Weight Watchers®’ member Glenn tells us how Weight Watchers can work for men too

We know that a lot of you think that Weight Watchers is aimed at women and will only work for women but that’s not true and Glenn is here to tell us how it helped him. We think he’s done an amazing job and loved seeing him strut his stuff on the Do It Our Way (Play) video, exerting the confidence that he deserves to have. Over to you Glenn!

Over the past five years I’d put on weight and managed to get myself a beer belly that rivalled Santa Claus! My general level of fitness was also at an all time low. I’d gone from being someone who ran half marathons to being unable to walk up stairs without being out of breath. After a number of comments about my weight I decided I needed to do something about it. I had to lose weight!

Recommendations from a number of friends and family pointed me towards Weight Watchers but I couldn’t commit to meetings and therefore didn’t think it would be for me. On New Year’s Day I logged onto weightwatchers.co.uk for a quick look out of curiosity and that’s when I found out you could track everything online. I also saw all the available resources such as recipes, branded foods, community message boards and activity trackers so I subscribed there and then!

I’m quite a fussy eater and enjoy simple, easy to cook food. When making dishes like Spaghetti Bolognaise I cut down on the amount of meat and bulked it out with plenty of vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms. I logged the recipe in the online Recipe Builder tool and have built up quite a Recipe File. I cut down on my portion sizes and realised I didn’t have to eat the huge platefuls I had been to feel full up and satisfied.

When I was younger I liked to run – before uni and beer got in the way that is, but I wasn’t sure how to get back into it.  I saw activity points could be earned through exercise, so as an incentive I enrolled in a 10K run and this kept me focused. I found setting myself mini challenges, achieving them (and then rewarding myself!) was a great way to stay focused on losing weight. I achieved my personal best time in the race, and a month later reached my Goal Weight.  I now run marathons for fun!

Weight Watchers helped me to discover that I could lose weight and it wasn’t that difficult provided I stuck to the plan and found a bit of willpower!  My relationship with food has changed for the better and I now understand about eating in moderation. I know that I should only eat what I need and if I eat too much, then I better go out for a run!