Chasing the Weight Loss Dream

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle. - Anais Nin

A year ago, on November 1, I reached my Weight Watchers goal weight. Since then, I've been able to maintain, never going more than 4 lbs over my goal weight, and often weighing in a bit under goal.

But the numbers on the scale don't represent the greatest success I've experienced since reaching goal. True weight loss success is found, I have come to believe, in day to day decisions. When I decide to just dig into my daily WW program (eating from the Core List, getting some exercise, meeting the Eight Good Health Guidelines), I have immediate benefits. Living the program today means that I'm not waiting for a victory at the scale to know that I'm doing well. I experience success in the myriad subtle responses I get from my body -- more energy, better sleep, toned muscles, a brighter outlook, greater stamina.

Weight Watchers members like to say "it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change." By this, we mean that we're not just aiming to lose weight at the scale, we're seeking to change on deeper levels. We understand that for the weight to come off and stay off, we have to change our attitudes, our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us, and our convictions about who we are and what we can accomplish. By working toward weight loss, we seek slimmer bodies, healthier attitudes about eating and fitness, and renewed vitality.

So if it's not a diet, but a lifestyle change, we can live the dream today. It need not always be running ahead of us, waiting at the end of a quest to drive down the numbers on the scale. No, the dream is here, in this time and place. When we live, right now, as the slimmer, healthier, more vital person we dream of being, a miracle occurs. We become ourselves, more fully. We become who we are here to be. And all the energy and effort we've put into fighting food, and fighting our bodies, becomes available to us for some other purpose. It's incredible what we can achieve when we stop devoting so much of our vital energy to the weight loss battle.

If you've been battling your body, fighting yourself to lose weight, imagine simply living as a slimmer person today. Imagine simply accepting that you will follow your healthy weight management program comfortably, without resentment and inner protests. Imagine surrendering the struggle to do it "your way," in favor of just doing the program, as it's written. Your weight will come off as your body is ready, in its own time, but you need not wait for the scale before you realize the benefits of your weight management lifestyle. Imagine what you'll do instead, now that you've stopped chasing the dream.

Stop chasing the dream and begin living it.

The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. - Abraham Lincoln