Weight Watchers is for Hetero Housewives and other Misconceptions

It's been 7 months since I began project 28.

I have made no progress toward losing my 28 pounds.

I have, however, passed my PhD Comp Exams without having a major mental break. And I finally feel like I'm getting on top of some of my chronic pain. And I'm more balanced, the ultimate goal of the project.

But the prognosis persists: my hips will get better if I lose some weight and tighten my core muscles. Acupuncture helps. Physical therapy helps. But extra weight matters when we're talking chronic joint pain. And I still sit for a living. reading. writing. thinking. kavetching.

I've tried upping my exercise.

I've tried working with a nutritionist.

I'm talking through feelings and compulsions in therapy.

And here's what I've come up with: the average nutritionist can't tell me any more than I already know. This might sound presumptuous but here's the thing: I spent two years hospitalized for an eating disorder, getting nutritional counseling day and night, and I study women's health for a living. And food politics is a passion of mine. I know we don't grow corn we can eat in this country. I know that corn syrup is not the same as sugar. I know what a gluten-free diet promises; and that gluten in the U.S. is different than gluten in Europe.

So the average nutritionist can't tell me anything I don't already know.

I also can't afford anything besides average.

A friend of mine told me about a Weight Watcher's deal. She's a young, breast cancer survivor and is trying to trim up to reduce her risks of recurrence. And I thought "Weight Watchers is great. My mom did Weight Watchers in the 90's." And then I thought, "Wait. Everyone's mom does Weight Watchers." Then, "Weight Watchers is for moms." In the process of a week of considering point systems as a valuation of food and nutrition, my thoughts kept rolling."Weight Watchers is for heterosexuals." "Weight Watchers is for folks with suburban lives." "Weight Watchers is not for queers."

Because it's marketed through the major consumer market of housewives and middle class women more generally, Weight Watchers seems repulsive to me. It would be like buying.....a house with a yard. Somewhere near a freeway where you have to drive to a grocery store. I talked this over with Judy and Meredith, the two most radical queers I know in Columbus. Meredith: "Why would you do that?" Wrinkles nose (which are adorned with hipster frames). Judy: "Because that really works!" Raised her hands in emphasis, exposing an inch of mid-drift at the top of her high-waisted skinny jeans.

And I think about how Weight Watchers no longer requires meetings and weigh-ins. It's all about Apps and online tracking. It is not the 90's.

And also, Jennifer Hudson is hot.

So I begin the process of signing up.

After I in-put all of my information, there's a question on the bottom of the page. "Are you an active bulimic?" to which I am supposed to check 'yes' or 'no'. I try looking for an in-between category. Seeing none, I click 'yes'.

"Weight Watchers is not a program for you. You should consult a physician and a nutritionist."

Well, I've done that.

So I click 'no.'

And begin my counting.

It could be a mistake. It could get compulsive.

But it also could work.

And I don't need to buy everything to use the product. There's an App for that?