I only had enough money to pay for the WL portion of my weight loss plus the LA Lites ($800+). Do you think I can do the stabilization/maintenance on my own? Reasons being, I don't feel like forking out more money, I have a copy of the stabilization and maintenance guides and my center does nothing for me. I feel like by following the guide I can see what works best for me just as well as the counselors can. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, gals.

I think you answered your own question. What about the accountability factor?

I'm sure that it can be done. I will only get 8 weeks of maintanence myself. I does really depend on you. If you feel like your center is not helping you at all, maybe you would be fine. And of course you can always come back here for reference and support. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Not sure what you mean Deets?

I think she means do you need to go into the office and weigh and be accountable for your weigh in and your food diary.Some people need that or they seem to cheat more. Deets, if I am wrong please correct me

I think it may not be a "yes or no" question. If you try doing stabilization/maintenance on your own, and are not successful, you might feel differently about forking out the hard earned cash. So, it may not be a decision you need to make right now! I'm pretty sure that LAWL will be more than willing to take your money if you return 2 months after reaching your goal and want to pay for maintenance weeks!

thats right, thanks!

Hmm, I'm a bit confused here. I was told that the amount I paid included stablization and maintenance... did they tell me wrong?

Yeah that's normally how it is, you pay everything up front - weight loss/stabilization/maintenance. I didn't have enough money, so I used the dreaded "Care Credit". I had 3 options on the Care Credit, buy only the WL, buy WL plus stabilization or buy all 3, all at once. BUying all 3 all at once would have been like $1,500 and I couldn't afford it, so I opted to pay only for the WL portion of it. Hope this makes sense.

loseitlaura:
I don't know if this can help you, but I did a trick when I rejoined the program,since I know how much I lose every week an average of 3.5 lbs I just bought what I think that I might going to use, instead of what the counselor told me to buy, for example my real goal is 135 but I told the counselor that I just wanted to lose until 170, since I know how LAWL (weight loss plan) works, If I want to lose more weight I can do the program on my own, and lose the rest of the pounds. If you do it this way the money you save you can use it in your stabilization and maintenance weeks.

Yeah, but I'm like 5 pounds from my goal and my WL weeks are up March 31. I wouldn't mind paying for more weeks, it's the stabilization/maintenance PLUS LITES that I am worried about. The fact that I have the guides to follow I thought would help. I don't know. I started using the Lites so if I decide to not follow through with LAWL stabilization/maintenance, and do it on my own, I may just substitute Lunas.

Thanks... that explains it. I was holding my breath for a moment there. LOL

I lost 70 pounds on LA and had a number of weeks built in for maintainence. I used every coupon and gimmick(eg., wear green on ST Patrick's day and earn 4 free weeks.) I had just finished my maintainence and was ready to be turned on my own around the Christmas holidays. Of course even with all this knowledge, I thought since I had been so strict on program that I could eat what I wanted and I gained 5 pounds. My center keep saying you can add weeks anytime and I even got a flyer about a month later saying something about adding weeks;however, when I checked it out you can not just add the weeks - you have to go in as a rejoin. That meant payings the processing fee($169) and weight loss weeks and a whole new maintainence and stabilization. They said it is a rule that they have to do a whole new folder and medical write up. I love the plan but I suggest you try adding the weeks anyway you can before you get to that point. The hardest part of the program is the stabilization/maintainence. This site is a great way to stay connected but the accountability at the center is what really works.

I actually paid for 52 weeks of maintenance. I have lost the weight before, but gained it back (with friends). I think that losing the weight is the easier (nothing is easy about this) part - I need to learn how to keep the weight off and being accountable for an entire year once I have reached goal is going to help me maintain my goal weight.

When I joined I signed a contract that sayes I will get half of my money back if I am within 5 pounds of my goal. 1/4 after 6 months and the rest after 12 months. Ask about this if you can afford it. Personally I don't do the lites maybe you can save some money that way.