A New Twist on an Old Theme

Since I'm not doing anything with this blog, I thought this would be a good place to do my Weight Watchers journaling.

Yes, you heard correctly. That was not a misprint...I'm in my second week of Weight Watchers, for the hundredth time in my life. And one of the things I heard yesterday at the meeting (yes, I went to one...actually two!) was that journaling sometimes helps.

So here we go.

I've been an off-and-on (mostly off) member of WW since Jean Nidetch's time. I said that to someone yesterday and she looked at me like I'd just spoken in Swahili. But, for the oldtimers, JN was the founder of WW and she lived in Bethesda, MD about the time I lived there. That was 40 years ago...amazing.

Over the years, there are a few things that always spell "not working" for me about WW and I'm trying to work my way around them because the bottom line is this: Every time I've quit WW, I've gained weight. It's clearly not WW, it's me. But here are my issues:

(1) Leaders. They're always so damned perky! I particularly disliked the man who did WW at Work this year. He looked like Skeletor and talked about how he and his wife had lost weight together. He had obviously gone way too far and, besides his looks, I really couldn't stand him. I also hated doing the whole "bare your soul" thing at work. Anyway, I've never met one I liked, until Jan 2 of this year in Hiram. I like Linda. For one thing, she's a knitter, and that counts for a lot. Second, she seems relatively down to earth. I won't hold it against her that she's blonde and slim. She did say she had done her whole time in WW (45 pounds) knitting socks.

(2) Paying for a week when you're not there. This always pisses me off--I hate to pay $12 or $20 for something I didn't get but that's part of the incentive to go every week. But let's face it--sometimes you can't. You're traveling or something else gets in the way. This has been rectified by the monthly pass--you pay for the month and you can go as many times (or as few) as you want. It's all one cost.

(3) The online service. I actually tried doing it exclusively online once and that doesn't work for me, but it's always frosted me to pay for a meeting and not have access to the online stuff. Now that's all included in the monthly pass.

(4) The other members. The first time I went to Hiram, I hated all those people. But yesterday, I found myself chatting with a couple of them and they were very pleasant. Maybe it's my change of attitude--who knows?

(5) The exercise. Well, WW calls it "moving." I still hate this part, but obviously I better get my head around it. The Menopause Metabolism has slowed to the point that the E-word is going to be required.

(6) Counting the points. I have struggled with carrying around that little piece of paper, trying to figure out how many points something has, not having a record. Well, if you keep track online, there's a huge database resource. For instance, you're going to eat at Panera Bread later at dinner--you can check it out online to see what you can eat (half a sandwich and fat-free soup is a good choice for something like 5 points). Or you can look it up when you get home. And since I'm computer-oriented, this works for me.

So, here's the update.

First week was not as hard as I thought it would be. On the other hand, I only lost 2.2 pounds. On the other hand, I didn't gain anything, didn't eat fast food, and at least the poundage is going in the right direction. I didn't have a perfect week by any means but I didn't go over my weekly points (daily plus optional) even though I had one day that really sucked!

Peanuts--cannot have them in the house!

This week I'll be home until Sunday and then we go on the road for three days, then arrive at Deirdre's about time to weigh again. Don't know if I'll be able to do that in Sedona. We'll see. In any case, I think if I do some pre-trip homework I should be able to come up with some on-the-road alternatives (maybe carry my own salad dressing for when we stop at McDonald's or Wendy's).

Finally, yesterday, Linda talked about geese, and how they travel in formation, with one leading and the others following, honking encouragement. When the leader tires, s/he drops back and one of the others takes up the lead. When one drops out of the pattern because of illness or injury, one or two of the others stay with him until he can get back on track. The idea is that WW is similar. This is, of course, the same principle that AA operates on, and it's a model I'm familiar with. It's also similar to my friends in the knitting community.

Bottom line, it made sense to me. I'm going to try to keep it in mind as I try again with WW.

My goal, 10% by Caitlin's wedding (March 29). This may be unrealistic, given the 2.2 pounds in the first week, which should be the best because of water weight loss, but maybe exercise will help. I actually visited a workout facility yesterday and will probably join after I get back from Sedona. Just didn't want to start paying when I wasn't going to be here to do it.

Enough for today.