Who Are We to Judge???

I don't know what made me think of this today. Maybe it's because I'm getting ready to weigh in tomorrow, so today I'm really trying to watch what I eat, drinking plenty of water, and thinking about the scale, what Pam will have to say and sitting through the meeting.

I normally enjoy the meetings. (Little Miss DVD hasn't been there in weeks.) I take something away from each one. Maybe I decide to try a veggie I've never had. Maybe I realize I'm not getting enough calcium. Perhaps one of these days I'll hear about some sort of activity that I just have to dive into. More than anything, I realize that I'm not going through this struggle alone.

But last weekend, I left the meeting with "pffft" in my mind. You know, the puff-of-air sound your lips make when your brain is saying "whatever." I would guess there was even an eyeroll that came along with it. Though I can't be sure. The "pffft" came from the row behind me.

As you may or may not know, there is a little time for celebration at the end of each Weight Watchers meeting. Every five pounds lost, we celebrate. Major numbers like 25, 50, 75, we celebrate. When someone reaches 10 percent of their joining weight, we celebrate. And when someone reaches their personal goal, you guessed it, we celebrate and acknowledge their success. Well, last week, a woman I had never talked to or even seen before reached her goal. She looked great. I was jealous for half a second that I hadn't reached my goal. Yet.

And then she said the number out loud. She didn't lose 100 pounds or even 50 to reach her goal. She lost 15 pounds. I think that's quite an accomplishment. But that's when the "pffft" came from the row behind me. As if the lady behind me didn't think that 15 pounds was worthy of celebration. I wonder if anyone else heard her...

For all we know, this 15-pound loss with Weight Watchers could have been after losing 75 on another program. Perhaps she lost 50 pounds on her own, with healthy eating and exercise, and she just needed some structure for those last 15. Perhaps she let 15 pounds sneak up on her and wanted to lose it before it got to 25 pounds or beyond.

My point??? We don't know the history of her weight-loss struggles or fears or victories. We don't know that about each other when we sit down in that room. But still, some of us feel the right to judge. Whether we have 20 or 200 pounds to lose, each of us is sitting in that room for the same reason: to lose weight and get healthy. Her goal number doesn't matter to me. Yours doesn't matter to me. Mine shouldn't matter to you. What should matter is providing support to each other along the way, learning from each other, getting healthy and celebrating victories together. Who are we to judge...

My day in points (Admittedly, not my best week ever. We'll see how it goes in the morning.)

Breakfast: oatmeal: 3 points

Mid-morning snack: banana: 2 points

Lunch: Smart Ones spaghetti: 6 points
10 saltines: 2 points
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: grapes: 1 point
banana: 2 points

Dinner: sandwich: 7 points

TOTAL: 24 points. Thank goodness the candy is out of the house it that would have been even worse.