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 eleven weeks ago… here’s their eleventh report!
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WEEK ELEVEN
Sarah Smyth
This week in class we discussed exercise. The government advise that everyone should do at least 30 minutes of low intensity exercise every day. I have joined a boot camp class and it’s a mixed class so everyone is at different levels in terms of fitness. The class is tough but you feel great afterwards and hopefully it will be a massive boost to weight loss.
In class we also discussed some typical excuses that we have all used from time to time for example working late, I’ll do it tomorrow (we all know tomorrow never comes), and the weather. It gets dark at 5.00pm in the evening so you are not motivated to do exercise or to even leave the house, but there’s only a few weeks left until Christmas so the best thing is to try and find something that you like doing.
Gwen told us about a member who was a soap opera addict (like myself) and hated exercise so Gwen asked her to add up all the advertisement breaks during the soaps. She did that and it came to three hours so Gwen told her that, when the ads come on TV, you have to skip. The member bought a skipping rope and off she went. After three weeks of this she had lost a lot of weight which made a massive difference to her health and confidence.
Height: 5’5
Weight loss to date: 9.5 lbs
Warren Barry
Last week started well. I made my food for the week on Sunday which included a batch of chilli con carne for lunch and I cooked some chicken breasts to have for dinner. The plan was to have the two of these with vegetables for lunch and dinner.
I started off the week having scrambled eggs, spinach and tomatoes for breakfast followed by an apple with some almonds mid-morning. I then followed this up with the lunch and dinner I had prepared, along with plenty of water throughout the day.
I went to the gym on Monday and Tuesday evening as well but I came down sick on Wednesday which was a disaster as I was in bed for several days and I barely ate until Saturday evening.
Unfortunately I could not go to class this week.
Height: 5’9
Weight loss to date: 11.5 lbs
Laura Kavanagh
In this week’s class we spoke about the benefits of exercise. We learned that it is good for overall health, makes you sleep better, helps reduce stress, and contributes to better appearance and mood. It made me think about how many times I’ve went on crash diets and lost weight for a while but then gave up halfway through!
Alongside healthier eating, exercise has made me feel better these days. I don’t think that I felt anywhere near as good in a long time. The reason is I endure a tough class, three times a week, that includes free weights and has truly strengthened my core muscles which has minimized (notice I did not say eliminated) parts of the love handles.
Is it because I’m disciplined? No, it’s because I have gotten into a weekly routine. It also helps that my gym is literally a five minute walk from work so I don’t have any excuses. The most important thing that I need to work on is not falling into the trap of thinking that exercise alone will be enough for weight loss. From listening in class, it is extremely difficult to exercise enough on a consistent basis to lose even one pound of fat without making any diet changes. I may be feeling fitter and healthier but I need to get more vigilant in making weight loss a weekly routine.
Last note to oneself: people who expect a lot of weight loss from exercise alone may become so discouraged that they give up their goal of losing weight. I must not fall into that trap, so back to tracking and planning ahead for next week… my body will thank me for it!
Height: 5’3
Weight loss to date: 5 lbs
Sarah Moore
This is the second last week that we will be blogging about our Weight Watchers journey. Last week I lost two pounds and this week I lost one pound which means I have reached my first five per cent target. The good thing about Weight Watchers is that they encourage small, achievable goals, whether it is losing a pound a week, reaching your first five or 10 per cent, or fitting into a smaller size in your clothes. There’s always something to work towards. To date I have lost 10 pounds which I’m quite proud of. It really is all about keeping to your routine.
Class this week was all about exercise and the amount of excuses we throw out when we may not feel like doing it. The evenings have become so dark and cold that once you get home it’s very hard to motivate yourself to leave the house again. I find it easier to get up early and just go so I do my exercise in the morning which means come 8.00am, I’m done for the day. If I had to do it in the evening I would come up with any excuse not to go, especially if I didn’t enjoy what I was doing.
Of course over time you will lose weight if you don’t exercise but it will take much longer than if you do at least 30 minutes during your day. Take up walking to work (if you aren’t a million miles away). A walk of 20 to 30 minutes to work and back means that you’ve done your exercise for the day even if it’s only a few times a week.
Mixing exercise with healthy eating is going to get you going in the right direction. We’ve all been working hard to make sure that we are doing both each week and I think it’s paying off. We have one more week to get ourselves over the finish line (although I’m going to continue with the Weight Watchers programme), so hopefully this next week will remain the same as the past couple: going down on the scales.
Height: 5’7
Weight loss to date: 10 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.
