Michele: Connect is my go-to support network

Start weight: 14st 10lb | Weight loss: 3st 5lb*
Current weight: 11st 5lb | Goal weight: 10st 6lb
Height: 5' 3" |  Age: 27
Studio: Raunds, Wellingborough 
WW Coach: Karen Hull  

Most brides would be devastated that the beautiful dress they’d planned to wear on their wedding day is the wrong size – but not me. Although my fiancé, Mathew, and I have yet to set a date for our wedding, I bought my dress 10 months ago because I fell in love with it when I saw it online. It’s a size 12, which is too big for me now, and I’m thrilled that I’ll have to get it taken in. 

It was a routine trip to my GP in February 2016 that spurred me into action. My blood pressure was borderline high. My mother’s family has a history of deep vein thrombosis and heart attacks, so I knew this was my wake-up call. I joined WW later that month.

I’m about a stone off my goal weight now and had been plateauing, so was really eager to try WW Freestyle™.  Before,  I was finding that in the evenings I'd still be hungry and would reach for snacks that were high in SmartPoints. But with WW Freestyle, if I feel a bit peckish, I have some fruit and 0% fat yogurt and I don’t even have to track it. I’ve got a terrible sweet tooth and often need a sugar hit, so I whip up a banana pancake with yogurt and berries and it satisfies me without sending me off track.

How I make the most of ZeroPoint™ foods: I eat chicken a lot now, even when I need a snack. I’ll cook some chicken with a bit of seasoning or spice and keep it in the fridge for when I’m peckish. It fills me up and I find I don’t need too much.

Why I love the WW app: I absolutely love the barcode scanner. Sometimes I’m surprised in a good way – I recently found Nutella B-Ready bars are only 5 SmartPoints when I’d guessed they were 9 SmartPoints.

I stay motivated with Connect: When I started on WW, I was stuck for ideas for sweet fixes, so I posted a question in Connect and was inundated with recipes.

*Michele joined WW in February 2016.