Please don't go back to lurking! You've got a lot of great insight and information to add. Come on and join in on the weekly thread -- we would love to have you!
Melly, don't give up girl, it can be done no matter what your lifestyle, you just have to want it bad enough.
It is simple: eat what's on the list, 5-6 meals/day, exercise intensely... that's it that's all! BUT no one ever said it was EASY, you need to plan, plan, plan..The longer you do it the easier it gets....
It also depends how badly you want it! Just start the program, post all your questions here, read the book. Go the the library get health book.
Kerry -- I agree you have great info there, come and join us on the main thread ...
And of course the invite is out to you too Melly....
Melly: with all due respect I don't buy into excuses about being too busy to do something you want to. If you want to do it you WILL find the time to do it plus it's a lot about preparation. I spend about 3 hours on a Sunday preparing all of my food for the week and don't cook at all during the week. I just finished grad school and still work full time and I had time to eat well and exercise (although not as much as I would have liked to!)
BFL is a FANTASTIC starting program so make the commitment and give it a go! What do you have to lose? (besides fat of course)
I gotta agree with JC here ...if you want something badly enough, you gotta work, plan, etc for it. Now, I'm not as good as JC - (picture Jane Curtin as Prymaat Conehead from SNL wearing her "I HATE HOUSEWORK" apron and you have me in a nutshell ) but I WILL boil up a carton of eggs (of course I take the eggs OUT of the carton first ) and bring them to work for quick, cheap protein, for example...
I'm reminded of a paragraph from one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books - "The Long Winter" - where Pa says "Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was anything else worth having". (or words to that effect).
Of course I'm just rambling here...you've gotten some good advice from these smart gals - putting that into action is entirely up to you!
Gee, I actually still have that book - the Long Winter and yep, that is what Pa said. and that is so true.
In simple form, you change your lifestyle. eat from the lists of foods (and it is a big list) and get your exercise in. it is how we are supposed to be living in the first place but have gotten away from it due to the conveniences of fast food, frozen entrees, and more activities than our palm pilots can handle. it is hard work, but it is very much worth the effort in improved health, more energy to do the things we want, better physical appearances, and overall better quality of life.
I came to BFL from WW and did it as a first year law student with a long commute and a family. There's not a lot of things you can't eat on BFL but you do have to prepare your meals. You can make food for the week (which is what I did). I bought a rice cooker my first year of BFL and LOVED it. It doesn't take long to throw a few potatoes in the oven on Sunday. Cook a chicken at the same time and you have food for many days. Buy those little GLAD containers and break your food into them and you have food for the whole week! It's really not hard. I actually loved it and my schedule was more hectic than most when I started BFL.
WW does not allow you enough protein. It's really hard to do the weight training of BFL with the WW points system. As someone who gradually migrated, I can tell you that my exercise stamina went up ten fold when I "got" with the BFL eating program.
I also came from WW to BFL. I had a bit of a history with WW as I worked at the meetings as a weight recorder and have quit about 6 weeks ago or something like that.
I think WW is a great program overall to get people eating better and exercising, but if you are going to seriously give BFL a go, you need to get rid of the main principles of WW... meaning scale obsession, points, and lack of exercise! You will not get any support for intense exercise, forgetting about the scale and worst of all... you will try to sneak 'treats' daily into the plan.
Been there done that. I loved the meetings because I was motivated by the other members and mentally I felt that if I gave it up, those 10 kilos would show up next week!!
I still 'track'... calories, protein, carb & fat grams on fitday which takes alot longer than WW tracking... but my diet has cleaned up and my food bills are half of what they were on WW!!
I had issues with how WW was being run and how they treated the 'staff' that help out at the meetings, which is why I left, I actually had alot of fun with the members and the other staff and miss hanging out with them, but I had to move on as it was brining me down.
The more I look at the program it gets more confusing, could someone lay it out in simple form for me? Thanks so much!
...if you want something badly enough, you gotta work, plan, etc for it. Now, I'm not as good as JC - (picture Jane Curtin as Prymaat Conehead from SNL wearing her "I HATE HOUSEWORK" apron and you have me in a nutshell 
