Firstly, as I can’t remember if I updated, I am now my ideal weight. I’ve not hit my target yet, but we’ve had a couple of weeks of feeling unwell here, so I switched myself to maintenance mode to get my head around having more points (which promptly led me to have some left from my 27 some nights, you can’t win!) – but has meant for the last two weeks I’ve stayed the same which is nice.

I’ve got my routine in place and I’m bringing in different things to add a bit of variety, while keeping them healthy and low in calories – I’ve recently discovered some Special K bites, which my Sainsburys Local has for sale, so I’ve been eating those as they’re pretty delicious. They’re 90-something calories too, so still two points.

I’m getting loads of comments as well – when people compliment you and you don’t feel like they’re glazing over when you chat about it, it’s really nice! A definite confidence booster.

Things don’t stop here though, I’ll be switching back to weightloss mode from Saturday to get those last few lbs lost.

Our first thing to talk about is ‘me time‘. This is an alien concept to me these days – me time used to be that time from H going to sleep and me being on my own until Shaun finished studying – now he’s downstairs and we’re spending time together again (apart from tonight when he goes out for a run) it’s nice, but weird! I can’t even think of the last time I’ve done something FOR me in my time, or made time for it. However, this weightloss has been for me, and two of my friends have signed up and are joining in with it, which is great – so we’ll all compare what we’re doing and think of ways to do things and so on – it’s definitely made things fun.

One thing I could have done (rather than switch to maintenance mode) was a few ‘healthy and filling days‘ – they’re worth looking at if you’re still working on your weightloss, there’s recipes to try and more.

My final thing is Workplace Weight Loss – and as previously mentioned I’m terrible at leaving my desk – though now the days are getting warmer I’m making myself leave my desk and walk down the hill and back (which can be worth two propoints on a good day). However, my way around this is to pick low calorie foods and plenty of fruit. I’ve made it work for me, and haven’t been up the road to the corner shop for crisps or chocolate for well over six months now – and that’s a major result coming from me who would have a finger of fudge in her top drawer and a pack of crisps sealed up in the middle drawer.

So the journey continues, and I’ll be a little more up to date with these updates, I promise!

I have been provided with six months of Weight Watchers membership, all opinions are my own. 

Yet again I’m lagging behind in my posts. I have two challenges to write about, firstly week 7 is Shop Smart. Week 8 is Out To Lunch. The two do fit perfectly with us, so hopefully this won’t be too long!

As far as the weekly shop goes, working four days a week and having busy time when not working means I have very little time to shop. Today we ended up in Asda, all of us wondering why we were there on our day off – as generally I’ll do my weekly shop at Ocado and get it delivered on a Tuesday using their weekday pass deal. Ocado also do good multibuys and stock Weight Watchers food. Generally I’ll buy a few WW bits – although I’ve found quite often you can go to Poundland and get them there too; so do my shop at the weekend and head to Poundland on the Monday lunchtime, removing anything I’m able to pick up there from my Ocado order.

The Weight Watchers foods we buy are the bread ones – we make our own bread in the breadmaker but keep a supply of bagels, wraps and naan breads in to have with soup. I also get the yoghurts (as they’re 1 point) and often on multibuys. Other than that I stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as passata, spice, quorn or tofu, and that’s pretty much it. Our weekly shop varies from £45 to £60, which is a LOT less than I’d spend if I went into a supermarket.

Eating out is another one I don’t stress too much about. Generally we eat at pizza places, where there’s plenty of choice especially with low-calorie options. I try to go for restaurants that have free WiFi so I can check for deals, but also check the points of what I’m eating. I refuse to deny myself food (as that’s what makes me stop being good if I’m denied something) but I’ll make sure I don’t eat a lot of the foods which are higher points. It seems to work for me, and having the app handy to check is good too, though I have found often they’re not in the system though can be found when you google them.

As far as at work goes, I’m a creature of habit. I’ll buy the same foods every day – I know the points and I’m happy with them. If I fancy a change I’ll head to M&S or Waitrose for their pricier options, but generally I’ll have a Sainsburys Be Good To Yourself Egg Mayonnaise Sandwich (7 points) and some vegetable sushi (4 points) for my afternoon snack. This comes in at £2 and is already cheaper than their meal deal! In the morning I’ll have a banana to snack on. If I go to the pub over the road for lunch I’ll still have some chips – these come in around 5 points, so I’ll make sure I don’t have the sushi so I don’t go over too much – and if I know in the morning I’m having lunch out then I’m more likely to walk from Clapham Junction to my work which is around a mile, so I’ve a few points stored up too.

The most important thing for me is knowing how many calories things are, and I’m noticing more places are now displaying it – just divide the total number by 40 and voila!

If you’re lucky then the points may even be on your sandwich; M&S and Sainsburys both do it if like me you can’t even think straight at that time of day!

I’ve been provided with six months of Weight Watchers membership – all opinions are my own. I’ve lost a stone and a half and am now a regular weight again due to my own work with Weight Watchers.

I’ve fallen behind a bit on updating, we’ve had a sickly child and not much sleep, but let’s cut to the good news – I am now no longer overweight! I’ve finally after I-have-no-idea-how-long (possibly since being a teenager) hit the point of being a normal healthy weight again. Given my health issues I’m giving myself a HUGE pat on the back, as this helps considerably lower my chances of getting diabetes again, as well as issues with cholesterol. BUT. The journey doesn’t stop here – this is an entire lifestyle change, I’m not about to relax and think I know what I’m doing, as I don’t. I’ve still got 6lb left to lose as I want to be comfortably in the ‘healthy weight’ zone. To help me celebrate this, WW have given me one less propoint, sob! So now I’m down to 27 a day.

To celebrate I’ve spent a bit of money at H&M and Uniqlo getting some clothes that fit me – including for the first time in years, ladies jeans! It’s all really good and quite weird. I still feel quite self-conscious, but I also have more confidence overall, and I’m hiding a little bit less.

So, we’ve some occasions coming up in the next week. I’d firstly like to say we don’t celebrate Valentines Day as I find it a terrible waste of money and a silly pressure to come up with something on a day which means nothing to me – I’d rather celebrate a birthday or anniversary (like my brother-in-law’s). BUT! Pancake day is coming, and I do like to celebrate that. I’ve found a WeightWatchers recipe (which looks the same as a regular pancake recipe, though less fat)  and each pancake comes in at 1 point. Tuesday is also the day I do pilates, so I’ll earn a few activity points in the process, so may well treat myself to a chocolate filling.

I guess that’s what I’ve worked out since last September with Weight Watchers – you CAN eat your regular foods (unless you eat a Domino’s Pizza every day, of course), you just do it all in appropriate portion sizes. If you want to eat more, or foods with higher points, increase your activity. If you have a few days like we have where you’re stuck at home and not doing a lot activity-wise then keep to low point foods (we’ve had soups and stews). I was chatting with someone who did Weight Watchers before the Pro Points came in, who talked about having ‘Sin’ foods – and that (to me) is a bad way of putting it – yes, there are foods that aren’t great to eat, but with the Pro Points system you choose and if you happen to want to work things in, then there is a way. (Not every day, mind) Saying food is a ‘sin’ would probably make me want to eat it more.

So, this weeks challenge is about keeping track when you’re out and about. I’ve found that dining in restaurants that have free Wifi is my best option (I don’t have an iPhone, just an iPad and iPod) and I can work out what to eat that way – but not everywhere has that. I’m a creature of habit so tend to eat at Pizza Express, though I’m finding more restaurants are listing how many calories a dish has – so I then attempt to calculate it and ask Shaun (he’s the numbers man) – just divide your calories by 40 and there’s your Pro Points. You know what though? If I go slightly over my daily allowance I don’t stress about it – I just get off the bus to work a stop earlier and make sure I walk at lunchtime and it balances out (I’ve set up my points preferences to take my activity points first and use the 49 points everyone gets every week as a last resort – last week I used two of them).

The previous week’s challenge was about moving around more. I am the world’s worst at this. I start work at 8.30 and can quite often get to 12.30 and realise I’ve not moved for four hours. I do try to walk as much as possible when I can, and the new year has brought me meetings out of the office so I’ve done a bit of extra walking which has helped. I have no advice to make this better – don’t be like me! Or if you are, go for long walks at the weekend!!

I’ve been provided with six months of Weight Watchers Membership as a Blogger Ambassador, my opinions are just that, and are honest.

So, we have weekly challenges, and this one appeals. My entire life is based around routine – be that the alarm going off and having a few minutes to wake up, to getting out of the house by a certain time to catch the train, to making sure I’m on a good train home to have as much quality time as possible out of work. I pretty much know where I need to be and when, and we’ve kind of got our food routines sorted out too.

The key to this challenge is to make sure anyone starting out on Weight Watchers knows to think ahead, have some element of routine in your life and then to show how I do it and any challenges faced when eating out. I’m very much a creature of the do-it-and-see-what-happens kind; for example, I’ve been out and grabbed the first food I could  (finding out later on that it covered an entire days allowance was quite a shocker), though have also planned ahead and knowing we’ll be at a certain place and working out what I’d fancy from the menu (when they put them online) that’s a low(er) calorie option (hello Pizza Express).

If I was at work, then my daily routine would be something like this :

6.30 wake up
7.30 on the train to work, get to my final station by 7.53. If it’s good weather walk to the office which is at least a mile (and log the activity)
8.10 at work, eating my toast for breakfast (7-8 points), try to get up from my desk as much as possible through the morning (and usually fail)
11.00 mid-morning snack – usually a WW packet of crisps followed by a banana (2 points)
12.30 Sandwich time which is always a Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself Egg and Cress sandwich (7 points)
13.00 lunch time. If the weather is okay, then it’s a walk down the hill (and it’s an evil hill) and back again which takes around 15-20 minutes, which of course is logged as an activity
13.30 lunch time over, back to work
14.00 Vegetable sushi afternoon snack (4 points)
16.30 finish work for the day. Run for the bus (logged activity) and run when I’m off the bus to catch the….
16.38 train – if I’m really lucky I get this one though I have two others I can get close behind
17.00 nearly home
17.25 pick H up from nursery, walking from bus stop (or walking from station if there’s no bus due within five minutes – I have a handy phone app to check) (log activity)
17.30 home, start preparing food – or if I’ve been really organised some veg we’ve prepared from the night before for soup or a stew in the Soup Maker. While Basmati rice is quicker, wholegrain rice is less points but takes longer so I get that on the go as soon as I get in (as it takes around 25-30 minutes)
18.30 evening meal
20.00 H’s bedtime
the rest of the evening is ours! I generally don’t eat in the evening but might have a WeightWatchers chocolate biscuit if I really need something to eat (Shaun snacks on a ton of fruit instead and often does his Couch to 5k run at this point too).

I also log everything properly, though sometimes do it as I’m going along – it depends how busy I am in the day. I have 28 points to use in a day and very occasionally have a few left, but mostly use them up. I very rarely dip into my 49 points and have set the app to use my activity points first through the week (handy when I earn points after I’ve gone into the 49 points as it gives you them back!). I earn around 10 points extra a week which does need to be improved (pilates, swimming lessons with H, general walking, running for buses or trains). My hour-long pilates class earns me 5 points, the swimming lessons earned me 2 – though bear in mind they were H’s lessons so not proper swimming on my part so I know I could earn more.

So, what do I find helps me through the day? Generally having Weight Watchers foods to substitute (the crisps are good and always in stock at Poundland so don’t break the bank and I don’t feel like I’m missing out). Fruit is easy to eat through the day with minimal preparation beforehand and comes in at 0 points. I eat normal bread, though choose Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself sandwiches as my main lunch (and they’re only £1.05 so I don’t find myself wanting to do the Meal Deal). I don’t actually need any more food as I’m full after lunch, though eat a little bit extra if I’m going to pilates in the evening as don’t like to eat my evening meal before I go.

We made Weight Watchers-friendly truffles which came in around 1.3 or 1.4 per truffle – and I’m trying to get them even lower

I’ve found that having done Weight Watchers for this long I’m eating my usual foods once more, substituting bread products for WW-own ones (bagels, wraps, naan breads) apart from my breadmaker bread, and just controlling my portion size.

So really, this seems to be what works for me. Also, as I’m one of those people who likes to work with numbers, don’t be deceived by something being 1 point – put in 10 of them and you’ll find out the decimal place of what you’re eating – it might be 1.4 points, so have three and you jump up a point in total to 4.2 (rather than assuming you’re having 3 points-worth). Handy hint there if you’re aiming to eat within your limits!

I’ve been provided with six months of Weight Watchers membership, all opinions are my own