicer to your employees. You have so many amazing, caring ones and it’s disheartening to hear how dysfunctional it can be).

Love, love, love my Weight Watchers location. Our Saturday leader, Gwen is the best. She is amazing, encouraging, always knows the subject matter. She does extra special things… prepares of motivational calendar for us each month, organizes walking events for us to participate in. Our group is like family!

Alicia is the best leader & the ladies who do the weigh ins are awesome, too. I love going to this location, everybody is like a little WW family here.

Gwen on Saturdays ROCKS!!!

I am an inherently lazy bitch, and there is a seriously obese woman inside me that is dying to escape. She tries and tries, she makes me eat that last oreo and forces me to say yes to all the invitations to the wine bar and the mexican joint, and she definitely holds her breath as I pass by a million and one greasy spoons and fast food joints hoping I’ll stop at the drive-​thru on the way home for a large order of fries or tater tots (She loves potatoes).
She is the one who tries to keep me from going to the gym with a million excuses: too tired, too hungry, it’s too late, I’m not feeling well, have to do some work, have to cook dinner, have to lay here like a beached whale and watch TV, you name it, she’s kept me from working out with her evil tricks many a time.
However, though she gets a little closer to the surface now and then (you can see her when my pants get a bit snug), she never escapes, and that is because of Jocelyn at this Long Beach WW center. Now, I am a lady that has been doing WW on and off since the late 80s (I can still remember the leader telling us to eat dill pickles whenever we got the munchies, to picture fat as sticks of butter, and yum that skinny haven chain that went the way of all things flesh), so I know a good leader vs. a bad one.
Jocelyn is THE BEST weight watchers leader I’ve ever met. She is motivating, welcoming, funny, encouraging and best of all, leads by example. I remember one leader that HATED exercise, and even went as far as to discourage it. HELLO!!! I absolutely love that Jocelyn leads a healthy lifestyle that involves both food choices and activity, and she can motivate me to do the same, and also that she’s open about her sweet tooth and occasional indulgences. She’s accessible outside of the center (thanks, facebook) and her meeting is the best I’ve been to. I know that I’m not the only one that believes this because one time a bunch of the ladies (and one man) started vocalizing basically the same sentiment.
Thanks Jocelyn, for the ability to shop in regular size clothing stores, and the modicum of will (won’t) power that I seem to maintain.

What I like about Weight Watchers is that it is not a diet, it’s a life style. You don’t have to deprive yourself of the food you love. You simply learn to make better choices and to plan ahead.
I like to eat and I’m a big guy. I’m never hungry and I don’t have to eat like a rabbit. If I want a burrito, I have a burrito. If a want falafel, I have falafel. If I want pie, I have SOME pie. Anyway, you get the point.
It’s working for me. I’ve lost 16 lbs in two weeks and I haven’t been hungry.
I would also suggest going to the meetings. You’ll find out you are not alone and learn some great tips on food and maybe even make some like minded friends.

#95 That was a good year. (The only year I didn’t look like the Goodyear blimp)
«My life is a drama. It has a beginning, a middle and NO END.»
D-​R-​A-​M-​A. (FYI: Best dance song ever…)
I stopped to reflect about life as I stepped on the scale to see who has won the battle of the bulge.
Unilocal won. WW lost. I am not the biggest loser.
95 was a good year. I was 15lbs from my weight goal. Soo close.
I’m not a quitter, I may have been a failure at times but lessons were learned. I am not a quitter. My problem is commitment. I have not made that commitment to myself. Heck, I even went to school for this. I am ashamed to say that I am a Kinesiology grad who doesn’t represent my degree in a good way. Can I blame Unilocal?NO, way.
I blame DRAMA and my response to it. I joke that I emotionally eat, but damn… jokes can only go so far. I am my worst enemy and here I am thinking the wifey was. But if it wasn’t for her caring about my health… well, I can tell you, she is my better half and if it means that I only eat like a «veggie» around her, then so be it. I know that she’s trying to add minutes to my life.
I actually was inspired by a coworker who went to one meeting and basically changed her life. She lost 76lbs within a year. What an inspiration and great motivation. I made my way through the doors feeling very vulnerable and self-​conscious. I don’t need to be here, I said to myself. I have played sports all my life. I’m still playing soccer. And I do go to the gym, sporadically. However it’s not good enough, I needed some assistance and I’m tired of being my worst enemy.
I purchased the monthly plan and it made the weekly meeting less than $ 10 per meeting, now I think I could spare a cocktail for a meeting. Gwen was my WW leader. My Saturdays are spent on myself, WW meeting and then off to the gym. What’s great is that most of the leaders here are also working at the 24Hr Fitness as Group X instructors. Just like Unilocal,WW is with me electronically. Gotta love the technology. As they say, if you eat it, sip it, snack on it– you gotta track it. It will work if you work at it. (Just like Unilocaling.)
So I know that the DRAMA has no end, but at least I know that with the active Unilocalers I’ve met, I know that I can make it work and hopefully when I jump back on the scale it will be better. I would post a before pic, but I’d rather work my way down to a healthy weight and post both pics together. Just wait for the update.
Eat, drink and be merry. Cheers!

I’m admitting it. I need help. All of this Unilocal business is no good for my waistline, assline, armfat line, or double-​chin line. So, I went to join the dub-​dub club so I can go out to eat and drink and do all the Unilocalalicious things I love while losing weight. So… turns out I can’t do all the things I want. Unfortunately the bacon explosion isn’t on the WW momentum plan, but I can do quite a lot and still squeeze it all into my points for the day.
It took a couple of meetings for me to find the right leader for me. The problem with WW is that most of it skews older, and toward people with kids and all that jazz. I first went to a meeting with Christine who I wasn’t too keen on, but as soon as I went to a meeting with Susie and she was talking all about the WW mobile site — I knew she was the one for me.
So, for now, we’ll take it as it goes. One day I’ll update this while sitting on a beach showing off my new weight-​watchercized bod. Until then… no bacon explosion for me.

I just wanted to add that I reached my goal last week — I am 26 pounds lighter! Gwen is my WW leader on Saturdays, and she is terrific, supportive, funny, and always a good class. I now have to go through six weeks of maintenance, then I will be a lifetime member (which means I don’t have to pay, as long as I keep the weight off, I think within two pounds). Weight Watchers is a plan I can live with — whoopee!