Weight Watchers Diet

June 8th

Weight Loss

I know my blog is mostly about Home Interiors, being creative and my animals but in this section, I would like to offer some advice for anyone like me who wants to lose some weight. 

I have lost 20 lbs since the start of April when I weighed 11 stone 12 lbs and wore a size 14. My goal is to be a slim 9 stone 8 lbs and a size 10.

As of today, June 8^th, I weigh 10 stone 5 lbs and have another 11 lbs to go.

Now although I was not fat for a girl of 5 foot 7 inches- I was a good deal heavier than I was happy being and that weight/height ratio it is actually classified as being obese on the body mass index.

After whingeing for about 3 years, I decided to do something about it. If I can do it- anyone can do it. Here is what I did to lose the weight I have lost so far………I hope it is of some help to someone.

Exercise for people with a fear of the Gym.

I am someone who is active in my daily life; I do lots of hill-walking and dog walking, and we hardly ever sit down and watch TV, but I am not someone who exercises on purpose. I am absolutely not a Gym Bunny (…..the thought of people in spandex and all those mirrors…..erm, no way.)

I also have a shift working job where I sit at a computer for 12 hours at a time.

I decided to do running. Its free, it’s simple. I picked a 1.5 mile circuit around my village and began by running sections and walking sections until I could run the whole circuit comfortably. It took about a month running 6 days out of every 8 (as my shift pattern allowed.)

Here are some tips which helped me get out there.

• Buy some new clothes to run in. TKmaxx is great for cheap fleeces and tea shirts. So is Sports Direct- they have cheap sports bras and trackie bottoms. Everyone likes wearing new clothes so it motivates you to start.
• Always run with music-I have an iPod nano- it clips onto my clothes and I created a playlist for running. You need a power song- one with a good beat that spurs you on- put this on the playlist so that it comes on a few times during your run. It will give you a boost if you start to flag.
• Dont look ahead, obviously pay attention to where you are going, but I find it helpful not to look at the end of the street etc.......sometimes, it looks sooooo far away and it can be discouraging. 

It takes a few weeks but after a while, it gets easier and I look forward to my runs now- I make them a priority in my day.Its getting some time totally to yourself to think.

Diet Changes.

In the first few weeks, I basically just halved everything I ate and ate as little as possible. This worked initially but after a week or two, it stopped working. On the recommendation of a friend, I joined Weight Watchers. I always thought Weight Watchers was for people with a lot of weight to loose, not just a stone or two. It’s not. No matter how much or how little weight you want to loose- it’s for everyone. I signed up online so I don’t go to the meetings but I use the online tools and calculators. I have been eating using the Pro-Points system; I was allocated 26 Pro-Points a day. 
Points are allocated based on calories, fat, fibre and carbohydrate content.
Although I was sceptical because it seemed so easy, be assured, it works.

Euan and I already ate what we thought was a healthy diet- we make almost everything from scratch, we don’t eat fast food or takeaways, we don’t eat red meat and we eat plenty of vegetables. But when I saw how many Points foods and ingredients that I would have considered to be healthy added up to, I understood how easy it is to actually eat the wrong things and put on weight over time.

Most fruit and vegetables are 0 points so you can snack on them without dipping into your points allowance but here are some yummy snacks that you are still allowed on the diet that I eat just about every day at work…….

• Oatcakes and Light Philadelphia with Chives- 2 Points each.
• Jaffa- Cakes, Ginger Nuts, Digestives- 1 Point each.
• Quavers from a multi-pack- 2 points.
• Muller Light Yogurts- 2 Points.
• Half a Panini, sliced in two with Chicken and half fat Cheese- 6 Points.
• Kit-Kats, Gold Bars, Rocky Biscuits- 3 Points.
• Exotic Solero Ice-cream- 3 Points.
• Pancakes- 5 points each (Made with Skimmed Milk and Splenda- I add Choc Chips for an extra 2 Points)

A lot of it is smart substitution as well. I think we will use these long after my diet has finished.

• Half-fat Cheese, Light Cream Cheese, Skimmed Milk, Fat-free Yogurt, Light Soy Sauce, Light Margarine etc.
• Use Brown things like Brown Rice, Brown Pasta. That makes a big difference, it takes longer to cook but in meals, it tastes pretty much the same. 
• Even simple changes like buying Tinned Tuna in Spring Water (1 point) instead of Tinned Tuna in Oil. (3 points)
• Weight Watchers also do thier own great products like Bread (1 Point a slice) and sweet treats like Bakes and Biscuit bars (2 points each).
• A life saver is 1 Calorie Cooking Spray; we cook everything with this and its 0 Points for a reasonable amount of sprays. 
• You can make a lovely batch of Frozen Yogurt with fruit, powdered sweetner and fat-free yogurt; its a delicious substitute for Ice-Cream.

There are some other things I have learned that have helped me stick to this diet.

• Eat slowly, chew more times and take smaller bites; I can make a Jaffa cake last a long time.......
• Cut larger things in half- it makes you feel like you are eating 2 of them.
• Although nuts are good for you- be aware of thier calorie content and therefore thier Points value- 6 Almonds or 10 Cashews are each 2 Points. Pistachios (Devil food because they are sooooooo good and sooooo moorish) are worth practically 1 Point each!!!
• Eat much smaller meals- I sometimes eat half with Euan at the table at dinner time and then the other half later on when I would normally be reaching for the chocolate.
• Just have smaller portions. You can still have oven chips, but just have a small handful. (4 points)

A Weight-loss Plateau.

This is what happens when you have been consistently loosing weight and suddenly you stop. It’s very frustrating and it is at this point that a lot of people give up. It happened to me after about 8 weeks- I was doing everything the same and yet the scales weren’t budging. I knew that my body had adjusted to the amount I was eating and the amount I was burning so my metabolism had slowed. I needed to kick-start it. After feeling down about it and 2 weeks of complaining, I made some changes to my diet and the kind of exercise I was doing.

In the last week, I have started to shift the weight again. Even within 2 days of the changes, I could see it was working. So, here are my tips for kick-starting metabolism and therefore weight loss when you hit a plateau.

·       Cut out normal tea or coffee with milk. Drink Green Tea instead, it boosts metabolism. You will also cut around 100 calories a day even if you use semi-skimmed milk in tea like me. I didn’t like green tea to begin with but I remember that I didnt like ordinary tea when I first tried it...but you get used to it and now I actually like it. It also looks less tempting to dip a biscuit in which is good!!! Buy green tea from Marks and Spencer’s- the boxes are lovely and pretty!!

·       Do interval running/sprinting instead of running 1.5 miles/2 miles as usual. I choose a 3.5 mile circuit with telegraph poles the whole way round. I ran for about half a mile at my usual pace as a warm up and then alternated running as fast as I could and walking briskly between each telegraph pole. I was knackered by the end and my legs burned by the end of it.

·       I work in a building with 6 floors. I ran up and down 6 flights of stairs 3 times with a 30 second breather in between each turn. If your legs burn and you feel like you can’t do anymore-its working!! This is supposed to dramatically increase your metabolism for 2 days afterwards. Do it 3 times a week, its working for me!

·       I am a chocolate person. With Pro-Points- a Jaffa Cake is only 1 point. These babies have been my crutches and I have had 4 every day up until this week. I stopped eating them this week. Now, I am not eating any kind of processed chocolate/biscuit/cake etc. I secretly hope this is not what’s made the difference but I am going to try to keep it up. 

·       Get a resistance band and do some toning. Again, you can get this type of thing cheaply at Tkmaxx-mine was £6.99. There are loads of toning exercises to watch on Youtube that you can do to improve your muscle density which also increases the number of calories your body burns in daily life.

I will update this page with more advice and results, maybe some recipes as my weight loss journey continues !!!

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June 22nd

Weight loss through Diet and Exercise still going well..............
Current weight 10 stone ........... so, 6 pounds to go!!

I have discovered an excellent sweet treat thats only 1 point.

Frozen Raspberries
No Fat Yeo Valley Natural Yogurt.
Sprinkling of Splenda
                                         ......so yummy xx

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July 1st

9 stone 12 lbs.....................4 pounds to go!!

I have been finding it hard this week. Its been non-stop rain so I havnt been able to do much running.We are also trying to buy a house- our dream house actually, and my nerves over the situation are making me really want chocolate!!!!  I have started adding a few choc chips to the raspberry treat above.It helps xx

May 8th 2013.

10 stone 6 lbs .....................OH DEAR!!!
I got down to 9stone 10lbs last year so I am back on WW, 13 llbs to loose.