Full Metal Lunchbox

After six weeks of being an e-tools (online) member, I signed up and went to my first actual Weight Watchers meeting today.

Lots of women dieters envy male dieters because we tend to lose weight faster and face less societal pressure to do so.  Being a guy who is himself only just barely overweight, I don't often feel comfortable sharing my weight loss experiences with women who are dieting or men who should be.  Men and women friends of mine who have succeeded in their own diets have offered me encouragement, but everyone else thinks I'm nuts.

Walking into my first WW meeting this morning and facing a room full of overweight (and very recently overweight) women did make me wonder if I was making a mistake with my $15 registration fee.  Add to that the receptionist (the only guy in the room other than the meeting leader) didn't take me very seriously and all but told me directly he didn't think I'd be back very often.  Perhaps, I thought to myself, this was time better spent at the gym.

It was the meeting itself that changed my attitude.  By the time it was over I realized that everyone in the room was facing the same challenges I was.  Just one hour in that conference room on the 33rd floor of the Sears Tower was all it took for me to see what I need to do to keep my diet on track.

I've decided to buy the winter package and attend weekly meetings through at least April 29.  I plan on reaching my goal weight long before then, but I don't want to lose focus.

That's what happened to Oprah, and I wont let that happen to me.