I have been struggling with my weight since I was twenty years old.  For the first twenty years of life I was a healthy weight, not slim or muscular, but healthy.  Compared to today's teens, I was almost anorexic, but back in the 70s and 80s I didn't have a problem with over-eating.  Something happened to me in college.  I gained the 'freshman fifteen' and just kept going.  In the ensuing 20 years, I have tried every diet and diet program out there with varying success.  I have lost tremendous amounts of weight time and time again only to gain it back.  Fact is that every reasonable diet works.  If you follow a sensible diet plan you will lose weight.  Keeping the weight off is the difficult part, and where I struggle the most.

Now I find myself, once again, starting ANOTHER diet.  This time it is Weight Watchers.  As I said, any diet will help you lose weight, but what I need most is the accountability that a plan like Weight Watchers provides.  When I have to step on a scale once a week at a meeting, it keeps me honest.  It's only been a couple of weeks on the plan, but so far so good.  Weight Watchers is easy to follow and I've lost seven pounds.

The thing that I don't understand about Weight Watchers (and Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, Optifast, etc. -- I've been on them all) is why there are so few men involved.  The last meeting was all women and me.  The meeting leader suggested that you reward yourself when you reach a weight loss goal with a non-food reward.  She suggested going shoe shopping!  Let me tell you, when I want to celebrate the first thing I do is go to Nine West and pick me out a pair of strappy heels!  Sheesh.

I once told a business client, who was treating my colleagues and me to a night out in Miami that I couldn't over-indulge at dinner because I was on Jenny Craig.  After he stopped laughing, he asked me if I had to wear a dress at the Jenny Craig meetings.   You don't HAVE to wear a dress, I told him, but I choose to wear a dress because skirts make me look fat.  Seriously though, why are there so few men using these programs?

I guess men are supposed to be strong enough to just cut back on fattening foods and hit the gym when they want to lose weight.  Going to group diet classes is just too girly.  The thing is...it ain't working.  I still see tons of obese men walking around the mall.  There must be a market out there for men who need help losing weight but don't want to hang out with middle aged women talking about shoe shopping during Weight Watchers meetings.  Hmmm...  Maybe there IS a market for just such a service...

Maybe someday there will be such a place, but until then I will stay the course with Weight Watchers.  I'll be there next Monday night wearing my Vera Wang and Jimmy Choos, figuratively speaking of course.