Official "Thursday" Weigh-In

Yeah, it still may be Thursday somewhere, right? Like Japan, or China, where all our kids' toys are being made right now?

I do have good reasons for my tardiness. Our meeting went extra long because they were rolling out the new "Momentum" plan (more on that later) and then I had to come home and eat, and then I had to get Anna Marie's stuff ready for school today, and then I had to put her to bed, and just as I was finishing, my sister came over to use the internet and I stayed in the living room to talk to her (and watch The Office and Pushing Daisies.)

(And so help me, if they really have canceled that show, I'll be mightily upset.)

I do have good news to report on the weight front - 147, losing a pound from last week.

Now, on to my beef with Weight Watchers:

They used to have two plans, Flex and CORE, and said that you could pick whichever one fit your life. I spent most of the past three years on Flex, until I hit a bad spot and realized I was spending too many POINTS on junk food. So, in February, I went on CORE. I really like not having to "penalize" myself by counting POINTS for healthy things like fruits and fat free dairy. I really like that this plan has encouraged me to eat more whole foods, and I do cook more.

I really, really like CORE.

Now, there is no CORE plan. There is only Momentum, and everyone is expected to count POINTS. They have changed the CORE foods list into the "Filling Foods" and try to get everyone to eat more of those.

They've changed the weigh-in books too - if you go to meetings, you used to get a little white book that they put your stamp in each week when you paid and wrote down your weight. Each one was good for about six months. You could either take it with you, or leave it in your folder at the meeting site (which I did, because I was afraid I'd forget it one week.) Now, it's all in one little book: your foods list with POINTS values, your weigh-in pages, and your POINTS slider, stuck on the back. They've made the POINTS tracker smaller, and it now goes into the front pocket.

And that tracker now expects you to get all touchy-feely and chart your hunger throughout the day. Who has time for all that?

So now I'm at a crossroads. Do I ditch CORE and start counting POINTS again? Do I stay with CORE and ignore Momentum, knowing there is no support for the CORE plan anymore? And if I do ignore Momentum, is there really any point in my continuing to go to the meetings?

Part of me thinks that this Momentum plan could help me get this last 10 pounds off, but I already know from being on CORE for the past 10 months that I'm not going to be tracking POINTS for the rest of my life. Why start something, lose a little weight, and then stop? That seems a little like fad dieting to me.

The only thing I know is that I don't have to make this decision now. I most likely won't go weigh in next week because Anna Marie has a school play at 6 p.m., and weighing in at 5:30 (the absolute earliest, and even then I may not get to at that time because the staff might not be ready) won't give me time to get dinner. And, she's probably got to be at the school about that time anyway. And the next two weeks, Thursdays will be taken up with holidays, so we won't meet.

I don't understand why that Weight Watchers would take away a program that a lot of people (judging by their message boards) are really happy with. I know some folks probably abuse it, but that's true with most situations.

I have to get ready for work now, and you're probably needing a bathroom break, so I'll end this little rant.

And maybe I'll forward it to the Powers That Be over at WW headquarters.