Category Archives: Weight Watchers

And so it begins… again.

I’ve rejoined the gym.

During lockdown I gained almost two and half stone and am absolutely disgusted with myself. That being said, if the scales are right this morning, since realising my stupidity and monitoring my food intake I’m not down a stone and a half.

Currently, and I’m ashamed to say this, I’m 21st. I keep saying I need to do something about yet I’m my own worst enemy. I know what I need to do I just don’t do it! And I genuinely don’t know why.

I know where I go wrong and I know how to stop it. I know the right things to do and I know when and where to do it. I know where to get help and I know who I can turn to. So with all that in mind why do I constantly sabotage myself? Why do I do so well at Weight Watchers or at the gym for a few months and then, just when I’m showing some progress I let it all go.

I do not know why I do this. If you know then please tell me!

Gains and gains.

Today I’ve been more than just a member at Weight Watchers. I’ve been “clerking” – basically taking the money and selling the goodies then sending the members off to get weighed. It’s really interesting and I’ve learned sooooooo much by being at six meeting so far with another three coming up in the evening.

It’s just as well I learned as at my own weigh-in earlier this day I was up 3.5lb.

So, am I angry about this? Nope.

See it was kinda planned.

Since being back at WW I’ve not had one week where I’ve gained and I’ve only had one week without weight loss, when I was no loss, no gain. I’m not including the week I was sick.

Of all the people you know in this small world you know yourself better than anyone else, and I know me particularly well. As such, after being ill and getting a 6.5lb loss due to food poisoning I knew I was at risk of eating the entire contents of Tesco so I let myself off this week. I still tracked but I wasn’t bothered about going over my points. Lets just say, the entire week became a treat week.

As such I’m 3.5lb up and not in the slightest bit upset about it.

I’ve gained 3.5lb and I’ve gained the experience of the WW Coach and all the members giving hints and tips during the meeting.

I will be down next week. Watch this space.

Milestones and Mistakes

Tuesday is weigh in day for me and yesterday was no different. I was down 1lb. That’s me down a stone since coming back to WW. I’m over-joyed by this.

Nine weeks of being back at WW, eight weeks of weigh-ins, not one gain. I had one week where there was no loss and no gain which was acceptable as it was the first weigh-in after Pride week and I’d drank a lot and eaten crap during the week.


So that’s me with two lovely milestone tokens for my keying. And yes, I do mean lovely.

Not everyone wants to advertise that they’re at Weight Watchers but every member gets a little boost when someone says well done. These tokens hang on your keyring (if you want) and only another Weight Watchers member would know what it means. Most random Joes wouldn’t have a clue.

I’m very proud of those tokens as it shows me that I’ve turned a corner. Something I’ve been trying to do for a while. Often I’ve been saying “This is it,” or “This is the last time I’m having a new start,” and even “So yeah, I’ve said it before but this really is a new start new me.” On the odd occasion I might add “And this time I mean it!” or even give a the ol’ 12″ Gods Kitchen Remix of “I promise!”

I haven’t said that yet this time round but looking back at the last eight weeks something has definitely changed and I’m very pleased about it.

So last night proved just how easy it is for me to slip back in to my old ways and how dangerous my eating habits can be.

Brad made a lasagne. It was gorgeous. I was lethal.

Weight Watchers uses a points system to help with weight loss. All food gets a point value with some being zero. It works. Your points allowance is slightly lower than it should be to aid with losing weight then when you’re at your goal weight you get extra points to maintain your weight and stop losing any. With all the help WW give you it’s easy to work out the points of food and your meal.

So here’s the lasagne ingredients and their points.

Ingredients SmartPoints
250g Onion 0
60g Carrots 0
60g Celery 0
30g Garlic 0
450g Mince 11
2tbsp Tomato Puree 0
400g Tinned Tomatoes 0
125ml Red Wine 3
400ml Beef Stock 1
75g Butter 28
75g Plain Flour 7
750ml Milk 21
100g Parmesean 14
8 Lasagne Sheets 14

My home made “Milestones” book so I can keep track and reward myself.

99 SmartPoints!  NINETY-NINE!

In the past I wouldn’t have pointed it I’d have just eaten half it. And yes, in the past on a Tuesday after weigh-in I’d have just eaten it because, it’s treat day.

I get 38 points a day. I lose points as I lose weight but currently, as I said, I have 38. So, in my half portion of Lasagne I’d have eaten in the past I’d be twelve points over my daily allowance and that’s if I hadn’t eaten anything all day. Obviously I had.

So taking in to account all my milestones (all of them listed below) and the fact I pointed the lasagne I really do feel like I’ve turned that proverbial aforementioned corner.

Original Weight Returning Weight
First half stone lost First half stone lost
10lb lost 10lb lost
5kg lost 5kg lost
1 stone lost 1 stone lost
5% of body weight lost
20lb lost
1.5 stone lost
10kg lost
2 stone lost
30lb lost
10% lost
15kg lost
2.5 stone lost
40lb lost
3 stone lost
20kg lost
3.5 stone lost
50lb lost
15% lost

“Original Weight” is when I first start WW four (?) years ago – 23st 7lb
“Returning Weight” is when I went back to WW nine weeks ago – 20st 8.5lb

 

A full list of all these goals is on the all new “Milestones” page.

Lasagne by Brad. Was AMAZING! (And there’s two more portions left!)

The Unexpected

For the first time since rejoining Weight Watchers I was confident I’d be down. I’d been careful all week. I’d tracked most of the week and when I hadn’t I carefully considered what I was eating and I got some exercise.

I walked into class with my head held high, knowing I’d had a good week.

I stood on the scales and expected Phil to say “You’re down a pound” because recently it’s all been just a pound here or there. No complaints as at least it’s in the right direction.

So colour me shocked when she told me I was four pounds down. That’s me one pound away from having lost a stone since going back. I’m overjoyed with this!

Today is good day. For more reasons than just me weight loss!

Mindset

At the Mad About The Voice Ireland event I won a chocolate biscuit cake in the raffle. It was delicious. I know because I ate most of it. Brad had some but not much.

I’m sure you can imagine that knowing how much I’d eaten this week played heavy (pardon the pun) on my mind as I walked into Weight Watchers this morning.

No class as such as it’s race week here in Galway so it was just a weigh & go. I walked in knowing I’d be up but prepared to take the hit.

As Phil (my WW leader) says “When you’ve had a bad week, that’s when you need a class!” and she’s right. Skipping meetings doesn’t work – trust me, I’ve tried. The ole “I’ll have a good week next week and go back with weight off the following week!” only leads to more weight gain and not solving any problems.

So in I walked, head held high because I was accepting my failure and knowing I could work past it this week.

“You’re half a pound down,” said Phil.

I was speechless (it happens sometimes). I was sure I was going to be up and I’d accepted this. I’d done the same the week before, I’d gone in expecting to be up due the ‘BLTs’ but was still down.

So I read back last weeks entry, thought more about this weeks weigh-in and I have come to the conclusion that my head really is in the right space. I’ve been saying it but I was sure I believed it. I’m consciously counting my points even if I’m not tracking them on paper or in the app. I’m losing weight each week. I’m accepting the risk of being up but not looking at it as failing but more a lesson. Why do I think I’m going to be up? What have I done well? What do I need to change?

So another good week. That’s 9lb lost over four weeks. I’ll take that. Ever closer to the £100 from Juzz.

Closing Rather Weighty This

So, I’ve decided to shut down one of my other sites. The site Rather Weighty This was great when I started it and I used it when I need to but it was set up for the wrong reasons.

I wanted to separate my weight loss journey from my every day blogging/writing. I was wrong to do that. My weight loss for which I took help from geekshealth.com, is part of me, it’s who I am and who I want to be but I treated it like it was something different. Almost like it was someone else. And why did I do that? Well, the answer is sad yet easy.

By putting those posts somewhere I can deny the truth and doing that is dangerous. I’m fat. I’m working on it. I’ve done some hard thinking over the last twelve months and no, this isn’ t me starting again, this is me accepting that my fight to be smaller isn’t going to be the instant success I want it to be. Strangely enough making the decision to shut the site down has been strangely relaxing.

I have body image issues, as an early post suggests, and getting over them is a massive struggle. Putting that struggle on to someone else, another persona, a different online identity is just pushing it away and not dealing with it.

Now I am dealing with it.

Now things feel different. I’ve had plenty of “I’m starting again” moments but none of them have felt like this.

If anything can prove to me that I’m on the right track it’s what happened last weekend.

Myself and Brad went to the UK for family events (birthday, another birthday and yet another birthday). This would involve two meals out and family party with a buffet. I was determined to go to them, enjoy them and still be down at my next Weight Watchers meeting.

So I put my mind to it, I planned, I tracked and I was careful. I was successful! I went to my class and was down. I have never been away for a weekend and come back with weight off. How did I do it? Planning and tracking.

All this tells me I’m in a new headspace.

My goal now is to be three stone down by the end of the year. I think this is doable and I’m supremely confident I’ll do it.

So, now I’m embracing me as I am and starting to like what I am it’s time to get rid of Rather Weighty This.

All the posts from there have been imported to here and tagged with the Rather Weighty This category tag and the titles change to show they’re imports. In the menu at the top of the page I’ve added a button that will only show those entries.  Everything about my weight loss will now be on here.

Weigh in is on Tuesday and I’ve a worry I might be up this week but if so it’ll only be by a 1lb and I can get rid of that by the next meeting.

#ThinkSkinny 🙂