Urgh I just spent 30 minutes writing you nice long reply and history only to have site timeout on me! To answer your questions, I have seen primary doctor who sent me to nutritionist and endocrinologist. I did WW and lost 15 lbs in 6 mos, as well as ruined foot with all the walking I was doing. Foot surgery knocked me down for almost year. I back to full exercising now, spent year with personal trainer. I have muscles now which is a good thing as muscle will increase metabolism, eventually. I'm not a patient person. I will be seeing endocrinologist next month to check thyroid again. Most all the doctors I see are happy with my new outlook on exercise and weight training, plus I've completed five 5k speedwalk races in the past year. WW is a good program but there is another one which is online Sparkpeople.com which also offers nutrition, exercise and motivatiional information and the site is FREE TO JOIN. I find it to be very similar to WW. Hope this has been helpful. Mary