The Background Growl ...

So, it's been a week since I started doing Weightwatchers properly, and what have I learned? Well, first of all, their e-source service is fine if you always have access to a switched-on PC. If not, then if you're anything like me (deeply lazy and not wanting to faff about with paper and calculators) you'll be powering up the laptop every time you want to record anything more than a Rich Tea. And the temptation to then while away an idle hour surfing the web is something I've always found hard to resist ...! Why Weightwatchers clients in the States have access to a mobile phone app while we British customers are restricted to the (iPhone Safari browser unfriendly) WW.co.uk website is a bit of mystery to me. It's not like WW is a charity or anything - I pay them £20 a month. And for nearly a quarter of a grand a year, I certainly think the phrase "we got an app for that!" isn't too much to ask for.

And the second thing I've learned is this: dieting does not necessarily mean your life no longer revolves around food. At the moment anyway, my pleasure in gluttony has been replaced by the (much more uncommon) thrill of losing weight. But I'm aware that this novelty could very soon wear off. Then there's this odd contradiction: whether dieting or morbidly obese with an over-eating problem, both ways of life lead to you constantly thinking about food.

So how do I stop this? Well, of course, it's a very healthy thing to be wondering about which vegetables to cook, planning future meals and menus, and point and calorie-counting everything. But there's a touch of the "Poacher Turned Gamekeeper" about it all (two food references in that one phrase, I notice!) and sometimes I'd just like to just be free of the whole damn business. I don't smoke, so I don't think about cigarettes. I drink about four pints a year, so I effectively don't think about alcohol much either.

Could I have a similar relationship with food? Well, for a start, let me say I realise I'm lucky to have any kind of choice in the matter at all: most of the human race can only dream of the quantities I (and you) consume every day. But an ability to enjoy the good things about food (a nice meal in a restaurant once in a while, for example) without diving into excess would see me halfway along the road back to full health.

Most importantly of all I want to finally silence the strange, all-permeating empty growl of hunger that swells within me from time to time. It's the sound (and feel) of an empty stomach - usually when no empty stomach is actually there. And it has slowly grown inside me again this week. After seven days of sticking to Weightwatchers, this growl is still not at a fairly high level, but I have an awful feeling that healthy homecooked meals will not placate it forever! And over the last two days especially it has just become very noticeably restless.

Maybe I'm just down today, and a short sharp shock of carbs will do the trick (I have, after all, "saved" weightwatchers points this week so far, for a later splurge at some point). We shall see.

My next WW meeting is on Wednesday. See you then!