Weight Watchers Diary: Week 8

Her.ie girls Amy and Patricia are getting back on plan after the festive season and are determined to start their January with some positive and healthy changes.

This week the girls are talking about dealing with those pesky chocolate cravings, tracking everything and racking up the number of steps on the pedometre.

Twice a week, Amy and Patricia will be giving an in depth look at what it's really like to live life while following the Weight Watchers plan. To keep up with the girls' journey, make sure you check out their previous diary entry by clicking here.

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Name: Amy Wall

Meeting: Carmelite Community Centre Whitefriar, 56 Auinger St., Dublin, Dublin 2

Starting Weight: 11 stone 9lbs

Current Weight: 10 stone 13lbs

I won't lie. Since Christmas I've been struggling to get back into my Weight Watchers mindset.

There are still tins of sweets lying around my house and my willpower is getting weaker every single time I walk past them. I can practically hear the chocolates calling my name! It's been tough but I've managed to resist so far. I'm actually glad I have a weigh-in tomorrow because it's helping to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Since my last weigh-in I've returned to the basics of the ProPoints programme. Losing those two pounds last week bolstered my motivation and I decided to just keep things simple. I've been tracking like mad, making sure that I eat my ProPoints every single day and making conscious choices about the food that I eat.

That being said, I have been having some major junk food cravings. Now, don't get me wrong. Chocolate is not banned on the WeightWatchers plan (no food is) but I tend to stay away from it for personal reasons - namely I can't just eat one or two bars. Chocolate is like a trigger food for me. One bar just isn't enough!

My leader Mary always says that having a little bit of what you fancy won't do you any harm. And after weigh-in tomorrow I'm planning on using some of my weekly ProPoints allowance to treat myself to one of my favourite bars of chocolate. I think that her attitude is spot on and I think that having a ProPoints budget will also help my willpower. If I know that I can only have one bar, I imagine I'll be able to cut off my cravings before they spiral out of control.

It's hard to believe that we're over halfway through our Weight Watchers challenge now. I only have another 7lbs to go until I reach my goal weight. I'm not sure if I'll manage to achieve it before the challenge ends but I already know that Weight Watchers is something I'll stick with, whether I'm writing about it for Her.ie or not.

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Name: Patricia Murphy

Meeting: Carmelite Community Centre, Whitefriar, 56. Aungier St. Dublin, Dublin 2

Starting Weight: 14 stone 11lbs

Current weight: 14 stone 4lbs

Getting back into my pre-Christmas routine was tough this week and if I hadn’t returned to class on Wednesday I think I would be in for a major downfall. This week I have been focusing on tracking every single ProPoint which, if I’m honest, hasn’t been my strong spot so far with Weight Watchers. I have also made a huge batch of zero ProPoint vegetable soup most of which has been put in the freezer for a quick lunchtime defrost.

Over Christmas I hadn’t been wearing my most important accessory, my pedometer, but the device has firmly been returned and just like before Christmas I am determined to rack up those steps and in turn some Activity ProPoints. The hardest part is getting your runners on and getting out of the house, but now that Christmas is over, Spring and Summer wardrobes are just around the corner and I want to feel more comfortable in my skin when I dump my greys and blacks in favour of some bright colours.

I have once again invested in the Weight Watchers magazine and I always love the abundance of new ideas and recipes. This month’s addition is particularly helpful and I have my eye on a delicious chili beef stirfry for later on in the week. The issue also carried a helpful guide to cinema snacking which I thought was extremely enlightening for any regular movie goer. I have a weakness for pick and mix but I think I will leave the shovel where it is next time and sneak in some healthy fruit salad and a curly wurly because the ProPoint values are horrific!

I hope next week is a success on the Weight Watchers scales. Now that January is here I am motivated to keep making changes in 2013 and challenging myself in new ways. 

Do you want to join Amy and Trisha? Find your nearest Weight Watchers classes here.