Weight Watchers want you to share your autumn and winter healthy living triumphs and/or pitfalls - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EllieMumsnet]

For many, Autumn often symbolises a time to be with family, wrapping up, staying indoors with a good movie and indulging in our favourite comfort foods. The healthy living habits from summer can often take a backseat and, as a result, these cooler months can often put our health goals and weight loss journeys on pause. With that being said, Weight Watchers want you to share any funny autumn and winter healthy living pitfalls or triumphs you have gone through.

Zoe Griffiths, Head of Programme and Public Health at Weight Watchers, adds: “For many, the shift in season will bring with it a change in outlook. It’s a time when we start to notice that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is becoming be more difficult. In fact, working with psychologist Professor Geoff Beattie, we have identified that 18th September is the date when the seasonal shift begins to impact Brits’ lives. But just because the seasons have changed, doesn’t mean your outlook has to too. You are very much still in control of your own healthy lifestyle!”

"Weight Watchers has a plan to help avoid those pesky pitfalls all autumn long! Introducing… The Weight Watchers Guide to Owning Autumn. The Guide will be updated each week throughout the season to help counteract the seasonal shift and make it easier for people to take control of their weight loss journey and overcome the lifestyle challenges posed during the cooler season."

Zoe continues: “At Weight Watchers, we believe that you can say ‘yes’ to the things that you love and still enjoy a healthy lifestyle – any time of the year! That’s why with food, activity and wellbeing deeply engrained in our philosophy, we have designed the new Guide to Owning Autumn, which provides motivation, support and tips and tricks, so that you can enjoy the cooler seasons while showing autumn who is boss!”

Watch this video to find out more!

Have you ever convinced yourself that colder weather calls for an extra glass of wine? Perhaps you’ve managed to fool everyone that you went to the gym by wandering around all day in your gym clothes, when actually they’re just so comfy? Or maybe you successfully managed to dodge all the chocolate that your kids collected at Halloween?

Whatever your healthy living pitfall or triumph, post them on the thread below. All MNers who comment will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky person will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

My goal is to try going outdoors as much as in the summer so just wrap up warm and still take the kids to parks, walks etc. We were in the park for hours this afternoon it was glorious!

I tell myself I'll walk more in the winter as people notice you less as they have heads down against the cold wind and rain! Doesn't help much as the salads are replaced by "much deserved" puddings!

Cold weather welcomes warming, stodgy, filling foods...that often come with a hefty smart point tag!

Own Autumn by replacing our common foodie pitfalls with WW friendly triumphs! Make some smart seasonal swaps & you'll be 'mmmm-ing' your way through Autumn as the lbs continue to drop but you eat some delicious meals!

PITFALL: 2 oven baked crusty bread rolls topped with a thick layer of butter & melted mature cheddar cheese (salivating? Yeah, me too, but...) - APPROX 23 SMARTPOINTS

TRIUMPH: 2 slices of WW Danish bread, topped with a light dairylea cheese triangle, 1tsp marmite & topped with 60g eatleancheese, popped under the grill until golden & drizzled with some Lea Perrins for good measure - 5 #SMARTPOINTS

PITFALL: Stew & dumplings served with a slice of tiger bread & butter to mop up the leftovers - APPROX 25 #SMARTPOINTS

TRIUMPH: Hot n' spicy African stew with sweet potato & crunchy peanuts (recipe from page WW Losing With the Smart Way book) - 11 #SMARTPOINTS

PITFALL: Slab of hot chocolate fudge cake stood on a bed of warm vanilla custard - APPROX 21 #SMARTPOINTS

TRIUMPH: Homemade apple crumble made by stewing apples in water & sweetener & popped under the grill with a crumb made of sugar free digestives. Finished up with fat free Greek yogurt & berries for a creamy finish - 4 #SMARTPOINTS

Hope you enjoy these triumphs as much as I do!

Autumn and winter are great time of year and specially Autumn when is a lot of root vegetables and these are perfect to prepare homemade stews and soups. I love cooking all kind of healthy dishes with any available at home or shop vegetables.

My pitfalls are warm puddings which I always want in autumn/winter especially sticky toffee pudding, lemon meringue pie and syrup sponges. I also find more excuses not too exercise when the weather is cold/wet because I want to stay indoors/on the sofa. I have only ever gained weight in colder months whereas I can sometimes lose weight in summer.

Get out and about to collect conkers and leaves for leaf printing and collages - keeps you fit and healthy! Also bake lots of comfort foods, soups and hearty family meals using Autumn and Winter root veg - keep your viatmin levels topped up and you can use left over raw veg for printing activities!

i think we eat much more healthy foods in the autumn and winter, pplenty of roasted veg like butternutt, pumpkin, and chestnuts and sprouts!

We make lots of warming soups which are a great way to fill up and add lots of veg to our diets. I give the kids the job of finding a recipe then we get the ingredients and make it together.

Casserole and stews with plenty of veg.

Homemade soups, casseroles and I've just started trying to bake sugar free cakes! I do love autumn!

We love going on Autumn walks finding conkers and acorns...it all goes in the unhealthy direction however when we get in and I crack open the red wine to "warm up".

I love casseroles

As we love the outdoor life Autumn and Winter pose no problem for us. We love getting our waterproofs on and getting out and about. Having a dog means we can go on long walks and come back red cheeked and feeling healthy ....although the walks are sometimes followed by a hot chocolate!

Winter is definitely not a very motivating time for me but all I can do is try my best.

eat well especially vegetables and herbs. Plenty of fresh air with walks in the country. Wrap up well when out. Just be sensible and use your common sense

I used to slip into the comfy puddings and stews as soon as the nights started to draw in the the days become cooler, but knew deep down that this was just comfort eating, So I looked for swaps, stewed fruit with roasted oats and fruit as a topping, and made a herb, wholemeal flour and olive oil 'dumplings' as a topping for my stews, small swaps, all the taste and I still get clean plates.

I try to increase the amount of good oils i eat during autumn, as these help protect my skin - nuts, seeds, avocado, tahini, sustainable fish, different cooking oils like walnut, avocado, hazelnut, olive. I also try and combat dry skin by eating more moisture giving food such as spinach and mushrooms and drinking lots of water. My pitfall is hot drinks such as hot chocolate or milky cappuccinos because I'm cold

Oh yes, my lazy gene comes to the fore in the winter! Slobbing around in oversized sweatshirts and jogging bottoms - heaven! I love winter food and my fave is a large veggie stew I make using every vegetable imaginable, veggie dumplings and rounded off with home-made bread. Mine definitely get their five (or ten) a day with that!

I love Autumn and all the yummy warming soups and casseroles unfortunately I always put a bit of weight on durning this period

The colder months are always my downfall, I convince myself I need to eat more to keep warm so it's justifiable lol :)

Well, barbecues and comfort food don't help. I like to jazz up jacket potatoes with interesting but healthy fillings, such as chicken and mayonnaise ...

Sunday roasts come back in the Autumn, is it my fault if the pork has perfect crackling and the potatoes are crispy?

Winter is the perfect time for healthy & warming soups

I always try to learn to cook some new healthy recipes around autumn/winter so that it gives me more incentive to eat better

I love a long country autumn walk in the Peak District with my husband, which we feel justifies a pub lunch along the way! Autumn is our favourite time to get outdoors - fresher, cooler and so scenic with all the lovely colours.