Hi Everyone,
I've joined WW here and there throughout the years (in fact, the first time I encountered WW was as a teenager in 1984 when my mom took me to my first meeting). I've been struggling with a big weight gain since 2007 (probably because I'm in my mid-40's and the weight just doesn't stay off easily) and watching family members struggle with severe health issues in the last few years has really waken me up to the fact that I have to get this weight off, get into a healthy eating and exercise lifestyle, and tackle my emotional eating issues NOW or my health will start to deteriorate drastically.
I've come to see two things: That focusing just on healthy eating and ignoring the fact that I am trying to also lose weight (including avoiding the scale and tape measure) is not going to get me to permanent weight loss and that I can't do it alone. That's why I'm looking at WW again.
I'm a total introvert so it's not easy for me to go out and meet people, especially since I work from home. But I'm considering going to F2F meetings because I know it offers the best support and accountability. I also happen to have meetings quite close to my home and at times in the day that suit me almost every day of the week, so that makes it easier. Plus, it's a great way for me to get out and see people. And I like how the membership also includes access to OnlinePlus.
I do have a few questions:
- If I decided that WW wasn't for me, how easy would it be to cancel the automatic subscription renewal? Can you do it online? I ask because years ago, I paid for an online subscription to South Beach and it was a nightmare to get it canceled. And even after I did, payments were still showing up months afterwards.
- For those who are part of the OnlinePlus, are the WW community forums there pretty active? I like to have an active forum (like this one!) to keep me motivated during the week.
- I'm a vegetarian (lacto-ovo, hoping to be vegan someday). How friendly is the program for vegetarians?
- I know that people can't talk too much about the PointsPlus and Simply Filling plans. But one thing I'm concerned about is having enough food/calories so that I don't feel hungry (yeah, I know, aren't we all concerned with that
? ). I associate WW with deprivation (at least, when I did it as a teenager) and I know that feelings of deprivation have driven me to binge eat in the past. At the beginning of the year, I was able to stick to my own eating plan of 1300 calories for about 3 months and did very well (then had a lot of family stress and that went to pieces). I'm concerned that the WW plan (either the PointsPlus or Simply Filling) will mean less calories than that which I know will cause hunger for me. For the record, I am 5'2" and 192 pounds now.
- Do the WW meeting lectures touch on emotional eating issues as well? I'm working on my own on my emotional eating but I'm just wondering if WW meetings will offer me support for this too.
Sorry for the long explanation and the questions!
Djuna