In my last post, I made my confession. The weight loss effort of the last year has largely been a failure. I have done worse than not lose weight.

I have gained weight. This morning, I weighed in at 352 pounds.

It isn’t my highest. That was 403.

It sure isn’t my lowest, either. That was around 260.

I’ve talked about what happened. I’ve given “excuses” for why it happened, but truthfully, there is no excuse.

I got sloppy, I got careless, and most importantly, I didn’t reach out for help.

Frequently, I find myself unwilling to ask for help. I often want to do it myself.

I do not believe I can do it on my own. That isn’t me putting myself down. That is me facing facts. I am envious and proud of those of you who can, but I must accept that I am not one of you.

I’m joining Weight Watchers. I’m joining a work chapter at my workplace, Western Kentucky University.

The Weight Watchers Work Chapter Open House was on Tuesday. I’m going to a community meeting on Saturday to learn about the new way to work the points.

Weight Watchers has just rolled out a new program called PointsPlus. The old program used calories, fiber, and fat grams to calculate how many points each food item. The new program uses protein, carbohydrates, fat, and fiber. I’ve heard from a few people who got to try the program early, and they have all absolutely loved it. From what I can tell so far, the program is emphasizing real foods over fake foods. It seems Weight Watchers may have an amazing new plan here.

On a related weight loss note, I have a love/hate relationship with The Biggest Loser. I hate the gameplay aspect, although I certainly understand how the promise of a $250,000 payday can do that to you. I frequently find the concept of people moaning about “only losing eight pounds a week” infuriating, even though I kind of get it, too.

But I also love it. I love the inspiration of seeing obese people get healthy. I love the tough love that Jillian and Bob throw down on the contestants. And in the most recent “Where Are They Now” episode, Jillian Michaels said something to the first season winner, Ryan (who regained over 100 pounds), something that really, really struck a chord with me.

“When you are losing the battle, reach out for support.”

Why didn’t I? I was too proud. I didn’t want to admit that I needed help.

No longer.

I need help with the battle. Weight Watchers is going to help me win the war. Hopefully, you can help me, too.

Whenever my first weigh-in is (either this Saturday or this Tuesday), I will report my weight here on my blog. I will record each week’s weigh-in, good or bad. I know that some will be bad, but many will be good.

I will share a tip for weight loss each week. I don’t expect to share anything so profound that you haven’t already heard it, but I’m going to post those tips for me. The act of crafting a blog post around each tip that I want to share will be helpful for me in making that tip a lifestyle change and not just a tip.

I will resume video blogging. One post a week will be a video blog (recorded as I drive to or from work) about something of importance to me as it relates to weight loss.

I will continue cooking. I’m going to keep sharing recipes over at 1,000 Meals, hopefully at the rate of AT LEAST one a week.

And I’ll periodically continue posting fun facts about myself. I don’t know that I’ll do one for every pound, because as I tried to make my list, I realize that I just don’t know that many things about myself. But I do have a small list of about ten or fifteen, and eventually, I’ll get around to sharing those.

I have big things planned. In December 2011, whether I am at goal weight then or not, I want to look back over the last year and say, “Wow, that was a heckuva successful ride, wasn’t it?”

Related Posts:

• 2010 in Review
• It’s About Time Weigh-In
• A Changing Things Up Weigh-In