<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/12712877/?claim=2yjhbww97b2">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
My journey with Slimming World started just before
I became engaged we became engaged.
Since starting University in 2009 I have struggled with my weight. Living on my own and having nobody to relay on to make my meals made me lazy and I would prefer to grab a burger rather than make a good meal. Living at home, my mum was able to manage my potion sizes and watch what I ate, meaning I alway had a balanced diet and was slim with out trying hard.
Over the the past 5 years my weight has steadily gone from a 10 stone to 12 stone 13 pounds. While at University this didn't really bother me too much as I was far too busy partying and generally having a good time. Whenever people mentioned I had gained weight I would always brush it off and say I would lose it when I have finished Uni and don't have a dissertation to worry about. Well this soon came around and the weight stayed.
Moving into our first home together didn't help, we always tried to cook healthy meals but a lot of the time finishing work would mean we would much rather grab something quick.
Having tried fad diets in the past I knew this wasn't for me. I tried Herbalife in the past, I found this was a quick fix to weight loss. I did this for about a month and lost around half a stone. But the negatives really out weighed the positives, for me I see food as a social activity and I hated saying oh I'm just having a shake for lunch On top of this I was starving, and when I say starving I literally mean I was angry I was that hungry all the time. In general it made me very unhappy, so needless to say this didn't last long, and as soon as it stop the weight just crept back on.
My journey really started on 1st April 2014 ( yes I know April fools day but I was ready to take things seriously). I weighed up the options between joining online and finding a group. For me if i had to attend a group every week it would be more motivational for me and would mean I had make a conscious effort to go. I decided to join on my own as at that time I didn't really know if any one would be up for joining with me.
Initially the first meeting blew my mind!!! Lots of talk about Free foods, speed foods, super frees, A choice, B choice I left the group feeling confused. When you join you are given a welcome pack which is now like my bible. I went home from the first meeting and read the pack cover to cover and I found I could really get my head into it.
The founding principles with Slimming World is it is a lifestyle change. I found working in an office was hard as there is temptation all around, whether it is someones birthday or someone just baked a cake, there is always something to snack on and this was my biggest down fall. Slimming World really encourages you to snack on the right things. I substituted all my snacks for fruit and everyday at work I made sure I had enough supplies to take me through the day, this way I could avoid temptation.
Slimming World really works on the basis that by being on a 'diet' you needn't miss out on anything. I didn't miss any social occasions, ate food I enjoyed and could still have treats. The Slimming World website is really helpful as it gives you meal plans, from breakfast to snacks and from quick lunches to catering for a dinner party. I found that this tool really helped me as I could plan what I was eating through the week and this in turn made it a lot easier to stick to the plan. The main changes I found was eating a smaller breakfast portion, and not something packed full of sugar and changing my snacking. As long as you combine this with healthy lunches and dinners you can still have a little bit of what you fancy.
A few months into my journey I moved areas to Doncaster, here I joined Vicky's group at Carcroft. I went from attending a group where I sat on my own and nobody really spoke to me to being really involved and feeling very welcomed. Vicky offers a lot of support throughout the class, sharing her personal stories and how she may have come back from a bad meal. I found her classes are really up beat and my weigh loss came on a lot since joining her group. I think finding a group that I loved really helped my weight loss, and I can honestly say with out Vicky's guidance I may have had slips and not reached my target. She really is a fantastic consultant!
Here are some of my top tips:
- Muller Light yogurts became my saviour are they are also quite sweet.
- Snacking on fruit.
- Making sure you have good snacks at work or on the go it is amazing how it helps.
- Changing from full fat fizzy drinks to diet. This was a big thing for me as I love Coke.
- Swapping your full fat caramel lattes for an americano as the sugar content is sky high.
- Planning ahead so you have in the right foods for lunch and tea so you cannot be tempted with the ready meals.
- keep a food diary, you will be less tempted to run astray if you have to consciously write it down.
Below are a few pictures of my journey. I reached my target weight of 10 stone on 17th November after being a member for 35 weeks. So the next chapter is sticking to it. I am going to introduce more treats and a combination of more gym sessions to become more toned is my next step.
Before
University Summer Ball May 2011
May 2011
September 2011
After
Becoming a target member
Christmas 2014
January 2014
If you are trying to became a slimmer bride. Good Luck.
Faye
