$12

As I mentioned yesterday, I am 2.2 lbs from having lost 75 lbs. Periodically, I have thought about going to Weight Watchers online only or even canceling my membership all together and going it alone. I mean, $48 a month is a good chunk of change and I am sure I could find another budget category to put it in.

I started Weight Watchers June 22, 2009, so it has taken me a bit of time to get to where I am. A month or so ago I was't able to make it to my regular meeting so I caught the next time available. The woman who sat next to me started at my starting weight, lost exactly what I had to to get to goal, and was currently living at my goal weight. She did it all in 8 months.

At first I was quite impressed. Who wouldn't be? 122 lbs in 8 months is nothing to sneeze at! But then I got mad. She did in 8 months what I have spent 1 1/2 years working on, and am only a little over 1/2 was there. I asked questions.

She shared with me a shopping list she made from her first three months worth of food journals. I got even more mad and added confusion to the mix. Her shopping list consisted of mostly junk food. Low point snack cakes, 100 calorie packs and baked potato chips. Plenty of Mc Donald's, Arby's and Burger King. The only fruits and vegetables on her list were potatoes, watermelon and greens.

I talked to my leader. She made it very clear to me that what this woman experienced is not typical, not healthy and is most definitely not what Weight Watchers recommends or encourages.

This is why I love Weight Watchers, and especially love my leader. This is why I will pay my $12 a week for the rest of my life, if that's what it takes.

I am a great dieter. I know how to lose weight. I have done it a million times. My problem is, I don't know how to do it long term. I don't know how to stick with the plan after the honeymoon period has passed or after I started feeling good again. I don't know how to pick myself up and get back on the wagon after something as normal as a vacation, birthday party or holiday. I certainly don't know how to maintain at my goal weight.

I don't have to do it alone. I have millions of dollars worth of research, some of the top scientists in the field, some of the most up to date research and best of all, some of the most compassionate "been there, done that" people available to me any time I need them. And that is worth so much more than $12 a week.

*I did not plan for this to end up sounding like a Weight Watchers commercial. If it does, I am sorry. My issue with spending money on myself is something Marty and I have been discussing for a while now, so it was what was on my mind tonight.