Today is Wednesday 27th June and I’ve been following Weight Watchers for 4 weeks now and I’ve lost 10lbs. OK you may say that’s an average of 2.5lbs a week but today I can’t see it like that as last week I only lost 1lb and I’m pretty fed up about it which is why I’ve decided to write a blog so that I can look back at the weeks of the new regime. So let me go back to the beginning.
I have always been a yoyo dieter – mostly up rather than down - but have put weight on steadily over the past 8 years or so and not done anything about it. My son is getting married in November and as Mother of the Bride Groom I really don’t want to be as large as I am now – I really can’t go into a shop and look for an outfit on the size 22 rail. Size 20 didn’t seem too bad but this year it’s been 22 and it’s got to stop.
Someone I know very well and wishes to remain anonymous, I will call her Lucy, who started on Weight Watchers at the end of March and has lost 2 stone. She looks really good and you can see where the 2 stone has gone, if you know what I mean! She kept telling me how easy Weight Watchers is and that it’s a way of life not a diet.
Now a bit more about me and my life. I separated from my then husband in 1990 and as my two children were young I put my life on hold until they were older. Robert is now 31 and Victoria is 28 and they are the most wonderful children I could ever have asked for. When Robert got to about 16 I decided to reboot my life. I had had a few relationships but nothing serious and, in fact, most of them were really horrid to me in one way or another. In 2009 I met my now husband, Richard, and he fell in love with me for the person I am which was the most wonderful feeling though I struggled (in fact still do struggle) with that. We got married in May this year – a wonderful and memorable occasion. We have a great life – Richard retired in May 2010 when he was 60 and we then took off on our canal boat, Mary H, to cruise the canals of England and Wales. We now spend about 5 months of the year on Mary H and the rest of the time at home in Hampshire.
When Robert announced in May last year that he was going to ask his girlfriend, Laura, to marry him I knew that I was going to have to do something about my weight but, of course, I didn’t. When Lucy started on Weight Watchers and did so well I decided that I would give it a go but I wouldn’t start until the middle of June when we set off on our summer cruise. We had our wedding, then a family party to contend with. However on May 30th I was looking on the WW website and noticed that they had got a special offer on which expired on June 4th so I went for it! I started straight away and lost 6lbs in the first week (I had put on 6lbs on our Italian honeymoon!!)
Week 1
This week was easy. We seemed to live on salads with low point foods for dinner. I allow myself 150g of potatoes most evenings as Richard wants them - as long as I factor them into my daily points they are fine. I’ve been weighing my breakfast cereal each morning and been amazed at how little 50g is but in fact I don’t need any more and can go all morning on that. Lunch is usually a wrap with a slice of cold meat and salad with a packet of Walkers French Fries – I’ve got Richard eating that too. The weekend was the Diamond Jubilee weekend but I was determined to stick with WW. We had friends round for a BBQ on Saturday and I was very careful about what I had, 1 sausage and 1 spare rib. I made rhubarb tiramisu for pudding from the WW site and everyone thought it was really nice. Monday we went to the local Jubilee celebrations and I had one drink and a hog roast roll. Tuesday we went to a BBQ and again I was good – no nibbles and I opted to drive so only had one glass of wine.
Week 2
When I weighed myself today I had lost 6lbs and was really pleased.
This was a hard week as we went to Devon for a family party. My sister and brother-in-law were celebrating their Ruby wedding anniversary and my mother will be 90 in October so my sister had arranged a big family party. I was in charge of making cakes - I ask you what a rotten thing to have to do when on WW! I stuck to the regime for Thursday and Friday but I let myself go over the weekend but still being relatively careful and went back to the regime on Monday though I did have a large whippy ice cream when we were out in Dartmouth.
Week 3
I wouldn’t have been surprised if I had put on a couple of pounds last week but, in fact, I had lost 1lb!
This week saw us going up to Mary H to start our summer cruise. I thought that this was going to be easy from now on! On our drive up north we would usually have stopped at a Burger King for lunch but decided to be good and have an M & S salad each. When I checked on the points that evening the salad had had 14 points in it - I could have had a burger and fries for that! On the Saturday we went to see my cousin and had a BBQ – we were staying the night and I’m afraid that I did have a few glasses of wine. Tuesday we had lunch and dinner out! Lunch was a very boring salad – why can’t restaurants make salads more interesting? Dinner was at a Harvester and I had a steak with mushrooms and 2 lots of salad – only choosing the free point items! Richard and I shared a lovely chocolate dessert. Before we went away Lucy gave me two WW recipe books and a copy of the magazine and I’ve been busy cooking meals from those and really enjoying both the cooking and the eating!
Week 4
This morning I had lost 2lbs which I was very pleased about.
I was back on the straight and narrow until we went to Skegness on Saturday. I have never seen so many fish and chip shops in my life and when we looked for somewhere healthy to eat we couldn’t find anywhere so settled for fish and chips. I took the batter off my fish and was left with a rather pathetic half cooked piece of haddock which I ate with half of the portion of chips. We also had an ice cream. Monday we ate out and I had a steak and mushrooms which I’m sure were cooked in butter! I also had a very boring salad with it. Tuesday was a very hard day. I felt very low all day and just wanted to eat – we always have lots of fruit on board but that wasn’t enough. We were moored by a café that sold Walls ice cream and I couldn’t resist one – Richard chose a Magnum which I :-( I had a couple of WW biscuits with my afternoon tea but still wanted more but didn’t give in - I had plenty of weekly and activity points left but I was determined not to use them. I cooked a lovely trout risotto for dinner but still felt hungry and polished off more fruit.
