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<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; When one of the women sitting in the front row announced she had joined a gym, the rest of the people at a recent Weight Watchers meeting burst into applause, and leader Gert Morrissey-Pryor gave her a star-shaped sticker.</p><p>&#8220;How did it feel to join that gym?&#8221; Morrissey-Pryor asked.</p><p>&#8220;I just joined yesterday,&#8221; the woman answered.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a step in the right direction,&#8221; another attendee encouraged her.</p><p>&#8220;Now what do you have to do? You have to actually GO to the gym,&#8221; Morrissey-Pryor said. &#8220;How many people have a clothes rack that resembles a treadmill at home?&#8221;</p><p>The group chuckled ruefully, knowing the leader understood the struggle to find the time &#8212; or the motivation or energy &#8212; to exercise, as well as to make healthful choices about what to eat.</p><p>But having the support of a group helps, explained member and Drums resident Nikki Velasquez, 44, after a Friday morning meeting in the Weight Watchers location in the East End Centre in Wilkes-Barre Township.</p><p>Other Weight Watchers meetings in Luzerne County are held at St. Paul&#8217;s Lutheran Church in Mountain Top, Genetti Catering in Hazleton, and Shavertown United Methodist Church.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re not alone in this,&#8221; Velasquez said.</p><p>During the meeting, she had told the group she finds it challenging to avoid the Oreo cookies she has in her house for her husband and children. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to deprive them,&#8221; she said.</p><p>From the murmuring of agreement that filled the room, it sounded like a common problem.</p><p>But the way the Weight Watchers program works, you could eat an Oreo cookie if you wanted to. You just have to realize you&#8217;re spending two &#8220;points&#8221; for that cookie, out of your daily allotment of points, which would be at least 30, depending on height, weight, age, gender and activity level.</p><p>After the meeting, Velasquez said her usual breakfast includes steel-cut oatmeal, which counts for four or five points, plus some raspberries, which count for zero points. Most fruits and vegetables are assigned zero points, Velasquez said, which encourages you to eat more of them.</p><p>&#8220;If you hear that (a chain restaurant&#8217;s) fettuccini Alfredo has 60 points, it sounds less appealing,&#8221; said Debby Fricke, another leader who facilitates meetings in Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>While the leaders don&#8217;t want to publicize brand names, they pointed out that certain large portions of high-fat, high-sugar desserts can have more than 100 points.</p><p>Speaking of a more reasonable special-occasion dessert, Morrissey-Pryor said a slice of birthday cake has 23 points.</p><p>&#8220;But it&#8217;s all about the math,&#8221; she said. &#8220;When you want that piece of cake, you figure it out. Have a slice of cake &#8212; not half the cake &#8212; and savor it.&#8221;</p><p>The Weight Watchers program is all about making choices, and it&#8217;s best to allow yourself to eat something you really want rather than forbidding a certain food.</p><p>&#8220;You can eat your way around an entire kitchen avoiding a brownie,&#8221; Morrissey-Pryor said.</p><p>To help you calculate at the grocery store, Fricke added, you can use an app on your smartphone to tell how many points the food on the shelves has, based on the bar codes.</p><p>The idea of using the allotted points is a great strategy, Velasquez said, and so is the idea of coming to a meeting and getting weighed. Stepping on a scale is voluntary, but she makes herself do it because it&#8217;s a motivating factor that works in the weight-loss world.</p><p>&#8220;You have to be accountable,&#8221; she said.</p><p>&#8220;After my first baby, I lost 100 pounds by myself,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;After my second baby it was harder. I didn&#8217;t have as much energy for spinning and cycling.&#8221;</p><p>One idea the Weight Watchers group leaders stress is that you deserve to treat yourself well. For example, if you hesitate to buy a tiny container of a snack food because it&#8217;s more expensive per serving than the big bargain size, they advise you to buy the little container.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re worth it,&#8221; Morrissey-Pryor said.</p><p>While many people enroll in Weight Watchers as individuals, Fricke said, it&#8217;s also possible to enroll as a group, perhaps with co-workers. In that case a leader could come to your workplace to facilitate the meeting.</p><p>Not everyone who joins has a weight problem, she added. Some might want to stave off heart problems or diabetic conditions.</p><p>&#8220;There was one young man who didn&#8217;t look as if he needed to lose weight at all,&#8221; Fricke said. &#8220;He told me he wanted to learn how to eat. He&#8217;d grown up in front of the television, and eating on the run, and he knew someday it would catch up with him.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">With a Weight Watchers app, you can wave your phone over food at the supermarket, and it will read the bar code to tell you how many points the food is worth. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_thumb1_TTL040117weightwatchers1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>With a Weight Watchers app, you can wave your phone over food at the supermarket, and it will read the bar code to tell you how many points the food is worth. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_thumb1_TTL040117weightwatchers3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Group leader Gert Morrissey-Pryor stands by a smartboard in which she writes notes, including why people eat for reasons they later regret. The reasons range from &#8216;boredom&#8217; to because it&#8217;s &#8216;there&#8217; or because it&#8217;s &#8216;delicious.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_thumb1_TTL040117weightwatchers3-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Group leader Gert Morrissey-Pryor stands by a smartboard in which she writes notes, including why people eat for reasons they later regret. The reasons range from &#8216;boredom&#8217; to because it&#8217;s &#8216;there&#8217; or because it&#8217;s &#8216;delicious.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_thumb1_TTL040117weightwatchers2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nikki Velasquez, of Drums, says she&#8217;s grateful for the motivation that comes with attending a local Weight Watchers meeting. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_thumb1_TTL040117weightwatchers2-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Nikki Velasquez, of Drums, says she&#8217;s grateful for the motivation that comes with attending a local Weight Watchers meeting. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WEIGHT WATCHERS</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>The beginning</strong>: Incorporated in 1963 by Jean Nidetch, an overweight woman in Queens, N.Y.</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Luzerne County meeting locations</strong>: 110 East End Centre, Wilkes-Barre Township; St. Paul&#8217;s Lutheran Church, 316 S. Mountain Blvd., Mountain Top; Genetti Catering, 1345 N. Church St., Hazleton; Shavertown United Methodist Church, 163 N. Pioneer Ave.</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Phone</strong>: 570-821-8822</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Website</strong>: <a href="https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/" target="_blank">www.weightwatchers.com</a></p><p><strong>Notable</strong>: Weight Watchers leaders are all people who have successfully used the program themselves.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘You’re not alone in this’: Group support helpful in weight-loss goal