All right, I'm not sure where/how to start on this thread, but I figure I'll just jump right in here with a (not-so-)quick introduction so y'all know where I'm coming from.
I've struggled with my weight almost my entire life. From birth through 3rd grade, I was a pretty normal weight. But somehow, during the summer between 3rd and 4th grade I ballooned. I wasn't a very active kid, so that definitely had something to do with it. And I developed a real love affair with food, which didn't help much either. I was able to maintain an unhealthy, but not deadly weight of about 195 through most of high school and college. When I met my now-wife 5 years ago, I was 5'8" and around 190. Over the course of the next three years, I somehow managed to gain almost 50 pounds.
Then two years ago, my former boss' husband died of a heart attack at age 62. For some reason, that really hit me hard. Not because I knew him well, which I didn't. But because I realized that if I wasn't careful that would be me. So for my now-wife and I dating anniversary, I received a 6-month membership to Weight Watchers online. This 6-month membership would take me up to and through our wedding. I used to be very skeptical of Weight Watchers. I would make jokes like "I don't need to spend money to be told to not eat that 3rd pork chop". But when I started on the program, I realized something. I DID need to pay money to be told to not eat as much. And much to my surprise, it worked. I was able to lose 25 pounds and one pants size before my wedding. I was 215 pounds for our honeymoon, and I thought the next 25 pounds would go just as easy.
But over the course of the past year and a half, I got lazy. I kept a lot of the good habits that Weight watchers taught me, so I didn't gain much of the weight back that I lost. But I wasn't very strict with what I was eating, so I didn't lose any weight either. My weight would fluctuate between 210 and 220 pounds. And my wife managed to gain about 20 pounds herself. And the funny thing is, that is probably the best thing that could have happened to me.
Throughout the past year and a half, my wife wasn't as supportive as she could have been. She would always say "I want to help you lose weight"; but she would say that while picking out a chocolate long john donut at the grocery store. For someone who loves sweets as much as I do, that was pretty much an open invitation to get jelly filled donut of my own. I would never blame her for my weight problem, but she also wasn't helping matters at all; even if it probably was just subconsciously.
Then on New Year's Day, my wife was on the computer. I asked her what she was doing, and her response surprised me. "I'm joining Weight Watchers online." I knew then that I would have a partner in my struggle. And so far, it has been great. When planning out our meals for the week, we make sure to point things out before committing to them. If one of us has a weak moment, the other one is there to be supportive and give a little "shove" in the right direction. So here we are, on week 8 of our diet. I have lost about 11 pounds since the start of the year and I am feeling great. My wife is down about 8 pounds herself. And I can say with 100% confidence that if it wasn't for my wife joining Weight Watchers with me, that I would not have had the success these past 7 weeks that I have had.
So anyway, that is a condensed version of my struggles. I'm hoping to keep checking in here to keep myself honest. And I'll be sure to be as supportive as possible to the rest of you trying to reach your own personal goals.