I am a LifeTimer who made goal 2 years ago. (Actually I over did it a bit and was down 8 pounds below the minimum for my height)
We moved halfway across the country last year and I stopped going to meetings. I have gained weight since (Big shock, right?) I would like to lose at least 14 pounds.
Money is very tight right now, so what I need to know is, will I have to pay to rejoin? If not, will I have to pay for the months missed weigh-ins (that would be 20 months)?
My understanding is that if you are a Lifetimer, you will only have to pay the meeting fee (not the registration fee or any missed meeting fees) if you are over your goal weight.
Puff-
I am not a leader, but I can give you the answers to your questions from my own experience. I became LT in 1985, and have since gone back many times.
You do NOT have to pay registration fees. You do NOT have to pay missed meeting fees. You pay the current rate (for me, it is $9.95) each time you go, weigh in and are over goal. However, if your weight is currently within WW limits for goal ranges, you may consider adjusting your goal weight to the high end of your range, so that you may not have to pay at all, or if you are close to the high end of your range, you would not have to pay for long. And remember, you are only obligated to weigh in once a month if you are LT, but can still go to meetings without weighing in.
I went back to WW in January, 2000. I have since lost 59.8, and have about 35 more to go. I feel it is an advantage to be LT. For instance, this week is my TOM, so I will go to the meeting and not weigh in. Why should I pay $9.95 to find out that I am a few onces up from last time because of water weight? I also get the benefit of the meeting without breaking my budget!
Good luck to you!
Don't want to step on toes here, but this varies from center to center. My daughter is LIFETIME and over goal at this time. She has to pay everytime she walks thru the door for a weekly meeting, even if she doesn't weigh. In other words, when she weighs in the first week of the month and is over goal, she pays. Then if she skips the 2nd week's meeting, she does not pay for the skipped meeting. Then if she attends a meeting the next (3rd) week, like say, right after lunch, and doesn't want to weigh in, she is still required to pay the weekly fee. The only way NOT to pay it is to weigh in to show she is not more than 2 lbs over goal. She lives 6 hours from me and that is how her meeting handles this. My center is exactly the same way. I know some members who are over goal and they can attend and not weigh, but they have to pay for the week, because the last time they weighed in they were over goal. Up until about 2 years ago my center let Lifetimers over goal pay and weigh once a month and attend meetings free for the remainder of the month as long as they did not weigh again. But we are a franchise and have changed owners yet again and they cut that option out. My daughter's center is owned by the same company so that is why her's has the exact same rules.
This is a different situation, but just another example of how rules are different when franchises are bought and sold. We also had a lady who joined WW so long ago that her weekly fee was only $4. She picked her goal weight, but stayed about 10 lbs above it for years and years. She didn't mind, after all, she only paid $4 a week. When we got new owners, the new owners said she had until January of the next year to reach goal by paying only $4 a week. If she didn't reach goal by then, she would be required to pay the $11 everyone else paid for the meeting. This was an incentive for her and she reached her goal before her fee increased.
I am in central Texas, and my daughter is in a coastal Texas city.
This is per Happy from DWLZ who is a leader and this is the official policy...however we all know franchises even though there isn't supposed to be one little margin of change from the LTM policy they tend to do things their own way (I got slammed and blasted for my advising that the franchise do make exceptions/changes etc. to everything but that is another story):
"LTMs are required to weigh in at the first meeting of the calendar month that they attend. If that weigh-in is at goal (within 2 pounds of the declared goal), the entire month is free, regardless of what happens with your weight. If not, you pay the weekly meeting fee in effect at that meeting and at all subsequent meetings that you attend until you do get back to goal. LTMs NEVER lose their LTM status (or have it put on hold temporarily). The only thing that can be "lost" is the FREE part of the LTM privilege. Let me give you a couple of examples:
week one --weigh in at goal -- free
week two -- no weigh in, just attend meeting -- free
week three-- chooses to weigh in, is over goal -- free
week four --chooses to weigh in, is at goal -- free
week one -- over goal -- charge
week two -- doesn't attend meeting -- no charge
week three --weigh-in over goal -- charge
week four -- weigh-in at goal -- free
week five (long month) weigh-in over goal -- free
If you miss a month or more of weigh-ins (this refers to a calendar month, not a four week period), there will be a charge of the weekly meeting fee when you come back regardless of your weigh-in.
Are there any exceptions? YES:
1. New Mothers have a grace period to get back to goal.
2. At Work & Community Meetings (series meetings) may be joined by an over goal LTM who pays a reduced fee for the entire series. They NEVER lose their LTM status however.
3. If a LTM has had a serious medical condition, the leader has some discretion with the weekly fee. For example, if my LTM comes back after missing a month and tells me that she was in a massive car accident and spent a month in traction, yes, I have the ability to waive the missed meeting fee.
4. LTMs on staff have additional rules that apply to them.
Do some leaders break the rules in an attempt to "be nice?" Sure they do. Those are the isolated incidents that are being referred to in previous posts. They are NOT, however, WW policy."
Tato, all centers are supposed to follow the rules set forth above but like my center we don't allow "courtesy" weighins for the LTM and if they choose to weigh and are over goal then they pay but if they just go to the meeting they don't have to pay except for the time that they weigh at over goal.
Our centers allow weekly courtesy weigh-ins when the LT member is no more than 2 lbs above goal at her official weigh-in of the month. I really wish my centers were like yours so after paying for being over goal at her offical weigh-in for the month, my daughter could then attend the rest of the month's meetings for free (as long as she didn't weigh). But it doesn't work that way here after we got new owners. So the only real (money-wise) advantage of being Lifetime at our meetings is when she gets back to goal (after paying for every weekly meeting she attends regardless of whether she weighed in) she won't have to pay for 6 weeks of maintenance again. I just hope and pray that this time she can learn to maintain and stay at goal.
i'm not a leader but...
