Affiliate Fatblogging, Episode 5

I’m churning right along with the Weight Watchers core program. Another week, another pound down. That brings me to eight pounds lost so far in my quest to knock off 21.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, if you’ve been following the affiliate fatblogging series, I’ve been trying to get into the Weight Watchers affiliate program.

However, the folks at Weight Watchers have explained that they don’t accept affiliates that wish to promote them “in newsgroups, message boards, chatrooms, blogs or similar forums (collectively, “Forums”).”

I tried to make the case that my site, powered by WordPress, is a blog, but that a blog is simply a type of site powered by a content management system (CMS), and it’s quite a different platform from the other types of sites classified as “Forums” by the Weight Watchers affiliate program.

I could write the site in raw HTML if I wanted, and then it wouldn’t be a “blog,” but that approach wouldn’t be as efficient as using WordPress.

But I guess they don’t want this sort of first person narrative, even if it’s all about successfully using their service. Oh well, it’s their decision and I appreciate that they have concerns.

On another note, some affiliates have contacted me to ask about other affiliate programs that are good to promote.

I haven’t done a whole lot in the diet and wellness vertical, but one merchant I like is Vitamin Shoppe, which is good for low carb diet products.

A few years ago, they carried a wide selection of low carb options, but as the Atkins Diet fell out of favor, the product lines of low card items largely disappeared.

These days, they still have a bunch of options of the core Atkins items: Atkins Advantage meal replacement bars and ready to drink shakes.

Vitamin Shoppe typically has good pricing and free shipping offers. Anyhow, Atkins is another diet that can have some nice results. I did it a few years ago and lost around 45 pounds.

However, as I moved away from strictly following the diet, about 30 of the pounds crept back on.

On the other hand, I think I can stick with Weight Watchers for the long term. It’s enjoyable to eat a bunch of real food and not be psychotic about portion size. Rather, I listen to my body with the core program and eat until I’m satisfied.

This past week, I went off for a junky dinner on Saturday, and still had a net loss for the week. I think that’s essential for me to stay with it long term – the ability to fall off the wagon in moderation, so long as I am mostly very focused on the rules.

Starting weight: 216
Current weight: 208
Target weight: 195