Hello everyone..

My name is Gina and I just started WW today. I'm 28 years old and I live in rural southwest Virginia with my fiancee and two kids. I've been between chubby and obese most of my life, save for a couple thin years in there somewhere. I signed up for the online portion of WW for 3 months. I want to see how it goes for these months before I signup for more or attend meetings (which are a little drive for me and very inconvenient times)

Last year I lost 30 pounds doing my own diet and that worked well.. right up til I had many huge changes in my life. Over the last year I gained it all back.. but recently it's been on my mind that I'd like to start over again. I've identified that I have a problem with stress/emotional eating and I want to overcome it. I started looking into the various diet things online because I think it will help me. I'm really good about tracking food, exercise and working with a plan so WW looked good to me.

The last week has been a rough one and I think its a good thing I joined when I did. Stress tends to make me eat and right now.. I have oodles of it. I've wanted to lose weight for myself for some time. I started on my diet 3 weeks ago and so far I've lost 7 pounds even though in WW eyes I started today. My parents are both very concerned about my weight and both breached the subject with me this weekend.

My father is in the hospital right now. He had stubbed his toe months ago and it never healed because he is diabetic... they had to amputate one of his legs this weekend when I was visiting. It was very rough on everyone, especially me. It's definitely scary to think I could be in those shoes if I don't do something about my weight.

My fiancee is finally on my side too. He loves me the way I am, but I don't. I think he finally gets that. He's always been thin so its been difficult for him to know exactly how to support me and I'm trying to be more open about that. I had a talk with him last night.. when he is at the store he tends to get me a Starbucks frappucino drink.. ya know, the ones that are 200cals.. and while i love them and he only does it because he is trying to give me something i like.. I had to tell him last night, no more food "rewards" except on very special occasions. I think he understands. Maybe he'll start buying me flowers instead. I won't complain!!

Anyways, so I'm new here and hopefully I will have one of those tracker sigs setup soon. For now.. I started the last week of June at 285 pounds and I'm currently at 279. My first goals are:

1) Get moving! I never exercise, so I wanna start slow.. 15 minute walks in the morning 3 days a week minimum.
2) Drink all my water!! I try to drink 8 glasses not counting tea and any diet sodas.
3) 275 pounds... that's my first 10 pounds gone. That's only 4 more pounds..I can do that!!

Thanks for reading!

Hi Techygirl!
Good luck to you!! You can do it!! It helps to get involved. Try some of the challenges, that helps for me. I'm in a Labor day challenge right now, feel free to join, it in the WW forum.
I do go to meetings, it helps me to stay accountable, and that to me helps me to stay focused.
I also started out walking very slow and for short distances. Keep adding a few minutes each week and you will be up to speed in no time.
I try to walk at least 1 1/2 hours each day. I split it up and do Leslie Sansone walk tapes when I can't get out. I have a 8 year old daughter, so I can't always make it to the park to walk. My daughter goes with me sometimes and she rides her bike while I walk. It's hot, but I wait til late in the evening and go. It's like an appointment. I do it everyday, to me that helps. Some days, I don't feel like it, but I just get up and go. Once I start, I'm ok and usually feel really good when I finish.
Try to keep things in the house for you to eat. I usually make myself a pot of soup, so I can munch on it when I get home from work until I get dinner fixed. It is a great filler and low points.
Anyway good luck to you! You can do it!!! Congratulations on your loss so far.

Today I came in EXACTLY on my points target. I'm a bit worried because its not quite 7pm here. That's a few more hours to go and I'm guessing I'll get hungry in about 2 more hours. I might have to up my walk tonight if I do decide to have a snack. As it is I'm gonna try to satisfy myself with water.

I did pretty well today considering I've been out of town for 6 days so I havent been grocery shopping. I happened to have a packet of low-sugar oatmeal at work, some lean cuisines in the fridge, and a couple of apples on hand so I made it through the early part of the day very low-points. So when we went out to eat tonight as planned, I was ready. I got chicken breast with broccoli and a salad with lite balsamic vinagrette dressing that I didnt even end up using even 1 TB of and NO dessert. I was proud of myself even though I did eat some bread. I figured it would work within my points and I was right! yay!

So one day down... lots more to go

Thanks for the tips.. I'll definitely be working on implementing some of them.

Hi Teckeygirl....well you've come to the right place for ideas and support. First I want to say that you've made the hardest step....STARTING!!! And wtg for already losing weight....awesome job!!! I know what you mean about those Starbucks drinks...mine used to be Vanilla Bean. hehe....notice I say "used to be" . One of my tips is .....when you do go grocery shopping bring along your pts calculator and figure out (by label reading) how many pts a serving will be. Then magic marker that number on the box/bag. I find this a really easy way to keep eating pts freindly snacks. Some people pre-bag serving sizes as well....you find out what works for you. WW's or Lean cuisine meals are great in a pinch, but watch out for the sodium. As for water....I drink mine ALWAYS from a water bottle, I find them very easy to guzzle from rather than sip from a glass. Remember those old coke commercials when they drain the whole bottle? same thing.....
Hope those are some good tips for you!! Good luck.

Hi Gina! I'm restarting WW too, and I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to attend meetings. I lost 50 pounds on WW back in 2001 but I gained it all back plus a few extra pounds.

Your post caught my eye because you said you're from rural southwest Virginia. I grew up in Jonesville. Where are you? (Now I live near Richmond).

Anyway, good luck on your journey...I hope to see you around this board (I'm new here)!

I live near Abingdon, VA.. about 20 miles from the Tennessee border.

Do you like it up in Richmond? Small town life here gets me down a lot.. I've lived in the suburbs of Atlanta, Boston, and Dallas.. so moving here was a BIG change. I do miss the "things to do" around town. I'm not a "clubbing" kind of gal.. but art museums, festivals, concerts, etc were my thing

It does have its bonuses though... low crime, lower cost of living, pretty geography, smaller classes in school, etc.

Edit: Oh yeah, attending meetings.. for me going to meetings was a problem not only in price, but in time. It's difficult with 2 kids and a fiancee and a job to find time to attend one when there is only one meeting near you one day of the week. I joined the online program because it was cheaper than the meetings and easier to fit into my limited budget to save up for a fee every few months than one every week. My hours got cutback at work starting this month, so I've got to be penny-conscious.

Hey, I know exactly where Abingdon is! I pass it on the way to visit my hometown (where most of my family still lives, except a brother in Bristol). My hometown, believe it or not, is another hour and a half southwest. It's a six-hour drive from Richmond, and most people here have no clue that Virginia goes that far.

I live about half an hour from Richmond, so I'm in the country but I'm still close enough to go to a few plays and things. I'm with you -- not into clubbing, but very into plays and museums and such. I'm too broke to go most of the time, though!

As far as WW goes, I'm seriously considering going to a meeting on Monday. I just started doing the points Tuesday and I'm doing ok so far (yes, it's only been 2 days...) but I'm thinking I need the accountability of the meetings. I'm a teacher so I'm home all day for a few more weeks, and you can really eat a lot when you're home all day!

hello, I am new too. I am starting WW today. I too had lost weight before and gained it back due too stress. Last year I lost 15 lbs and have recently gained it all back. We just moved, and my mom has been in the hospital twice in the last month. I have two kids, as well. I know where abbigdon is, I live in a part of TN near there.

I'm restarting WW too. Right now I'm keeping my food journal, and logging the points in. I'm not going to the meetings either, it was just too expensive.

I too am in the Richmond area, Mechanicsville to be exact. Nice to see some other VA gals on the boards.

Kat, we're not far from each other at all! I live in Goochland County. I've been debating whether or not I should go to the meetings again, but I really can't afford it right now. I'm just writing down my points in a journal. I've been doing it since Tuesday. How are you doing so far?

Hey Lisa, my name is Paula. It is nice to meet you!!! I used to go to meetings and the meetings were very helpful. But now I am kind of in the same situation you are. I really cannot afford it. They (ww) says that you lose like more weight going to meetings, because you are accountable. But I have found that this website has helped me be very accountable. I mean I am actually not face to face with people, but I have met a lot of wonderful people here. I look forward to posting everyday. I look forward to see everyones progress. In my opinion I would rather use money on a gym membership. But that is just me. Hey, good luck to you and I hope to see you around and chat with you soon.

This site does help.. and you can make it work for you even more and its all freeeee.

There is also a journaling section of the site that is really great if you like diary entries or simply if you just want to put your food down somewhere where others can read it. For my mom, that alone gets her going. lol.. she can't stand for even perfect strangers to think that she might be eating something she shouldnt. I like to vent my frustrations there and it hurts my hand a lot less than writing in a diary lol.

You could also just start a new thread on this message board every couple days to keep accountable. I'll be checking frequently as well as some others too I bet.

Nice to meet you too, Paula! I agree with you and Gina about how we can be accountable by posting on this board. The whole point of the meetings for me was accountability, but I'm not in a place right now when I can afford to spend the money on it just for that. I'm also not thrilled with the idea of paying someone else for my own efforts. Does that make sense? I mean, counting points is just an easier way of counting calories, and it's not exactly like WW is doing it FOR us. They've made enough money off people losing the weight and regaining it. People keep coming back because they know it works to get the weight off but they're not dealing with the reasons they overate in the first place. This time, I want to use the program to get the weight off but really work on stopping the emotional eating and figuring out why I self-medicate with food. I feel like I'm a happy, fairly fulfilled person, but clearly something's going on or I wouldn't have reached 275 pounds!

As for how I'm doing so far, today was the last day of my first week back on WW. I bought a new scale today and according to it, I'd lost 5 pounds (I'll do my official weigh-in tomorrow), but the scales are different so it's hard to say. I'll go by that, though, because I like it! Also, that's the scale I'll be using from now on.

I've been doing some dumbbell exercises, which might put on muscle and slow down the change in the number on the scale. I need to do more cardio, definitely. I've been walking a little, but I still can't bring myself to go back to the gym because of all my students there.

Now THIS was a depressing but sort of motivating moment. My husband noticed my new scale and stepped on it shortly after I had. When I stepped on, it said 270 and I was happy about my 5-pound loss. When he stepped on, it said 169. I weigh 100 pounds more than my husband! He's so fit, it's ridiculous.

Ok, I'll stop rambling. I have insomnia!

Omg I love you Lisa!! LOL!!

My fiancee is much thinner than I am, as well. But he has agreed he needs to lose about 10 pounds. He's beginning to get a bit of a gut. Just him cutting out sodas and whatnot will do it for him, but not for me! hehe.

One of the reasons I don't go to the WW meetings is the cost, I agree. Those times when you plateau for awhile, you basically keep paying.. to watch the scale stay the same. I just can't afford that. I paid for the online program for 3 months as a gift to myself. At the end of that time I'll see if I like it enough to do it longer. I'm guessing no, but we will see.

About the scales.. definitely count the new one. If thats the one you are going to use from now on, definitely count it! I might have to get a new one myself. I've had this one for almost 2 years, but I dropped it funny by accident and one of the legs came loose. Imagine my surprise when I stepped on it and it registered me 100 pounds thinner.. lol! I managed to fix it, but I've lost my confidence in the scale.

Haha Gina, I love you too!

My husband has always been very thin, but he's one of those annoying people who has a lot of muscle without trying. He has six-pack abs even if he doesn't work out, but he DOES work out and now he runs a lot. He's never had an ounce of fat on his body and he's 37, so looking at his father and knowing his metabolism, I don't think he ever will! He's very cool about my weight. He never says anything to pressure me, which is what I need. If he hounded me about it, I'd go insane and it definitely wouldn't help me. He's supportive when I need it, but he doesn't bother me about it if I quit a diet.

So get this. I had insomnia all night and I finally went to sleep around 7:00am (good thing I don't work in the summer). I just got up around 11:00am and did my official weekly weigh-in and my crazy new scale said that I've lost 11 pounds! Doesn't seem possible in one week (even though I know you lose more the first week), especially since it said 270 yesterday!! Six more pounds from a night of insomnia? No way. But I kept trying and 264 was the consistent number so I'm just going to go with it, in full knowledge that it may go up next week. I'm just not going to put much stock in the number. But let me tell you, it looks nice on my little tracker thingie below!!

How are you guys doing today?