Weight Watchers Event: Simple Start Launch

Both Gem and I are big Weight Watchers fans, so when the WW team invited me along to a cooking challenge and to find out more about their new plan, I jumped at the chance. WW has worked wonders for me, and even though I slipped off track at the end of last year due to a calorific holiday to the States and Christmas, I really haven’t found it hard to get back into it.

The event was a lovely chance to meet the WW team and their new celebrity ambassador, Shelina (who won Masterchef last year). She showed us how to make a couple of healthy recipes – turkey patties, corn salsa and grilled pineapple skewers. Here are the recipes, if you want to make them! I bought my friend Anne with me, who is also a WW fan (there are more of us than you think) and she was amused by my cooking style – my philosophy has always been not to use utensils if I can use my hands! I did end up a bit messy, but that's how I roll.

What all of the dishes we made had in common were that they are all free under the new Weight Watchers plan, Simple Start. Simple Start is how new members will now be introduced to the plan, and is based on the Filling & Healthy plan that existing members will already be aware of. It’s basically about eating food that is naturally low in fat but filling, and then allowing yourself a small portion of things off the list every day. Then, after the first two weeks, members can choose whether or not to start pointing, or whether to stay on the Simple Start/Filling & Healthy plan.

Simple Start is perfect for people who don’t like their portions being restricted, or who can’t get their heads round pointing. The philosophy is that you can eat as much as you want of the foods on the list, so there’s no counting or portion control.

To be completely honest though, Simple Start is not the plan for me. It has a lot in common with Slimming World, which didn’t work for me because I am GREEDY. If someone tells me I can eat as much pasta as I want, then I totally will. But also, I struggled with the fact that to get the most out of your daily meals, everything really has to be made from scratch. My dinners usually are, but I do rely on shopbought soup and porridge packets, as well as cereal bars, low fat crisps and chocolate bars. The points system really works for me, because it restricts my food while also letting me have a little of what I fancy. If I did Simple Start all the time, I’d probably not eat the things that were off-list, and then I’d start majorly craving them – and so when I fall off the diet wagon, I can’t get back on it. My mum has just started WW with me and after a week on Simple Start, has switched to points and is getting on much better. She has a similar philosophy to me, I think.

I think everyone is different though, and Simple Start has already worked really well for a lot of people. When I get to where I want to on Weight Watchers, I do want to switch to Filling & Healthy rather than pointing forever. But for now, I definitely need that structure to get to where I want to be. It was a fabulous event though – I loved getting my cook on! Thanks for the invite, Weight Watchers!

Thank god for you, Pizza Express.

Lovely bloggers Lily and Michelle!

When I am on following a diet, I develop a bit of a dread about eating out. So few places make allowances for diet plans and so a meal out usually means going seriously off the rails. I usually don’t even track my WW points because I know that I’ve probably eaten about four billion without even realising it. Nightmare.

There are a couple of restaurants that I will try and steer people to though as I know that they are diet-friendly and Pizza Express is top of that list. I can’t think of any other major restaurant chain that makes as much effort towards healthy eating. The thing is, when you go to Pizza Express, you want to eat PIZZA, and they get that. Their Leggera range completely scratches the pizza itch without the guilt (and their salads are awesome, too).

Their supermarket range is incredible, too, and for the longest time it frustrated me as they didn’t seem to shout about it (they do now though). Many of their pizzas like the Sloppy Guiseppe and Pollo Ad Astra are 500-600 calories for the whole thing, which is perfectly reasonable for dinner – and that’s not even counting their reduced fat range.

So – BEST EVENT EVER. Pizza Express invited myself and a few other bloggers to visit their Holborn store and find out about their new menu. They talked a lot about their efforts towards healthy living, not just for adults but for families as well (they do a lot of work with schools, teaching children about using fresh, healthy ingredients).

Then, awesomely, we got to make pizza. And not just adding toppings – we got to throw dough around and all sorts! So much fun.

Once we’d finished our masterpieces, they were taken away and popped in the oven before we all sat down for a lovely pizza dinner. As well as our own personalised pizzas, there were huge portions of the new Superfood Salad out which I am now a bit obsessed with (I even got it as takeaway for lunch the other day!). I always prefer not to order salad when I go out for dinner but now I can’t wait for my work lunch at Pizza Express next week because I need that salad in my life again!

This was a fantastic event, and I learnt a lot too. It completely backed up everything I’ve been banging on about for years about how great Pizza Express are (seriously, go back and read my early posts!) and it was so much fun. I know it probably sounds like I’m being sponsored by Pizza Express, but I promise I’m not – I genuinely think they’re amazing for considering healthy eating without compromising on taste. Even if you’re NOT on a diet, their pizzas are so much better for you than anyone else’s – and cutting down on your fat isn’t a bad thing for anyone to do. I love you, Pizza Express!