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Weight and see

Jeni Harvey
19/ 1/2008

LIKE most people, I overindulged at Christmas. Wine, port, cheeses, chocolate, mountains of roast potatoes, home-made puddings, extra-large gin and tonics – you name it, I wolfed it and by early January my jeans were feeling the strain.

So rather than burying my weighing scales in the sand and carrying on with this Epicurean existence, I decided to sign up to a slimming group.

But, doing my research, I discovered that many clubs were plain daft. I wasn’t standing for anything that limited how much fruit or veg I could eat – surely there’s something wrong in putting a cap on healthy food – and, as a vegetarian, any Atkins-style meatathon was out of the question.

So, aware that if I tried to do it on my own I’d only cheat and end up digging into pizzas and curries, I decided to join up to Slimming World.

At first glance, the plan seemed very do-able. Most people get to choose each day whether they’re following the ‘red’ or ‘green’ plan but, as a veggie, every day would be a green day for me.

Easy peasy, I thought – the food I usually eat anyway is ‘free’ on a green day, meaning you can eat as much of it as you like. Unlimited fruit and veg – including potatoes – unlimited Quorn, unlimited pasta. Great.

In fact, looking back over what I’d eaten the last week, I was virtually doing the plan anyway, aside from a few tweaks such as cooking without oil and avoiding too much cheese.

That was until I looked at the alcohol allowance. It looked very realistic, perhaps generous, until I realised I was misreading the chart. Apparently where I’d thought it meant bottles of wine, it meant small glasses. Oh dear.

Now, I’m no alcoholic, but I like wine. I like sharing a nice bottle over food, perhaps getting through a couple of large glasses every other night.

And then there’s Friday and Saturday nights out on top of that, when I might have a few pints, a couple of glasses of wine and finish off with gin and tonics.

That’s when I began to realise where my problems may lie – especially when I brought the inevitable 3am takeaway into consideration. Weekends have been my downfall.

So on Thursday night, full of determination, I found myself in a Slimming World class at Bamford Bowling Club, run by super-slimmer Laura Sousa.

Laura lost more than two stone four years ago in preparation for her wedding and now encourages other people to start living healthily.

She still follows the plan religiously and explained that it’s fine to splurge on chips and chocolate once in a while. Very helpfully, she also gave me handy hints on how to get the maximum gin and slimline tonics out of the plan – so I could still go to the pub without sitting there like Mary Whitehouse.

The group was very friendly, with men and women of all ages, shapes and sizes there. Quite a lot of them were about the same size as me, which was a good sign – especially as most of them were losing two or three pounds a week. After a good hour of sharing slimming tips and discussing previously alien concepts such as ‘syns’ (sinful food that’s in synergy with your diet) and ‘healthy extras’ it was time for my weigh-in.

I wasn’t too happy about stepping on the scales – especially as I was being weighed fully clothed, in the evening, after a huge meal and gallons of tea – but Laura explained that members’ weights remain confidential and there’s no embarrassment.

Maybe not for you, but there is for me, I thought, as I tipped the scales at 10 stone, 12lb.

Although that’s perfectly healthy for my height and gives me a Body Mass Index of 24, I wasn’t happy.

Then it was time to fix myself a target. Slimming World leaders don’t give members target weights, they set their own. So I thought I’d go for a nice round figure and go for a target of 10 stone.

At that I’d have a ‘perfect’ BMI of 22 and, hopefully, would be able to squeeze back into the size 10 jeans that are currently languishing in the back of the wardrobe.

You can see how I’m doing each week in the Observer, when I’ll update readers on how the plan’s going – and whether or not I’ve succumbed to that Rogan Josh and bottle of rioja.

For more information on Slimming World classes, visit www.slimmingworld.com or call Laura direct on 0161 6554543.