6 Months!

Hey Amigos,

My last WW meeting marked 6 months with the program. They don't acknowledge that the way they acknowledge your first 16 weeks. The first 16 weeks is huge and everyone deserves kudos for making it through. By 6 months you're deep into it it's a long damn time. 16 weeks is dedication, a sign that you've committed, and I can see why they'd acknowledge it.

I didn't want anything for 6 months in the first place, and it makes perfect sense why they don't make a huge deal out of it. Can you imagine the poor person struggling to lose, receiving acknowledgement for length of time in the program? "You've been at WW for over a year now! Great! How much have you lost? 5 lbs? Oh."

I think this may be the longest I've stuck with any one program. The most I ever lost on a program was 28 lbs, and I hit that with WW 4 months ago.

So, this is good. And I still feel strongly for the progam, I still agree with it, I'm not bored with it, I like it. I haven't missed a single meeting or weigh in, and I still look forward to going.

So, what now? More of the same, I guess. I have made a few changes. As you move along in the program you sort of have to. Like the points thing. They give you a certain amount of points based on your start weight, and as you lose weight, they take points away. At first that was no big deal because I had an assload of points and had to work to use them all.

But as they've whittled away at them I find myself using them up much faster. So I've made some adjustments. I no longer purchase the WW goodies at the meeting. This has several benefits, actually. I save money, first of all. Also, I found it increasingly difficult to eat them sanely. I could rarely stop at one. And on top of that, I don't spend my points on them anymore. It wasn't like I was getting a great dose of nutrition or anything.

I've also stepped up my exercise. I'm not 100% successful in this endeavor, but I do try. I try to take a walk at least once a day for 20 minutes. Ideally I shoot for 2 walks a day of 20 minutes each, but I try not to get too worked up about it if I can't fit both in. The great thing about that is I can use the points I earn that day for food, and those activity points come in handy dandy.

I'm also making a rather drastic move. I'm going from a full sized bag of 94% Fat Free Orville Redenbacher Kettle Corn to the 100 calorie pack of 94% FFORKC. This is going to be a big change. See, I'm a popcorn nut. I can just eat and eat it and never think twice about it. The thought of that tiny bag of popcorn makes me very depressed, but I'm sure I'll get used to it, much like I got used to all the other little changes I made. Baby steps, amigos.

So, who's to say what the next 1/2 year will bring. If I have any control over things (and when you think about it I pretty much do, barring force majeur or an act of God) it's entirely up to me what happens the next 6 months. Frankly, it's the next 4 months that are giving me the schpilkes. I mean, this is the holidays, amigos. The big kahuna. The big cheese. The biggest road block to diets.

All I can do is plan, and pray. So often I've headed into the holidays with the best intentions, only to be spat out on New Year's Day with absolutely no resolve and a complete lack of interest in what I'm putting into my body. But, I have a secret weapon now. Well, not so secret. I have Weight Watchers.