WW also has an internet-only program which costs less, IIRC. I did that a couple of times, but gave up both times when I plateau’ed (after only 8 lbs. loss) for 3 months with 100% compliance. The fault lies in a lifetime of dieting, not in WW.
I went to the Y this morning, intent on swimming, 'cept the water temperature was 78F. I decided to walk the track instead. After doing 1 mile at a 4 mph pace, I decided that I should try stepping up the pace a bit. So, the other mile I alternated walking and running my laps.
I didn’t even pass out or have a coronary… 
I lost 1.5 lbs. on my first weigh in. I was pretty surprised since I did not do so well this past week. I have to quit making excuses and get going on this. :mad:
Thanks Winterhawk11 that answers my question exactly.
I don’t really care that much for fast food but it’s so easy to get caught up in counting things. Carbs, fat grams, sodium, fiber, etc. Sometimes it’s information overload for me. Looks like the key is everything in moderation. My husband has been telling me that for years. I’m finding the more I eat whole foods the more I dislike the taste of anything processed.
Yesterday I went for two long (45 min) walks to kinda make up for not walking on Monday. Now I find myself wondering if I can’t make that part of my daily routine. My lifestyle otherwise is very sedentary and I’m sure increased movement is going to be crucial for me.
I’m finally checking in!
I am on day 3 of no smoking and doing alright (all hail nicotine gum!). I have been doing my aerobics DVD regularly and really enjoy it even though the women in it are all scary 80’s relics with huge hair and neon spandex. It’s called Walkaerobics and it’s pretty easy but definitely makes you work up a sweat.
I’ve been more conscious about what I eat and about my Ale Intake. 
I find that, without the smoking, I have less desire to chug beer like it’s going out of style. This is a HUGE step for me as the fact that I’ve had such trouble with my weight these last few years has much less to do with my eating habits then the fact that the husband and I like to go out for pints at our favourite pub a couple nights a week!
I weighed myself this morning for the first time in months and months and, while it’s bad, it’s not as awful as I expected. I’m about 222 right now. I’ll check back in in like a week and hopefully that will be down!
And I’ll keep you all updated on how the smoking battle goes.
Yay us! It sounds like we’re all doing a little or a lot to make the changes we need to make.
For me – my main exercise is a walk each afternoon (a tad under two miles in half an hour), which makes a nice break from work. I’ve been lax on that recently (bad weather, get busy at work) – but took my walk yesterday and Monday. Today … damn, it’s raining. Hmph. I need to get the elliptical trainer out again and start using it.
I woke up this morning and discovered that the batteries in my scale have finally given up.
I routed my walk past the grocery store this morning so I could get batteries but they didn’t have them so I don’t know how much I weight this morning. 
I guess this is a perfect opportunity to get over my scale obsession.
sigh. Quick look at this thread, no inspiration to lose weight, apart from a vague sense of guilt… but now I’m feeling hungry.
What’s the betting 2006 is not going to be the year I get into shape?
Day three without exercise, and the fourth day without jogging. Bathroom still isn’t finished, and bathing at the deep sink isn’t sufficient if I work up a sweat.
But I weighed myself this morning. Down five pounds from when I started. Wait’ll I can use the tub again! 
Weighed myself yesterday–I haven’t been all that good the previous week but much better than before and I did get some exercise, too:
Down 1 pound!
I’ll take it.
Well, I went to my first WW meeting of the new year, and I’m starting my participation here officially.
Current weight: 172.6
Loss since joining WW in PA (in September): 5.6
As you can tell, I haven’t been so good at following the plan so far.
I have no idea if I managed to lose or not – my scale is broken.
Really. I’d taken everything out of the bathroom to wash the floor, and it was sitting in the upper hall when Darling Cat #1 decided to attack Darling Cat #2…and at the end, there were tufts of fur at the top of the stairs and a case and scattered mechanical parts at the bottom.
Despite the non-results, I think I did very good at controlling my eating this week: no sweets, moderate portions, more veggies.
OTOH, my exercise is still non-existent.
OK, the good news is I did well all week. I had no sweets - even Wednesday when I was laid off. I excercised everyday and increased it a little each day.
The bad news is, I lost at most 1/2 a lb.
No matter, I’m shooting for a life change, not a quick fix and things are rolling along well. So far this seems like a life style that I can support.
Good luck to all next week!
Losing a 1/2 pound is hardly bad news! You’re excercising, exerting self control and your weight loss is going in the right direction. One thing my mom learned in WW a few years back is that weight does not just come off at one pound intervals. Sometimes it’s only a 1/4 of a pound but then the next thing you know that turns into a whole pound, then another. Pat yourself on the back and keep up the good work!
If you’re laid off right now, use that extra time to your advantage.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a tub and shower! I’m told I can use it around noon today. Looks like I can get back into the exercise routine! Only it’s raining weasels outside, so I don’t know about my walk.
This may strike you as more obvious than breathing, but I just had a brainstorm, which I’ve been puttting successfully into practice for the last week.
My local supermarket had this silly sale on packaged salads–you had to buy around eight bags of salad (DOLE) at once, and if you did (for pretty cheap) you got a five dollar coupon that you could use on eight more bags next week. So I’ve been eating two salads a day for a few days, and it’s helping enormously in meeting several of my goals at once: more veggies, and it helps me to reduce my portion size.
I make it taste good by adding some parmesan cheese, a lot of balsamaic vinegar, garlic, minced onion, egg whites and mushrooms.
At 2 bucks per bag, it’s pretty cheap and fairly convenient to make. (Cheaper but less convenient in the spring and fall when I can grow my own lettuce.)
It’s like the world’s most convenient and cheapest diet supplement.
If I can weigh in :smack: on this: you would lose weight in the short term, but without adequate nutrition you wouldn’t be able to keep it up. That’s why it can be important to count more than calories, to be sure that your nutrition is well balanced. That is what will make it possible for you to continue to feel good while losing weight, and also give you the extended energy to exercise.
To answer anyrose’s question, my program is similar to HMR, but they told us that the calculation for calories burned “at rest” is 70 x pounds per week, or 10 calories per pound per day. Whatever number you use, it’s an estimate, as your metabolism goes up and down based on various factors. (HMR stands for Health Management Resources, you can find them on the internet).
I haven’t checked in for a few days. My official weight-in day is Tuesday evening, and last week I lost 4.6 pounds. Slightly ahead of target, slightly more than my calorie calculation predicted.
Well, fuck.
The last two weeks, and especially this one, have sucked donkey dick. I went to the gym several times (but not every day), and once made a halfhearted attempt to start up my strength training again, but I did only half a workout that day. I was just in a pissy mood, I guess. Internal monologue: “This sucks. I hate the gym. This isn’t my thing. I couldn’t care less about how many reps I did or how many pounds I pumped. I hate having to make time to do physical things just to do them. They’re not part of my day or part of what I enjoy. I hate that I have to (apparently) eat nothing and sweat for hours only to lose a few ounces at a time, if that. I read about people losing four or five pounds a week, and I’m freakin’ lucky if I lose one. I’m gonna be stuck with this fat body forever, just like my mom and all my fat aunts.” Etc. A real pity party.
It didn’t help that my work schedule got really ugly, my tax preparer called to tell me that I’m taking a gigantic hit on my 4th-quarter payment, we had a couple of sleepless nights with sick dogs, and on and on. I have just been really stressed and feeling like crap, and even though I know that exercise is supposed to be good for stress, I’m just in no mood to go to the gym. I’m still sleep-deprived and my eyes are sore from too much reading (for work) and getting used to my new reading glasses. And oh yes, the last few times I did make it to the gym, my weight was creeping back up, teetering just under 200 again, even though I had been going to the gym, if not my full routine, and eating better. That sure as hell doesn’t help.
Ah well. I’m going to take the weekend to catch up on sleep, get my brain back in gear for doing some proper work, and start fresh on Monday with my full strength-training routine. (I’m also going to try to stay off the scale for a week or two.) I’m still down almost 20 pounds, and they do say that slow loss is the mostly likely to stay off. That’s me, all right.
sigh
I’ve revised my goal and am now aiming for 150 and I’ve also gone down another six pounds in the past twelve days. I weighed in at 224 this morning.
Just another way to look at it:
If you lose one pound a week, at the end of a year you’ll have lost 52 pounds.
Remember, that year’s going to go by anyway, whether you lose a pound a week or not. It doesn’t seem like very much when you look at it one pound at a time, but it can add up surprisingly quickly.
BTW, nobody can maintain a healthy weight loss of 4-5 pounds a week for very long–even people who’ve had bariatric surgery slow down eventually. 1-2 pounds a week is a healthy and reasonable goal.
Good luck, and keep up the good work!