Starting Weight

Friday night - the big weigh in.

I stand on the scales.

Oh no!

I forgot to put my glasses on!

After I go and get my glasses, I discover I'm 184lbs.

My target weight is 165 -- so 19 lbs to go!

Bartering for Food

My wife's package has now arrived and we discovered that her "free week" was pre-selected for her so there are things she may not like.

I, of course, offered to swap some of mine but I have to be careful - I don't want to end up with a month's worth of black bean soup. It wouldn't be good for me, and it certainly wouldn't be good for anyone who shares an enclosed space with me!

It looks like it will work out fine.

It turns out that her menu plan (because she's a woman I guess) is radically different from mine. That means we will be eating different things at each meal (in terms of vegetables etc.) which will make it harder to plan things. i have to say, this system isn't nearly as simple and convenient as I thought it would be.

But I'll give it a shot!

The food arrives

The food arrived today, two days after it was ordered - impressive!

My wife had trouble getting it through the door - it was heavy!

I have to say I was a little disappointed to discover how much food wasn't included. I was under the impression that most of the food I needed was included and I'd have to supplement it with fruit and vegatables. It seems, however, from the instructions that half of the food is fruit, vegetables, salad ingredients, protein, and some glycemic stuff that I don't really understand (it's bread I think).

This means that the convenience has gone out the window, but I'm still going to give it my best shot and see how it goes.

I'd decided to start in a couple of days - on Saturday. That way I can get used to it and plan what I need to bring into work next Tuesday (I have Martin Luther King day off).

How did we chose which system to use?

I wish I could say we used an exhaustive analysis of the available weight loss programs and can to a logical decision after hours and hours of deliberation.

But I can't.

It came down to these points:

• It had to be a company we could trust - i.e. well known, high profile
• We didn't want to decide and debate what was for dinner - we could each chose something out of the closet
• Cut down on shopping
• The food looked as though we would eat it
  
• Cost was obviously an issue
• We thought it could work

The criteria were weighted differently in my mind versus my wife's - she was more worried that she wouldn't like the food, while I wanted convenience as an example.

We looked an the main one's and decided on Nutrisystem (we also looked at WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig and Diet2go).

Nutrisystem looked the simplest, they had an option where my wife could choose the food, and another where they would choose for me - we were both happy!

They had a promotion for where there was a week free and a discount for auto delivery. When my wife rang to order her food she discovered another promotion where if a same member of the household ordered at the same time there would get an extra week free and 10% off - which seemed like a good deal!

Why am I trying to lose weight?

Well there are actually boring reasons - I'm slightly overweight (only slightly - my Body Mass Index is 25!), I have some medical issues and my jeans are starting to get a little tight.

The main reason is that my wife decided we should lose weight in the new year and I agreed - as simple as that!

Welcome to Waist Disposal

I've started this blog to record my success at losing weight in this new year. I hope to keep it updated regularly, but I can be a bit variable with my blogging so we shall see. I hope you enjoy it, and I REALLY hope it will encourage people to lose weight too (if they feel they need to of course!).