“Connect”-ing with People

Yesterday I had a chat with Oprah.

OK, in reality, I just listened to her talk, but you know, it was like she was talking directly to me.  😉 

Since I’ve been using the Weight Watchers eTools program consistently over the last few weeks, I’ve been poking around on the site and in the app, and a couple of things have really caught my eye. The first is the “fireside chats” with Oprah. (If you don’t know what a fireside chat is, consider that your history homework for the day. 😉 ) I watched a few yesterday and today, and I swear, that woman knows how to speak to her audience. When she was discussing the concept of “I’ll start over again tomorrow, Monday, after the holiday…”, I swear she was talking directly to me. I’ve mentioned that exact line of thinking on my blog as a major hurdle I had to get over. When she’s done with her little video snippet, I always feel so inspired. And her member spotlights are great, too. I love how she interviews them and brings out the most critical points that make you just cheer for that member. I never watched her show back when it was on, but I can see why she has a following of millions! I think I would go to a meeting every DAY if she were the leader. 😉 

I mentioned before that I’ve also become interested in the “Connect” feature of the WW app. It’s basically like a Facebook or Instagram for Weight Watchers members.  It has replaced their previous community forums, and I definitely think it’s a big improvement. Sometimes when I have a few minutes, I’ll pick up my phone and scroll through the feed, and it doesn’t take me long to get sucked in. It’s just impossible not to become motivated or inspired in reading people’s success stories. I see lots and lots of positive posts. I imagine there must be people who post things that are either irrelevant or negative about the program, but I haven’t really seen any of that. Most of the posts I see are pictures, sometimes before and after, sometimes just before or after, and sometimes just text, but they’re all positive or at least bordering on positive. In fact, the first one I saw that wasn’t an actual success story was yesterday, where a woman posted a picture of herself looking kind of frustrated at her desk, saying that she was feeling down and didn’t want to weigh in tomorrow because she had a bad week. Well, of course, 1000 people jumped in and told her to do it anyway and gave her all kinds of encouragement. How can you not love that?? And yes, I was one of the thousand.

I just can’t stop myself from commenting on every post I see, because they’re so motivating and inspiring!  I’m a pretty positive person by nature, so this new upbeat Connect forum is right up my alley. The only real downside I see is that it IS so big. I want to keep up with everyone, but I just can’t!  But hey, if you’re on Connect and you want to find me, my username is stephhawkins (so original, lol, but I’ve had it for 13 years!). If you follow me, I will in return follow you, and that will give me some great interaction without overwhelming me! 

I like Connect because it has the social benefits of a meeting without the negativity. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve gotten frustrated at meetings in the last few years because people tend to dwell on the negative…what they “can’t” eat or “can’t” enjoy or how the program restricts them, etc. One person may spend the majority of the meeting complaining about all the things that “went wrong” for them this week without ever talking about what THEY could do to fix their situation. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of doing that here on my blog from time to time (*snort*), but for the most part, I try to remain positive. I just think negative thinking breeds negative action, and hearing it in the meetings so much tends to bring ME down. And let me tell you–bringing this Suzy Sunshine down is no small feat! 😉 

When I was watching the Oprah videos and listening to the member interviews, each Lifetime member talked about how they feel now compared to before they lost the weight. I was really struck by how much I could relate to what they were saying. They spoke of the great, positive feelings they have now about themselves, how much they love their “new” life and their new way of thinking, and how they love the way the look AND feel now. I realized that even though I’m still a few pounds from my stated goal weight, I feel the same way, and I realized that I DO love the way I feel now. I love being a runner, I love fitting into my clothes, and I even love walking by mirrors because I no longer hate what I see in them. And knowing all that just makes me want to KEEP doing the things that got me to this point and keep me there. 🙂 

After reading a bunch of Connect success stories, and realizing how much I can identify with them, I decided to post one of my own. Here is the pic I posted and what I wrote: 

“I’ve never posted before, but I have been so inspired and uplifted by the many before/during/after pics, I thought I would share one of my own. 😊 That’s me in both pictures–the left from 1999 and the right from last October (with my better half of 20 years!). My weight-loss journey was longer than most because I had 2 babies in that time and it was hard to get back at it. But hard work and perseverance pays off…I’m 80 pounds lighter than I was in that first pic, and more importantly, I have kept it off for FIVE years! #lifetime #5years (You can find my story on my blog! www.thatloudredhead.com/tlr)”

Okay, yes, I fudged the 5 years part, because I technically won’t hit five years at goal until April, but I think I’m allowed to round up, lol! 

The comments and likes my post received really made my day, but mostly, it just felt really good to not only be a success story, but to be a long-term one at that. I’ve been pretty down on myself lately for not being “exactly” at goal, but to be able to not only say that I’m Lifetime, but also that I’ve been there for five years…now THAT feels like an accomplishment! 🙂 

So yeah, I guess there are some benefits to the new Weight Watchers plan.  Now if they would just let me eat more chocolate… 😉

Thanks for reading!