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How Penny shed the pounds
BBC Breakfast’s Penny Haslam reveals how she got her wiggle back in this third part of our exclusive Weight Watchers series
When Penny Haslam presented a Panorama repor t on the nation’s obesity problem two years ago, she didn’t consider herself part of that group. Until she saw herself on the show. Learning about overweight Britons – half of men and a third of women technically fall into that category – terrified Penny into realising something needed to be done. And so she started with herself.
‘My weight’s always yo-yoed – I’ve been a size 12 up to a 16 – but when I did that documentary I was 11½ stone, having never managed to lose the weight after having my daughter Daisy five years earlier,’ she says. ‘ I was asked to present it because of my experience as a business journalist – obesity is costing the NHS £5 billion a year – but when I watched myself back I thought, “Hang on, that’s not what I thought I looked like.” I’ve always prided myself on my appearance and I thought as an educated middle-class lady I knew about healthy eating, but I was in denial. I had a sticky- out tummy and my jackets didn’t look right. Daisy had just started school and for the first time, I felt like I had time to spend on me.’
Having worked with Weight Watchers on her documentary, it was an easy move for Penny to try using their weight loss system, and since then she’s managed to lose 2st, reaching her target weight of 9st 10lbs. As a result she’s become one of Weight Watchers’ celebrity advocates, and has written a report for the company focusing on our increasingly ‘toxic’ food environment. High-calorie fatty foodstuffs have never been more prevalent, and as scientists have recently shown, it’s all too easy to fall prey to ‘hedonic hunger’, which is a physiological response to fatty and sugary treats that makes us feel as if we’re genuinely hungry, even if we’ve just eaten. ‘Most of us live in a fast-paced modern environment,’ says Penny. ‘Everyone is tired and when you’re surrounded by food it’s hard to resist giving yourself a treat. You think, “I’ve worked hard, I deserve that.” It’s easy to pop into a coffee shop and have a latte and a muffin without realising you’re chucking 1,000 calories into your mouth for a snack, and you might be doing that two or three times a week.
‘We’ve taken our eye off the ball; we don’t focus on what we’re eating any more. Weight Watchers takes you back to basics and teaches you that the most important thing to do is look at what you’re eating.’
Rather than counting calories, Weight Watchers uses the revolutionary ProPoints plan which evaluates food according to its nutritional value and effect on weight loss. All members are given a daily allowance of ProPoints based on their weight, height, age and gender, plus a weekly ‘bonus’ allowance of 49 points. Penny has 26 ProPoints a day to play with and likes the flexible, guilt-free approach.
To keep track of her food intake, she’s constantly checking the Weight Watchers app on her phone. She’s also exercising again, running three times a week and cycling into the village near her Cheshire home. And the transformation has been incredible. She’s a size 10 for the first time in her adult life. ‘I finally have the body I’ve always wanted,’ she says. ‘I’m athletic and slim and I feel sassy. I never thought I’d be able to change my body, and the incredible thing is I’ve done it in my 40s. It’s very liberating.’
When 5ft 3in Penny started fitting into size 10 clothes, the first thing she did was throw out all her old work clothes. And then she bought herself some sexy underwear. ‘A matching bra and size 10 knickers in a racy colour,’ she laughs. ‘I definitely have more of a wiggle in my walk.’ Penny’s relationship with Daisy’s father ended when their daughter was just two (‘he’s a great father but wasn’t a great boyfriend’), and next year she’s getting married to Radio 5 Live presenter Steve Blears. ‘It’s a relief to know there’ll be no crash diet to fit into the wedding dress,’ she says.
Penny and Steve met 12 years ago, but as they were both with other people they became friends. ‘I would say it was love at first sight but we’re both morally against relationships outside of marriage and we never said anything about it to each other. We became friends and it was always very polite. Then we both split up with our partners around the same time. One night we were in a bar and I finally plucked up the courage to talk about it. ‘I said, “I don’t want to meet another new girlfriend of yours, I want us to be together.” And that’s when he told me he loved me.’
Steve has known Penny through fat and thin periods. Although he’s warned her he doesn’t want her to become a ‘skinny minnie’, he actively supports her weight watching. ‘The other night we were making a fish pie and he helped me change the recipe so that it was lower in ProPoints,’ she says. ‘He’s also become more interested in watching what he eats – we’re a team.’
Penny’s also been enjoying the reaction of friends. Some don’t even recognise her, while others just say, ‘Wow!’ But she says she detects a look of bitterness in some, a feeling she used to have herself when she saw her friends lose weight. ‘I remember being jealous when people slimmed down. I’d think, “I wish that was me”, or, “She’s so lucky”. But it’s nothing to do with luck. I’ve just worked really hard. But that doesn’t mean other people can’t too; it’s the best thing you can do for yourself.’
The presenter admits that until that Panorama documentary she didn’t see herself as overweight. Penny grew up in Stockport, where her father was an optician and her mother a college administrator. Having seen her mother’s weight constantly yo-yo, Penny thought she could never be thin. ‘I remember I once had a boyfriend who said something like, “I don’t mind your weight”, and while it hurt I didn’t really know what he meant. What was wrong with the way I looked? I was very much in denial. Now I realise I was too heavy.’
Having reached her target weight, Penny now has to focus on maintenance, and she’s determined not to fall off the wagon. ‘I’m enjoying looking good too much,’ she says. ‘Diets can be so punishing. You have something “naughty” and you feel instantly guilty. As women we have enough to worry about without self-flagellating because we slip up sometimes. Weight Watchers still allows you treats; if you want to have that scone and jam when you pick your daughter up after school, you just need to make sure you’ve kept your ProPoints down during the rest of the day. It stops you feeling guilty because you’re in control.’
Nicole Lampert