HOW TO KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF... FOR GOOD LOSE UP TO A STONE FOR SUMMER
WITH WW, THE NEW... WEIGHT WATCHERS
IT’S tempting to imagine that life will be plain sailing once you’ve lost weight — but keeping the pounds at bay can be another challenge.
If you’ve set yourself the goal of losing a stone before the summer holidays you’ll probably be motivated by the numbers on your bathroom scales getting smaller every week and getting compliments from friends.
When you reach your goal you will be proud of a real achievement. But what then? Julia Westgarth, head of programme at WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, advises: ‘It’s important to see your new healthy eating and exercise programme as the way you live your life now, and focus on the positive changes you are enjoying — whether it’s wearing the skimpy summer clothes you’ve always dreamed of, or taking part in charity fun runs.
‘Take time to appreciate all the good things your weight loss has brought; better sleep, more energy, rediscovering your old wardrobe or buying a whole new one, enjoying new foods, or the fact you actually like exercise, or that you can happily play with your children or grandchildren — the list goes on.’
ENJOY CELEBRATIONS
BECAUSE the pioneering WW Freestyle programme is so flexible, it is easy to fit it into your life without feeling you are depriving yourself.
All food and drink is on the menu — it’s up to you to decide how to use your SmartPoints Budget (see page 2 of this pull out).
Freestyle’s rollovers are invaluable for this — they allow you to automatically carry forward up to four unused SmartPoints from your daily Budget to another day that week.
This allows you to enjoy celebrations, evenings out with friends and barbecues — so it encourages you to adopt Freestyle as a way of life rather than seeing it as a short-term ‘diet’.
Another big bonus is the ZeroPoints foods list of more than 200 items that you can eat freely without them counting towards your daily SmartPoints budget.
Most fruit and vegetables, pulses, all fish and seafood, chicken and zero-fat yoghurt are on the ZeroPoints food list — meaning you can still make the most of some of summer’s most delicious foods.
Today, in the final part of our
exclusive series, we’ve brought you more mouthwatering ideas for delicious, fuss-free dishes that will help you enjoy the summer months all the more, knowing you’re also staying on track with your weight-loss programme.
And once you’ve achieved your goals, you should find you’re loving your new life so much you’ll never want to give it up.
KEEPING YOURSELF MOTIVATED
This is where the Mindset element of the Freestyle programme comes in — using tried-and-tested techniques from the science of behaviour change to help you keep motivated to stay slim, active and healthy.
here, WW experts share some of their best tips to keep unwanted weight from creeping back.
Be realistic: The scales won’t always show the same numbers every day. it’s normal for weight to fluctuate slightly so don’t be too self-critical if you gain a few pounds one week. it’s what you do the next week that counts.
Keep active: Regular exercise is one of the keys to maintaining weight loss. Keep a record of what exercise you do and refer to it if the pounds start to creep back. Try a pedometer or another device that automatically tracks steps and exercise — and syncs to your WW account.
Weigh in: Keep up your regular weighing sessions so that you can keep a record of how your weight maintenance is going. if you’ve gained a few pounds, look back. have you been eating larger portions? Exercising less? You can always get back on track. You’ve done it before, so you can do it again.
Reward yourself: Celebrate maintenance milestones with a pedicure, a weekend away or an afternoon relaxing in the hammock with your favourite book. Set yourself new goals: Even if you’ve reached your ideal weight you can still set new fitness goals to keep you from getting stale. Try a different exercise class, for instance — or swap walking for swimming.
Let others inspire you: Get support and inspiration from WW Workshops or other people via the WW Connect social platform to join in discussions and share experiences. staying in touch with the people who helped you to lose the weight in the first place — your WW Coaches and other people on the Freestyle programme — will help you to keep up your good habits.
hearing about other people’s weight loss success can be inspiring and motivating. it makes you believe that you could also achieve what they did — and just imagine how that would transform your life!
see, on page 4, the incredible stories of three readers and how they lost nearly 17 stone between them and completely changed their health and happiness with WW Freestyle.