I have just written a post on a forum which I belong to in relation to my personal thoughts on Weight Watchers. I thought you might lile to read it as well..
I have to say that against all the success shown here I am pretty much against the whole concept of Weight Watchers. Here is why - the stats are something along the lines of a 90% FAILURE rate.... That is astounding but true. Sure it does work for some but for 90% they put the weight back on. Do they not want you to fail so you keep going back and giving them money??? Seems absurd to have a consumer business that wants you to stop being a customer...
It is also a waste of money IMHO. I now what I am talking about. I am a short arse but managed to lose 70lbs of weight - actually far more as I have probably put on 20lbs in muscle mass as well.
To me it is a flawed plan because it does not have exercise as an integral component. Ok you lose some weight by not eating lots of rubbish but you NEED excerize to keep it off and boost your metabolism.
Weight loss is the most simple thing in the world (unless you are eating emotionally). Here is the gospel according to David Pearce and what I have learnt:-
1. Do not eat white pasta, rice, bread. Eat wholemeal/wholegrain versions of these instead.
2. Cut out all processed fat and eat good fats (from fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel and veg like avocado and use olive oil)
3. Eat in proportion. Have one medium chicken breast, 2 or 3 small potatoes (think 2 golf ball size) and then half a plate full of fresh vegetables.
4. Drink lots of water
5. Do not eat crisps, cakes, chocolate, candy, fizzy drinks or booze.
6. Do not have any sugar in your tea or coffee and do not have Latte or Cappuccino coffee's. i.e., not too much milk.
7. Eat lots of fruit to snack on.
8. Get moving - move for at least 1 hour per day at an intensity that allows you to just about to talk sporadically. You NEED to sweat! Clearly consult a Dr first though etc etc. This can be done in 2 sessions if you like.
9. Eat well and enough!!!! I cannot stress this enough. You need to eat to FUEL your weight loss. If your body gets little food then it will go into starvation mode. It will then store all fats as fat as it will not know when the next meal will come. If you are training you need to take this into account as well. You need to fuel your training.
10. WW is all about will power. Eventually, be it 1 year or 10 years that will power will get the better of you. I used to drink a bottle of wine a night plus some beer or whisky. I no longer even THINK about doing this or miss it. I drink once a week and that is usually it. I have 600-700 bottles of wine in my house which I look at all day. I have no desire to open then on a week day evening - I am not fighting my will power at all. I am in 100% control as it is not even in my thought process.
11. Give yourself a physical goal. If you go out training hard you are not going to want to eat that cake. You know that that 60 minute run will be totally 100% destroyed by eating that candy bar within just 2 minutes. If you must have a treat, then just have a single square of chocolate - this will satisfy your craving until they totally subside. Enter a local 10k race near you at some point in the future - this will be your goal and your passion and drive to succeed will overcome your urges to eat rubbish food. My goal is this years New York marathon.
12. Do weight training. More muscle means your body needs more calories on a daily basis to survive. You will therefore burn fat more easily.
13. Ditch the scales - that is the one biggest detrimental factor of WW. YOU should be doing excersize which will invariable tone you up. That means your muscles are getting toned and stronger. This is good. Muscle weigh 5 times as much as fat as it is so much more dense. So the scales might stay the same but you could have lost 2lbs in fat and put 2lbs on in muscle... Go by your shape and how you feel. Are your clothes getting loose? can you fit into a pair of jeans you haven't been able to for years?
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