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Almost exactly two years ago, Weight Watchers came to my office. Literally. One of my co-workers started a Weight Watchers at Work program – for 12 weeks, a Weight Watchers leader was going to come right to our building and hold a meeting there… all we had to do was walk down the hall. At that time, I had gained some weight back after having lost a lot after Kate was born, and I was definitely looking to shed a lot few pounds, but I didn’t think Weight Watchers was for me.

“I just can’t count points, I can’t do it,” I told my friend Emilie. “It’s really not hard at all once you get used to it,” she told me. And even though I had watched her and several other of our colleagues at a previous job do Weight Watchers very successfully and even though I commonly refer to her as the smartest person I know, I didn’t really believe her.

But then suddenly it seemed like all I was hearing about was Weight Watchers. I was hearing about it from everyone – or should I say, from everyone who didn’t look like they needed to be on Weight Watchers. “I’m so sick of listening to these skinny girls talk about their dieting!” I thought.

Until it hit me – perhaps that’s how the skinny girls got (or stayed) skinny.

And then I began to think…Hmm. Maybe there’s something to this.

So I signed up for the At Work program. And Emilie was right – counting points was SO not the big deal I had made it out to be in my mind. It didn’t take long at all to catch on to counting the points, and I truly didn’t feel deprived. I did great the first couple of weeks, and while I can’t remember exactly how much I lost, I do remember that I got a star stickers for losing five pounds!

I was hooked.

But then, about three weeks into the 12 week program – surprise! I was pregnant with Sam. Needless to say, I couldn’t complete the program.

After Sam was born, I went back to counting points. Weight Watchers has a great formula for nursing mothers, and slowly and safely, the baby weight (and there was plenty of it, believe me) came off. At that time, though, I wasn’t attending meetings, I was just using the literature and point calculators that I had from my previous experience, and did it by myself. Thanks to the calorie-burning powers of breastfeeding and the desire to put away my maternity jeans once and for all, I had enough motivation to get to my pre-baby weight, and even a little beyond that.

That was about a year ago. And in the past year, I’ve continuously tried to follow the program and count points on my own, and I’ve continuously lost and gained the same five-or-so pounds. I plateaued, and I haven’t been able to break through it.

Just a few weeks ago, however, I heard my good friend Amy in OHio talking about the Weight Watchers “Lose for Good” campaign, and her excitement was evident. She promoted the campaign on her blog last year, and she was looking forward to doing so again this year. I was immediately interested and asked her how I could get involved as well. Amy got me in touch with the wonderful people at Weight Watchers, and they’re letting me work on the campaign alongside Amy, and generously provided me with a couple free months of meetings.

And I am excited.

From LoseForGood.com:
For the second year in a row, Weight Watchers is teaming up with its members and Online subscribers, as well as local communities, sponsors and our charitable partners Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger, to fight hunger and promote healthy living. As you lose weight from 08/30/09-10/17/09, Weight Watchers will donate up to $1 million to help feed children and families in need.

How’s that for motivation?

Additionally, members are finding other ways to make even more of an impact, like organizing local food drives.

In fact, Amy in OHio and I just might have something up our sleeves as well.

I am so excited to be a part of this amazing campaign, and honestly I am so relieved to be going back to Weight Watchers meetings. I know that it’s what I need – not only to reach my weight loss goals, but also – and in fact, mainly – to learn how to eat a healthy and nutritious diet. It’s incredibly important to me to set a good example for my children by living a healthy, active lifestyle, and I know Weight Watchers can help me do just that.

While I won’t attend my first meeting until next Tuesday, I am going to start counting points today. I’ll keep you posted on my weekly weigh-ins, and I’m planning to invite friends with Weight Watchers success stories to do some guest posts. (If you have one and want to talk, let me know!) So wish me luck!

Or better yet – join me. Come on… whose in?

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Take a look at this video – celebrity ambassador Jenny McCarthy talks about her involvement with Weight Watchers and Lose for Good. I could have just posted this instead of the long and rambling 35 paragraphs above, because she certainly says it better than I can!

Remember a few months ago when I skyped with Kelly Ripa? Yeah, that was pretty awesome, wasn’t it? I had the amazing opportunity to speak with Kelly about her involvement with the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. Today, I want to bring that topic up again, in honor of the beginning of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and tell you about another way that we can all play a part in eradicating this awful disease.

Seventh Generation, makers of all-natural household, baby and feminine products, has decided to dedicate one day for women to start talking about gynecological health and, particularly, ovarian cancer. They’ve created “Let’s Talk… Period” Day and today, September 1, if you click here and register your email address, Seventh Generation will make a $1 donation to OCRF. The website has information on ovarian cancer signs, symptoms, risk factors and prevention. As a thank you for participating, Seventh Generation will give each registrant a coupon for their organic cotton tampons that are not bleached with chlorine, free of rayon and don’t contain added perfumes or dyes.

This is a hugely important cause, and not one we often hear about. But believe it or not, ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women. It’s often called the “silent killer” because the symptoms are often vague and by the time it’s diagnosed, it’s often in an advanced stage. There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer, but there are tests that can detect it when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms. The most effective way women can protect themselves against ovarian cancer is to learn the signs and symptoms – the OCRF website is a wealth of information, and I encourage you all to go there and learn more, but here are the basics:

Signs & Symptoms
• Bloating
• Pelvic and/or abdominal pain
• Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
• Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency)

Risk Factors
• Increasing age, with highest occurrence in women over 50
• Family or personal history of ovarian, breast, endometrial, or colon cancer
• Uninterrupted ovulation (having no pregnancies, infertility, low parity)
• Presence of gene mutations, especially BRCA 1 or BRCA 2

Prevention & Risk Reduction
• Use of oral contraceptives for more than five years can reduce your risk by approximately 50%
• Multiple pregnancies, having first full-term pregnancy before the age of 25
• Breastfeeding

As I mentioned in my previous post, this cause is particularly close to my heart, as I lost my mother to ovarian cancer. I am honored to help spread the word about Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and I sincerely hope that you will all visit www.LetsTalkPeriod.com today as well as OCRF‘s website to learn more about this devastating disease.

Also, please take a minute to watch the video below and to hear the story of Melissa Weiss, an ovarian cancer survivor.

Moral of the story? Know your body. Listen to it. And if you know something is wrong, find a doctor who will listen. Advocate for yourself, and don’t stop until they give you real answers.

Thank you.

In case you missed this post, and this one… and this one, and this one… Jenny’s son and my daughter started kindergarten this week. In addition to kindergarten being pretty much the only thing we’ve talked about on here lately, back to school time has been all the buzz at my office as well. It’s been great to compare war stories and experiences with my friends. Several of my colleagues were also sending their kindergarteners off for the first time, others were moving kids into their first dorm rooms… and everything in between. On Wednesday, Kate’s first day of school, I found a letter on my desk. It was left by my boss, who came across it on his daughter’s first day of kindergarten in 1992, and I wanted to share it with you.

I Trust You’ll Treat Her Well
By Victor Buono

Dear World:

I bequeath to you today one little girl … in a crispy dress … with two brown eyes … and a happy laugh that ripples all day long … and a flash of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you’ll treat her well.

She’s slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning … and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine. Prim and proud she’ll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say “Good Bye”… and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse.

Now she’ll learn to stand in line … and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She’ll learn to tune her ears to the sounds of school-bells … and deadlines … and she’ll learn to giggle … and gossip … and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And now she’ll learn to be jealous. And now she’ll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she’ll learn how not to cry.

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in a sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew. No, now she’ll worry about important things. Like grades … and which dress to wear … and who’s best friend is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of her blocks and dolls. And now she’ll find new heroes.

For five full years now I’ve been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and father and friend. Now she’ll learn to share her worship with her teachers … which is only right. But, no longer will I be the smartest man in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time … she’ll learn what it means to be a member of a group. With all it’s privileges. And it’s disadvantages too.

She’ll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud. Or kiss dogs. Or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms. Or even watch ants scurry across cracks in the summer sidewalk.

Today she’ll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I’ll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on the long, lonely journey to become a woman.

So, World. I bequeath to you today one little girl … in a crispy dress … with two brown eyes and a happy laugh that ripples all day long … and a flash of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I trust you’ll treat her well.