Weight Watchers diary: Week 1

Starting today, JOE is giving two lucky readers free Weight Watchers classes for the next twelve weeks. The only catch was that they would share their experiences our readers.

Peter Cooney and Roger Wheeler have volunteered to keep a diary of their programme as they look to shed a few unwanted pounds in the run-up to Christmas.

In our first diary entry, both men tell us of their first class on the programme and what they hope to achieve by undertaking the plan.

Good luck lads!

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Name: Peter Cooney

Meeting: Thomas Davis GAA Club, Tallaght

Height: 5’ 10”

Current weight: 13 stone 13.5 lbs

I kept putting off sorting my moobs (man boobs) out, so when this opportunity arose, I grasped it with two small chubby hands.

There was once a time when I was a lot slighter than I am now, weighing in at a lovely 11 stone...at a push. I had holes in my lip, centimetre large holes in my ears, wore very fashionable bootcut jeans (remember them?), and was a fan of skin hugging t shirts. I was in essence a Jack & Jones pin up boy...except that they didn’t pay me nor was I actually very attractive.

My journey up the rungs of heaviness - none broken I might add - began when I was with the missus on a romantic trip to Budapest. We were out one evening trying to find somewhere to eat, when we began to argue. I was right, obviously. I’m a very fussy eater, so the idea of eating Indian back then was absolutely wild. Anyways, we were standing outside an Indian, Shalimar on Dob Utca in case you were wondering and I just said “f*ck it, we’re going in here”. Little did I know that I had just bought a first class ticket on the Moobsville express.

Fast forward four years and three stone later, here I am, writing about my first Weight Watchers experience.

Peter is hoping to shed a few pounds and also find his iron

I was quite apprehensive about the first meeting, as I thought I would be the only lad in there. Of course, I was the only lad in there. The leader, Geraldine, made me feel right at home and any issues I had with the lopsided demographic soon disipitated. Geraldine, ensured that all new members were introduced to the group and it made discussing ones goals and weight loss issues publicly a lot easier than I had anticipated.

Whilst, its early days, I feel the information I gleaned in my first meeting will hold me in good stead. Geraldine sat with myself and three other new members at the end of the meeting to go through the whole programme, which was super, as I was confused about the whole ProPoints system.

On a psychological level, the meeting was overwhelmingly positive as I left feeling motivated and the leader would not accept any maybe’s, it was always I can, I will etc.

So I leave you for this week, filling in my tracker, a pint is six ProPoints, so hopefully next week Ill have something to report and a little less fat banging about my waist and have made a small but vital step towards being my old ridey self.

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Name: Roger Wheeler

Meeting: Castle Arch Hotel, Trim

Height: 6’0”

Current weight: 15 stone 7.5lbs.

My first class was on Wednesday night at 7pm, with Jenny as our leader. I have attended Weight Watchers classes in the past and found the weight loss method worked well for me before. When I found the weight creeping up again, I felt it was time to do something about it and return!

Feeling a bit nervous going in to what I expected to be a class of women, I was reassured to see two other men. I discovered I was a little heavier than what the scales lead me to believe at home - 15st 7.5lbs. Jenny told me to concentrate on the 7.5lbs first and take it from there which I found to be a good starting point.

Roger hopes to get back into sports with the new plan

I’m going to follow the ProPoints plan as I find tracking what I eat the best way to make progress. One of the main things I need to tackle are portion sizes and changing the way we cook dinners at home. After the meeting I went home and my wife made the 0 ProPoints soup so I’m feeling positive already. I plan on getting back into running again and playing football with my local club to give me some extra ProPoints for the weekends!