[1 Fat Momma]

Hello. I am a 21 year old married mother of 2 who is completely new to the whole weight loss thing. I have never been on a diet in my life and never cared much about exercising. I just had my second daughter in the beginning of November and gain 50 pounds from that pregnancy alone. Now my weight is up to 212 lbs. and I am so embarresed of myself. I can't even feel comfortable to show myself to my husband anymore. Things have gotten way out of hand with me and I'm ready to fix that. I am not a paid member of WW but I am willing to give it a try. I do know about the point system and how many I points I need for the day. I also know about the activity points. Right now I really cannot afford to spend money on losing weight. And I know that spending money to do so isn't at all needed. I was wondering though what else WW has to offer besides letting you know what is right for you and recipes? I mean what else is there out there that you need to pay for with WW that you can't find out on a board like this???

[Bobaloola]

Welcome Momma! Good for you for making the decision to a healthy new year. Unlike you I've been down the diet road a few times and it's a bumpy path. I've been doing WW since 2/03 and lost 45 pounds my first time on it, but unfortunately, returned to bad habits and gained it back.

The big thing with meetings is the accountability. They give you little booklets and whatnot for the first 12 weeks. Then you get recognition for achievements. They recognize 16 weeks on program, each 5 pounds lost, 10% lost, goal, and lifetime, etc. I have tried to do it without the meetings but found that I'm just one of those people who needs to stand on the scale in front on someone to feel the shame of a bad week to get me back on track. It really helped. On the other hand, I know people who do the online version and who do it at home without meetings or WW online. It's just different for each person.

The one thing WW stresses is that the weight didn't come on over night, it won't be gone over night. They say that the average is 1-2 pounds per week. Anything that is steadily above that is hard to maintain and sometimes hard to keep off. The other thing WW meetings help with is the topics help walk you thru hard situations or they talk about different "must dos" like your water intake, your dairy intake, your fruit & veggie intake and how to achieve them. If you're curious, you could always wait for WW to do free enrollment and pay for one week to see if it's something you'd like. You can choose to pay the higher weekly fee and only go once a month if you'd like. There are options. If you find yourself in need of some guidelines, pointers or just someone to point you in the right direction... drop by a meeting (they often do free enrollment so you only have to pay for a single meeting).

Otherwise, this is something you can totally do on your own. Just be honest and true to yourself. Watch your portions and be sure to hit all the basics. Stay within points, do not go under 20 points a day repeatedly, get your water, dairy, fruits and veggies in daily and be sure to journal. Once you get going, add some exercise and you'll be the sexy mommy you want to be in no time! GOOD LUCK!!!

[1 Fat Momma]

Thanks for the reply! I think for now I will try it on my own. I'm not sure if there are any meetings in my area but I will be sure to check it out. And trust me, if I ask my hubby to be hard on me about my weight, he will, but in a helpful way of course. I'm embarresed now to weigh myself in front of him, I think having him by my side to view my results may help too. But we'll see, if I can't do it then I try a meeting! Thanks again so much!

[angel-eyes]

Hey momma. If you go to the ww's website they will tell you if there is a meeting by you entering your zip code. I used to be a member a while ago and have their points finder slider (this uses food labels of items to calculate the points per serving) and books listing almost every food item and another book for eating out in restaurants. I find those INVALUABLE!!! I think they come in a kit for $25.00. If you are able,....drop by one of their offices and take a look. For a Christmas gift from 'santa' I purchased some shakes and bars. A very tasty and affordable treat every now and then!! This is a busy time for them and they are offering all sorts of deals, you could drop by and take in a free meeting just to get kick-started.