You Play....You PAY!

Ain't that the truth.

Being a Lifetime Weight Watchers member comes with a tiny bit of stress. You have to maintain within 2 lbs of your goal weight and you must weigh in monthly. If you are within the range, you never have to pay a WW fee and can go to as many meetings as you want to FOR FREE. If you go over, then you pay the weekly WW fee. Being Mrs. Frugalista, I am trying my best to not have to pay ever again. How strange is it that I care more about having to pay than I do about venturing back into the Big Girl Undies? (See BGU blog from Jan for more info.) OK, I really don't want to go back to BGUs but some days my frugality wins over my vanity, what can I say?

With February coming to a close I knew I had to weigh in or my Lifetime status would be in jeopardy. *Gasp*. Full disclosure time from the girl who was bragging last month about taking wonderful care of herself, yada yada yada. I admit, I have taken full advantage of Chocolate & Sweatpants Season which began on 10/31 and will end when the last chocolate Easter Bunny has resorted to using sign language. P.S. I do think there is a conspiracy between the Weight Watcher people, Hallmark, and Ole Man Winter.

Here's the thing. I think that winter is a very important time in a woman's life for her to store up some fat. The need for fat is two-fold (pardon the pun):

1. Should she ever fall down on the icy front walk, she will have extra padding on her hips to prevent a fracture.

2. We all know how cold New England weather is and we need the extra layer to keep us warm. It's pure survival, folks.

To make sure I "survive" the harsh winter (OK, it's a bit exaggerated and really, Laura Ingalls had it a lot harder), I'm cooking more, baking more, eating more, and unfortunately, my treadmill is not seeing as much action as it used to. It's a recipe for disaster! I have been finding my old habits creeping back into my life. The more I eat the sugar, the more I need the sugar. The good thing is that I am totally aware of it (first step is admitting you have the problem).

I know you are on the edge of your seats! What happened at my weigh-in on February 27, 2010? Well, not to my surprise, I was up 1.6 lbs from the last time. Not bad, considering all the cookies and candy consumed over the last 2 months. It's a drop in the bucket. And yes, I did have to pay a $12 fee. I can look at the fee as my punishment for flirting with disaster. Or, I can see it as the motivation to keep me going on the right path so I don't have to pay again, in more ways than one.

You might be thinking, why bother going to these weigh-ins once a month? Well, I have to say, it keeps someone like me on track (or not, in this case). If I give it all up now and keep using the mindset of "It's only 2 or 3 lbs, what's the big deal?" I can see how this will keep snowballing and then I am back where I started. And honestly, I am too thrifty and too lazy to keep losing the same pounds over and over again. I refuse to let Weight Watchers make money off of me...so there!