The Weight Watchers Backstory

I was not enthusiastic about joining Weight Watchers. A few years earlier, I had tried another diet -- and lost 11 pounds in three months. Part of the problem with that diet was the limited amount of food I could eat. Some of it was just unappetizing. What I was allowed to eat, I ate plenty of. As a result, the pounds didn't slip off and I got frustrated. Eventually, I gave up.

The at-work part of Weight Watchers was the part that sold me. It was risk-free. My company offered us a full reimbursement of fees if we attended almost every session, no matter how much weight we lost (or gained). The class was held during work hours, so I was essentially getting paid to lose weight. And I was embarking on this course with people I knew or people I would come to know. We could support each other during the monthly birthday party and other company celebrations when cakes, cookies and other yummy desserts filled the room, calling to us not to leave any piece uneaten.

The day before I began Weight Watchers, I dragged one of my co-workers with me to Dairy Queen, where I got a large, chocolate-y Blizzard.

The next day, I got serious.

I lost 6.6 pounds that first week.

I chose the Core program on Weight Watchers, which allows you to eat from a limited (yet surprisingly large) group of foods. The upside is that you don't really have to worry about portion control. In were fruits and vegetables, lean chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef, 94 percent fat-free popcorn, fat free plain yogurt and more. Out were bread, cheese, chips and ice cream. I could cheat every once in a while -- the program gives you a point system and you get 35 points per week. A restaurant-size glass of wine is roughly 4 points. So, while you enjoy some things outside of Core, you enjoy them in moderation.

The second week I lost 2.2 pounds.

The next week, I decided to start exercising and walked a few miles a day on the treadmill. I lost 3.4 pounds.

I soon hit my first target -- 10 percent of my body weight, or 18 pounds. The overall goal: 45 pounds.

There were some weeks when I lost less than a pound, a few weeks where I gained. I got frustrated, to be sure, even when co-workers and our team leader would remind me how far I had come. My competitive nature didn't want to look back at the starting line; I wanted to be at the finish line. Not that there is ever really a finish, if you want to keep the weight off.

When I hit a plateau, I exercised more. Eventually, I was walking eight miles each morning, at a speed of more than 5 miles per hour. It took a little less than 100 minutes.

When I hit Lifetime status -- after I had maintained my goal weight for six weeks -- I went out with another co-worker for a burger and some ice cream (light, of course). I kept going to the gym until March, when I suddenly found other things to do than wake up at 4:30 a.m. and bang on the door for the security guard to open the gym.

It took a month before the scale realized that I was no longer exercising. And then, the weight I had bid goodbye to, said hello again. It's been creeping up since April at my monthly Weight Watchers weigh-ins.

I've spent the past few mornings at the gym, thanks to my alarm clock. I'm only walking 4 miles a day, although I plan to increase that over the next week. My goal -- before an October half-marathon in Baltimore -- is to walk 12 miles on the treadmill one morning. It's doable.

And then, hopefully, the pounds will bid me adieu -- for good this time.