Okay, be warned. This is probably going to sound really weird, but I swear I'm not as odd as this makes me sound. I SWEAR. *L*

So. I did WW for sixteen months. Lost 65 pounds. Felt great! Awesome, actually. Reached my goal weight and hit lifetime on May 9, 2012.

Then...like a lot of people....I got stupid and figured, "Hey, I can totally do this on my own now!"

WRONG. I have figured out, after trying calorie counting *several* times, that I really need the face-to-face support of the WW meetings (I did try WW Online a couple times, too, but it didn't work as well as the meetings for me.) Anyway, long story short, I've gained back 20 pounds over the time I've been away from WW meetings.

Now. I will be the first to admit that when I did WW the first time around, I did some kind of not-so-healthy things on weigh-in day. (Actually, they were quite UNhealthy.) My weigh-in was in the evening (6 PM), so I would eat breakfast and a small lunch and then just...not eat anything else until after my weigh-in. Which would be okay for some people, I guess, but I have hypoglycemia and going that long without eating just didn't work so well for me. I was going about 7 hours in between meals and by the time I got home from my meeting I was almost ready to faint.

So I'm starting back at my meetings tonight. What I want to figure out is how I can space my eating on weigh-in days so that I'm not half-dead by the time I get home, but I'm not full of food when I get weighed (because obviously that will throw off the numbers.)

What I was thinking of doing is this:

This morning, I had breakfast at 10 AM.
I plan to eat "lunch" at around 2 PM.
My weigh-in is at 6, and I plan to take a granola bar with me so that as soon as I'm weighed, I can eat that to tide me over until I get home after my meeting.

Is there anyone else here who has an evening weigh-in? What do you all do? I just really don't want to fall back into my old unhealthy habits.

When I got to goal many years ago I attended a meeting right after work. I basically did pretty much the same as you. I also tended not to drink much in the afternoon. I would drink water, but not anything else. I would usually take a diet drink and a small snack with me to the meeting, so as soon as I weighed in I would eat it.

I will say that as long as you are consistent in what you do it shouldn't make a big difference from week to week.

For example, nowadays I attend a Friday morning meeting. I usually am careful not to eat anything with high sodium on Thursday. Last Thursday I was eating out at lunch at Panera and I actually went through the nutritional info to pick a salad with lower sodium.

Snoofie,

I think it takes a lot of courage to post the challenges you faced and your weigh in habits.

I did WW years ago and lost maybe 40 pounds? It might have been 60. Anyway, I felt similarly - that I could do it on my own AND go back to the same eating habits as I before. Needless to say, I gained back the weight plus and extra 40 pounds

I am close to reaching my goal weight and I know that I won't be making the same mistake as before. I might even teach a class (I am looking into it) to keep my head in the game. I plan on doing exactly as I did before - going to meetings, getting weighed once a week and tracking my points. And exercising!

In terms of weigh in habits, this is something my WW group has chatted about before the meetings (while waiting for the leader to start). I would encourage you to eat during the day; if you do this every week it won't effect your weight because it will be normal for you to have so many meals in your body. However, I can totally relate. My weigh in is early in the morning. The first time I weighed in for some reason I had 2 tablespoons less of my normal oatmeal amount and like only half a cup of coffee for breakfast. So, for the last year I have eaten and drank the same amount every weigh in morning. Finally last weekend I (partially) stopped the insanity and stopped taking 2 tbsp out of my oatmeal.

Anyway thank you for sharing your story. I am sure a lot of people can relate.

Thank you. I've decided that this time around, I'm going to try really hard not to fall into those old habits. It's strange, but they didn't kick in until I was close to my goal weight. I guess once I got close, I got impatient. What I realize now is that those habits didn't do me any good. They got me where I wanted to be, sure, but at what cost? And it's not like they *helped* me stay where I wanted to be. Once I got to my goal weight, I stopped the habits, and look what happened. This time I'm determined to just not do that stuff, and "let the chips fall where they may", as the old saying goes. It might take me a bit longer to get back to my goal weight (though I only have just over 20 pounds to lose anyway) but this time I'm in no gigantic hurry. (Hopefully I'll keep that attitude!)