• I want to learn to be “in sync” with my body and not try to manipulate it. I want to exercise and eat right because it’s the healthy thing to do and not because I want my body to give me something in return. I will not play games to get the numbers down. When I make a poor choice, I will not try to punish myself by excessive restrictions or exercise until I’m blue in the face; I will just go back to eating Core immediately and not look back.

• I want to focus on enjoying each day and meeting its challenges. I don’t want to be constantly feeling “incomplete” because I haven’t hit the magic number. Nor do I want to be constantly frustrated and trying to find “the reason” why the scale isn’t going down. Maybe there’s no reason. Maybe the body is trying to find some equilibrium. Maybe there is something hormonal going on. Who knows? As long as I am concentrating on living the healthy lifestyle and listening to my body’s signals, I let the body decide when the weight should come off.

That’s not to say that I will be disappointed when the scale starts to go down again. Hardly! But you know what. . . I’m so pleased to be maintaining this weight—at least I’m not gaining—and I remember that last year when school started I was 255 pounds and felt absolutely WONDERFUL!

I’m sure next year I will feel even better, even if I still haven’t hit the magic number. But for now, I am going to learn to stop and smell the roses. Life is too short to spend it agonizing over things I can’t control.

Lately I've been trying to get a better handle on portion sizes. 78 pounds ago I could eat a lot and still lose weight, but the smaller me doesn't need as much food. But I have had a hard time leaving food on my plate, especially when I've already cut down the portion sizes and STILL can't finish it all before getting that "satisfied" feeling.

Tuesday I managed to leave four small meatballs that I didn't need--that was a great victory--and I had them yesterday with a baked potato and homemade tomato sauce. Turned out to be enough for an entire MEAL!

Today I had thawed out a package of 2 meatloaf burgers, one about twice the size of the other. I baked a potato and made a veggie stir fry while the burgers were out on the grill, and it occurred to me that eating a potato and burger and all those veggies might just be too much. (The old me would have eaten it all with BOTH burgers!)

I'm not really worried about eating too many veggies (usually have the opposite problem), but I thought I probably should have done without the potato. However, it was already nearly done, so my next thought was that I should have the small burger tonight and save the bigger one for another time when I didn't have a potato planned.

So that's what I did and it worked great!

The other thing I've noticed lately is that I don't eat as much fruit as I used to. I usually had at least 5 fruits a day in the past, including something after school as a stress reliever. This week I've been careful to avoid the after-school snack because of the problem I've had with getting full too quickly. And it works!

You know, I'm much more in tune with body than ever before, but what's really hard is getting your MIND to change its perspective. It amazes me that I can be satisfied on so little food because I've been a voracious eater for 20 years. That little burger was probably 2 ounces, and I didn't need any more than that!

When I first started, simply cutting out the junk was enough to melt off the pounds, but now that I'm smaller, just eating pretty much 100% Core foods is not enough to shed the pounds. . . I have to be a lot more cautious about portion sizes.

But the amazing part is that I am NOT going around hungry and feeling deprived. I would have thought that eating so little would be miserable, but that it is not the case at all. Who knew such a thing could happen?

It took me some months to realize that my plateau was not simply the result of my gall bladder operation in February. At the start of summer, I was all psyched to get things going again and increased my exercise to 30 AP's a week and delighted on eating almost entirely Core food with no junk food around.

And I only lost about 7 pounds the whole summer! (Last summer I lost 24 pounds!)

Well, I've never been in a big hurry to lose; I realize that the journey is much more important than the end result. And I also believe that my body needed a break for awhile after losing all that weight. Volumetrics, a book on energy density I read last summer, suggests that people should lose say 25 pounds and then spend six months maintaining it before going on to lose more. That way you have a handle on maintenance before you even get to goal.

Sounded good to me; however, I figured my six months should be up pretty soon. Especially since I'd LOVE to get to Onederland now that I'm so close. I'm definitely not into FORCING the issue, but as I thought about it, it became obvious to me that I could do a lot better with portion sizes. I guess I had the idea that as long as I was eating Core food, it was okay to eat a little too much. And it was, at first.

But you know, one of the things I've always been concerned about is being able to maintain a very low weight. 155 seems VERY low to me, even though it's the top of the WW scale for my height. My doctor thinks it's low too. I just don't want to get down so far that I have to starve myself to maintain it.

But now I'm starting to think that it might be possible after all if I keep a good handle on the portion sizes and satiety.

Just blows my mind!

Besides, studies show that people who lose the weight slower keep it off longer. What you really need to do is commit yourself to changing your lifestyle. . . for good. . . and then settle in comfortably and start working on a few habits at a time.

Remember: Rome wasn't built in a day and if you expect too much from yourself in the beginning you may become discouraged and give up. Choose a few things to start with and add the others later as you become more confident with your progress.

These are some of the habits I've been working on in the past 13 months:

• exercise 6 days a week (see exercise section for more details)
• reduce sodium and artificial sweeteners
• eat a salad or soup every day, if possible
• try to eat more veggies than fruit (I love fruit!)
• get in at least 2 teaspoons of healthy oil (preferably 3 or 4)
• put a smaller portion on my plate at first (and go back for more if necessary)
• try at least one new food/recipe a week (to avoid boredom)
• use extra points when necessary, but try to stick with Core foods as much as possible (see section on avoiding junk food)
• avoid blending fruit as much as possible, since blending destroys the fiber (although I do have smoothies once a week in the summer)

If you join Weight Watchers, check out the "Tools for Living" for great advice on dealing with setbacks and challenges.

• Stay away from the scale!

Studies show that slow weight loss is best because the weight is more easily maintained afterward. Why do I think I need to know how much I weigh constantly anyway if I’m focused on the goal of learning a new lifestyle and not thinking of it as a temporary diet? If I follow the plan and improve my awareness of my body and my eating habits, the weight will come off when it’s time.

Of course, I could lose faster with a fad diet. (Been there, done that.) But when the diet’s over, the weight comes back. . . a lot faster than it came off, of course.

I realize there are some who can handle the weight fluctuations and for whom the daily weighings are a good way to be accountable. In my case, however, there is NOTHING helpful about knowing my weight between weekly weigh-ins.

If my weight is low, I am euphoric and feel like celebrating. Surely I can handle a cookie or a croissant after all my hard work! And even though the plan allows me to do that from time to time—and I do—I have also discovered that eating even small amounts of junk food can trigger cravings for more of the stuff that plague me for a week afterward. Is it really worthwhile to jeopardize my satisfaction with Core foods just to have that cookie?

If my weight is high, I get discouraged and feel in need of comfort. You guessed it. . . food. And not the Core kind either. Or sometimes. . . if the news is really bad. . . I might appease my sense of guilt by putting myself on a strict regime. . . no non-Core foods, limit fruit, eat salads or soups for every meal, increase the exercise. The problem with the latter response—the stricter-than-Core punishment plan—is that it makes me feel deprived—which normally never happens on Core—and I get depressed and discouraged and start wanting comfort food.

So I’ve come to see that the scale is NOT my friend! I need it as one way of assessing my progress, but it is NOT the primary judge and jury of my weight loss program.

• Watch out for junk food.

When I first started and was keeping meticulous count of my points, I felt I had to use them, or at least most of them. So I would go out and have a Wendy’s frosty or something, and I still lost weight. Or I can have a piece of birthday cake sometimes. But it doesn’t really satisfy me the way Core food does. . . I’d need to have a LOT of it to get to that point, and I really can’t do that and still lose weight.

But what I have learned is that when I have this stuff too often, I start craving it. And my Core food starts getting boring and I start feeling sorry for myself. And sometimes it takes a week or more of abstinence to get back to normal.

So when I look at that cookie, I know I can have it. I exercise a lot and have points to spare. But when I look at it, I think to myself “That one cookie will not satisfy me. It will make me want 3-4 more cookies. And it may well cost me my satisfaction with Core foods for the next week.” And suddenly the cookie doesn’t look so good anymore.

I’ve found it’s better to use my points on healthy non-Core foods that don’t cause cravings. For example, I do have fat-free Cool Whip sometimes, also whole wheat toast with peanut butter, light butter, fat-free croutons for my salad, or eating out.

I know from the Core Board on the Weight Watchers Message Boards that plenty of people use their points for junk food and seem to be okay with it. Some stick with Core food during the week and then go back to their old eating habits on the weekends. THAT bothers me, though, because it appears that they are not really focusing on changing their eating habits. More like following a diet, which means they’ll be gaining it all back someday.

But to me, Core is NOT a diet. It’s a healthy way of eating. I have reached the point where I don’t really care if I EVER have a piece of pizza again. Food never made me happy for more than a few minutes, and then it caused me YEARS of misery.

There are so many foods I can enjoy on Core that don’t jeopardize my satisfaction with Core foods and don’t cause weight loss problems. I mean, a watermelon is like cake and ice cream to me these days! Why focus on all the unhealthy foods you can’t have rather than on the many wonderful foods you CAN have!

Be assertive.

Following the Core Plan is pretty easy when you're home, surrounded by Core food, and able to cook tasty foods for yourself. It is NOT so easy when family and friends and co-workers bring in goodies to share and may expect you to have some so that you can praise their thoughtfulness and/or their culinary skill. Or when you are a dinner guest and discover that pretty much nothing served is Core. Or when you're eating out with friends and don't want to make an issue of being on a special diet.

Because of the Weekly Point Allowance and Activity Points you may have available, you have some choices to make in these circumstances.

If you know in advance you're going to be facing this issue, you can save up your points and enjoy some of the non-Core food without guilt. As long as you eat smaller portions and make good choices, you don't have to make a fuss about it.

However, I have found that there are times when these situations occur without advance notice. What if I have no points left? Or what if I simply do not want to eat junk food at all because it brings back nasty cravings that will plague me for a week or more?

I have to admit that Core has made me a whole lot more assertive than I used to be. If the restaurant doesn't have a baked potato and won't put one in a microwave for me, I ask for a substitution. Sometimes the establishment will provide extra veggies or a fruit salad instead. If there isn't anything remotely Core on the menu, I will ask for a veggie-only salad and add a packet of tuna (which I carry in my purse at all times) and use my fat-free salad dressing (also in my purse when I eat out).

One time, at a meeting where a sandwich bar was served for lunch, I waited until everyone else had obtained their food and then took all the leftover sandwich veggies (lettuce, tomato, onion) and made a salad with my tuna and dressing. Everybody was so busy talking they didn't notice what I was eating.

And if I am invited to someone's home for dinner, I usually inquire about the menu beforehand, and if it's not Core, either the hostess will make some adjustments for me (a piece of chicken on the grill instead of a hot dog, for example), or I will ask if it's okay if I bring some of my own food. I've never had anyone take offense at this, and frankly, if anyone ever did, I'd question the value of their friendship. Is their ego more important than my health? My REAL friends are simply delighted that I have started to take my health more seriously.

And do not be deceived, it IS a health issue! For some reason, some folks seem to think dieting is an on-off thing and that you can put it aside when eating out. Which is why most folks gain the weight back afterward. For me, it's a lifetime commitment, and if people can't respect that, I guess they aren't really my friends, are they?

And there will certainly be people who want to sabotage your efforts. "Surely you can have this one cookie!" Or they will look at you pityingly when you are eating salad and watermelon instead of hot dogs and cake. But the truth is. . . I can have the cake if I really want it and am willing to count the cost. . . but I know it won't make happy long-term, and this watermelon is making me supremely happy with no cost at all!

Oh, and if a particular restaurant is not very willing to cooperate with my desire to eat healthy, I make a point of speaking to the manager and/or filling out a comment card. If enough people keep asking for baked potatoes, it's possible the restaurant will add baked potatoes to their menu. I actually had a manager in Kansas City call me in Toledo after a two-week stay and tell me they were re-vamping their menu to make it more healthy! So even though I won't be going back there to take advantage of it, others probably will.

• Preparation is the key.

First of all, you need to get rid of the junk in your cupboards and fill them to the brim with Core foods. I’ve found my most difficult times arise when the Core foods are running low and I end up eating the same thing repeatedly. Variety is a great thing!

Secondly, when I get home from the store, I immediately start prepping and chopping vegetables and fruits. If I have my salad ingredients chopped and ready to go, it’s much easier to put my meals together, especially when getting lunches ready to take to work.

Thirdly, I always keep a packet of tuna in my purse, and cups of unsweetened applesauce and microwave popcorn in my desk at school. When I go out to eat, I throw a bottle of fat-free salad dressing in my purse as well. If I can’t find another decent alternative, I can at least order a veggie-only salad and enhance it with tuna and salad dressing.

Fourth, when I know I’m going to be facing beaucoup temptations, I eat a Core snack beforehand so that I’m not dying of hunger and especially vulnerable to temptation.

For potluck dinners, I always take along Core dishes so I know I’m going to have something to eat there, and for barbecues, I will sometimes bring along a piece of Core meat to grill just in case they only have hot dogs or other non-Core meats.

When eating out, I try to look for grilled or broiled meat, baked potato, and salad. Unfortunately, more and more restaurants are doing away with the baked potato, which doesn’t leave many choices. Sometimes they will substitute fruit or vegetables, though, so feel free to ask. (But I don’t get the baked potato thing. . . I mean, all they’d have to do is stick the potato in the microwave for 3-4 minutes. . . what’s so hard about that?)

• Re-evaluate your priorities.

Before I went on Core, my life was too busy to do any cooking or exercising. I was getting up at 4 a.m. during the school year to grade papers as it was; how could I work anything else into the schedule?

But you have to get to the point where YOU have to come first. If I let my health slide and become an invalid or die, how I am going to help anyone else then?

It's not easy. I had made commitments to myself and others. As a responsible person who doesn't take these things lightly, I could not even contemplate the idea of not following through on some of them. But it was clear that health was the most important issue. There are only so many hours in the day, so some things had to go on the chopping block. Yes, I was consumed by guilt at first. But later I realized that my friends and colleagues were WAY more impressed by my weight loss success than they were disappointed that I had had to drop some activities, and several ended up on the Core Plan themselves as a result.

Some changes were just habitual. Instead of grading papers in the morning, for example, I started grading them for an hour or so after school and using the morning for exercise, breakfast, and preparing lunch. I streamlined some of my classroom procedures to be less time-consuming. And I started working wholeheartedly on eliminating the clutter in my life. . . and I'm finding that to be an immensely FREEING task!

• Develop a support system.

I'm not a person who likes to go to meetings every week, so I chose to become an online Weight Watchers member. I track my weight weekly and have access to the calculators and food lists and articles and other online resources. It's cheaper than going to meetings too. I pay $45.95 for three months, and I use my medical savings account (Section 125) funds to pay for it. At this point, I could follow the plan without the web site and save some money, but I really appreciate the fact that Weight Watchers came up with this wonderful plan and I want to support them as long as I can. Perhaps when I retire, though, I will quit. Who knows?

Anyway, my support system is the Weight Watchers Message Boards, specifically the Core Plan Tips Exchange. These are actually open to anyone, not just Weight Watchers members. I enjoy posting messages and sharing my experiences with others and just chatting with others on the Core Plan. Sometimes I lurk on other boards, but the Core board is really the best place, since so many of the others are talking about low-point snacks and how will they ever make it on 20 points a day. (I honestly feel sorry for them. . . I know I'd never make it on such a small amount of food. How wonderful it is to simply eat when you're hungry!)

Oh, and I do have some other Core buddies too. My mother is on the Core Plan. My friend Dee from Phoenix (met from the Core board) and Judith, a middle school music teacher from Colorado who is on maintenance. And others as well. It really helps keep you accountable to know that others will be asking how you're doing.

Being single, I don't have to worry about having junk food around the house. . . I simply don't buy it, but if I had a family, I'd sit them all down and discuss the whole issue and ask them to help out by not keeping junk food around me and by trying some of the new Core recipes themselves. Don't feel guilty about it! The best thing you can do for them is to help them develop good lifestyle habits too. If you doubt that, try watching "Honey, We're Killing the Kids" (I think it's on the Learning Channel.)

• Follow the Good Health Guidelines.

I look at these as guidelines. I try to follow them every day, but I don't get bent out of shape if I miss something once in a while. At the end of the day if I discover I haven't completed everything and I'm not hungry, I just skip it. Core is not about eating when you're not hungry!

On the other hand, if I am consistently missing the same one, I try to make sure I get that one satisfied earlier in the day. Sometimes the problem is that you're eating too big a portion of something and then have no appetite for anything else. It's really something I keep working on. . . not something I expect perfection on.

• Eat at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits each day.

• Choose whole-grain foods, such as brown rice and oats, whenever possible.

• Include 2 servings of milk products (low-fat [1%] or fat-free) each day. If you are over 50 years old, increase this amount to 3 servings each day.

• Have some healthy oil (olive, canola, sunflower, safflower, or flaxseed) each day. This habit ensures that you get the essential fatty acids and vitamin E that your body needs. Use the oil on salads, in cooking, or as an ingredient in a mixed dish.

• Ensure that you are getting enough protein by choosing at least a serving or two of meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dried beans, or soy products each day. Many dairy products are also good sources of protein.

• Limit added sugar and alcohol.

• Drink at least 6 glasses of water each day.

• Take a multiple vitamin-mineral supplement each day. (I take Nature's Code from QVC; it has different formulations for men and women over- and under-50 instead of the one-size-fits-all mentality.)

• Listen to your body.

I know, it sounds kind of hokey. But I know that most of the time when I overeat, it’s because there is food around and others are eating and my mind tells me eating that doughnut will make me feel good. Or. . . if one serving tastes good, another will taste twice as good.

This can be a hard one to pin down, because it’s not a black and white issue. It’s not like you can always be sure exactly when your hunger is appeased. And we are so accustomed to eating what is put in front of us that stopping when there is still something on the plate seems wasteful, even though we know that it will be applied directly to our bodies and endanger our health.

And when on other diets I had to count calories or points or exchanges, I felt it necessary to eat everything I was allowed because of a fear of being hungry later on. Following the formula was essential; listening to your body not even encouraged. I mean, you’re thinking. . .where did listening to your body get you anyway?

But the important thing here is to learn the difference between what your body is telling you and what your mind is telling you. The mind is easily influenced by the images of food on the TV or in the teacher’s lounge. Or the smell of French fries in the cafeteria. And even though you’ve just had a good breakfast and it’s only 9:00 a.m., suddenly you think you need a doughnut like everyone else is eating or you’ll feel deprived.

I’m getting better at this, but it’s not something that is ever completely mastered, in my opinion. As my weight decreases, I need less food to maintain it, so if I keep eating the same amount, the weight losses will stop. It helps me to put smaller portions on my plate. . . I can always go back and get more if I’m still hungry later. . . but it’s hard to stop eating something tasty even when my body gives me the satisfied signal. . .if I still have a lot on my plate.

• Don’t depend on any one food or type of food.

When I first started, I remember being very skeptical about being satisfied with Core food, and I ate quite a bit of pudding and popcorn for awhile. I mean, I really couldn’t imagine being satisfied with fruit and veggies and such. Not when I was eating almost NO fruits and veggies at all prior to going on Core!

But I soon discovered that Core food was extremely satisfying and that I didn’t need to have pudding and popcorn every day. For one thing, the microwave popcorn has a lot of salt in it, so I generally air-pop mine with no oil or salt of any kind. Even so, I find myself eating the whole thing and completely ignoring my body’s signals, so popcorn is really not a good regular menu item for me.

I’m not sure exactly what pudding has in it—besides the milk you mix in it—but I know that when I make it I NEVER have only one serving (a half cup), and I have been known to eat all four servings at one time. Yes, it’s allowed on Core, and it does count two dairy servings, but. . . it has some other stuff I am skeptical about, including artificial sweeteners, and like popcorn, I can’t control myself when I eat it, so it’s better not to indulge more than once a week or so.

• During tough times, focus on the progress you’ve made and how much better your life is now than before you started.

Enjoy your life. . . TODAY. . . and be grateful that this plan allows you to eat right and lose weight without starving yourself or feeling deprived. I mean, who knew you could do that? It still seems like a miracle to me, even after 13 months!

• Don’t beat yourself up when you blow it.

Nobody’s perfect. Count the points and move on. Don’t let that old insecurity come in and make you feel worthless and inept and end up blowing the whole day or an entire weekend. Why wait until Monday to get back on the wagon? Do it now and get over it.

I can’t tell you how many times—prior to Core—that I’ve blown a diet in a small way and comforted myself with a binge. Before long, the diet was history and I felt a total failure. And the food never made me feel better for more than 15 minutes at a time!

Since Core came into my life, I can tell myself matter-of-factly, "Well, the [cookies] are gone, that's over, back to Core now and. . . thank God for Core!"