The start of my journey...

began on January 9, 2007 when I decided it was time to lose some weight. I gave myself the challenge of losing 50 pounds by my 50th birthday, which is September 24th.

I had not dieted for over 20 years so I knew that I would need support. I went on-line and saw that there was a Weight Watchers meeting starting in 15 minutes just a few blocks from my house. Decision made. I called out to hubby that I was going to a WW meeting and that I would be back later.

On my way to the meeting I was thinking that it would be great. I would not be out of place and I would not be the biggest person there as I was everywhere else. Well, I was wrong. I was still the biggest person in the room. I still felt out of place. But I was determined and I joined.

My first weigh in was not a surprise as I had weighed in at the doctor's office shortly before that. Quite a few new members there are shocked at their weight when the first join. When you are over-weight you don't tend to have a scale around. Out of sight, out of mind.

At the meeting there were several women who were reaching their goal or reaching lifetime and they had lost a total of 20 or 30 lbs. I was starting to feel even worse about myself when I realized that most people had very little weight to lose. Although I challenged myself to lose 50 pounds that was just a fairly short term goal as I knew that I had a total of over 150 lbs to lose if I really wanted to be honest.

The meeting itself went well and all newcomers are asked to stay behind to go over the plan with the leader. The leader is great by the way, and has lost about 60 lbs on the program herself. The plan is easy to follow and you can eat anything you want. There is no food plan you have to buy. You just pay to be a member and go to the meetings. The food you eat is determined by you. You just have to be accountable for it and count what you eat.

I felt better at the end the meeting than at the start and decided to give it a try. When I got home I discussed it with hubby, asked for his support, and told him it was my decision to start and it would be my decision of how long I continued, but that I was at that time determinded to go for it.

I reached my 50 pound goal 5 months early, on April 10.