My Loss Created A Bigger Gain
A personal experience of my weight loss program at the YMCA
By: Sandra Butler, Patchogue Family YMCA Member
When confronted with a decision of another knee surgery to increase my mobility and decrease my pain, I decided to give one more chance to a weight loss program first to see whether I could correct the problem in a more safe and conservative way. I gave myself a year goal to make the decision.
Then, as I was deciding on a program, the Y announced a pilot program for weight control. Since I already had many other successful endeavors with the professional staff at the Y for many years, I decided to give this a try.
There was a fair amount of us who had different motivational reasons and a Y staff eager to embark on this new experimental program so there was a sense of adventure in the group, eager to put our faith in the Y’s past positive experiences.
What attracted and motivated me was that no one was telling me the do’s and don’ts of a successful weight loss but rather that these are the tools that can help you but you must make the choice. The sessions were most informative, reinforced by an excellent work book and suggested weekly assignments. There was no shaming, no blaming, not even individual praises. It really was a personal choice as to how, when, commitment, and personal outcomes that were our choices. The group was small enough to get to know each other, share our personal successes or failures, give each other support and even enthusiasm. The Y staff went through each of the week’s workbook content, encouraging our input so we became motivators for each other.
An important lesson was that there is no one answer to our issues. Successful weight loss is based on the type and amount of food intake, exercise, attitude and accountability. In the past, especially in Weight Watchers, my accountability was to the group leader to avoid embarrassment. In the Y program, I learned to be accountable to myself! I not only learned to eat better, I also learned to try new Y exercise programs. Not only did I learn much from the program, but even more so, I learned much about myself. I learned that I am a slow loser who in the past would impatiently give up when weight loss wasn’t fast enough. Through this program and a realistic look at myself, I learned that I must be patient with myself and be satisfied with my slow ups and downs to finally realize that I am now 40 lbs lighter than when I started.
I am even more satisfied with the gains that I have made. I am no longer considering knee surgery. The knee pain has been eliminated, swelling in my legs has decreased, I have eliminated one of my medications, my blood pressure is normal, I don’t wear orthotics any more AND my self-confidence has sky rocketed! My doctor visits have perfect instead of good results. I enjoy wearing new clothes to celebrate my new body. I am planning to do more traveling and I love hearing those “skinny” complements. At 78 years of age, I am proud to say that it is never too late to start a new life and I thank the YMCA for giving me the tools to enjoy the results of my new life style journey.
