So, I just have to ask this question of the maintainers and lifetimers out there..

Tonight at our meeting, my husband (who made goal last week, with a dr. note) lost 3 more pounds, so he's below his goal weight by 5 pounds all together. He was really excited about it because it got him to 50 pounds total. Our leader (who is a WONDERFUL lady) kind of took him to task. She told him, for the 6 weeks of maintenance he has to stay within the 4 pounds, two above and two below. Now this would be no big deal, but his goal weight was just what his doctor said, and not his final goal, and now he has to pause his weight loss for 6 weeks before he can lose any more.

I do realize that his problems are not my problems, and I will let him figure this out on his own, but I'm running into a problem. I hit 79.2 pounds lost tonight (yay!) I want to set my goal to weigh 175 (within my weight limits), but want to try to lose 20 more pounds after that and I don't want to have to stop my momentum to go through maintenance. Plus, we're both going to apply for a commission in the Army this summer (we're both prior service) and we both need to get those couple of pounds off to get ready to pass the Physical Fitness test and weigh in for the Army.

I guess this post is two parts, one: Really, Weight Watchers? I can't lose any more weight? I understand it, but I think it's a little asinine. And two: Is this true?

Does any of this make sense? I'm a little confused by all of it, so I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't.

I'm not in the WW program, (so pardon me butting in and posting here), but I would never let this "rule" slow me down on reaching my final goal. Who wants to lose their momentum when they are doing well?
Congratulations to both of you for doing a fabulous job on the program and good luck with the Army physicals.

ummm...you may want to talk to your leader after or before the next meeting. You can re-adjust your goal weight with them to match your personal goal weight as long as it falls under your normal bmi

Says who you have to do that? Says who your husband has to do that? Is the WW meeting leader the boss of you? If I were you, I'd ignore what she has to say and keep losing weight. You and your hubby both, you're both on a roll, so keep going.

My understanding is that these are the new rules for achieving Lifetime. I got my Lifetime 7 years ago and continued to lose during maintenance--on a roll, so to speak. Well, now the rules are that you cannot go 2 pounds below your goal or 2 pounds above. This is supposed to teach you how to maintain your weight. So, unfortunately, unless you husband wants to readjust his weight goal, he will have to toe the line. Then after the maintenance period, he could continue to lose if it is in a healthy mode.

My GF is in the 6-week maintenance mode right now. That is how I know about it. It's actually a good idea, but I understand the frustration.

As for Sunflowergirl68 and cglasscock1, if a WW member wants to achieve Lifetime, then he/she must follow the rules to get there. Lifetime is a great bennie--as I said I'm Lifetime now for 7 years and I go in every month to weigh in. It keeps me accountable for my weight.

Just curious . . . what happens I they weigh you right before TOM? Of course, your hubby wouldn't have to worry about that . . .

I remember putting on between 3 and 6 pounds of water each month and then WHOOSH and it's gone!

I just think that's completely silly. People lose weight in their own ways at their own rate. Sometimes you can't help it if you lose more weight. And, isn't that a GOOD thing if you lose more weight?

I say screw the rules, if your husband isn't at his ultimate goal, i say keep going for it. The weight watchers woman isn't a doctor and it isn't up to her to tell you how to lose weight or to stop and maintain. That's up to his doctor (or himself) to decide. Same to you! If you want to lose 20 more lbs, go for it! Isn't that worth it more than being a lifetime member? That's just what i think.

I've got a guess here about WW's and I may be completely wrong. If you set a doctor approved goal and continue to lose below that, WW's loses money because they could have been collecting your weekly fee while you get to the goal you want. This new rule almost seems like a system put in place to make sure you are at a goal and then learn how to maintain. Just a thought.
I'm pretty far from goal, so I'm not dealing with this now, but the dialogue is interesting.
Itryharder

Domina-I guess that is the way it is. I mean unless you get a dr. note like my husband did, you're in your healthy weight bracket (and his is way too low, he's got a ton of muscle, built like a barrel, as they say).

I've decided to come to peace with it. I want to lose more, but I'm very happy with the way I look, and I can fit into my mother's clothes (she is and always has been very thin). I'd like to lose more weight, but I'm not sure that I'm not wanting to lose more just to see that number on the scale.

I do know that this is the third time I've lost this weight, so losing is not the issue, maintaining is, and maybe I should just take this lesson and maintain for a while. Maybe if I feel like I want to lose that extra 20 I can, but I don't have to. I'm in a size 10, and at 5'11 I feel pretty hot. I know I can lose more, I don't know if I can maintain.

Anywho, than you all for your comments and support. Have a great one!!

It's become common practice (at least in Illinois and Wisconsin) for doctors to routinely write "goal slips" for Weight Watchers that are much higher than an "ideal weight."

When I asked my doctor for a goal slip for my TOPS group, he assumed that the group was like Weight Watcher's (expensive and "free" after you reach your goal weight). My doctor asked what I wanted my goal to be and I suggested 200 lbs. He skeptically asked if I was sure - and I said, "Well, I thought I'd see if I could reach that goal and try to maintain it for a while before I decide to try to lose more." He laughed and meant he thought my goal should be a little higher, and we settled on 250 lbs.

My mother's doctor did something similar. When she couldn't seem to break under 200 lbs after a year of Weight Watcher's (after losing 80 lbs), her doctor gave her a goal slip for 200 lbs.


I think Weight Watcher's is "getting wise" to this and responding with new rules that prevent people form getting weight loss (rather than weight maintenance) services for free. If your doctor gives you a "goal weight" they can rationalize that you shouldn't go under it.

If you're not happy with that, you might consider looking into TOPS. It's not leader-led, so you need to know that every opinion expressed in the group is a personal one. Officers are elected and the groups are self-governed, but the price is about 1/10 that of Weight Watcher's (and you get a monthly magazine).

Currently I'm not a member, because I have a scheduling conflict with the local group, but if you only need the weekly accountability and the group support, you can't beat TOPS. You can follow any diet, so many folks who transferred from WW continue to use their WW materials.

cherbear - you're 5'11" and size ten? Sounds perfect! I'm just a little taller than you and I looked sick thin in a size 8 and pretty awesome in a ten.

I find this curious, as I'm in WW in Kansas and I'm wondering who the leader is. (PM me if you'd like! I'm in Manhattan and there's one leader who does like half the meetings in the local area).

At a meeting several months ago we went off on a tangent on how the whole Lifetime thing works, and why you can't really go under the goal weight too much. Just when I think I can be skeptical about something in WW there tends to end up being a good explanation for it. In this case, the leader explained that basically, if you get too far under your goal (e.g., 10 lbs) then you might start to see this as a cushion to be sure you don't go over your goal. Then you might start to let yourself slip--gain back those 10 lbs and you're still okay. But by then you might be back to the habits that got you in trouble in the first place-not accounting for what you're eating, etc. So by keeping the range small, this sort of forces you to be accountable all the time.

I know I'm not explaining it as well as my leader did, but I think I got the gist of it. Hope that helps!

That's more or less what happened with me. I lost up to 17lbs after getting to the goal of my maximum normal BMI. Once I got to goal I fancied getting to the next size down. I also stopped counting points and was being extra-careful so I still continued to lose weight slowly anyway.

When I started to regain, I still had my 'goal' clothes in the next size up and had felt okay about the way I looked then, so I wasn't too worried. By the time it crept over my goal weight, my old bad habits were firmly entrenched. Now obviously I could have gone back onto my losing points but I had financial worries going on that were stressing me out and so I just let things drift.

I intend to do things differently this time and stick to my goal, at least for 6 months and then reassess everything after that. The rules are different here in the UK - we have a 5lb cushion and local leaders don't seem to agree on whether you have to pay 5lb under as well as 5lb over, so the rules are ambiguous. I think the US 2lb either way rule is pretty tight, and they could have allowed a little more for TOTM fluctuations. I am a little cynical about this, but I can see some logic to it too.

Cherbear, I am 6' tall and I love being a size 8-10 (better than the size 16 I was). Maintenance is really the key to staying at your desired weight.

Amy8888, thank you for providing that explanation--I think you worded it very well. It makes sense.

If you need to learn how to maintain, then I'd do that. But if you're not at the weight that you want to be at and you start maintaining it might be difficult to start losing again.

I think the important thing to remember and keep into consideration to not let it get out of hand and to start gaining again back up to your maximum BMI weight.