Weight Watchers – A Final Challenge

WeightWatchers Logo

We have our last Weight Watchers challenge to post about – Easter. Yes, that time when people find an excuse to eat chocolate and stuff their faces – I used to. Then when H came along I didn’t want the associations of chocolate and celebrating in her life – I wanted chocolate to be something we eat whenever we fancy. Having said that, I *could* go overboard on the Hotel Chocolat Easter Sale the day after the main event, and may well have. Ahem. Disclaimer: I have then taken another six months to eat it, savouring the chocolatey goodness.

Actually, looking at myself and how I eat around H, I’ve tried my best not to sneak food around her (like a sneaky chocolate) and have waited until she’s gone to bed. Last March (2012) she was given a chocolate Smarties treat which I managed to convince her was a shaker for a year (she ate it last Sunday when I confessed). Doing Weight Watchers has meant I’ve had to really look at myself and this is possibly the closest to ‘me’ time I’ve had in a long time – and hands up I can say it works for me. The hard bit now is keeping it off and not going back to old bad habits.

Which is where chocolate comes in.

Easter Eggs

We will have chocolate, but we’ll have it in moderation (small eggs! Good plan!). I can eat it and know I’ve enough points to stay within my weekly limit, and seeing as there’s tons of local Easter Egg hunts going on, a long walk to find things with chocolate at the end is a well earned one (I’m aiming for a 10 point one) – that’s if this rotten weather doesn’t let us down. Polesden Lacey here we come….

I started my Weight Watchers journey around September 2012. In that time I’ve lost two stone, pretty much. My old size 38 jeans are gone – freecycled and put into clothing bins around our village. My old t-shirts need sorting out as they look wrong with my new body shape. I splashed out on some of the clothes I posted about on my New Look post, and got that ditsy print skirt – in a size 14. It fits me. The last time I remember being a size 14 was on my eighteenth birthday.

I’m wearing skinny jeans for the first time in I’ve-lost-count years – probably eighties drainpipes – and I’m starting to feel less conscious about myself. Last weekend we had pizza and I still lost 1lb – I’m edging ever-closer to my goal (only 3lb more to go), so I think it’s fairly safe to say that Weight Watchers works – for me.

Has this been life-changing? Possibly, yes. Would I recommend it? I’d definitely say give it a try. Weight Watchers isn’t for everyone – but if you need help in getting a jumbled life of food in check, it’s worth it. I have a link you can click on to sign up (see the sidebar), although three of my friends have gone for cashback schemes elsewhere – the most important thing is that there are opportunities to try it which don’t break the bank (which is what put me off doing it as we don’t have a lot of money!).

Morphy Richards Soup Maker
What has helped the most? All of us doing it. Not eating foods with sweeteners – just watching portion size. My wonderful Soup Maker.. quick soups are great. Eating chocolate but keeping an eye on how much rather than eating until I’ve finished the lot. Being careful with crisps – more places are stocking Popchips and that’s great because they taste good! Buying good wine – my tastebuds have changed, they’re recognising cheap and nasty wine so now I pick nice wine and savour it (or maybe I’m just growing up at last?).

There’s only one last thing I need to do – just as I’d started doing Weight Watchers I went for a blood test to check my cholesterol levels, as I’m at risk of high cholesterol. I need to book a follow up appointment, as I’ve been watching my saturated fats plus a lot of the Weight Watchers foods are low in them. I want to see if WW has made a difference to my overall health; I’m also going to try using coconut oil in our cooking to see if that helps.

All that’s left to say is thank you Weight Watchers for giving me the tools to help get my life in check – and thank you to BritMums (for the initial campaign we worked on) and ShinyRed (for the second campaign) for the opportunity to work with Weight Watchers.

I was provided with nine months of Weight Watchers membership for this challenge. All opinions are my own. 

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