Finally some results!
Weigh-in today: 2.5lbs off!
YES! Finally. Let’s hope I can keep it going.
Weigh-in today: 2.5lbs off!
YES! Finally. Let’s hope I can keep it going.
Yey! 1/2 lb lost this week. Not much, I know, but every little bit counts.
Have decided to stick with Core Plan this week but try and reduce the amount I’m eating somewhat. Because I’m sticking with Core Plan for I think, the 4th or 5th consecutive week, I have boxed up my remaining Weight Watchers chocolate bars and put them in a cupboard. Of course, you are allowed to spend points on them, but I would prefer them to be out of temptation’s way so that I can stick to actual core foods as much as possible.
Here’s hoping this week is another successful weight-loss week.
I think generally I have done very well this week. I have had a few naughty things but hopefully not too much. You can’t be perfect all the time.
On Friday I went out to the pub with Reagan, Dave and Damo. I opted for the usual Wetherspoons zebu sirloin steak (which may have been fried…it was Wetherspoons after all) [mmm zebu] but didn’t eat the fat. I accompanied it with a jacket potato with no butter, which turned out to be helpfully small, and a side salad. Sadly the salad had some dressing on but not too much. I still ate it. I also had one pint of Fosters. Following all of this I quickly felt very ill. I’d had a sore throat from the beginning of the day and I started to feel very cold indeed. I got James to pick me up and when I got home I was freezing, shivering with cold, but James said I had a high temperature. I felt really ill and had to go straight to bed.
I still felt a bit crappy the next day but by the afternoon I was feeling well enough to pop into town and have a coffee (cappuccino with skimmed milk and no chocolate). The rest of the weekend was ok diet-wise.
Then this evening I ate 3 squares of James’s M&S Rocky Road Bites. Bah! I’d done so well to resist buying anything for myself whilst in the shop purchasing them earlier this evening (James had to take a snack to Badminton Club to offer to the visiting team). I started to pick up some delicious looking cookies and then screamed (inwardly) “NOOOOOO!!!!” and ran away. Hopefully this erratic behaviour didn’t attract too much attention. I almost nearly bought a delicious looking peshwari naan but thankfully also resisted that.
We’ll just have to see what the results are tomorrow. Still need to get some exercise although I feel that Rob is probably doing enough exercise for about 10 people so I’ll just try and absorb the healthiness that radiates from him through osmosis.
Going ok so far this week.
Yesterday I went round to Reagan’s for tea. We had lean pork stir fry with bulgar wheat instead of rice. Twas lovely and even Dave B liked the bulgar wheat!
Definitely need to review the exercise situation soon.
Last night I went out after Weight Watchers with the other helpers for dinner. We went to the Beefeater down the road and they are notoriously difficult when it comes to choosing heathy options. Everything is either covered with butter or cheese. Despite this, I think I did really well with sticking to core foods as much as possible.
For starter I had a prawn cocktail. This was very small. Five of us ordered it and they probably didn’t have enough prepared because the portions were tiny. This worked in my favour though because the cocktail sauce was probably high in calories.
For mains I had a lean steak with wild rice and garden salad (instead of chips and fried mushroom). This was very nice although I forgot to ask for no dressing on the garden salad. It wasn’t drenched in it though so I still ate it.
Didn’t have a dessert. Just had coffee. They didn’t do skimmed milk so I opted for black coffee and it was actually really nice for a change.
So all in all, I think I did ok there. It was two courses for a tenner as well which is nice! Extra encouragement not to have that 3rd course!
Well I just went and weighed in and was thankfully 1.5lbs lighter. This is very good news, not only because losing is always good news, but because I felt so sure that the Core Plan wasn’t working. For those who don’t know I shall explain the plans.
Most people think of counting up “points” when they think of Weight Watchers. It is true that this is one of the methods of losing weight that they offer, however they now offer an alternative plan called the Core Plan. The Core Plan involves eating only foods from a (very wide) list of healthy foods. You get 12 points per week to spend on things that don’t appear on the list, such as sweets, chocolate and alcohol (so you don’t really feel like you’re always missing out). To be perfectly honest, the Core Plan isn’t a restrictive diet. It’s supposed to be…how normal people eat - mostly healthily in moderate portions and the odd treat now and again.
It’s a course in not being a fat biffa for those of us who seem to have no clue how to manage their eating themselves. This isn’t the same as saying that I didn’t know what I was and wasn’t supposed to eat. I think you’d have to be quite a moron these days to not know what foods are fattening and which are good for you. Somehow, coping with managing this on my own is difficult and I think it’s probably hard for some people to imagine. I can’t understand how people can get addicted to smoking though - I never have. It’s a fact of life that everyone is different. I respect the people who recognise their faults and do something about it.
Core is obviously quite a bit more restrictive, say if you knew you were going to be going out for 3 meals in one week. If you knew you were having an Indian takeaway at the weekend, then you’d do points that week and save up the points to eat what you like for your Indian meal. You can’t do that really with Core because 12 points will never be enough to do that. I have spent 45 saved points on an Indian meal once, and yes, I still lost weight that week. That was pretty sweet. Anyway in theory this is how it works.
I’ve been doing the Core Plan for about 3 weeks now and so far I’ve quite enjoyed being on something different. It has focused my mind a bit more. For a change, it’s also quite nice to be able to actively say “No” when offered things. For a while I had slipped into saying “yes, I’ll have that cake / biscuit / chocolate, and then reduce the points value of my dinner tonight” and guess what, that never happened. You can see from my graph below that for pretty much a year now, I’ve remained at the same general level. I lost 2 stone and stalled.
Today I lost another 1.5lbs. I had said that if I gained or remained the same I was going to go back onto the Points Plan. I’m glad that I did lose, for obvious reasons, but also because I have been enjoying the Core Plan and I’m now going to stick with it. I do think I have been eating portions slightly too large however so this week I intend to reduce the portion sizes that I eat.
I wasn’t perfect all week. I tried my best. We went to Becky and Dave’s at the weekend and Becky and Rosie had cooked a delicious meal as a birthday surprise for me. It wasn’t totally core but Becky is wonderful whenever I visit - buying skimmed milk and thinking about which foods are Weight Watcher friendly. I know I have nothing to worry about whenever I visit her!
Let’s see how I can do this week.
I’ve decided that perhaps documenting my diet trials and tribulations may help me in my quest to lose more weight.
I’m off to Weight Watchers right now, so let’s see how I do!
