A question for Curves people.

[froglady]

Or anyone else who wants to offer an opinion.

I weighed in at Curves today, and noticed that the name above mine on the board showed a one month loss of 15 pounds. I remarked that I hoped she was just starting her diet/exercise prgram, as that was a lot to lose on a long term basis. (But we know that it's common and safe in the first month, as most of it is water weight) The leader remarked that the person had just had gastric weight reduction surgery, and really wasn't sure that she should be included on the board, since the weight wasn't lost through diet or exercise.

What do you think? I think it might be considered "unfair" by some, but most people would assume (as I did) that it was not typical , so wouldn't feel they had been "beaten." I guess a problem might arise at the end of the month, when they give a prize to the biggest "loser!" (I'm also not crazy about the whole competition to begin with.)

 

[ZPT1022]

froglady,
my cousin had that surgery less than a year ago (i think it will be a year in July) and she has gone from in the 270's to I believe she said 160-something. Now I love her and I'm happy for her, but as DH says something seems "wrong" about it. There are a lot of foods she can't eat and stuff that she will never be able to have again. Also, as DH points out (to make me feel better ), she still is not in shape. So she may lose the weight a lot faster than I do, but I may be able to handle a long hike well before she could. I would guess that since you are doing Curves you are in the same boat as me. It's hard to see someone else losing so fast with seemingly little work, but I guess in the long run we'll be better off
-Becky

Disclaimer- Anyone who's had the surgery, no I'm not criticizing you, to each his own.

 

[Disneyaholic]

The Curves I go to doesn't do a board like that -- we each have individual "stars" to show how many pounds and/or inches we've lost. Mine shows that I lost 7.5 lb. the first month. I told the woman who works there that I'm also doing WW, and that I wasn't sure that should be shown, but she put it up anyhow. I was very glad, though to have her post the 11.5 inches I lost, since I think a good deal of that is definitely due to Curves!

I know that didn't really answer your question, but maybe you should ask the people who work there to put an asterisk by those who are doing something in addition to Curves to lose weight?

 

[froglady]

Thank you both! I especially like the idea given by Disneyholic to note if a participant is also doing something else. I lost 9 pounds and several inches last month (my first at Curves). Even though some of it was probably due to Curves, a lot was also due to WW , walking at least 2 miles/day, and erging for at least 2500K daily... all of which I had started prior to joining Curves, and had already resulted in a 20 pound weight loss. My loss rate has not increased; I'm just looking more toned. I would hate for someone to think that any one activity could have made as much difference as all of them combined.

I guess they don't want to openly judge any route to weight loss as being superior or inferior to another. (Although they may have private opinions, as do we all. )

 

[aurora19]

My Curves has the individual stars to show pounds and inches lost - but I wouldn't worry if you are doing extra to increase those numbers. If you work harder, you should have better results.

The contest at my center is the combo of pounds and inches lost in 1 month so if your Surgery Woman isn't working hard at curves she may lose pounds but not loads of inches.

I'm just happy that I'm getting fitter & feeling better - that's what I want to focus on.

 

[CarolMN]

My new Curves doesn't have any kind of "public" way to acknowledge weight/inches lost. They do make kind of a big deal (with you individually) when you have a good "Measure".

I'm glad and like that better than the stars/competitions that they had at my old Curves. Everyone is different and IMHO, competitons can encourage some people to do dumb things (but maybe they were just plain dumb to begin with, LOL).

Anyway, if you think about it, there's really no way to make "who can lose the most weight competitions " fair.

I just ignored those promotions at my old Curves and focused on getting fit and healthy.