Weight Watchers Week Three

 I have successfully navigated three weeks of weight watchers and I'm still standing.  I'm also still in the game.   I haven't given up in defeat.  I'm still in the game. This week was hard though.  It was really difficult!

Weight Watcher Plans

When I joined this time I noticed that they had some options. Namely three options.   The first option was "Maintain".   I love that option.....but I"m not there yet.  So that was an easy option to rule out. The second option was the option called "Lose" .  This is the standard option that I am more familiar with.  It is the option that gives you your daily points but then also your weekly points that you can use for extra flexibility (And I quote them on the phrase extra flexibility).  You can also earn points by exercise. That was most similar to the plan that I used years back when I lost the weight.  The third option was the "All IN" option. This option is apparently a new choice and it  still has you counting your points, but there is no extra flexibility.  You do not get the weekly points and you do not earn points by so called good behavior (exercise...hahaha).  

For some unknown reason, I chose All-In.  (Maybe they recommended it, I can't remember.)   The first two weeks I followed that plan.  It focuses a lot on your protein and your fiber.  I struggled to even get close to the protein that they recommended, but I tried AND I worked to keep my points in line.  Admittedly, one or two days I was one point over, but I didn't stress about it.  I moved on and made the next day better.    At the beginning of last week I decided that it was a good week to adjust a bit and try out the 'Lose' option.  Because, why yes, you can switch plans at will.

Immediately after switching  I could see my weekly points balance.  It was NICE seeing that weekly points allowance.  I was no longer bumping against my daily limit, I had points left in my weeklies!  I was good as gold.  I never used a ton of the weeklies, but I was diving into them daily to take a handful. I was playing the game by the rules.  But the scales were not being kind to me.  I was showing that I was UP on the scales.  UP.  What in the world?  I was panicked.   I started to look more closely at my food.  The WW app allows you to see the calories, so I had added that for reference.  I quickly realized that the change and the struggle began almost the moment that I switched to the "lose plan".   I switched back, crossed my fingers and followed the 'all in' plan for the rest of the week.  And now I am trusting the All- In plan.

Why was the 'Lose' not working for me?  I think having all those 'weekly' free points really messed with my mind.  I was eating my daily points and seeing those weekly points gave me the 'freedom' to indulge just a bit more...and extra helping of food, a bite of this, a bite of that.    On top of that I was exercising and earning points so my daily points got higher (I could see the increase in my calories eaten).   As I was figuring this all out, I remember my first go-round with weight watchers.  Way back then, I couldn't eat my earned points OR my weeklies on any consistent basis.  I remember being in a meeting and talking about it and most of the other people were there talking about how they ate every stinkin' point that they had.  One girl actually told me 'I am sad for you because you can't."  But even then I never lost when I ate them. 

So all in is the perfect option for me.  (In fairness, I don't weight much of my food so I probably eat the weeklies with miscalculations in my portion sizes.) 

Temptations

This week was full of temptations.  We had not one but two clients bring us sweet treats.   Let me tell you, those cookies and sweet treats looked INCREDIBLE. One of my coworkers was having a bad day so a our other coworker came back from her lunch with a whoopie pie for each of us.  One of our clients owns a coffee and sweets shop and had just developed their online ordering app and they were ready to dive into having delivery and asked us to test it out.  You name it, it was pushed in front of me!   I won.   I didn't eat any of them!  I was tempted a few times to simply take one bite but I didn't do it!

Toward the end of my week I went to lunch at a fast food joint with my brother during my lunch break.  I had already switched back to the all-in plan.  I was determined to make it work, enjoy my lunch and time with my brother AND not ruin the progress.  I did it.  I made wiser options when I ordered and I adjusted my dinner to allow for my lunch.  I did it!

 Exercise

There isn't much to say about exercise.  I did it.  4 times in the last week!  Period. Done.  

 Weigh In

Halfway through the week I was stepping on the scale and I was showing a gain.   I was so upset!  But I changed my thinking and changed that plan and then sat back to trust the plan.   I was nervous the whole time because I soooo didn't want to show a gain for my official weight.   I had decided to change my weigh in day to Saturday (from Friday) which was totally unrelated to my gain....but nicely gave me an extra day to lose that weight.  That extra day helped, I am sure!

Somehow, I managed to grab a 2 pound loss!  Somehow.  Someway.  I have no clue how.   However, I am NOT looking a gift horse in the mouth and I am taking that 2 pounds and running with it!  That makes 9 pounds in three weeks.  I'll take it!  My little secret goal for the first few months is 10 pounds a month.  So I am totally on target for that for this month!  Go me!

Return to What Worked 

With my thoughts returning to the  first time I did WW and how I couldn't eat my earned points or weekly points.  I thought about one of the things that I did that worked for me   Each week, on the day that I weighed in, my last day of my WW week, I would have a splurge meal. I weighed in after work at an in person meeting and afterward, I had whatever my heart desired.    I had a dessert.  I had the high carb, loaded with butter, comfort meal.  And I did it every week.  I would leave my WW meeting and I would head right to the pizza joint to take home a large pizza....and I didn't eat just one piece.  I ate my HALF of the pizza.  Sometimes I would eat a banana split, or a big slab of cake.  It was my splurge.  The next morning I would wake up and my new WW week would start fresh and I would be right back on plan.  It worked for me.   I still tracked it, but I didn't worry about it.  

So I have decided to go back to this.  Saturday mornings I weigh.  Saturday evenings are my splurge meal.  Sunday mornings starts my new week, fresh and new.  I am still tracking it...but I'm not stressing about it.  And yes, my splurge this week was again a Mini Blizzard to go with my pizza.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Mini Victory

 After my stellar weigh in I was ready to face week three of my weight watcher journey.  Or should I say weight watcher journey part two....or three or whatever number I am on.   How about I just call it Weight Watchers Redux?    I had some challenges to get through first though.  Through one of the challenges that I faced I made a huge discovery.....or should I say a 'mini' discovery'

 

The Breakfast Reward

In my last post I talked about a bad habit that I had picked up in the previous months whereby I would stop for a fast food breakfast before going to work when I had to work on a Saturday morning.  Yeah, I know it's bad.  Heck, I even knew it at the time, but that didn't stop me.  In my warped brain I thought I deserved it!   So when my first work Saturday after rejoining WW came up, I knew that I had to stop that habit.   I made sure I ate at home.  I told myself I was being ridiculous when I tried to talk myself in 'just a diet soda' to propel me through these few hours of Saturday morning work.  And I held firm!  No breakfast reward for me.  I set myself up for success through.  I announced it on here.  I also talked to my coworker on Friday night about it and said that I was determined to not do the 'much desired' breakfast.  This coworker that was working with me on Saturday morning knows that I rejoined WW.  So while she may be a bit of enabler (she freely admits it) she also was good accountability in the fact that I didn't want to walk in with my big drink and thus openly declare that I failed.  So I arrived to work with my belly full of fruit and cereal from home and my water to drink.  Victory!

Exercise Begins on Week three of WW

I started WW two weeks ago, I am in week three.  I knew from the get go that I would be restarting an exercise routine shortly thereafter.  And I could have started both at the same time, but I chose to focus on getting into the routine of WW first and then add in the exercise.  Seriously, this was always the plan.  SO much a plan that the same weekend that I signed up for WW, I also joined a gym that is opening near me. (Hopefully within the next few weeks!) 

Well, week three was my set start date for exercise and let me say, I am smashing it!   I know I know, I am only a few days into week three, but I have been active.

We went for a hike on Sunday.

I have managed to exercise at 5 every work morning thus far this week.  I know that is only two mornings thus far....but still it's a start! (And it is only Tuesday as I write this!)

Mini Challenge

Another habit that Jason and I have fallen into is picking up Dairy Queen Blizzards on Saturday night.  Nothing wrong with that, right?   Well.....maybe, have you seen the calories/points on those things!  Ohhh and I didn't get a small.  I didn't even get a medium.  I got the large and probably would have gotten an extra large had then offered that size!     I avoided the blizzard challenge the first weeks of my WW Redux easily, simply because Jason forgot and I didn't remind him.  But the subject came up this last weekend and I had to come up with a plan.

What options did I have?  I could let him get one and then sit and watch him eat it. But I have long ago decided that this journey was not going to be one of total deprivation.  Total deprivation just results in unhappiness and eventual failure, so that wasn't a valid option.    I could get one myself and just damn the consequences.  But I really want to lose this weight so damning the consequences didn't seem right.     Or I could try to come up with an alternative.  I honestly thought about blending a frozen banana to make my own ice cream, but wasn't overly happy with that option.  I have long said. I knew that there was an answer out there somewhere, so I turned to the DQ website and the WW tracker to come up with a workable plan. 

Well first of all, all blizzards are NOT created equal in terms of calories/points.  The Choco Brownie Extreme Blizzard that I had been getting  is  is higher in calories. (Of course)    I quickly figured out that the Strawberry dipped Blizzard was lower!  Yay, I like Strawberries!  The next thing I noticed was the sizes.  The large was still way out of my budget, as was the medium and even the small.  But did you know that they have a mini?   Yes, a mini!  I was leery, not sure what size this was going to be.   Was I going to get two teaspoons of ice cream and that was it?  I wasn't sure what I was going to get, but that was what worked with my food budget.  So a mini is what I got!

I should have taken a picture of the mini beside Jason's large, just to really show the difference.  It was small, I won't lie.  But it was bigger than I had feared it was going to be!  And the best part? It fit into my WW plan (Yes, I used weeklies...but that was the last day of my week and I had them to spare!)  Ohh , and it was delicious!

The Mini Lesson

I was eating my mini DQ Blizzard and made a rather startling discovery.  OK, maybe it shouldn't be very startling, because I have had similar revelations in the past (such as here) .   I admittedly was a bit worried about this small (or rather mini) sized treat. I was afraid that I wouldn't be satisfied, that I would feel deprived.  That this would leave me feeling like I was deprived.   

Instead, the opposite happened.  I ate that mini sized blizzard.  It was absolutely delicious.  I felt satisfied.  I felt good.  I felt like I had enough and wasn't still craving or desiring more.  

What???   A mini satisfied my desires just as well as a large?  I was left pondering!

But then I remembered.  My satisfaction comes from those first few bites of bliss.  I only continue to eat because I am remembering those first few bites of bliss.  I am chasing that bliss.   The mini was absolutely perfect because it allowed me to have that 'high' (The angels sing) but then stopped me from chasing the high.    

It takes willpower, but the mini is a perfect option!

 

It has been a week of relearning, moving forward and staying on track!   

 

 

 

 

I feel the need.......The need for Speed

I plowed right through week two of my re-entrance into the land of WW.  I have now completed two weeks of this plan and thus far I am going strong.   It hasn't been easy, but I'm doing it.

Weigh In with WW

So let me dive right into my weigh in for week two.  Week one I managed to lose 3.7.   I was worried about this week because I had volunteered to bring dinner and dessert to a girls night.  Dessert, really?   I was worried about it.  But I calculated it and planned for it.  I admittedly did lick the spoon when I was done mixing, but I held pretty firm.   The dinner I prepared was veggie pizza and I made a peanut butter pie for dessert. The dinner was cancelled at the last minute......so I took the goodies to work and let my co-workers enjoy.  The thing was,   I had already calculated and budgeted my day to allow for a piece of that peanut butter pie.  I wanted a piece of that pie.  So I had a piece and  I thoroughly enjoyed it!   I ignored it thereafter, even as I watched my coworkers eat it and rave about it!

Otherwise, the week was pretty standard.  I haven't been perfect with my eating, but I have been pretty darn close for sure!  I haven't commenced with the exercise yet.  I know that it's an excuse, but this week was just crazy!  First of all I had a sore butt.....OK it was the muscle that went form my butt cheek down the back of my leg.  How in the wold did I hurt my butt?  Well we went bowling.  I've got nothing else.....bowling!    Secondly, we had a gal quit at work.  That put us short staffed so I am back to shuffling between my job and covering for her....I came home tired each night!  But getting exercies restarted is definitely on my agenda and plans!

 So how did I do with my weigh in this week? This second week of WW, I lost 3.3 pounds.   HIP HIP HURRAY!   Two weeks of nice, solid and respectable losses!  I know that the losses will slow as I lose weight, but for now I am going to enjoy these 3 pound weeks!

Plans and Concerns for Week three of WW

My first challenge for week three will come this morning.  I am typing this early on Saturday morning.  I am scheduled to work this morning which is no biggie.  EXCEPT for the fact that I picked up a bad habit over the last few months.  On the Saturdays that I have worked, I 'treat myself' to breakfast out.  And by a breakfast out, I mean going through the drive through.   Decidedly unhealthy and high calorie/point options.   I am praying for strong willpower to resist the temptation!   It's a habit breaking day.  I can do this!  (Why oh why does it taste so good!)

The second challenge is the weekend meals.  Typically we do eat out more on the weekends and that includes getting a sweet treat.   Of late we had been picking up a Blizzard from Dairy Queen.  Not exactly a low points option.   Last weekend we had just gotten home and Jason said "Oh, we forgot to pick up our Blizzards"   I quickly replied, I didn't forget about it, I just chose to not remind you because I'm not getting one."     And that was the end of the conversation.   So I made it through last weekend. Who knows what this weekend will bring. I am not planning on being totally adverse to getting a sweet treat here and there.......but it will be a challenge because I don't want to wreck my points/calories either!

 I feel the Need....the Need for Speed

  I have lost 7 pounds in two weeks.  I should be incredibly happy! Yet I am not.   Ok, that came out wrong.  I am tickled with the 7 pounds.  However, I have to admit that I am dissatisfied with the fact that it is ONLY seven pounds.  ONLY.  I want this weight to be gone NOW.    I want to be thin and have this losing stuff behind me so I can be back in maintenance.   I want to lose it faster.  Why can't I lose 6 pounds a week?   Why can't I do this......  I want this process to be speedy.   Because yes, I feel the need for speed.

 

I know this need for speed is irrational.  That is not how weight loss happens.  Weight loss is a slow non- linear process.  But that doesn't stop me from wanting it!  It doesn't stop me from wishing for more.   

Luckily, I picked up on something the other week when I first wrote that I was joining WW.   I was reflecting on how I had originally lost the weight with WW.  I decided to go back to old posts and link to those momentous times such as when I first joined WW and then secondly when I made lifetime.   That was the purpose of going back, simply to link to the post.  However, I noticed something while I was doing it.  I noticed the dates of those two momentous occasions. 

 

I had been trying to lose weight on my own.  I would lose a bit and then stall out.  So I decided to join Weight watchers and wrote about it on August 10,2006  I would actually go on to lose about 80 pounds to get to goal.  I wrote and posted religiously throughout my whole journey with WW.  Some of those posts are incredibly boring and honestly painful to read as they are so bland. But I literally wrote almost every day. I didn't figure out the exact number of posts, but I can tell you it was over 500 posts.   But that is not what got me as I reviewed these posts.   What got me is the date of the post where I talked about making lifetime.  I wrote that post on August 5, 2008.  

 

Did you catch those dates?   August  10, 2006  to August 5,2008.    It literally took me 5 days shy of 2 years!    TWO FREAKIN' YEARS!  When I look back at the journey it feels as if it was only a few months of work. Yet it was two years. Two years to lose 80 pounds.   That is an average of .769 pounds a week. One of my greatest life accomplishments was losing that 80 pounds, and I did it with less than a pound a week. 

 

So while I find myself disappointed with  "ONLY" 3.3 pounds, I need to remember that 3.3 is a VERY respectable number.  If I somehow managed to lose 3 pounds a week I would be at goal in 33 weeks....literally by Christmas. So 'only' should not be a word that I use and I should NEVER be disappointed by any loss. And if I only lose .7 pounds a week, I can still reach my goal. 

 

And for the record I know that there will be weeks where I don't lose and I know that the 3 pounds will get harder to to achieve as I continue to lose weight and drop pounds.....my figure of 3 pounds a week is strictly for statistical knowledge only.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Noise

 

I joined WW a week ago and I have tried to get to some of the virtual meetings.  I am trying out some of the different leaders to see which ones I like (and it’s easier to judge a leader if they are presenting the same information).  Therefore, I have attended a few workshops this week.  The  topic for that first week was food noise.  Good subject for sure.  I have tons of food noise.  I plan my day around food.  I haven’t even put down my fork after a meal that totally fills me up and I am already thinking about when and what I will eat next time.  Even sitting here typing this, I have already thought about breakfast, lunch AND dinner for today (I started typing this at 7AM).   So, this topic was very near and dear to my heart. 

After attending a few ‘Weekly Workshops’ throughout the week, I decided to attend a “Deep Dive’ session.  I actually really liked this coach’s style and energy (Coach Marianne B) and the interaction was great.  She talked about three factors that affect the food noise.  Environment, stress and appetite.  She talked about how when you are hungry the food noise is incredibly intense.  And right then and there I had an epiphany about my food noise and my weight issues. 

 

I have always wondered what happened.  How did I come to live the life of an obese woman.  I was always more of a petite person as I was younger, not overweight, just healthy.  By younger I mean 10, 11, 12 or so.  I actually remember referring to one girl at school as fat in my description of her at home.  I actually came across a picture of her in my storage recently and I had it labelled as ‘Fat Joy’.  How shameful is that?   I am actually utterly embarrassed to admit this, but it is the truth.     I was one of the normal sized or even smaller people among my friends. 

And then something happened.   I started to gain……quickly.   Within a year or so I was overweight and then shortly afterward, obese.  All when I was right around 12-14 years old.

I have long wondered and pondered what in the world happened.

-        We moved from Pennsylvania to Florida right about that time.  Was it a culture shock?

-        That was the age that I was hitting puberty.  Was it hormonal?

-        I went from a carefree kid playing outside to a teenager more apt to be in my room lounging.  Was it just a result of change of lifestyle?

It’s been a big question in my mind for quite a few years.  It wasn’t until this week that I had an epiphany.

It was during that deep dive session about food noise that I knew.  I knew exactly what had caused my spiral or at least contribute (because I think those other factors played a role for sure).  It was a true light bulb moment……before we moved to Florida (before I had weight problems) I had plenty of friends and the cafeteria at school  was not crowded, one could actually find a place to sit and I had a group of friends to sit with. I ate lunch every day.   But then we moved.  I didn’t have friends…and I never made a lot while we were in Florida.

Lunchtime was utterly horrible at my new school.  First, try walking into a large room teeming with people you don’t know.  Then you get your tray and have to navigate through this throng of people between tables that are placed too closely together to try to fit as many people in as possibly.  Why are they so close?  We had moved to one of the fastest growing counties in the COUNTRY and the schools were way overcrowded, that included the cafeteria, where I had to find a place to sit.  Amongst strangers….other kids that didn’t want a newbie sitting with them, they were saving those precious and few places for their friends.  It was the most uncomfortable situation. I remember getting my tray, looking for a welcoming place to sit. Not finding any availability I remember dumping my tray full of food and walking out.   It was so uncomfortable that as an 8^th grader I choose to forego lunch.  It was less stressful to sit in the quad outside. If there wasn’t a bench available, it was acceptable and not awkward to sit on the ground up against one of the buildings, lots of people did it.  Even if I was alone, I could do homework or something in order to not look so pitiful.    I didn’t eat lunch.  

Don’t feel too bad, I wasn’t utterly friendless, but I never really had a lot.  I was friendly with everyone, but I just never clicked with anyone.   I was just too different, too foreign, too something.  And that’s ok. 

That trend continued into high school the following year.  The cafeteria was insane.  It was not a welcoming place.  It was worse though because high school gave us the option to go through the line and buy a snack.  This was important because a snack I could take outside to the quad where it wasn’t crowded and where I could melt into obscurity.  (Usually with one or two other people that were also just trying to survive.)  The snack of choice…. Little Debby Snack cakes, my new friend.  I didn’t do that every day because the cafeteria was still way overcrowded to even just walk through and honestly, I had figured out that the lunch money was more aptly used on my own pursuits (books and music).  

It is no surprise that I got home from school each day and hit the kitchen absolutely ravenous!  I started to make larger snacks.  A full box of Kraft mac-n-cheese.  A box of taco shells with melted cheese was actually quite delicious and/or apeanut butter and jelly sandwich always hit the spot.  Whatever I could scrounge from the pantry was fair game.  An hour or two later, dinner would be served and guess who ate a full meal then too?   Why yes, me!

That is exactly where my issues started.  I learned unhealthy habits.  The food noise in my head was intense by the time I got home and the food noise never faded.  Once I let it in, it took up residence and stayed firm in my head and that voice has remained there for all of these years.

I have no desire to take medications, even though they say the medications will silence the food noise.  I don’t want to be on a medication for the rest of my life and I know that when I stop taking the meds the food noise comes back (just look at what people say when then end up stopping the meds…. they regain).  I am still 100% committed to the holistic approach of learning to manage these food noise and my desires.   I ‘just’ need to learn how to silence that food noise voice.  Just for a laugh, I do refer to these voices as my mini me….and my mini me screams at me not just about food.  My mini me tells me that exercise is bad.  My mini me tells me that I am not worth it.  When I was running regularly, my mini me would tell me that I wasn’t a runner and I looked like an idiot. This little mini me is so insistent that once when I was running the mini me was telling me that I was a fool for thinking that I was a runner, that I looked ridiculous and so many other things that I was started crying, but didn’t stop running weirdly enough.  Finally, I had enough and I just yelled out loud “SHUT UP”.  (I am trying to find a post, because surely, I wrote about that!)

But yeah…food noise. 

Wow….I honestly cried like a baby as I wrote this.  This started as a simple epiphany, but turned into a soul releasing cry as I recounted these experiences and relived those emotions of stress.

As a side note: I look back and pity my poor mom because I annihilated the pantry on a daily basis, which had to have affected her meal plans.  I may have and probably did ask first for some of those larger ticket items like taco shells, I assume.   She never said a word though.  I know that she had suffered with excess weight all her life and I know that she had said that her mom had made comments which hurt her self-confidence and she never wanted me to feel fat or inferior.   Her silence raised a gal that didn’t care about her weight …. but it also didn’t stop a growing problem.   (It wasn’t until I accidentally started to lose weight when I got roped into a weight loss challenge  that I began to see and care that I was overweight, until then, I just liked me for me).

So that is the deep thoughts for this week.

I like my official weigh in days to be Friday, so my first ‘week’ on weight watchers was actually only 5 days (from Sunday to Friday morning).   I am happy to say that I lost 3.7 pounds. 

Not to keep that up!!!!!   Lets see what we can do on week two.  I know that I will have a bit of a cheat meal once, but otherwise, I’m ready to knock week two out of the park.

 Once again I pivot.  That should be the name of this site....the girl how is constantly pivoting.  

 

Arduous Eighty

I should have learned this lesson by now.  Seriously, how many times does it have to happen for me to learn!   Yet I just did it again and here I am having to come back and talk about my failure

I had a grand plan for my Arduous Eighty.  It was fantastic.  I had it laid out and I was loving it! Week one went swimmingly well!

 But as with any of my adventures, things got 'quiet' on here.  I stopped posting and didn't want to confront the truth.  And that truth being that I was failing absolutely miserably.   100% failure.   Well, maybe not 100% failure;  I at least maintained my weight.  But I didn't lose a pound.  I found the arduous eighty to be quite arduous.  So arduous that I failed.

Arduous Eighty has left the building.

Back to the Basics 

I may have failed on the Arduous Eighty but I never stopped thinking about the fact that I need to lose 100 pounds.  Yes, I have to lose 100 pounds (again) and I know it!  But what to do, nothing has been working.  It's honestly been the most disheartening feeling, I feel helpless.  I feel hopeless.  I feel disgusted with myself.

So I am going back to the basics.  

I just looked it up to find the link for when I first joined weight watchers.  First of all, I am super depressed, it was almost 20 years ago.  I have been fighting this weight for 20 plus years!  What in the world!  Secondly, the post is actually quite telling.  I was actually in a very similar position to where I am now. I was disheartened and looking for an answer.  I wasn't sure if it would be the fix, but I was willing to try.   In that instance, it worked splendidly and I lost a LOT of weight and actually made it to my goal weight and through maintaining to become a lifetime member. 

So yes, that is exactly what I am doing.  I am going back to weight watchers.  It worked for me in the past.  It's time to let it work for me again.  (At least try!)   So I signed up!

There are not many in person meetings near me....most of them are during the day, which is not conducive to those that actually have jobs where they work during the day (which is a high percent of the population).  Ironically, the closest one to me (about 25-30 miles) does have a Saturday morning meeting that I could make sometimes (I do work Saturdays on a rotating schedule).   With that in mind, I jumped right in and tried out a virtual meeting the first day, right after I joined.   I knew going in that it would be a meeting that I couldn't attend on a regular basis, but I wanted to get my feet wet.  This morning I went to a Sunday morning meeting at 6:30.  Not that I want to wake up early on Sundays, but I am typically awake well before 6:30 and can't remember a time that I wasn't home at that time.  So I'm going to give that a go for a bit to see how it works.

I am a bit concerned about the 'free foods' on weight watchers.  Back when I first did weight watchers there was no such thing as free food. (well there was the core plan....but I tried that one week and didn't like it).    Well actually yes, there were zero points foods....a few of them.....green beans, sourkraut, etc.....and I ate the dickens out of those foods.  But to have a full assortment of foods that are 'free' scares me.   Mainly because I am an addict.  One banana being free is awesome....but 8 bananas even though they are free may not be so awesome.  And yes, 8 bananas may sound silly even for me....but I recognize that I am an addict and reasoning doesn't apply to addicts in the midst of their addictive struggle.   But I am going to give the program a go and see what happens. (I may still have the books and such from the program that I followed.....maybe....and thus may be able to go back to that program version should I need to)

I haven't figured out the accountability aspect.  The weigh ins at the meetings were huge for me.  At least I feel as if it was a huge part of my success.  I'm not sure how it works online.....I saw a workshop that may address this, but of course it's a workshop in the middle of an afternoon when life will/may keep me from attending.  

Regardless,  hopefully this something new (but and old friend at the same time) will be the trick for me.