Unsafe at Any Size

Huzzah!  I finally got a letter.

The backstory: after losing 110 lbs on Weight Watchers, I’m at a point where I’m feeling happy and healthy.  I’ve met my personal goals for weight loss.  Weight Watchers lets you come for free after you’ve maintained your goal weight for a certain amount of time.  These “lifetime” members get the support from other members for maintaining their weight loss, and can inspire them as they lose their own weight.

There are two ways to become a lifetime member: your weight can be within what the BMI says is healthy, or you can get a letter from your doctor saying a different weight is appropriate for you.

I haven’t lost enough weight to get to the BMI range for my height, and I haven’t after 2.5 years at WW.  I probably could, but I’m happy right where I am.  I’ve made a huge number of lifestyle changes, and at this time don’t feel like making more.

I thought that my regular doctor, who was on Weight Watchers himself and lost weight with the program, would be sympathetic.  But at my annual exam, he argued that based on statistics, people who are in the “normal” BMI range are healthier than those who aren’t.  Even those like me who have good cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. are more likely to hurt themselves when they fall because the weight makes them more top heavy.

Huh?

It’s hard to argue with someone who’s fully clothed when you’re wearing a paper napkin.  And he’s right, statistically speaking.  But there are statistics, and then there are the needs of individuals.  And this individual is DONE!

Fortunately, my gynecologist agreed with me!  At my visit yesterday I told her my plight, and she took mercy.  I now have a letter saying an appropriate weight for me is 170.  I finally feel like I’ve got some agency back!

As great as this news is, it doesn’t mean I can go on lifetime yet.  During my months-long hissy fit, I gained a few lbs I need to lose to get to that 170.  And Weight Watchers has you do 6 weeks on maintenance before you’re officially lifetime.  After that, if you go too high over your goal weight you need to pay.  Now THAT would be motivating for me.

So chocolate chip cookies?  Not interested.  Peanut butter sandwiches?  Nuh uh.  I’m on mission!

I’ve been moaning and groaning that my Y doesn’t have classes at 5.  Well, one class, but they changed it to zumba, which so far doesn’t fit into the fung shui of my workouts.

But I’ve got a little boot camp back!  How?  Kids joined basketball, and their practice is right at bootcamp time!  I’m more excited to sweat than I care to admit.

I used to depend on those frozen Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners, but so glad I stopped after reading this Consumerist item about a woman who found a frog in her Smart One fettuccine.  Which of course leads to the question: how many points did the frog add?  Two fried frog legs is 4 points, according to my eTools.  No set points value.  There’s two legs on this frog, but they aren’t fried.  And what about the rest of it?

And what about the frog?  Can’t they survive being frozen?  Perhaps after the woman warmed it up it could just hop on out of there?