JOE’s Weight Watchers Challenge Week 10

We're almost at the finishing straight of JOE's Weight Watchers Challenge. Check out below how our three challengers got on this week.

---

Joe Mulligan
Class: Ted Lavelle's, Achill Island
Starting weight: 21st 10lbs
Current weight: 18st 9lbs

I know I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record, but I got on absolutely brilliant this week. I managed to lose another four pounds. I’m now down to 18.9 pounds so I have lost just over 3 stone. Now, I’m within 6 and a half pounds from where I’d like to be so I’m absolutely delighted.

When I started the challenge I decided I was going to do it and do it right and put the effort in. My head was in the right place from day one. Anytime anything started going slightly wrong or whenever there has been a day where I over indulged I’ve rectified it immediately. I haven’t allowed myself to make excuses whether it’s for not exercising or for over eating and that really helped to shift the weight.

I done a bit of reading before the challenge and a decent weight loss was projected at two pounds a week, so I thought at the end of the whole process that if I’m down by about 22 pounds or just over a stone and a half I’d be doing well. I’ve now blown that out of the water with the three stone weight loss.If anyone told me at the start of this that I would even be even thinking of losing weight like that I wouldn’t have believe them.

Like I was saying the other week, I set myself small targets and that’s certainly working. I’m hitting my goals in terms of miles and I’m also managing to get out nearly every day too and this week alone I walked 30 miles. And I certainly felt it when I stepped on the scales.

For anyone out there looking to lose a few pounds I’d say make up your mind that you want to lose it. Don’t kid yourself and make sure to put in genuine effort. It’s all about just being honest with yourself. We all have a tendency to lose ourselves and make excuses for whatever we want and in our own minds it makes perfect sense. For me it was just deciding that I was going to do this and do it right and any time I fell off the wagon I just got back on.

Believe it or not the ProPoints™ was the one area I slipped up on this week. Up to now I was staying comfortably under my daily allowance.

Part of that was because I was looking at eating to maintain my weight instead of eating to lose more. But I’m going to make sure to remedy that for the week to come. I’m going to keep the pedal to the metal for this final stretch. With only six and a half pounds to go I would love to see that fall off over the next two weeks.

---

Darren Savage
Class: Carmelite Community Centre, Whitefriar
Starting weight: 17st 13lbs
Current weight: 16st 7lbs

I’m actually down three and a half pounds this week. I wasn’t expecting to lose much this week seeing as I had a wedding to go to. There was a fair bit of drink and a luscious four-course meal, not to mention the full Irish the next morning. So I thought it would all be pretty damming. Then with the weather being so good during the week I went for a few pints with friends. So I was expecting to be up by two or three pounds you know. But when I hopped up on the scales and saw I dropped three and a half pounds I was pleasantly surprised.

I’ve been walking in and out of work every day, which is three and a half kilometres, and I’ve been pretty vigilant about that too. I could get the bus from outside the door but I want to walk, you know.

I’m also finding that plating 5-a-side football once a week really helps and we’re now trying to get a second night going as well. So At least I’m getting a bit of exercise in that way.

I’m definitely feeling healthier, even just walking into work. I walk at a brisk pace and when I started first walking in I was sweating a bit, but not really anymore and I’m walking quicker too. I’ve cut about six to seven minutes off my walk to work each way, so I don’t know if that’s because I’m getting healthier or I’m just that bit more aerodynamic from losing the weight.

Like we were saying before, I used to get a bit of the three o’clock slump but I’m not really getting that anymore which helps for work and that.

I certainly think the meetings help too. Our leader, Mary O'Donoghue, is really good and the meetings are always very supportive. The support and atmosphere in the class really helps and Mary sends us emails once a week with tips and tricks and all that information makes it that much easier. She goes above and beyond the call of duty and she’s really pleasant and really friendly. I’m sure she’s sick of my excuses and pessimism before every weigh-in, but it’s great to have someone like that helping.

I’m not too sure what to set my eyes on for the final two weeks. I’m down a stone and a half now at this stage so I suppose I’d like to lose the other half stone by the end of the two weeks but I’ve actually got a few more weeks on my Weight Watchers card so I’m going to keep going even after the challenge.

I’ll just put more focus into it and try to maintain a more controlled weight loss. I’d happily go to the meetings after the challenge just so I stay at a constant weight and to make sure I don’t shoot back up. Like, before I managed to drop three stone in a year but then that slowly started creeping back up, so the long term aim would be to lose it and keep it off.

---

Aaron Chalke
Class: St Mary's Parish Hall, Haddington Road
Starting weight: 15st
Current Weight: 14st 5lbs

I got on alright this week, I stayed the same weight. I think I can pin point not losing anything on just not getting out for enough runs. I’d definitely like to get out for a few more this week.

I’ve been eating a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables, so I think that was certainly a step in the right direction. I’m certainly feeling a bit healthier after eating the fruit and veg, like they’re handy snacks to keep close to you, you know. Instead of biscuits or chocolate I’ll just grab a piece of fruit or cut up some vegetables. The same is true for work. Instead of having a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar on break I’ll just snack on something healthy.

I’ve been keeping a rough eye on the ProPoints this week, but I didn’t count them religiously.

I’d like to lose another five pounds before the challenge is up. If I managed to lose the stone I’d be happy. I just lost the five pounds I’d be happy too. Once I put the head down I should be able to lose it.

If I was to give anyone advice on losing a bit of weight I definitely say stick to fruit and vegetables for snacks and make sure to stay away from take-a-ways. Exercise is key as well. Like it can be a bit more expensive trying to live the healthy lifestyle, but it’s definitely a worthy investment.

I’ll be looking to shift about five pounds over the final two weeks, so fingers crossed.

Check back next week to see how the lads fared out in Week 11. We'll also have healthy Weight Watchers recipes every week in our Health & Fitness section for the next three months. For more information on Weight Watchers, check out their website over yonder.