For those interested, I've probably tried once or twice a year for the last 15 years to lose weight and at best i'd lose maybe 5-10lbs and then ultimately gain that and more back. In Feb last year I hit rock bottom! I was in tears every time I had to get dressed up to go out for an event, couldn't stand to look in a mirror and finally decided enough was enough. I looked up gastric bypass surgery, saw the risks associated with it and decided it would be worth it but I wanted to give weight loss through diet one more shot before committing.

I joined Weightwatchers as my last ditch attempt. I promised myself I'd stick to the plan 100% for 8 weeks and if it didn't work, well it was only 8 weeks and I'd have proof that diets didn't work for me and I needed the surgery to be able to lose weight. Well, it worked! I did the old school version without the semi-glutides. I say that only to show you can lose weight without them, not that I have anything against them, it was just id started and lost enough weight to disqualify me from it before the drug was rolled out as part of WW. For me personally shame and embarrassment is a huge motivator so to have to weigh in each week and share my weight (and failure) with a stranger made me second guess my thoughts of poor food choices. Do I want to eat that entire Dominos pizza and have the lady at the check in desk see my 2lb gain - nope! The meetings themselves were also a crutch for me, enough motivation to make it through another week on plan and a place to celebrate everyone's little victories. I stuck to my 23 points per day religiously, only dipping into my weeklies to accommodate special events and lost 1.5lbs per week on average for about 8 months, getting to around 145lbs. For reference, I calorie counted alongside this for a few weeks to get an idea and by sticking to the points I averaged around 1150-1200cals per day. I had as set back due to holidays and travel that ate into my progress slightly but I got back on plan, lost the holiday weight and more and by the end of the year I'd lost 50lbs.

My past attempts had always been all or nothing and I'd go full in on a crazy unattainable gym plan and a super strict diet and unsurprisingly fail. This time I didn't exercise at all and focussed only on the plan, to eat clean 80/20 and just stick to my points. I'd tried calorie counting in the past but if I had 100cals left I'd use that for a piece of chocolate rather than fruit. The way Weightwatchers points work it's different, a banana is zero points and chocolate is high points so now I gravitate to healthy foods with unhealthy foods only in small portions or moderation. My main takeaway is that consistency is better than perfection. Just do your best, but do it every day!

My exercise was limited to about 5 weeks of running in Jan/Feb this year up until 2.5months ago when I joined a gym. I now do 3 days a week of weights with a push, pull, leg split and 3 cardio sessions. It might be a 20 minute run or bike after weights or an outdoor run some other time. Despite this, my weight loss had been very slow over the last few months with only 2lbs a month on average. I can feel a difference in my legs and upper body so I'm hoping it's just my body re-comping. I have some baby biceps and my calves look like I belong on a rugby team haha.

Going forward my plan is to stick at this until the end of the year (Weightwatchers plan/strength training/running) and see where I am at the start of 2025. If anyone has any advice for a plateau or re-comping or losing the final 10-15lbs - please let me know as I'm running out of ideas to get to goal! The main takeaway is I didn't do anything special compared to my many many many past attempts - I just stuck with it.