An ode to Slimming World - I'm back in the game!

Some of you may know that I’ve been on Slimming World for a year now and I joined a group in order to lose weight in the lead-up to my Wedding. After nearly a month of celebrations for the wedding and honeymoon, and then being lazy and lacking will-power for a few months afterwards, I’ve put on the 12lbs I lost and am back at square one!

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret a single moment of eating and drinking exactly what I wanted at the wedding and when on honeymoon. Life is way too short to not enjoy yourself at times like that. But I am disappointed that in the 6 months since that amazing time of my life, I haven’t re-gained the will-power I had and have been pretty much eating thoughtlessly. Frustratingly it took 6 months for me to lose 12lbs and less than half that time to put it back on. Naughty Holly!

I’ve been intermittently back at my Slimming World group, but my heart hasn’t been in it. I was finding the whole process very frustrating and was lacking the motivation to get back into food optimising properly. And let me tell you, if your heart isn’t in it, you won’t lose weight! So I took a step out for a few weeks, was super busy at work and just didn’t think about it very much…

Then something clicked…and I’m not entirely what it was, but I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere! I was putting on weight slowly but surely, I was feeling unfit and I didn’t enjoy shopping or wearing my clothes. This is not a nice head-space to be in and it’s destructive. As with people who like food, when you’re down or feeling crap, you eat more! And I guess that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been a bit in denial and not thinking enough.

So on Thursday, I took a deep breath and made my way back to group for the first time in weeks…

Seeing everyone’s smiling and supportive faces at group made me instantly feel at ease and not alone. The anxiety of going back disintegrated in that moment and I was back in the game! Now I know results aren’t going to be instant, but I’m going to focus more and make small, gradual changes. I know I enjoy food and eating out, so that’s not going to stop. But I’m going to try and food optimise as much as I can throughout the week to counter-balance this. I’m going to try and make more informed choices where I can.

So this week, my first change is to pack in the super-free foods…ie vegetables! And I’m going to plan my meals. After buying this month’s Slimming World magazine, there are some seriously yummy recipes in there, so there’s no excuse! I mean look at these…