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1st October 2013
11:00am BST
Embarking on a healthier lifestyle is tough at the best of times, but it's a whole lot easier with your buddies by your side.
Knowing that to be true, we paired up with our pals at Weight Watchers to offer a group of friends who live together a free place on a 12 week Weight Watchers programme.
Households across the country got in touch, and now we've found our new Weight Watchers ambassadors for Her.ie!
The emphasis is on eating healthy meals, not starving yourself or pushing yourself beyond physical limitations, and nothing is ‘forbidden’ as long as you stick to your ProPoints allocation.
These housemates will be sharing their story and inspiring others by writing a weekly blog for Her.ie, giving an honest first-hand account of their efforts.
The lifestyle change began for our volunteers five weeks ago... here's their fifth report!
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WEEK FIVE
Sarah Smyth
Sometimes we think that because we have joined Weight Watchers we will lose weight every week, and then we are shocked if we don't. This week in class, we discussed the difference between a reason and an excuse. A reason is "I broke my leg so I did no exercise". However, if you track correctly and stick to your points, you still should lose some weight. An excuse is saying "I couldn't eat well because I was working late and had nothing in the house". This is why planning ahead is so important. Plan out your meals for each week, make large portions and freeze meals so you always have something to eat.?We also discussed the importance of staying focused. Sometimes we look too far ahead to the bigger picture and get distracted. The bigger picture can only become reality if we achieve the small goals. For example, my target is to be one stone lighter at Christmas. So, my weekly goal needs to be 1.5 pounds a week. Your short-term goal needs to be achievable and you can achieve it by planning, tracking and exercise. These three together will help you achieve your goal, but none of this can be possible if you don't have a belief in yourself.?I find now in week five that I have the odd week that I have struggled. Sometimes you don't want to go to the gym but I have a good support network to push me on when I feel like giving up. I have a friend and my sister who I attend the local gym with, and my housemates, Sarah, Laura and Warren help me to eat the right food. I also work with Laura, so we keep an eye on each other to avoid the sweet press in the office and we have our own snacks when we need them. We are big fans of the Weight Watcher Carmel slices - they are delicious and a great treat. I turn 30 in 11 weeks and I hope to enter my 30s a lot lighter and healthier. I leave you with this phrase that Gwen (our Weight Watchers teacher) gave us: "You are where you are and you are what you are because that is where you chose to be".
Height: 5:5
Starting weight: 15 ½ stone
Planned weight loss: 2 stone
Weight loss to date: 6 lbs
Warren Barry
This week’s class was all about how excuses and reasons are used to get in the way of weight loss. Gwen discussed 4 or 5 examples of excuses that everyone could relate to. The main point was that an excuse is a way we try to justify to ourselves why we have chosen not to do something that would benefit weight loss, such as exercise or eating properly. Personally, I had a good week. I dropped 4lbs. I planned and pre-prepared some meals for the week, I exercised for at least an hour on 6 of the last 7 days and I had a positive result.
Height: 5'9
Starting weight: 15 stone 3
Planned weight loss: 1 stone
Weight loss to date: 6 lbs
Laura Kavanagh
So Week 1 of the Christmas challenge and I’m a half a pound lighter! Not ideally what I wanted to lose but it’s better than nothing. In this week’s class Gwen explain to us the difference between reasons and excuses. As you all know it’s easy to find EXCUSES. And it’s easy sometimes to convince ourselves that they are (in fact) justifiable REASONS. But if we are honest with ourselves we always know the difference. And I know I do. I know I’m eating things I shouldn’t (though only on a couple of occasions so far!) because of flimsy excuses. But with the support of my roomies I know that I can overcome these excuses when I need to. I’m looking forward to the week ahead and not making any more excuses.
Height: 5:3
Starting weight: 11 ½ stone
Planned weight loss: 1 stone
Weight loss to date: 2.5 lbs
Sarah Moore
This week's class focused on excuses. We have excuses for everything - 'I'll start exercising next week’, ‘I can't train this week because it's raining', for example. Everyone is guilty of making excuses; I'm a BIG culprit myself. I guess we have to start getting rid of the excuses and just get on with it. This week I lost a pound and a half, so I got a light for my Christmas tree (part of the Christmas Challenge, for every pound you lose each week, you get a light for your tree). I was pretty happy with that, a little bit of planning ahead and learning when to say NO plays a large factor. I'm referring to my ProPoints as money, when something seems quite high in ProPoints; I just tell myself it's too expensive!
Height: 5'7
Starting weight: 13.5 stone
Planned weight loss: 1.5 stone
Weight loss to date: 5 lbs
Check back on these pages weekly for regular updates from the foursome, and if you want to find out more about Weight Watchers classes in your area, you can do so here.
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