Thursday, October 27, 2005
I did Weight Watchers from July 2003 to... somewhere in 2004. During that time, I kept this online journal as a tool to keep myself on track. Even though I strayed sometimes, it was the most useful tool I had, second only to journaling my points.

Now that I'm starting over from the beginning, I wanted to keep my old archives separate from my new site, but I do want to keep them here for anyone who's interested (including myself). Everything from my old site is still here, linked on the left under the "Archives" section.

About my program/plan:

I'm following Weight Watchers, but only using the online tools, not going to meetings. My partner, Lauren, is also doing Weight Watchers and is going to the meetings. It's kind of a nice setup, because we both have access to the maximum amount of information this way, and it suits both of us to be doing it this way.

I am not following the new FlexPoints. This isn't because I think it's harder or anything -- it's clearly the exact same program as the range (Winning Points) system, except for one thing, and that one thing is my reason for not switching. I like having a range because I have trouble eating enough points most days. My current range, as of September 25, 2003, is 24-29. If I was doing FlexPoints, my target would be 26. I like not feeling guilty when I can only manage 24 points. I'm sure that as I get to lower ranges and have fewer points to play around with, I'll switch over. Once I'm not having trouble reaching my minimum, there's no reason not to follow the new plan, just to make things easier.

In terms of working out, at this point I'm doing the 3 Mile Walk Away the Pounds video. I try to do it 4 times a week, although I don't always plan to do the whole thing. I just started using it on September 16, 2003, so that's really just a tentative plan. Lauren and I did it together once and had a lot of fun, so I'm hoping that we'll keep doing that together on weekends. Update, on December 17, 2003: I really rarely work out these days... Someday I'll get back into it, but right now, it's not a part of my plan.

Unfortunately, I didn't do a terrific job of documenting where I was when I started. I never got around to taking "before" pictures, I didn't measure myself (although I do that on occasion when ordering clothes online, so I have some idea of what my measurements were), and I have no idea what size I was actually wearing. I'm relying on My Virtual Model for this, even though it's not exactly accurate.

I have a really bad habit of weighing myself every day. I'm working on that, slowly but surely.

I'm measuring my weight loss success in the number of "Keelys" I've lost. Keely is my parents' dog, and she weighs 28 pounds. When I lose 4 Keelys, I'll be at my goal weight. I've currently lost almost exactly 2 Keelys.