"Official" weigh in result and NSV

Back from my training course without inflicting too much diet damage! In fact, quite the opposite somehow.

Official weigh in night is Tuesday night, so after the 3.5 hour drive home from Crewe I hopped on the scales. And couldn't believe my luck.

Last Tuesday evening my scales told me I was 11st 13.8lb (my official start weight was on another set of scales which I will be weighing on with a friend from next week, but due to training couldn't do this week...!). Nasty. Yesterday they told me I was... 11st 8lb!! Minus 5.8lb in a week?!?

I know. I don't believe it either. But last week was TOTM which clearly had some impact on that result. And while part of me doesn't believe I've lost that much in a week my clothes say differently. My NSV was trying on a dress this evening that I bought about 2 months ago that didn't fit over my bum or really do up. Tonight it fits perfectly!

Didn't get this result in weeks on ProPoints, so I am sticking to old Points forever!!

Want to be back at goal by the end of the month. Now feels totally achievable :)

Bring on the next Weight Watchers week! :)

Day 7, and another Points vs ProPoints post!

I've been considering old style Points versus ProPoints and the pros and cons of each over the last couple of days, mainly because I have so much more success on old Points, and my verdict is that the reason is the way each plan forces your mind to see food.

This doesn't sound like a very simple blog post, granted, but it's not as complicated as it sounds...

Old Points

Set number of Points per day

Able to save Points up to a maximum of 12 per week

Only way to top this up for treats is to earn Activity Points

ProPoints

Set number of ProPoints per day

Unable to save any ProPoints

Bank of ProPoints for treats

Sure you can all spot the difference now, but I'll elaborate, because it's me. Old Points teach you to earn your treats. ProPoints teaches you to have them anyway. 

Now, I don't know about you, but the whole reason I went on Weight Watchers in the first place is because I'd had the treats anyway!

When I've tried to do ProPoints I've had less to encourage me to exercise, so to have those treats I've stuck to my 26 ProPoints a day (approximately 1000 calories before allowing for 0 point fruit and veg) and used my weekly ProPoints for alcohol, chocolate and eating out. 

Sounds like exactly how you're supposed to follow the plan, right? And doesn't sound all that bad either because I'm getting those treats in the week?

Flip it up and look at it this way: On old Points I am on 20 Points per day. Weight Watchers had two main rules when I began that plan which were that you had to eat a minimum of 16 Points per day, and you could only save a maximum of 12 Points per week. The difference between the minimum Points and my daily Points is 4 Points each day. 

4 Points is the equivalent of 4 squares of Dairy Milk chocolate. 

4 squares of Dairy Milk chocolate is the difference between me being miserable and me feeling unrestricted and happy on plan. 

Making sense? What I'm trying to say is that in order to stick to plan I have always built a treat into my daily diet. It's my motivation to get to bed at the end of the day within my Points allowance. And why might I fall off ProPoints after every couple of days? Because to stick to 26 ProPoints per day I find it impossible to build those treats in without stuffing myself with 0 ProPoint fruit. And what happens when you do that? You eat too many calories and don't lose weight. 

And throughout all of this I don't need to exercise to earn those weekly ProPoints. 

I truly believe that the mentality I use to stay near my goal weight (I say near, as we all know I've gained some weight, but two and a half years after goal I'm still wearing a size 12, so we'll stick with near!) which is that if I've done exercise I deserve the treat is the success factor for me. 

To conclude my long and rambling Sunday morning blog I will leave you with some evidence to support this theory...

My scales are showing a likely weight loss of about 3lb this week. On ProPoints it took me two to three weeks to lose this much, often because I fell off plan during the week. But the biggest measure of success for me is the fact that I am happy. I have eaten chocolate and cake, I have drunk wine and Costa coffee, but I've been to the gym and to dance and I have lost 3lb. 

I am celebrating this success a little early though. This afternoon I am off to a two day residential training course for work. At these things they feed you. A lot. *big sigh* Just when I was getting somewhere!

See you when I'm back, but hopefully still without that 3lb! :)

Day 3

It's day three of the attempt and so far so good.

I now have my official start weight - 11st 11.75lb. I therefore have 9.75lb to lose to return me to my goal weight. The challenge is on, once again!

I need to keep that skinny image at the forefront of my mind, and I'm hoping this blog will help me do that. I'm tracking and I'm weighing with a friend to motivate me, plus John has promised me a new book on my Kindle for every 3lb I lose so that's also a motivation as I've found a new favourite author whose books I want to read. I've tried to find a non-edible motivation (!) as I often focus on a binge of some sort to keep me on plan and it's not a good way to do things.

So far so good with sticking to plan. I have to make it to Sunday afternoon, then from Sunday night to Tuesday afternoon I'm on a residential training course with not much control over my food, although I can try to make sensible choices. I am planning to weigh Sunday before I go, then again on Tuesday evening when I return which will be my official weigh in. Hopefully then I can kick myself up the bum and get back on it Wednesday without too much difficult!

God, I do ramble on.

Sunshiney smiles :)

Serial (cereal?) Dieter

Yep, that's me.

Up and down like a flipping yo-yo.

Lose half a stone diet attempt number six million, thirty-three thousand, four hundred and twelve begins tomorrow.

8lb to lose to get me back to goal. Am finally able to exercise properly (gym at least, no Combat yet :( ) so I can do this.

Deep breath, suck it up, get on with it!

On the wagon once again!

So I'm well and truly back on the WW wagon! Managed a few days up until Easter without too many wobbles, then over Easter weekend things went a little (a lot) wrong. 2 Easter eggs wrong. And a bottle of wine, pizza, kettle chips, chocolate raisins and muffins! Oh, and an amazing hotel breakfast which included a pain au chocolat, about 6 pieces of toast and some very yummy and very buttery scrambled egg with smoked salmon. Although we also went for a meal at Prezzo and I had a salad, so unbelievably it could have been even worse!!

So, after that horrendous weekend I kicked myself up the bum and got back on ProPoints on Tuesday morning. I have a lovely shiny new Journal (a 12 week tracker basically) which gives me some sad little satisfaction to fill in! Also managed a night out last night and didn't go over my planned points, so I still have 18 weeklies left to get me to Thursday (the end of my week - Thursday seemed the safest day to weigh!).

This week I have mostly been eating:
Breakfast
Tinned peaches/pineapple, drained, with a tablespoon of Morrisons Eat Smart low fat natural yogurt (1pp) and 20g of muesli (2pp)
Toast (4pp) with a poached egg (2pp), mushrooms and tomatoes

Lunch
Salad with butternut squash and tuna (2pp) with a tsp of light mayo

Dinner
Quorn fillets (4pp) with a tsb of pesto (1pp) with salad
A seriously yummy thai green curry (recipe from the WW website) which was 6pp (we swapped chicken for white fish which reduced the pp value) with 40g rice (4pp)
Pitta pizzas made from a pitta bread (6pp) spread with a little tomato puree, a tsp of pesto (1pp) and a light Babybel cheese grated on the top (1pp). Also put some cooked mushrooms, courgette, peppers and red onion on there and then grilled until it went crispy round the edges. Very yummy!

I have eaten tons of fruit too - really like that fruit is now 0pp. Also been munching WW cookies (2pp) and WW jaffa mini rolls (2pp).

Pitta pizzas and thai green curry were the highlight of the week I think - I'd recommend both!

And that's all I have to say about that. Am enjoying ProPoints more than my initial attempt last year, and sneaky weigh in on my scales is showing a loss, so will stick with it until Thursday and hope for a good loss. Friday we are off to Norwich for the weekend so I'll be well and truly off the wagon whilst away. Lets hope I can jump straight back on next Tuesday!

I feel this post was a little dull - I am perhaps uninspired due to the horrendous hangover I've been suffering today! Will try to make my next post a little more exciting, promise!

And I'm back!

Ok. I'm rubbish. 9 months since I last posted. Ouch.

9 months and roughly 9lb coincidentally!

Yes, I have gained some weight. And I'm gutted. Life distracted me from dieting. More specifically, self medicating through some difficult times with wine distracted me!

Anyway. Here I am. After 10 days on a high protein diet which promised to make me tone up fast I've lost no weight and no inches. So, as I've no patience and am hating the size of my bum I'm biting the bullet and getting back on WW. ProPoints, which is still a new frontier for me, but my mum has recently done it and told me the daily points have now reduced to 26, which seems better, so I'm giving it another go.

Start tomorrow morning, so I'll try and blog about it over the next few days.

My goals are:
Get back to target and a little beyond - I am currently 11st 11lb. Goal is 11st 2lb officially and I am aiming for 10st 13lb (my personal favourite weight).
Get back in my size 10/12 dresses and jeans comfortably.
Get where I want to be by 1 July.

So, I have sensible, achievable targets. Once I've seen the first couple of pounds come off I may feel happier, so please people, DON'T LET ME GIVE UP!!

Thanks for reading this far, I appreciate all the support I can get.

Smiles and positive dieting thoughts!!

Hannah x