Weight Watchers diary: Week 9

It's our first weigh-in for the New Year and the boys are back up on the scales to see if they continued their good work over Christmas.

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Name: Peter Cooney
Meeting: Thomas Davis GAA Club, Tallaght
Starting weight: 13 stone 13.5lbs
Current weight: 12 stone 8.5lbs

If your body is a temple, then this temple is missing bricks. The first appearance at the altar of weight loss since Christmas was heavenly. Whilst I felt myself dancing with the devil, or Toffee Pennies as Nestle call them, I must have had the ProPoints angel sitting on my shoulder.

As the weigh-in day approached, I tried my best to track and follow the programme, but I kept straying from the path. I lost sight of the light. So it was with much trepidation that I stood upon the scales. The moment of reckoning was now...

I closed my eyes and the sounds of the room evaporated. I was enveloped by a fear enduced darkness. In the distance I heard Geraldine ask how I was. Almost involuntarily I stood upon the scales. One eye slowly began to open. Then I heard the most beautiful sentence I may have ever heard, or at least heard in the last few weeks: ‘You’ve lost three pounds, well done, thats great’. Both eyes were now open, an angelic figure bathed in white light stood there. My eyes focused in as the black ink revealed 12 stone 8 ½ lbs.

I did it. I beat Christmas. I beat it good. I felt like Sly Stallone in Cliffhanger when he beat the cliff, or in Daylight when he found daylight. I felt bloody great!

You probably don't recognise me from nine weeks ago. I'm transformed.

I don’t really know how I managed to get through the Christmas period without gaining weight, in fact losing weight. I can only attribute it to my attitdude created by following the ProPoints plan. Whilst I have fallen off the wagon and cut my knees a little bit, I guess part of me was still on the wagon and giving me a hand up.

I’m well and truly fastened back in now and speeding towards my goal weight. Of course, you shouldn’t speed as it is not very safe. But for the purpose of this analogy it is most perfectly acceptable as I am not in an actual vehicle, so I can’t endanger people by speeding. I will be losing weight so I will only be affecting myself and the smiling eyes of those who are lucky enough to see me.

This weekend I have to go to a wedding, so thankfully I look dapper in my new suit and that, my good friends, is solely down to the ProPoints plan. I just hope that I can fit back in it after the wedding. I say I hope, but I know I will, as thanks to the ProPoints plan I will be able to budget my ProPoints and make the right decisions.

Til next week y’all.

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Name: Roger Wheeler
Meeting: Castle Arch Hotel, Trim
Starting weight: 15 stone 7.5lbs
Current weight: 14 stone 5.5lbs

I am now after completing my ninth week of the Weight Watchers programme and I am proud to report another loss, four whole pounds. Yes, that's right, a total weight loss of 16 and a half pounds or one stone two pounds in just nine weeks. Either way I'm absolutely delighted.

My class leader Jenny was thrilled for me and rewarded me with a shiny stone to symbolise the stone that I have lost so far. This has now taken up a central spot on the mantle piece where I can remind myself of the work done and weight loss to-date.

Over the last week I kept the pound gain in my head and thought of the feeling I got as I stepped off the scales. This was the motivation I needed to crack down and get back on the programme. This week I went back to basics. I had become a little complacent in my tracking and could see myself slipping back into the old habits of measuring things by eye instead of weighting them out, my portions sizes started to increase a little with the fruit and veg count lowering.

The pounds continuing to drop

Planning my meals with my wife made things easier again as we knew what we were having most evenings. The Weight Watchers cook book came in very handy with their extensive list of recipes that are very easy to prepare and most take between 25-45 minutes to prepare, which is ideal for people who come in after work.

I started back running this week after my little Christmas break and found it is always best to get some form of exercise in as it really does help when you’re following this programme.

I feel the combination of exercise, weighing your food stuffs and tracking is the key to success on this program. I tracked everything this week and found that the app for my iPhone was a great aid. This allows me to calculate the ProPoints values of my food and it will also tell me how many ProPoints I have remaining for the day.

This week I'll continue with my habits in tracking and weighing out food and weather permitting I can maintain my outdoor exercise program which is now a big part of my New Year’s resolution.

Signing off for now over one stone lighter. Hopefully there will more positive news to report next week.