The tastiest way to a slimmer summer
Want to enjoy your freedom without those this summer lose extra pounds? You could astone* byJulywithour delicious new WW series...
Summer and the freedom to enjoy it is just round the corner. Lazy afternoons with friends in the park, a family gathering, a staycation beach holiday or shopping for new clothes – these are all simple pleasures we’ve dreamed of for so long.
Yet the prospect of shedding those winter layers and exposing extra lockdown pounds as the weather warms up can be daunting. Successive lockdowns have taken a toll on our waistlines – research shows half of us had put on weight by the end of 2020.
And on top of this, many of us are still counting the cost of Christmas indulgences followed by a winter where our health may have taken a back seat, whether due to the pressures of trying to combine working from home with helping children to home-school, or the temptation to cheer ourselves up with an extra biscuit or another glass of wine.
‘The last year has been tough on all of us in many ways – but we can’t change the past,’ says Julia Westgarth, Head of Programme at WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers. ‘So be kind to yourself and don’t reproach yourself if you did put on weight or got unfit – but resolve to do something positive about it now.’
That’s why the Irish Mail on Sunday has teamed up with WW to bring you this fabulous new series to help you get into the best possible shape to celebrate this summer’s relaxing of lockdown rules. If you begin today you could be nearly a whole stone lighter and a dress size smaller by the end of June.
Starting in today’s Magazine, and continuing all next week in special Irish Daily Mail pullouts, we’ll share expert tips to help you shape up and shed unwanted weight as well as advice on how to
adopt a positive mindset and cope with stress. And we’ll also be sharing a selection of tempting, healthy WW recipes based on delicious summer ingredients.
No food is off-limits – you can tuck into a bowl of mango lassi bircher muesli for breakfast, followed by spiced chicken, lentil and squash salad for lunch, rounded off with a dinner of spaghetti with chilli, cherry tomatoes and prawns – all these dishes are featured in today’s recipe pages.
There are sweet treats too, such as summery Pimm’s ice lollies (p31) or an indulgent grilled fruit salad with burnt sugar and lime yoghurt (p30). But everyone’s needs are different when it comes to losing weight. That’s why myWW offers you three plans to choose from – Green, Blue and Purple – depending on the kind of foods you like to eat and how you live your life (see panel below). All three are based on WW’s scientifically proven system of SmartPoints and ZeroPoint foods, and you’ll lose the same amount of weight whichever plan you choose. But it’s not just about losing weight; based on the science of proven behaviour-change techniques, WW’s flexible, holistic wellbeing programme myWW can also help you to get fitter, sleep better and adopt a more contented outlook. ‘Whatever your goals, myWW is there to help,’ says Julia. ‘And because happier people make healthier choices, myWW is underpinned by an extensive package of mindset tools to help you see the world
more positively, which in turn makes it easier to achieve your health, fitness and personal goals.’
A good place to start is by taking WW’s personalised online assessment. It’ll guide you as to which plan will best suit your lifestyle and the food you like to eat, and will help you prioritise the elements of your health you’d like to change (see box on p31 for membership details). All membership plans offer access to thousands of tried-and-tested, delicious, healthy WW recipes, support from WW coaches, WW digital tools and the support of an online community via the WW platform Connect. WW has expert coaches ready to welcome and gently guide you through building healthier habits into your daily routines.
All our coaches started out as WW members and learned to successfully follow the myWW plan and to value the group engagement and support that significantly contributes to achieving short and long term health goals to encourage you to find successful ways to adopt healthier habits for life. ‘Whatever your lifestyle, the flexibility of WW means there’s a plan and an approach that’ll work for you,’ says Julia Westgarth.
MyWW is realistic and achievable; you will steadily lose weight – between ½lb and 2lb a week is a healthy and realistic goal – meaning you could be a stone lighter in seven weeks’ time. And with myWW you’ll also discover a new, healthy way of life that means you’ll stay in good shape once summer is past.