Conference rocks::weight_control

    
    re .0:
    
    It sounds like you're in the following cycle:
    
    
    		Diet--------->Slip
                 ^             :
                 :             V
                Eat<---------Guilt  
    
    If you can't stick to a "Diet", then a stricter diet will only make
    things worse. If you try to be perfect, you will only fail, then
    feel so bad, that you eat, always saying, "Today's the Day!". That
    day never seems to come.
    
    My suggestion is to try OA.
    
    							--- Neal

    Wow, this sounds like a (slightly) stronger version of the way I've
    been feeling!  I think it's actually due to stress in other parts of my
    life; when I'm depressed, I eat.  Constantly.

    Has anything changed in your work or home environment lately?  If so,
    can you influence things away from stressful situations?  Try, over
    the next week, to analyze your emotions _while_ you're eating the
    non-program foods (or the more-than-allowed amounts).  What triggers
    the binge?  Does the thought of not eating whatever it is make you
    frantic?

    I doubt the problem is in the diet itself -- WW is a good program, and
    the fact that you've stuck with it for a year would indicate that it
    has worked well for you.  

    I've taken steps to deal with the things that are wrong (thankfully,
    they are within my ability to affect), so we'll see.  I hope you can
    find a way to do the same.  If you'd like to correspond privately (or
    by phone), send me Mail.

    Good luck,
    Beverly

    
    My advice, for what it's worth, is to stick with WW.  It has worked
    for me before and it is working for me again.  I know it will work
    for anyone who sticks with it.  Are you staying for the meetings?
    Do you get the most you can out of them?  Do you like the leader?
    If not, try another meeting in your area.  Would a real good weightloss
    one week help to get you back on track?  If so, try using the week
    5 exchange amounts but use the lists from week 1 and cut out optional
    calories.  This way you will be getting all the nutrition you need
    but you will be making the lowest calorie choices.  If you stick
    with that for one week, you can almost bet on a real good weightloss.
    Also don't forget water, water, water will help tremendously with
    the weightloss and it will make you feel fuller longer.  
    
    I know that when I'm stuck (like I was for several weeks until last
    week) and I can't seem to get it together, a real good weightloss
    puts me right back on track.  Also I think about my short term goals.
    Right now it's to get my first 10 pound ribbon.  Then I'm going
    to get myself a new bottle of Charlie for my reward.  I have written
    down in my attendance book for two weeks from now that I will be
    getting my ribbon.  That way it reminds me what I'm working for.
    
    Good luck to you.  Don't forget, we've all struggled with setbacks.
    Just don't let this one become a failure and you'll come through
    fine.
    
    Susan

    Did I write this note?  I can't remember writing it, but it sure
    sounds like what I'm feeling.  I've gained ten pounds in the last
    couple of months and feel like I should give back one of my stars.
    And the worst part is that I can't seem to care one way or the other!
    
    Lynn (aka the Wayward Weight Watcher)

    
    I guess I'll disagree here a little.  I've been on Weight Watchers
    several times (haven't we all??), and now I'm going to Diet Center.
    
    I find the DAILY weigh-ins much better incentive to stick to the
    program that Weight Watcher's weeklies.  I know if I put something
    in my mouth today, there's no hiding it on the scales tomorrow.
    Where, with WW, I figure, go ahead, have a good weekend, you can
    probably take it off by ....(day of the week of meeting).
    
    I also know the weight loss is alot quicker with Diet Center than
    WW, which is also good incentive.  I understand the difference,
    and I think there is probably a better chance of keeping weight
    off with WW, but that does me no good if I don't lose it in the
    first place.  With WW, I usually lost 1-2 pounds per week.  On
    Diet Center, I'm losing 5 per week, so every day when I go in,
    I'm almost always about 1 pound down from the previous day.  That,
    with the "fear" of weighing in again tomorrow, have kept me pretty
    "legal".
    
    This should not be construed as a criticism of WW, just a possible
    alternative.  I know WW works for many people, and I think that's
    great.  Maybe some of us need a little closer supervisor (read:
    a bigger stick!) to keep us losing!
    
    Jim

    I doubt there is anything 'wrong' with you.  We all hit plateaus
    during diets, everyone is familiar with the physical ones, you
    seem to be at the mental one that I hit at about the same time.

    When I was about a year into my diet I stopped losing weight for
    about five months, actually I gained back about six pounds in that
    time.  I think you are on the right track when you ask, "do I think
    I look great?".  I think that in my case there was a bit of that
    attitude, sort of a feeling that by comparison to before I had
    really done good, were the last few pounds (about thirty) really
    all that important.  This attitude is inadvertently fed by friends
    and family who keep telling you how great you look,  while asking
    are you going to lose even more!  This is the 'you are thin enough
    syndrome'.  I translate it to:  "Damn it.  Stop!  I was comfortable
    with you the way you were.  Now you are making me look bad."

    The way I attacked this was based on my whole dieting approach.
    Small, attainable and realistic goals.  I never went into the
    diet planning to lose over two hundred pounds; if I had planned
    that, the pure enormity of the task would have overwhelmed me into
    failure. 

    When I topped the scale at over four hundred pounds, I thought that
    if I could reach three-fifty, I'd feel fine.  I did, and used this
    as an incentive to try for three-twenty-five.  I kept this up,
    setting and attaining small intermediate goals.  Always promising
    myself a treat when I reached the intermediate goal. 

    Then I hit the problem you face right now.  I couldn't seem to get
    any lower.  It was frustrating.

    Instead of giving up and riding the YoYo string back up to new
    heights, I set a new goal.  

    Staying where I was. 

    Those who have lost weight know how hard that is.  Eventually we
    have to face it.  I decided to face it then.  

    In the process of not gaining, except for those half a dozen pounds, 
    I continued my 'success'.  I even learned some valuable lessons about 
    maintaining my weight.  In effect I turned failure into success.

    I never gave up hope of losing the rest of it.  I didn't really
    know when, how, or even if I would.  I only had a short term goal of
    not blowing it.  If I regained the motivation,  I would only have
    to start at two-thirty,  not four hundred. 

    Eventually something happened, in my case it was Weight Watchers
    coming to work here in BXB, I had lost the first hundred and
    seventy pounds on my own using basically one of Weight Watchers
    old diet plans.  I restarted the diet, still keeping my system
    of short term goals, and eventually had a short term goal of one
    pound.  When I lost that, actually I lost three that week, not
    only had I met that goal but I found myself at 196 pounds with 
    a final goal of 198.  The skills I had learned during that plateau,
    have since helped me in maintenance, I am currently one pound
    below goal at 197 pounds.

    I know that I've babbled on here for quite a while.  All I want to
    do is get across the two main ideas that I followed to goal.  The
    first has already been mentioned, INTERMEDIATE REACHABLE GOALS.
    The second is the ONE MEAL AT A TIME philosophy, it not only
    compliments the small goals, it still gives me  a way of accepting
    short term transgressions.  I no longer use them as an excuse to
    give up.  Together this worked for me.  

    Good luck,

    -Joe