Thursday, January 20, 2011

A Group Thing

Remember when I told you the personal accounts of the people who were half their size. It was an article that I read in a People magazine. Well in that very same magazine there was another article and it was about an office diet where a particular group of collegues got together and lost over 300 pounds between the theree of them. The article was written by Liza Hamm and should be an inspiration for us all.

Accountability is one of the biggest pushers for people to be successful when trying to change something. I have read book after book and article after article talking about weight loss and they all suggest either working out with friends or having some kind of an accountability buddy. This is something that will assist in keeping you on track. At this point a lot of us trying ot have lose weight have done this more than once, and we are use to letting ourselves down, but we aren't use to letting others down. That's why doing this is so effective.

The article is amazing. It talks about a group of women who work at Geico's Woodbury, N.Y., branch. The three women have lost a significant ammount of weight and have done so by going to Weight Watchers at Work meetings. As a lot of us know offices are the worst for having junk food laying around. It is always someone's birthday, anniversary or shower of some kind. Someone has always just gotten married, engaged or knocked up. The fact is for some reason we are a nation that feels like food is the only way to celebrate. This can be a problem for you if you have a fear of falling off the weight loss wagon.

Tori Fuchs, 29 coming in at 5 foot 9 inches lost an amazing 210 pounds in the last three years. She did this as a result of going ot Weight Watchers at Work. She originally weighed 376 pounds and now looks amazing at 166 pounds. The Other women in the group, Denise Simicic and Nancy Edwards believe Fuchs to be an inspiration.

Edwards is 56 years old and 5 foot 6 inches. She has lost a total of 47 pounds, which is much harder to do the older we get. She originally weighed in at 230 pounds and now is a lighter 183 pounds. Simicic the last component of the three musketeers is 52 years old and 5 foot 5 inches. She originally weighed 202 pounds and dropped a total of 54 pounds. This brings her down to her current weight which is 148 pounds.

How do these women keep the weight off? Well simple they have formed a camaraderie. Days it gets hard at the office with all the extra goodies lying around they just go to eachother and talk about it. Having a support system is what helps them through. The tips they offer for weight loss at work are simple. Of course the first suggestion is to create a slim down circle who will help you when you are going through this kind of lifestyle change. Fuchs says that they help monitor one another and keep track of eachother's progress.

Eating together once a week may also be beneficial. " We have very busy jobs, so our lunches don't overlap- except on Wednesday's," says Fuchs. Adds Simicic: "Everyone eats the same way we do. It will help."

The last and final suggestion is to fill up before any kind of office party takes place. Whenever you know there is going to be a lot of junk food lingering around the office you should fill up on healthy food choices like having a healthy "vegetable omlette , whole wheat toast and fruit" for breakfast suggests Fuchs. Basically if you are full you are less likely to make poor decisions once you are at work.

I know how hard it can be to be surrounded by yummy things in one's office. I'm not saying that it got worse once I started this blog, but maybe I just noticed it more. Everyday it seemed that there was some kind of new temptation in the office. First it was tons and tons of left over Halloween candy, then it was cookies because someone had defended their thesis and then it was left over pizza from something else. No matter what it was it was free food just hanging out in the office. It was hard not to snag something everyday, but it would have been easier if I had had someone to go to talk about it. Instead I blogged and you all got to hear all about it lol.

I've heard that Weight Watchers is where it's at and if you can tie in even more ways to be successful then do it. Having friends to be a part of this venture is only further going to assist you on achieving your goals. I hope that this article was as inspiring for you as it was me. To lose 210 pounds is astonishing! Go her! What kind of things do you do to keep your hands off of yummy junk food that finds its way into your office? Any suggestions? Let me know if you have any!

No comments:

Post a Comment