I have been following the diet for nine weeks now. I've slipped a couple of times (jubilee party, weekend away, two birthday parties!) and I don't go to meetings - I did the diet a few years ago online so I know how to follow it.
I'll tell you my story and how I've found it.
I have two children aged 7 and 3. Prior to having my first child I lost 4 stones and used to exercise 4 nights a week. I kept the weight off for 5 years but I gained lots of weight in pregnancy despite exercising until 30 weeks. After she was born, my life felt like it had gone totally downhill as we had no support and so not only couldn't I get to the gym (husband was always at work!) but I was bored stupid, lonely and eating for comfort.
I never got back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. After DD2 was born, I was even heavier and then we built a house and that's when things got really out of control - we were having take away curry twice a week and drinking lots every night to cope with the stress of two kids and a house build. I guess I ate reasonably healthily during the day but was pigging out at night.
By December last year, I had hundreds and hundreds of pounds worth of nice clothes in the attic in a range of sizes from 12-16. I was wearing size 18 but struggling to find clothes that looked okay and largely living in my pyjamas as soon as I got home from work. We had taken on a bigger mortgage too, so there wasn't much spare money left to buy a new wardrobe.
I don't know what the tipping point was for me, except a friend of mine joined SW and we had always been a similar size. I suppose I didn't want to be the fat friend so I got back on the wagon at the same time. Oh and I keep rubbing the inside leg away on expensive linen trousers and I find that soul destroying!
I didn't weigh myself - I will eventually when I get to 'maintenance' as I need to know what to maintain - but for now I am happy seeing the difference in my clothes. I actually didn't think I would lose weight, I had no faith I could stick to the diet. I didn't actually want to confront what I weighed - like you, I felt overwhelmed.
Nine weeks in, I am wearing trousers and bras that I haven't worn for 2 years. Tonight I asked DH to get my clothes down from the attic so I can sort them into piles. I have got into two pairs of jeans that I bought pre DD2 (I mean, I could wear them now) and I have a new pile of 'target clothes' to try on a couple of times a week.
Sadly, I suspect there are clothes I'll never fit into again - my hips are so much wider since having children - but I can live with that.
See, it is overwhelming at first, but it will work. In my experience, you will lose a lot at first but might not feel it in your clothes for three weeks so you need to stick with it quite carefully in order to get that bit of motivation to prove it's not overwhelming. I think those first few weeks are the hardest.
I'm doing the old red/green system. I try to alternate days where possible. I get bored, I need to find new recipes but I'm time poor. I have a mushroom risotto in the oven right now that's lovely.
You CAN do this.