Day One

WEIGH IN: 262.4 lbs.

Let me write that out for you - TWO HUNDRED SIXTY-TWO POINT FOUR POUNDS.

Just stick me in a grey suit, dangle a piece of string from my nose, and call me the frickin' HINDENBURG!

(This moment of drama has been brought to you by Nabisco's 100 Calorie Packs.)

Speaking of those 100 calorie packs - BEWARE. The single packet of chocolate covered pretzels has THIRTY grams of fat in them, people! Most Weight Watchers veterans that follow the Points System can tell you that you can count on 100 calories being about 2 points. But when you jack up the fat grams to 30, that doubles your Points value. [Update 4/23/09: I goofed this one. I mis-read the label. The pretzels contain 30 fat calories - not grams. They're back to 2 points per package. This makes me happy.]

Okay, so here goes. Back when I was a Weight Watchers (WW) rockstar, I developed a very clever journal spreadsheet where you enter in your gender, birth date, height, starting weight, goal weight, and lifestyle (sedentary, semi-active, active, etc.) It would calculate how many Points (according to WW) you should be eating per day. Once you've reached your points for the day, you're done eating. It also kept track of your activity (exercise) Points and Flex Points (35 extra points you can use at any time during the week.)

I wrote down everything I ate and it would automatically keep track of how many points I ate during the day, how many points I had left for the day, and even included a calculator where I could determine how many points a single pack of chocolate covered pretzels were.

Each week, you would enter in your weight and it would also plot your progress in a handy chart. This spreadsheet did everything but cook your food for you. I cracked it open and marveled once again at how clever the thing was. It was very popular several years ago on the Internet that I sold it online for $10. I still have people buying it today. (Check it out if you like by clicking here.) So this is going to be a big help in getting my life back in order.

I went to the grocery store this morning to plan my meals for the week. Usually, my wife and I go together on the weekends. But since we're doing the separate meal planning, we decided to do separate shopping trips this first time to give us more time to figure stuff out. As a rule of thumb, this isn't wise as I will usually come home with nothing more than a box full of powdered donuts, a gallon of chocolate milk and one might find me an hour later passed out on the sofa with my face and clothes covered in a white powdery substance and an empty gallon jug resting on its side next to my lifeless hand.

About WW - I'm not a current member. I had an online membership the first time around and learned everything I needed to know from there. The spreadsheet and support from my wife and friends should be sufficient to see me through this time. Thank YOU for YOUR support.

I'm actually excited to be starting on this road to better health. It's time.