I'm going to attempt to be held accountable for my actions through this blog. I joined Weight Watchers for the first time when I was in my teens, and I lost something like 30lbs back then. It was great, and then I spent a few weeks in France, there was delicious food, and going back to the program seemed so... difficult. Plus, it was a lot of money and I didn't want my mom to pay for something my heart was not in.

Years later, after graduating college, moving around a few times and eventually ending up back home, I took a step back and looked at my life. When I'd started WW in high school, I'd weighed somewhere in the 180's. Here and now, I was looking at a me that was over 200lbs. As bad as this may sound, I looked at a friend of mine that I knew was somewhere in the 230's the last I'd heard her quote her weight, and I said oh the hell no. I was NOT going to let myself become that.

On my own, I changed some of my eating habits. I cut out fast food, and I started eating fruits and vegetables where I could. It was disorganized at best. I managed to fumble my way down by about 15lbs, and that was where progress stalled. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it on my own. So I talked to my mother and together we joined up at WW. She'd kill me if I listed her starting weight, so I'll just say she weighed more than she wanted, and she was willing to change.

So we went. The program was still difficult at times. You get a set number of "points" per day, dependent upon factors like height and age and weight and gender. Every food has a points value. You also get a certain number of extra points for the week, which you can use in bits per day or all at once or however you want to spend them, so that things like birthdays or holidays or restaurants don't have to be totally killer. But the smallest number of points you could have in a day was 18... and let me tell you how that's not a lot of food. A Lean Cuisine runs you anywhere from 4 to 8 points, and those portions are tiny. A 100 calorie pack? 2 points. Forget any fast food except the occasional stop to Taco Bell. Big Mac used to be rated something like 25 points... maybe 35 I forget. Good luck, right?

When I got to 18 points a day, I despaired and pretty much surrendered. I still watched what I ate, but I was not driven like I had been. I'd lost nearly 50lbs total and was feeling pretty good. I had been wearing a womens size 18 and was down to a size 4 in normal clothes.

Then I heard WW changed their program, and that it was easier. I had recently changed jobs, changed boyfriends, changed focuses... I thought heck, why not change my habits again. I informed my friend Eric that I would be joining WW, as he had mentioned wanting to lose some weight as well, and he accompanied me to a meeting to see the new program.

It's.... awesome. Fruits and vegetables (well most of them) are free of points. The way they figure points now has changed, as they've learned much more about how a body processes nutrition. Now, the lowest # of points in a day is 29 instead of 18, and many of my favorite foods have stayed the same in value or even GONE DOWN! That's pretty exciting. I can eat things like bagels again without feeling guilty about the huge point load. Dinner out with the guys on Friday's no longer had to be a guilty pleasure either. In fact, I was able to order my Pad Thai AND have it be within just my daily points, no weekly points needed!

So there's the story that leads to my being responsible here. Every day I am supposed to track what I eat. Most days I'm terrible and I don't. I am within 8 lbs of my goal weight, and if I can make it in the next couple of weeks, I don't have to keep paying for meetings; I will become a lifetime member and can go for free. Having someone in real life to be accountable to is infinitely helpful in staying on goal, so I want to give it an honest shot. So I'm going to track here, and hopefully give and take some ideas if anyone stumbles across this that is doing the same, or wants to do the same.

My tracking week starts on Thursday mornings, so tomorrow when I get home from work will be my first report. Wish me luck!

~Ked