Sudden thought re: Weight Watchers

[alias_sqbr]

So, since me and my buddies tend to be of the geeky persuasion, a reasonable proportion of you guys are heavier than they would like. Now obviously how you deal with that is up to you, but if any of you have considered Weight Watchers but the idea of going alone is a bit too scary (the state Cam was in for quite a while), well you're welcome to tag along with us.

It's 7pm every Tuesday night at the Bassendean Senior Citizens Hall (50 Old Perth Road Bassendean) and goes till about 8:30 (the woman who leads it is very nice but always running a bit late :)) It costs $18 per meeting(*) plus the $33 registration fee, but I think I have a "Free registration for a friend" coupon around somewhere, and they have a "New members who come with a friend get their first meeting free" promotion until February.

If Bassendean is too far it might be worth finding someone else in your area who'd be interested in going, it really is a lot easier and more enjoyable if you have someone to go along with you (especially if they live with you, then you have an ally to help you be strong enough to stop buying peanut butter etc :))

Anyway, just a thought. I'm certainly not saying Weight Watchers is for everyone (and it is pretty expensive) but it can be useful if what you need is structure and support (and someone to point out that two ferrero rochers has roughly the same calorie content as a large healthy meal).

(*)Unless you get a bulk deal. Also if you miss more than one meeting every four weeks or so you have to pay double the first week you come back.

Comments

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

or you could just photocopy the books from someone who has them ;p

I did WWs before my wedding. I did loose weight, but was a bit sabotaged by She-Who-Does-All-the-Shopping-and-Cooking (ie. Mother). I still can't look at a piece of mudcake without thinking it was the same number of points as my daily budget.

In the end, it was the price that stopped me going. I got married and centerlink took away my unemployment money.

[alias_sqbr]

or you could just photocopy the books from someone who has them ;p

Yeah but it's not the same :)

Living under those conditions would make it very difficult. I know how hard it was dealing with my allergies etc with my mum refusing to believe I wasn't just whining about nothing :/

I can definitely see the price being an obstacle, that's one reason we didn't join until we were an actual two-income family (rather than one income plus peanuts)

Rant Ahead

[infamyanonymous.livejournal.com]

Re your comment on Falli's LJ, yes I tried Weight Watchers. On my own I lost 15kg, doing the eating right, minor rewards, excercise thing. Then I got really annoyed when I platoued. So I went to my doc and got some meds (Xenecal) to aid weightloss.* Another 2kg.

Joined WW with Mum (who paid). Basically, the lady who took it was crazy. She cuts up all her vegetables on Sunday and cooks all her meals for the week. She's 50, never been married, never had kids, lives alone, and seemingly thinks about WW once an hour every day.

It wasn't just me and Mum, others thought she was a little... off. And every time you go for a weigh in (on scales which were 5kg higher than home and Dr) you get The Look and a Comment. You'd get a negative mark against your name for 50g gain from last week, water weight be damned.
Thing was, they based everything on the 10% goal, which you obviously would lose quickly, and if you didn't it was tantamount to treason. The 10% I had lost months before, and more, didn't matter. I was making excuses, twisting facts, and just Not Good Enough.

Then they moved out of the convenient location, and we've never been back.


*Do NOT take this product! If the extremely unpleasent side-effects weren't enough, they ring you frequently with highly personal question about said side-effects at inoportune times.

Re: Rant Ahead

[lauredhel.livejournal.com]

"and someone to point out that two ferrero rochers has roughly the same calorie content as a large healthy meal"

Just in case this isn't hyperbole, a Ferrero Rocher has 75 calories.

Re: Rant Ahead

[infamyanonymous.livejournal.com]

Interesting note- my WW lady for Easter got a gift of a 3-pack Ferrero Rocher. She was horrified, and threw them into the freezer. Took her a year to eat them.

1 Ferrero Rocher is worth 2 points, so if you're eating a large meal for 4 points, you'd better be compensating for something.

Re: Rant Ahead

[alias_sqbr]

See comment below. *is dumb*

A year? That's crazy. If you like them, that's only 2 points to add in here and there, one a week at the least. If you don't, give them away! I gave away lots of chocolate this Christmas, but only because my family still hasn't quite grasped the "Milk chocolate makes sophie feel ill" concept. I went out and bought myself some nice dark chocolate to make up for it :)

Re: Rant Ahead

[alias_sqbr]

Oops. Yeah, I must have misread the points rating(*). It did seem awfully high :)

(*)Done online at work, when a large bowl of ferarro rochers was put next to my desk and noone was eating them.

Re: Rant Ahead

[fallimar.livejournal.com]

Oh jeebus, Xenical...

I tried that too as a supplement.

LEAKAGE. That's a word you never EVER take for granted again.

Re: Rant Ahead

[alias_sqbr]

Can't give a long comment since I'm about to go to work: Mmm, I thought it plausible you'd tried it and/or had reasons for not going, which is why I wanted you to know this wasn't an elaborate passive aggressive way of trying to get you to go.

That lady sounds crazy and mean. Our is a kind of odd, but in a nice way :) That said, there is some mild tut-tut-ing if you gain too much, but I and Cam tend to ignore anything we don't like about the program (neither of us count points exactly, and accept mild ups and downs as natural) which does require a certain level of apathy and contrariness inherent to our natures :)

*has wierd flashbacks to recent christian converts trying to convince me that church would make me super happy as I patiently explain that... no* *accepts your decision not to drink the diet kool-aid*

[justadecoy.livejournal.com]

I'm doing the WW online points system and people who haven't seen me in a while are commenting on the changes.
I guess the point of this was to say YAY WW! or something.
Kendra is definitely a positive influence on my eating habits (she's doing it too)

[alias_sqbr]

Heh. We're on "Unlimited" which means free access to the online tools, I tried them for a bit but it was too depressing watching the points "debt" slowly increase :) Also it's utterly useless for the Core plan. It is useful for checking things on the fly.

Still, glad to hear it works for you. And yes, having the person you live with on the plan too MAJORLY helps, it's the main reason I joined (I wasn't too fussed about losing weight at the time, though have since learned it might do me good medically)

[col-ki.livejournal.com]

Just to throw in some loose change...

I actually think the points syetm will work better for geeks than normal people - it's basically a chance to peer at the mechanics of eating, then min-max yourself!

[alias_sqbr]

There's this diet/exercise plan online with a name like "The Geeks guide to losing weight" which uses exactly that logic (it doesn't use Points(tm) but counting calories etc is similar)