I joined SW just over a year ago because there was a meeting about 3 minutes walk from my house and I'd been walking home from work and seeing that banner tied outside the building for about 5 or 6 months and thinking maybe
I'd lost just under 50lbs on WW about 8 years before but had basically lost the plot with all the counting and things and went way off plan and eventually put all the weight back on again. And I was "happy" fat for years. I've always been fat - apart from that halcyon year when I grew 6inches at 14 and the weight fell off - and I've mostly been obese and after that sojourn with WW I basically figured that I was just destined always to be fat; I knew the maths, I knew what foods were healthy, I just couldn't stick to them... some people are addicted to booze or gambling or smoking, but they can totally give them up. I was addicted to food and you can't give that up so why try, right? (and I couldn't afford to go the meal replacement route, because of excuses).
So, anyway, on the 11th of january 2011 I just decided why not. I still, to this day, don't know why that day was different and I don't know where I'd be now if the meeting had been WW again or scottish slimmers or whatever, but I went in, was made to feel really welcome (my consultant is lovely and funny and the atmosphere is really good as a result) and the plan made sense - and I came on here and read all the SW introduction threads, too, which really cemented the simple principles that SW is based on in a way that really make sense in my science-brain and my head was in the right place to do it - I was in the zone.
And the beauty of SW has been that, because the basic sciencey-principles (fill up on healthy fruit and veg, back bone with healthy lean mean and carbs, get enough fibre and calcium, have a little fun stuff in moderation) make sense and aren't complicated (and are presented in an easy to follow, easy to keep track of, format) I can still stay more or less on plan - I can mark time as it were, and pretty much sts and not go spiraling back to eating the way I was before - until I'm in the zone to lose weight again. The core principle of the plan, for me, is that it's not really a diet, it's just how to eat like a grown up, so there's not a wagon for me to fall of (unlike point counting, etc, which did my head in after a few months).