Hello everyone, my name is Teegan King and you can find me at @teegan_wwjourney on Instagram. I am a 30-year-old primary school teacher and I live in Leicestershire with my boyfriend, David.
Motivated by becoming a bridesmaid three times in eighteen months, I joined WW in May 2018 and reached goal in September 2018. Being a WW member helped me lose 2st in weight - but it also gave me much more. I became more confident in myself, loved wearing new clothes and gained a new love of cooking.
Maintaining over summer can be hard!
Over the spring and summer months, it can be hard maintaining your weight loss, especially with all those delicious summer barbecues, sunny afternoons in beer gardens and well-deserved holidays filling up your social calendar.
Discover lots of lovely barbecue recipes
For some, the concept of ‘dieting’ over summer is a challenge they don’t want to face. The idea of eating salad at a BBQ or just having a starter at a meal out can be a depressing thought! However, with WW you don’t have to miss out or deprive yourself because everything is on the menu.
Master barbecue season
During the summer months, my family LOVE to host barbecues but, from attending my WW Workshop, I know that barbecues are often occasions where members worry about staying on plan. The good news is, you don’t need to! There are loads of ways you can stay on track at a BBQ.
Firstly, I always take some food along with me – it’s only polite, right? Whether it’s a beautiful rainbow of crudites that are perfect to nibble, or meat for the BBQ, I try and make sure there is something on the menu that is Point®-friendly and, more importantly, delicious!
Chicken kebabs are always a winner. Stacked with chicken breast, peppers and onions and marinated overnight in a sauce, they are both tasty and healthy! I’ve also taken chicken sausages before as a low Points alternative for the BBQ.
However, you don’t have to stick to all the healthy alternatives. There’s no way I would go to a BBQ without having a sausage or a burger! When I do have these though, I’m more mindful. I consider having one or the other without a bun but, if I have enough weeklies left, I’ll have both with a bun because that’s what weeklies are for! You can easily roll over Points across the rest of the week if you need to. Learn more about rollovers.
With WW, it’s all about balance and, if you plan it, you don’t need to deny yourself the summer foods that you love!
Staying healthy on holiday
Recently, we visited Berlin for a city break and I was much more mindful than I might have been before joining WW. Importantly though, I didn’t deny myself – I mean, have you seen the size of that pretzel? Instead of becoming consumed by worry about the food I ate, I made more sensible choices where I could.
For breakfast, we went to a local supermarket and purchased oodles of fruit as a healthy food choice – give or take the odd pastry! You could easily choose fruit in a hotel for breakfast and treat yourself to something more indulgent every other day, it’s all about balance!
We also made sure we were really active during the day. As we were on a city break, we did a LOT of walking and made conscious decisions to walk to different landmarks rather than taking public transport and missing all the interesting stuff! After a small lunch and, because we’d been so active during the day, I wasn’t worried about eating whatever I fancied during the evening and enjoying myself.
With WW, I know that I can spend a mindful week enjoying myself and get straight back on plan after a holiday. The WW app gives you the control you need to jump back into everyday healthy habits. It’s not the end of the world if you go off plan. Every day is a new day, and WW gives you all the tools you need to stay in control and keep on track.
Days out and eating out
On the WW programme, you can eat out, maintain and make healthy choices! I often find that, during the summer months, our calendar gets booked up with days out and evening meals with friends and family. I love it, but it can be difficult to stay on track.
For me, planning is power, and my top tip when you know in advance that you have an evening meal or a day out, is to plan, plan, plan! The WW app has been a lifesaver, helping me make good choices when eating out because of the extensive list of restaurants and menus. Once I know which restaurant we’re going to, I scroll through the menu on the WW app and look at how many Points the different dishes are.
Your Points®-friendly Nando’s menu
Depending on how many daily or weekly Points I have, I then decide whether I’m going to try and stay within my dailies or use some of weeklies. Once I’ve decided what I’m having to eat, I try and eat zero heroes during the day to ensure I have as many Points as possible to enjoy my evening out.
You don’t have to shy away from dinners and days out because you feel like you might go off track; you can do it within your Points Budget if you plan ahead. Even if you do decide to have that extra treat (which you definitely should do once in a while!) zero heroes and rollovers can help you keep control.
Summer is a great time to get active
I’ve always been a keen runner, but since joining WW, I’ve become even more enthusiastic. Over the summer months, I’ve entered a 10k race every month to keep myself active and inspired. The lighter evenings make running and keeping active even more of a pleasure, and exercising regularly helps me maintain over the summer months when my diary is a little more crazy!
For me, keeping active has been crucial to my wellbeing on my WW journey. Sometimes, if I’ve gone a little off track when I didn’t intend to or I’m having a tough day, a good run sorts my head out and gives me something else to focus on.
It doesn’t have to be running though. David and I love going for walks with our family, and occasionally hop on our bikes! So, if you don’t fancy running (just yet!), a nice walk during those warm summer evenings can be a great way to keep active and reconnect with yourself and nature.
