GoaD was hugely important for me my first go-round. In addition to the straight talk, I appreciated the humor and the "hang in there's ".

"Don't give up anything you don't want to give up for the rest of your life. Just find a way to include it as part of an overall healthy lifestyle."

Have enjoyed GOAD since I started on WW, 4 or 5 times ago. Straight talk. No fluff. Insightful. With humor mixed in. Like Gavin, the most impactful advice I have received is "Don't give up anything you don't want to give up for the rest of your life. Just find a way to include it as part of an overall healthy lifestyle." I think MamaCin posted it the first time I saw it. Coming off of Adkins and South Beach, it was exactly what I wanted and needed to hear.

Everything Murple said. And also that sometimes other things are more important, and that ultimately, it's all about health and living.

I think Murple pretty much summed it up. I would add MTBC "Make the Better Choice" and not giving up when healthy options seem limited or unappealing in the moment, there is generally a better choice out there than just saying oh well and tanking it.

Yup I ain't finished yet. We were fairly no nonsense but not mean spirited. It is hard to find value in validating un-useful behavior over and over again. Empathy sure. Many of us have been there. I like make the better choice as long as I make a lot of good to better choices. I found that I could have a couple of not so great choices/meals per week and still lose but try to follow the habit trail more.

I enrolled in WW online and the same day started checking some of the message boards. Most were pretty easy to breeze right on by but GOAD caught my attention for the strikingly frank talk from both genders. Of course, the archives were still there so I really dug in. The more I read, the more I learned. Some of it was real eye-opening, in places I wasn't really ready to have my eyes opened, but I knew I'd come back to some of that content later.

I went to a meeting once a week (still do, most weeks) and liked the leader. Now, three years later, I really like her. She's wonderful and I get a lot out of the meetings. But those are once a week for a half-hour at a time. I zeroed in on GOAD and really considered the discussions, weighing them against my own beliefs or behavior. I learned a lot and came to put serious value on having all the participants as a resource almost any time I needed it. I found GOAD and the meetings to be quite complimentary for where I was in the process. And the combination really has been for me ever since.

It's hard to think of any real nuggets besides what's been mentioned already. Many of those one-liners are keepers for me too. But I will add this: it is a real source of support to know there is a group like this comprised of newbies and oldbies and some in-between willing to do what we do: to share wisdom, lessons learned and provide a KITA when needed. I don't care who the current spokesperson is for WW; I'll put my money on the collective wisdom and camaraderie of GOAD any day. That's why it's so important for me. I wouldn't die without it but it's great to know we're all here working and learning from each other.

When asked, I share--not to the point of being a PITA but if someone wants to know what's worked for me, I'll give it to 'em straight-up. I have participated on Connect a bit and do sometimes get pretty blunt about the advice (telling those who seek good luck that they don't need luck, for example). I see Connect as a very different space / place. It's certainly not my chosen format but I figure it's probably more relevant for those who've grown up with the dynamics of social media. I prefer this but I guess as they say, that's why there's more flavors than vanilla...

To me GoaD was and still is a very important area of my life. Now I'm closing in on 70 in July and I'm busier in my work than I've been in over 10 years. So my participation with alot of the post has been sparse for that reason but I do make an effort to get here every day and read the post.

So I'm alittle sad that so many members don't post any more. They may be lurking and not joining in. NTW it's good to see your post Murple. It's late for me and I almost a 1000 miles away from home on a business trip and I have to come up with the LTL post for first thing Thursday am. So I will sign off with that.

Another note: just another habit
I had gotten so far out of the habit of posting from being busier at work, etc., that I only thought to check in at really inconvenient times. I tend to do the same in regards to returning phone calls, emails, etc., unfortunately!

I joined MFP last summer and was doing well for a few months and then fell back again. But I continued to check in daily just to acknowledge to myself that there was something I needed to pay more attention to, and I needed to return to mindful eating.

I really enjoyed the old GOAD board. It was a nice mix of education/learning, lack of bull, digging hard to get to honest truths, plus a lot of fun on-occasion!

I guess that part of turning this all into a "lifestyle" is becoming less dependent on having a group of weight-watchers that you interact with all of the time, and instead, finding other things in common with people. That's not to say that I don't still enjoy spending some time here, but when the primary discussion points are weight, it's hard to stay deeply interested because my own weight has been relatively stable for a few years now.

I float in-and-out of other groups as well. When I was brewing beer regularly, I interacted with beer-brewing groups. When I was running a lot, I interacted with runners. When I was weight-lifting a lot, it was weight-lifting groups. Etc., etc., etc.

It's probably just a natural evolution of communities.

I stalked Charlie when I came back and he's been missing since mid-February. I wondered the same thing!

Charlie's before and after picture was enough to motivate anyone. It was proof the plan works if you work the plan. Miss him as well. Great to see posts from fellow music lover Lily and Murple. Always looked forward to what you had to say on GOAD. I am much more of a lurker than poster, but learned so much from GOAD. Even when I would go "off the reservation" to South Beach, always checked in on GOAD, and eventually returned to WW based on your success.

I miss Charlie too. He's the reason I joined MFP and reconnected with GoaD.