Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Credibility

Because of traveling with work, double booking myself, and having my brother in town, I have been unable to attend my regular WW meeting. I really like my usual meeting and it is far and away the best one for my schedule since it doesn't interfere with my workout schedule or work like those at night and those during the day (not at lunch).

However, the weird things going on in my schedule have caused me to bounce around a bit to see different meetings and different leaders. I have really enjoyed most of them. However, today's makeup meeting has me a bit flummoxed.

I loved the meeting. The leader was upbeat and I loved her personality. LOVED IT! However, this lady was overweight. I am not good at estimating weights or anything, but if I had to guess she is probably about my size or bigger. Now I'm definitely on my way/weigh to doing the right thing, but I am definitely not there yet. But here's the thing: I'm not a Weight Watchers leader.

This is an important reminder to me that you really need to walk the walk if you want to have credibility. Although I know for a fact that you need to move more to lose more (the topic of today's WW meeting), it was hard for me to take everything that the WW leader said seriously since she was overweight. Her credibility with me was limited at best.

I'm not sure what to think about the whole thing and, more broadly, I'm not sure what to think about plus sized role models. I'm all about loving yourself and accepting yourself. But I'm also all about bettering yourself which involves getting healthy and usually involves losing the weight. This is something I need to think about some more I think.

6 comments:

  1. I understand the credibility issue. I have a graduate degree in Health Promotion and Education -- something I never would have considered as an undergrad because I was overweight.

    Even now, I choose to focus on reproductive health and youth development. I have the knowledge and skills to transition to work that focuses on nutrition, but feel that I would be lacking credibility in the eyes of the public I work with.

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  2. Do you know how much the leader has lost? What if she was 400 pounds... and is now down to 250? That might make her a great leader, but would still make her overweight depending on height. Just a thought. But, if you "couldn't believe" her - than the meeting didn't "do it" for you. And that makes me sad if it wasn't motivating.

    Also - can I be jealous that you get to see your brother? My sisters live a state away - and I miss them like crazy. Share a laugh over an inside joke with your bro for me. :)

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  3. @Katherine - That is neat that you work in Health Promotion and Education. I did not realize that.

    @LRHG - I know what you mean about her starting point. I think either way it puts her in a rough spot. Either she has to advertise this constantly (since new people like me will come to her meetings very often), or we have to guess what her journey has been like. I was wondering about this, actually but didn't have the guts to ask.

    Even if her starting point was 500 lbs, I think that that makes some people (like me, who had 140 lbs to lose when I started) more likely to identify with her but if I were one of the "I have 25 lbs to lose" people be completely like "WTF?!"

    As to David - we only get to see each other a couple times a year, and we won't get to see each other for awhile. However, it was nice to see him a few weeks ago during spring break, and I did treasure the few days we got together. It was great.

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  4. Wow. I totally agree with you. But @LittleRedHairedGirl has a good point too. BUT! with that said, as the leader, she should make sure everyone knows her story. It would cut out the confusion and credibility concerns.

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  5. I agree with you and with LRHG. Her starting point could have been like 200 pounds ago and she's done amazing and/or she still has yet to lose a lot of weight and maybe not be put in that position. Whatever the issue is though - I'm sure you can find out and make a decision from there whether you continue with her...is that even possible - I don't do WW.

    My comments are all speculation though b/c I don't do WW. It looks like you've done some awesome work. Keep it up.

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  6. my WW leader had said that she has to remain in a certain range and weighs in every quarter if she wants to continue beign a leader.... wierd. she said it very quick and casually - so I could be wrong...

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