Nowadays my daily eating/exercise routine is very different than it used to be. I try to eat healthy and workout and keep my calories in check, which is not always the easiest. When I was younger I spent much more time seeking out the perfect diet that would miraculously make me skinny. I tried several, but there was one in particular that I returned to many times. You too?

I remember my first time! Don’t all women? I was nervous, and excited.  Would I feel different? Would people notice?

I had so many questions. I went to my friends for advice. Some were experienced, others not so much…yet, but I talked to them anyway because most of them would probably have to make this decision too, one day. The lucky ones would never have to worry about it. 

I had a friend who was going through the same thing at the same time and we spent hours debating the pros and cons. I was beyond happy that I wasn’t alone in this and that I had someone with whom I could both laugh and agonize. We even went to my mom for advice and she lovingly sent us to a place where we could get help without judgement. 

It was kind of embarrassing. What if we saw people we knew there? But my mother was usually right about these things, so my friend and I went, hand in hand, closed our eyes and stepped in and…

...onto the scale. And for the first time we let the women at Weight Watchers into our lives!

We allowed them to write the number down as they handed us their magical booklet (back then it was a booklet, not an app online) with all of the secrets about which foods would make us skinny and which would make us fat. And we trusted them – we had to – because sharing your weight with someone requires a complete leap of faith that they will not break into laughter, making you sorry you ever shared, or shriek loudly out of disgust and berate you for letting yourself go, or rush you to the circus so all the world could unabashedly stare at you in disbelief!

Our relationship with this diet, I mean lifestyle, has come and gone. Over the years, in our quest to be skinny bitches my friend and I have tried countless diets and various workout routines. Little did we know that over the decades we’d often return to the very diet that we started with, chanting, “Oprah, don’t fail us now!”. 

We’re not doing the Weight Watchers thing right now, but I reserve the right to return again when I feel the calling. Until then, I’ll continue to try whatever gets me through. Please, for those of you with other ideas, share. And if Weight Watchers is still your thing, let me know how it’s going. Sending you all healthy thoughts…