Here's a stress-free way to get and stay healthy

Having to juggle her stressful role as a data analyst with her part-time studying is a balancing act for Melinda. Her job entails many late work nights, which sometimes leave her reaching for the nearest snack to get by and very little time and energy to maintain a healthy lifestyle. With the pressure of her busy lifestyle, Melinda needed a stress-free way to lose weight and get healthy, so she opted for the Vitality HealthyWeight Whole Body Plan. By sticking to the plan, Melinda lost 6 kg and 8 cm around her waist.

With this three-month programme, Melinda had daily support from her very own coach, tailored meal plans, easy recipes and a weekly grocery list to guide her shopping and help her to create a healthier lifestyle.

In just one week, she began to see and feel the positive effects of her nutrition plan, geared to take her back to healthy basics. She felt more energetic and her cravings for those not-so-healthy snacks were noticeably reduced.

Melinda shares her experience of the three mainstays of the Vitality HealthyWeight programme:

1. Daily support from a personal coach "My coach, Claire, was absolutely brilliant! She was kind, encouraging and motivated me every day, which helped me ease into the programme. It was like having a personal cheerleader on board. Having a coach to check in with, send my meal photos to and share selfies with also made me more accountable and helped me make healthier and better decisions."
2. Customised meal plans designed by dietitians"Although they were a little more adventurous than my normal meal plans, the recipes were super easy to follow. I learned a lot about the culinary skills that I naturally had and can apply from now on. I also have food allergies, but swapping out certain ingredients for safer options proved to be simple enough."
3. Weekly grocery lists"This was a massive help, especially since I lead a busy lifestyle. What worked well for me is the guidance about stocking up on foods with a longer shelf life at the beginning of the month and then doing my weekly shopping fill-ins for fresh ingredients."

The positive knock-on effect of weight loss

Apart from the great health benefits that come with healthy eating and regular exercise, feel-good effects often accompany a healthier lifestyle.

Melinda elaborates: "I feel more energetic on this healthy eating plan. My high-stress working environment obviously hasn't changed, but the way I'm managing my stress has - for the better. My mood is more stable and I'm glad to say I've had no more 'hangry' moments."

A good change in behaviour brings many rewards

The HealthyWeight programme complements Vitality's robust physical activity platform such as the gym benefit, joining Team Vitality or attending a parkrun over the weekend, providing members with holistic support from a nutritional, psychological, and fitness perspective. By achieving their exercise goals, Vitality members get rewarded with a play on the Vitality Active Rewards gameboard and a chance to earn additional Discovery Miles.

Melinda praises her rewards experience: "By sticking to the programme, I engaged with my Vitality Active Rewards a lot more. Earning more points and chances on the gameboard really motivated me. I also managed to reach my monthly cash back limit from purchasing Vitality HealthyFood for the first time, which was great because it balanced out the cost of the healthier fresh foods I was buying. This kept me well within my grocery budget."

A successful weight-management programme is not only about losing weight; it's about how you maintain your healthy weight and lifestyle. With the easy-to-apply principles of the programme, Melinda has managed to follow through with her new way of life by using the healthy recipes she's learned through the programme and applying the HealthyWeight principles in her workout routine - both at the gym and at home.

Closing thoughts

"The Vitality HealthyWeight programme was a wonderful experience from beginning to end. It changed my perspective on choosing healthier foods. Before, making a meal was always a tedious task; it was something I had to do and I never put much thought into it as I would just make do with whatever was available, which was often not the healthiest of options. The programme has taught me a better way to choose more nutritional foods when it comes to mealtimes".

"In my industry, I've learned that when you are highly stressed, you tend to fall back on habitual behaviour. This is why I try to instil good working habits when training someone new on my team. The same applies to this programme: I now have healthier habits of eating to fall back on when the usual stresses of life get a little taxing."

Learn more about the Vitality HealthyWeight programme, click here.