My mother gave me sage advice when I was a wild-child teen: “The people you are most attracted to, are the people that are bad for you. The ones you don’t desire are the ones that are good for you.”

That probably comes as an insult to my husband, but have no fear my dear, I truly feel like I got the best of both worlds with my significant other. However, I am finding that her advice is applicable to my diet. The things that look good and are pretty and charming to be around but have no substance are not what’s good for me on my diet. The ugly shit, the stuff I’m not attracted to and that in which I have no emotional connection to and no desire to indulge in is the shit that’s good for me.

I have done well so far. This week, I weighed in at 191 which is 4 lbs. lighter than I was last week. Yep, this loser feels pretty good about herself. It hasn’t been easy, there were nights I was hungry and sometimes my mind would wander with thoughts like, “I could be hit by a limo with a rock star in it tomorrow, and my last days will have been lived out sleeping with the uglies (ugly food).” How many times in the past has that caused me to fall off the wagon and then life zips by at breakneck pace only to find me with the same largish butt. This time, I’m not going to drown my sorrows in cookies I don’t appreciate because I allowed myself to believe my alter-ego.

Weight Watchers Flex Plan rules by the way. It’s fun and motivating and it makes sense. Most of all, it works. Today I noticed a tid-bit that puts it all into perspective:

If you lose 1 lb., that is equal to 4 sticks of butter being removed from your body.

If you lose 5 lbs., that is equivalent to losing a sack of potatoes off your body. (I’m almost there!)

If you lose 10 lbs., that is equivalent to losing 8 medium cantaloupes off your body.

If you lose 25 lbs., that is equivalent to losing 3 gallons of milk off your body. (Think of what it must feel like getting rid of that heavy load? I’m currently walking around with almost 6 gallons strapped to my body!)

So, MILFs and DILFs, as we head into week 2, keep your eyes on the prize. If you are currently tracking your own progress on your personal blog, email me at jessica (at) imperfectparent (dot) com and I will feature some of you over the coming weeks!

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As I confessed last week,I have been eating like a person on death row. In fact, I have been eating like every brownie, hamburger and cookie will be my last. I think I’ve managed to gain 8 lbs. over the last two weeks. I try to rationalize it — surely weight that has been put on so quickly will quickly melt off, right? Right? Someone? Anyone?

I signed up for Weight Watchers today and chose the flex points plan. Prescott and few others from The Imperfect Parent forum and our Cranky Mama blogger have said they would join me. This is so exciting! Some are deciding to go with Spark People because it’s free and for comparison’s sake because I’m such a big Weight Watcher’s Online fan. WW is such a no brainer. The plan I’m doing, you just enter your weight, your goal weight and it assigns points to whatever you eat. They provide a database of thousands of foods, or you enter the nutritional information if they don’t have it pre-loaded and it tells you how many points you used up. I get 25 points for my daily ration. If I exercise, I get points back. Sweet!

I am going to start off with an aerobics class 2X a week. I’ve heard that if you start off too aggressively, you’re more apt to quit. Sounds good to me! Twice a week it is! I also have an exercise bike in my bedroom that I found after releasing it from the burden of carrying clothes.

In effort to motivate, I am compiling a list of reasons to lose weight. Tony Robinson, the motivational speaker, said on a morning program the other day that in order to lose weight, you must have a very personal and really compelling reason to lose weight or else you’re doomed. Here are my 5 reasons, but I would love for readers to participate and add to the list:

1. Sleep better
2. Have more energy
3. Wear skinny jeans
4. Live longer
5. Not have to unbutton my pants while sitting at the computer a long time

The down and dirty details (as well as my complete humiliation) after the jump…

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