"You must be getting close."

Music to my ears! That's what Frank said when I weighed in this morning. I've lost 52 pounds but I still have 30+ to go. No, I'm not getting close but I'm making good progress.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since January. I had an eventful winter and spring. We sent our two dogs to Dog Heaven. My father died. We adopted a sweet but fearful dog. And I continued to suffer nausea and stomach pain courtesy of the antibiotics I've been taking for chronic Lyme disease.

It still doesn't feel like I earned my weight loss. But I'm starting to think maybe I'm actually eating better. I started an injected antibiotic a couple of weeks ago, partly to give my stomach a rest and partly to switch things up. I've continued to lose weight.

Still, I'm currently on a screwy diet in an attempt to see if food sensitivities may be causing some of my fatigue. I don't feel any less tired. But I've been limited in what I can eat so I'm not yet confident that I'll continue to lose weight after these external forces are no longer there.

But, hey, I've lost over 50 pounds!

"Deathly Ill Becomes You"

That's what my leader said when I weighed in this morning. Before I got on the scale I told her I'd been deathly ill all week. I lost 4.4 pounds this week for a total loss of 36 pounds. It's the least I've weighed since I joined Weight Watchers. I'm also no longer obese, and haven't been for three weeks.

I was sick all week with a really nasty cold. Even though I barely moved for two days, I also ate very little for most of the week. That, and I'm still taking the higher-dosage thyroid medication.

So, instead of crediting my weight loss to strict adherence to the new Weight Watchers eating plan, I have to give the nod to my thyroid meds, the nausea-inducing antibiotics, and an appetite-sapping rhinovirus.

I'm not complaining, mind you, but I am concerned that I won't be able to keep the weight off if I have to reduce my thyroid meds as my weight declines, or when I finish the wretched antibiotics and recover from all the bugs circulating. My leader is awesome and she understood my reluctance to celebrate while also congratulating me.

My concern is one reason I'm contemplating going back to the Simply Filling Technique (although the last time I was on it, it was called "Core"; what is it with Weight Watchers and all these jaw-breaking names?). If I can learn what it's like to eat until I'm satisfied while I'm losing weight for other reasons, maybe I'll be able to continue eating that way later.

Back to the Future

At my last weigh in, I lost another 1.5 pounds for a total of 25.4 pounds lost. I'm back to having lost over 25 pounds and being below the 10% mark. Unfortunately, I haven't been following the new PointsPlus™ plan to lose this weight.

The glass-is-half-full perspective is that 1) my metabolism is finally getting what it needs to function properly with the latest increase in my thyroid meds and 2) I might again be eating to satisfaction instead of for sport.

The glass-is-half-empty perspective is probably more accurate: I'm taking three antibiotics for Lyme disease and the third one (Flagyl) upsets my stomach, making eating fairly unpleasant. I don't mind losing weight but I'd really rather learn to control my eating. PointsPlus™ is a good plan and I'd really rather follow it. Instead, I'm eating what I can when I can.

On a completely different note, I've been thinking about how PointsPlus™ puts emphasis on protein, which is tough for a Carb Queen. But I'm okay with that because I know I need more protein and should eat fewer starchy carbs. So, even with my tummy troubles, I'm working on feeling satisfied with higher-protein foods.

It's a Mouthful

I like the new Weight Watchers program. I really do.

I've lost weight on it and I've given up trying to understand why so many people of different ages and sizes now have 29 PointsPlus™ when we all had varying POINTS®. I'm adjusting to the differences in PointsPlus™ values and finding it easier (so far) to keep tracking.

It's the new name that's bugging me. Before PointsPlus™ was introduced in the United States, I read about it on the Weight Watchers United Kingdom website. In the UK, PointsPlus™ is called ProPoints®. Silly me, I thought the US would use the same name.

During last week's meeting, I watched the leader struggle to remember to say "PointsPlus™" instead of "Points" (Not "POINTS®," of course, because that's the old program).

"PointsPlus™" just does not roll off the tongue except as the name of the program, as in "The PointsPlus™ Program."

No one except the meeting leader call the new Points PointsPlus™. On the other hand, I can easily imagine everyone in a UK meeting calling the new Points ProPoints®. It's just easier to say.

I get that different countries need different names for the program. But, what were they thinking? I'm sure they spent significant time and money on the new name . . . and it never occurred to them that it was a mouthful?

I predict that with the inevitable tweaking (and, therefore, new marketing) of PointsPlus™ will come a new name, just as the Flex plan became Momentum (sorry, I didn't track down the marks). I'd be happy to join the brainstorming for a term North Americans will actually use.

To get the brainstorming started, how about PowerPoints™? Or TruePoints™? Or why not drop the use of Points completely and come up with something like DietDegrees™ ? (The rights to these marks are available for a small fee .)

Oh, one more thing, just to stay on the right side of US trademark law: PointsPlus™ & POINTS® are trademarks of Weight Watchers International. ProPoints® is also a trademark of Weight Watchers International, but I didn't find it registered in the US. PowerPoints™, TruePoints™, & DietDegrees™ are my trademarks but I haven't done a full search on them nor have I applied for trademark registration.

10K!

10K what? Certainly not 10K pounds. Not even 10K ounces (625 pounds).

Nope. I walked a 10K last weekend, the Dempsey Challenge. That's 10,000 meters (or metres) -- 6.2 miles.

It's been a week and I'm still having a hard time believing I did it. Of course, I bragged at my Weight Watchers meeting this morning. And my leader, Carrie, let me talk about it a bit. I was able to tell the group that I walked the 10K despite chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and assorted other chronic illnesses (Lyme disease for one). It felt so good to be able to tell people I'd walked a 10K despite my physical challenges.

And Carrie, who I like more with each meeting, asked if training for the 10K and walking it helped with my chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. The honest answer is no. I was extremely fatigued for two days after the 10K. I ached all over for three days (that's the fibromyalgia). But mentally, I feel great after I've walked.

Today I walked 4.5 miles and while I'm tired, I think I'm not fatigued (I often don't feel the fatigue until a day later). Fingers crossed, but I think I might be slowly (very slowly) reducing my fatigue.

My weight is up from my last post, but it's coming down. I actually gained .2 pounds this past week, probably because I walked only once after the 10K. I've been down this road before, however, and I know that I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other as often as I can. I have no timetable.

Every time I've begun walking again after one physical challenge or another, I've used "walking music" to help me get going. I've been doing this since the days of Jane Fonda's cassette tapes. It wasn't too long before I found Sports Music, which sold tapes (and now CDs; how come no MP3s?); it now has a variety of names but you'll find it as Workout Music Video.

There are now many sites that offer workout music. If you look around, you can find some free MP3s, although they're typically offered as a sample of what they want you to pay for. A site that has given me a giggle while I walk is Marina's High-nrg Fitness. Marina sings on her MP3s and offers encouragement that always makes me smile.

Walk on!

Breathing Easier

I've lost 3.4 pounds since I last wrote, for a total of 18.8 pounds lost. I enter my weight into eTools and I realized today that I'm once again approaching the 10% mark. I last passed that milestone in August 2008 and it had taken me 10 months to get there. Aargh! It's now two years later and I'm still struggling to hit that 10% milestone.

Commence to intone the mantra. Recall that my shorts felt looser when I put them on this morning. Then celebrate the fact that I'm still committed to attending meetings and finding my way through this weight-loss maze.

On a different-yet-related note, I was officially diagnosed with asthma this week (officially in my mind; it's probably somewhere in my electronic medical chart). If one can't breathe well, one can get enough rest and is always tired from lack of oxygen and lack of rest. I started a twice-daily steroid inhaler and discovered that same evening how poorly I'd been sleeping. Decent sleep in adequate amounts is important for many reasons, including weight loss.

I suffered a buttercream frosting melt-down (so to speak) last weekend. I'm usually pretty disciplined about indulging in baked goods and their accessories when I'm baking but just completely lost it last weekend. So why did I lose weight this week (besides breathing easier)? I think I actually followed through on a WW precept: when you fall off the wagon, get right back on. I did that and tried to cut back here and there throughout the rest of the week.

I know better than to forecast that I've got my eating under control once again. Instead, I'm just going to continue eating less, try to exercise more, and work toward actually tracking every day (that last should make you burst out laughing).

Keepin' On Keepin' On

My stats for today's weigh-in are a loss of 0.4 pounds for a total loss of 15.6 pounds. Yes, I've lost ground (so to speak) since I last wrote. But . . . in the last two weeks I've lost 4.1 pounds (my weigh-in location now has a scale that measures in tenths of a pound and occasionally I get weighed on it).

Obviously, it has been a struggle.

What's different now? It's hard to say.

I've been seeing a hypnotist, but we haven't been dealing directly with my weight problem, so that's not it.

I've started to walk our dogs at night because it has become a struggle for Zaphod this summer. His MS has progressed to the point where an evening walk, especially during warm weather, is difficult. But I don't think getting more exercise is it either.

If anything, it's that I've persisted in attending Weight Watchers' meetings.

The meeting topics for the last few weeks have concerned finding ways to motivate oneself out of a plateau or, especially in my case, a lapse in following the program.

For the past two weeks I've been mostly on-plan. And as every weight-watcher (no initial caps on purpose) knows, following the program works: measure your portions, record what you eat, stay within your limits, get more exercise.

I was pleased, however, to learn that getting back on plan was like riding a bike. Measure here, record there, think first, respect one's limits, and so forth. Still, I would not have gotten back on the bike if I hadn't continued to attend meetings week after week, disappointing weigh-in after disappointing weigh-in.

I sincerely doubt that this is the last time I'll point out the benefits of meeting attendance regardless of what's happening on the scale. I also doubt that I'll stay on-plan for the indefinite future. But I am pleased that I've made the commitment to attend Weight Watchers meetings regardless of how I'm doing with weight loss.

On a slightly different note, I now have a new meeting leader. Many moons ago, I said that I went to Kaitlin's meetings for motivation and Karen's meetings for inspiration. Kaitlin has moved on to be replaced by Carrie. I was distraught at first because Kaitlin was fun, informative, and motivational. And, I'd learned that Karen's meetings never change; she was inspirational in the beginning but now she sounds like a broken record (oh dear, am I showing my age with that simile?). Carrie, however, has won me over with her humor and style. She is just as much fun, informative, and motivational as Kaitlin but with a different style. Whew!