Slimming World's Top Target Member Award

Tonight, my Slimming World group was having a party. It was to honor the Top Target member of the group. Everyone who reached target would be up for the award and then we'd vote on the winner. There were no target members last week. Robert thought he had 5 pounds left to reach his target weight, but he must have put down a lower weight on his forms because Sharon told him he had 7 pounds left.

He decided to go all out this week to try and reach his target weight in time for the party. Halfway through the week, he weighed himself and told me that he didn't think there was any way he could reach it in time.

We weighed in. I lost 2 pounds for a total loss of 107 pounds! I only have 30.5 pounds left to reach my goal weight! I have gone from weighing 272.5 pounds at my highest weight to weighing 165.5 pounds.

Robert lost NINE POUNDS! He not only reached his target weight, but he passed it by two pounds! He now weighs, at 6'8" tall, 194 pounds! He was the only member at target, so he won the award! He got a sash, a paperweight and pen set and a certificate.



The theme of the party was a beach one. I wore a white summer dress that I had recently bought. This is significant because I have not worn the color white in many, many years. I tend to always wear black and other dark colors. Robert bought me a lei set which came with the neck lei, leis for my wrists and one for my head. He also bought me some really silly sunglasses. He wore his swimming trunks, a Hawaiian shirt, a lei and some equally silly sunglasses. We brought two beach balls and a giant inflatable shark to help add to the ambience.

Because this was a party, we were all supposed to bring some syn-free and low syn food to share. Robert brought some Herby Egg Pancake Wraps. I brought a Mexican Egg Casserole. There was a lot of other really nice food there tonight, and we had a fun time.

(I have other photos to post from the night, but I am still waiting on our Slimming World consultant to e-mail them to me as they were taken with her camera. When she sends them to me, I will add them to this post.)

Eat Eggs To Help Lose Weight

After writing about the connection between dairy and weight loss, I started thinking about the connection between eggs and weight loss. Eggs are another food that is “free” (meaning we can eat as much as we want of it) on the Slimming World plan.

So are eggs really good for weight loss or is Slimming World wrong and its members’ weight losses just unrelated flukes?

According to the studies, eggs are an excellent source to aid in fat loss. And this is great news mainly because I enjoy eating eggs, but also because eggs don’t cost much to buy. They are also, apparently, good for eye health.

According to this article in Medical News Today, eggs are helpful to weight loss because they contain an essential amino acid called leucine. The article references a study which found that leucine

“potentially provides a weight loss advantage during dieting by helping reduce loss of lean tissue, promote loss of body fat, and stabilize blood glucose levels.”

This article on the website Bio-Medicine references a study that promotes eggs eaten for breakfast as aiding in weight loss. It even mentions that the egg-eaters had higher reductions in their waist circumferences. (Loss of belly fat is always a good thing for those of us who need to lose weight!) There also seems to be connection between eating eggs and feeling full, as this article states,

“This study further substantiates the findings of a previous study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition,2 which found that an egg breakfast induced greater satiety and significantly reduced short-term food intake compared to a calorically equivalent bagel breakfast.”

This article on the website Weightlossresources.co.uk found a connection between eating eggs and satiety too,

“According to new research from the Rochester Centre for Obesity in America, eating eggs for breakfast could help to limit your calorie intake throughout the rest of the day, by more than 400 calories.”

A reduction in daily calorie consumption by 400 calories a day could result in a weight loss of a pound every 8 or 9 days. (Results, of course, vary for individuals.) If eggs make you feel fuller for longer, then it corresponds that you would find it easier to reduce your calories throughout the day after eating them for breakfast.

This article on Food Product Design states that not only do eggs aid in weight loss but they also help to increase energy levels. It states that this is because eggs are a good source of high quality protein. Too little high quality protein is bad for the body as this article states,

“In May 2008, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a special issue on the value of protein in the diet. A major finding was that getting too little high-quality protein may contribute to obesity, muscle loss and increased risk of chronic disease.”

This article by Feedstuffs Foodlink continues making the connection between egg consumption and weight loss and energy levels. It references a study done at the Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center with lead researcher Dr. Nikhil V. Dhurandhar,

“The women who consumed eggs as part of a diet plan lost "significantly" more weight and reported "significantly" higher energy levels, Dhurandhar said.”

The studies show that eggs really do aid in fat loss. This fact, in addition to all of the other health benefits to be gained by eating eggs, makes them an ideal choice of food for anyone trying to lose weight (barring any egg allergies).

Slimming World suggest having your eggs, boiled, scrambled, deviled, made into an omelette, poached or dry fried. (Dry frying eggs means spraying the pan lightly with a low calorie oil spray and frying the eggs in no more than that.) I enjoy my eggs in all of these forms, but my favorite way to eat eggs is to make an omelette stuffed with bell peppers, spring onions and sprinkled with a little low fat grated cheese.

What's your favorite way to eat eggs?

Weigh-In

I had my weigh-in at Slimming World tonight. I lost 4 pounds! (I gained half a pound last week. I was adjusting the amount of exercise I was doing, so it was expected.) I have lost 105 pounds (7 1/2 stone) in total now, and I have gone from a weight of 272.5 pounds to 167.5 pounds. I only have 32.5 pounds left to lose to reach my goal weight! I got my 7 1/2 stone award.

Robert lost 4.5 pounds this week and is getting really close to his goal weight!

What 100+ lbs Weight Loss Looks Like

Before:


After (with my youngest son):


I still have weight left to lose, but I'm starting to like what I see in the mirror more now than I used to.

Dairy & Weight Loss

A friend of mine wanted some tips for losing weight. I mentioned that, on my Slimming World plan, I am allowed to eat as much fat-free yogurt as I want. Another friend who is following a Weight Watcher’s plan, chimed in that some yogurts are really high in “points" and that she should be careful how much yogurt she eats.

As you know, following the Slimming World plan has been working quite well for me, so I decided to do a little on-line research to determine why Slimming World has decided that the benefits of eating yogurt to weight loss are worth any risk from the calories eating the yogurt brings into the body.

I actually found quite a lot about dairy and weight loss. According to an article on Virgin Media, calcium binds itself to fat which makes the fat less digestible, so the body excretes it. It is obvious how this can aid in weight loss.

A study done in 2003, according to an article on About.com, people who consumed three servings of fat-free yogurt daily lost over 20% more weight than the dieters who consumed less dairy, despite similar calorie intakes. Even better, the yogurt consumers lost a significantly larger amount of belly fat. The article quotes a lead researcher, Dr. Michael Zemel about an added benefit for the subjects who consumed more yogurt.

“They were about twice as effective at maintaining lean muscle mass. This is a critical issue when dieting -- you want to lose fat, not muscle. Muscle helps burn calories, but it is often compromised during weight loss."

Another article on the website Peak Performance mentions another study done in 2001. According to them,

“The results of this study showed that the density of the diet was inversely linked to changes in body weight and body fat – ie a high calcium density predicted weight loss and body fat reductions, and vice versa.”

This article mentions several different studies which all support the idea that a high intake of calcium helps to increase fat loss, especially in the abdominal area. There was even one study done on rats who had high blood pressure. The rats with a higher calcium concentration in their diets didn’t just lose more weight than the control rats but they also improved their blood pressure.

According to another article at Weightlossresources.co.uk, researchers at Purdue University in Indiana conducted a study which had similar results to the other studies about calcium and weight loss. In most of these studies, the subjects with the higher density of calcium in their diets are either consuming 1,000mg daily of calcium or they are eating three helpings of fat-free yogurt daily.

Another great thing about yogurt is that it can sometimes be beneficial to healthy digestion, and it also tends to have a decent amount of protein which can help keep a person feeling full for longer.

So in light of all of the studies which have found a link between the consumption of dairy and an increase in fat loss, I am going to keep eating my fat free yogurts, as well as using them in my cooking. And most likely, I am going to continue losing fat.

100+ Pounds Lost!!!

I lost 3 pounds this week, and I now weigh 171.

My total loss so far: 101.5!!!!

reaching 100 pound slost was a huge interim goal for me, and I am so glad to have made it this far! I only have 36 pounds left to lose to reach my goal weight and a healthy BMI!