In 2011 I joined WW once again as I was sick of being overweight, I had my baby weight over 11 years at this stage and it was time for it to go. I got to my goal weight after 6 months wherein I lost 50 pounds. Fast forward to 2014 the year I got married to my wonderful husband Steven. Up until my wedding day I had maintained my weight loss by attending weekly WW classes but most importantly staying for the meetings. What an incredible feeling it was to be walking up the aisle in my dream Wedding Dress, a feeling that I will have forever. I never had much confidence in myself growing up, I was the quiet, spotty, curly haired kid who got bullied throughout her entire school years. It is only over the last number of years that I have started to learn how to love me and be confident in me, to be able to look in the mirror and be happy with what I see back. It’s safe to say, I’m not that quiet girl anymore, you can’t shut me up!! You can hear me laugh/talk before you see me! It’s strange though I still feel I’m that size 16 girl until I walk past a mirror and think wow that’s actually me, my hard work has really paid off. My motto in life is NEVER GIVE UP, if you get knocked down by a bad day or a bad week, so what, we are only human, get yourself back out there, you got this, you have come too far on your weight loss journey to give up now, there is no going back, only move forward. Fast forward 2015 I had my second child in the November of that year and got to goal again 10 months later. That goal was short lived though and only lasted a week to be precise ……an all-inclusive week in Ibiza short lived that goal as I came home 10 pounds heavier! I still dream of all those pastries the hotel had at breakfast time ha ha ! Fast forward again to 2018 I had my third and last baby in the July of that year. I reached goal once again Christmas week in 2019 and I am proud to say I am still in goal.
Lockdown 2020 came upon us all and I was afraid of coming out of my goal weight, so I came up with the idea of taking pictures of what I ate each day and posting it on our members page, Catherine Flanagan Members page on Facebook, that way I couldn’t lie about what I ate as I would have to post it and everyone would see it. For me, I can safely say posting my food daily has helped me maintain my goal weight. I don’t just post about food, I like to have a laugh and a giggle. Life has been so tough and challenging on us all especially over the last year, so I like to put humour into my posts. At the beginning of lockdown I didn’t think I needed the virtual workshops, but I did and I am so glad I did. I call our weekly workshop “The Noon Ladies” where I have met such a fabulous bunch of ladies in the weekly classes and we have such a laugh. I would be lost without our virtual zoom classes every Wednesday and our Wellness Coach Catherine Flanagan has been a rock of support to us all. What an incredible lady she is.
Our class took up the challenge of walking 30 minutes a day for “100 days of walking” on the 1st January 2020. I would never have walked every day before this challenge but ended up walking for the “363 days” and we continued the challenge this year also. I walk 5km every single day now and recently have taken up my favourite sport, swimming. I swim 3 nights a week and absolutely enjoy every minute of it. I haven’t figured out yet which I enjoy better, the “me time” in the pool or standing in a shower with no-one screaming “Mam” or as simple as putting on some nice moisturiser, do you know what , I will say ALL THREE! Our Wellness Coach Catherine Flanagan came up with the fantastic idea in January of this year to set a goal for the end of June, she called it the “June Reveal” . It was something positive for us to focus on and also gave us 6 months to work on our goals, whether that meant maintaining your current weight, or losing to reach your goals etc.
Weight Watchers has given me the opportunity to have met some beautiful people whom I call my friends today. Weight Watchers is not a quick fix, it’s a healthy eating lifestyle for LIFE. My success has come from hard work, determination, will power, the love of food, I hate food to be boring, I will NEVER have two meals the same in the week, I will always vary my foods. Variety is the spice of life after all. If you want success you must follow the plan, track, track and track your life away!! I have my notepad and pen always by my side. I do enjoy NutraCheck for the variety of meal options etc but call me old fashioned, I do love writing it down. I don’t eat unless I write it down, that’s my motto. I weigh everything I eat and my little food scales goes everywhere with me. I have an address book wherein I write down foods that I have weighed etc, regular foods that I would eat, so I have a handy place alphabetically to find them, a fabulous tip our Wellness Coach Catherine Flanagan gave us a few years ago. Your dreams are achievable, you just need to believe in yourself, like I have done. ”NEVER GIVE UP”
Paula Hearty