My name is Melissa Bonaby. My Weight Watchers/Pure Comfort quest began for me on October 6, 2018. I was invited to attend the 11:30 am class by my friend Dawn Kemp. At first I was afraid because I did not know what to expect.

The meeting room was filled, the Leader Ms. Ferguson was very excited, energetic and enthusiastic. She made me and the other guests feel at home.

My beginning weight was 267.20, Ms. Ferguson told me what my point in take would be for the day. The class and booklet that was given to us was very informative, listing the foods and the points.

I left that first meeting feeling very fulfilled and motivated of what I have to do to achieve my weight loss. Even though I understood what was discussed in the meeting I knew I had a task ahead of me to read to find out what I had to do to succeed in the program.

The following Saturday I joined the 7:00 am meeting because this class works better with my schedule. This class was smaller and I met up again with Olivia Mclean who is our Leader. I met a dear friend and mentor in the program Nicola Cartwright, we share all our meals and motivate each other. The next Saturday, I lost 8.6 pounds, I was feeling excited and knew I could do this.

Every meeting for me was a learning experience, the group shared and I learned more about foods and how the foods we thought were good for us were the foods helping us to stay obese. Tracking your foods is an important part of your success in the program because whether you lose or gain you are able to go back and see what went wrong that week.

My son started attending classes with me and learned about foods and how many points were in the foods he was even consuming, every Saturday he and my husband would ask me how I did that week and would give high fives when I would lose, gain or maintain. My son told me one-day mummy don’t stop at 50 pounds you can lose more weight.

Initially, my goal was to lose 50 pounds, but after reaching that milestone, I realize that I can still lose more weight. Even though it got harder and I decided to cut back even more on foods I know I did not need in my life. Some of these foods I would only have on Saturday, which I call my cheat day. It’s just so ironic when you start this journey the least thing you eat at times if it has too much sugar or salt can cause a weight you to gain that week.

 As the weeks passed I just started to cut out different food items that I know was not necessary to have. For example, I was a coffee drinker and I noticed every time I had coffee I would use two Splendid and creamer in the coffee, on that Saturday when I would go to meeting I would gain. Here, I began to notice just what foods to cut out of my diet.  Now I realize coffee is something I can live without.

Making small changes like this in my journey made a big difference in whether I gain or lose that week. Once, I began to lose the weight this was motivation to know I no longer needed these foods in my life anymore.

It took me two years to lose 75 pounds and during the pandemic I was still able to achieve success because I still remained focus on what I was eating and still was exercising. I would say the weight loss journey isn’t hard once you are willing to change your mindset towards food.