Weighty Wednesday -- Prodigal returns to meetings

Over the last month or so, I've missed my Weight Watchers meetings. I've missed them more ways than one. Physically, been skipping them, and figuratively, I've missed the friendships, camaraderie, support, and my totally AWESOME leader, Julie.

Sometimes I have to become the returning prodigal daughter to realize what I have been missing.

On a side note: I also returned to my SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) meetings last night with a similar feeling. It wasn't as overwhelming of a 'welcome back' of my Weight Watcher's crew, but being warmly greeted and recognized was a nice feeling.

And I weighed in . . . officially.

This was the reason I missed last month. I knew I was over. I knew I was starting to slowly increase my weight in Jan, Feb, and March. I wanted to 'fix' it before I returned. But now, I was resigned to being over goal and was back because I knew I needed the support from the group.

But you want to know what missing those April meetings really did?

It helped me gain more weight.

I posted last week that it took a 2 X 4 against my head in the form of seeing 140 pounds on the scale for me to have a serious reality check. I buckle down and went 'no flour, no sugar', along with Simply Filling for about 8 days prior to weigh in.

With clothes on, I weighed 134.8 pounds.

The 'no flour, no sugar' didn't help as much as I'd hoped, but my clothes fit better and I feel less bloated.

I had to pay the meeting charge of $13. But my wonderful leader reminded me that I would have had to pay because I didn't weigh in during April. So, I guess, you could say I got a 'twofer'. Two for the price of one. I also had to pay because I was 0.8 pounds out of my goal weight range.

Lose 0.8 pounds by next week? I can do it.

Once I get back to my goal range, I can set my sights to a lower number. It helps that summer finally returned to Oklahoma. I'm not looking forward to the storm season, but I'm very happy about the warm weather. And there are loads of fresh fruits and veggies to eat!

The one thing Julie reminded the entire group was that though we were "losers", we were all winners. All of us have been in each other's shoes. We might have different food struggles to deal with, but the core of the matter is that we have started dealing with them--successfully.

We cheer our friends when they succeed. We commiserate when they gain. But ultimately, we are there for each other during the tough times.

This is what a support group is all about.

Later, Peeps!