Joined online-have questions

[WeShouldOpenABar]

I joined online, starting today and have meal planned with the recipes on the site but I find it a bit difficult to navigate around and have a few queries if anyone can help

• do I have to eat the healthy a and b - i'm fine adding in the calcium but I dont really do bread or cereal so was hoping to leave it out
  
• can you save up syns?
  
• my plan said between 5-15 syns a day - does that mean i have to have 5?
  
• I heard a third of the plate should be superfree however the recipes dont mention that. If its say a curry with veg included is that my superfree portion or should i add in more on the side
  
  Thanks to anyone who can answer

[Midori1999]

You don't have to have the HEs for weight loss, but they SW do strongly recommend you have them. If you don't eat bread or cereal there are things you can have instead, like tinned or cooked fruit or nuts.

You can save up syns in the same week, but can't carry them over to the next week.

I don't think not having syns affects my weight loss, but SW do say you should take them. I think this is because longer term its not realistic for most people not to eat things that are synned at all and by having them you're less likely to feel deprived and so are more likely to stick to the plan.

I feel the more super free the better, both for health and weight loss, but lots of people don't always include it (when eating Ham, egg and chips for example) and still lose lots of weight. I usuall add salad or veg on the side except where it would be silly. So I made Chinese style curry last night and the sauce was partly blended cauliflower and I added loads of mushrooms and onions as well as chicken but just served it with rice. However, if I do something like frittata or pasta with lots of veg in, I often tend to have salad with it too.

[WheresMyCow]

There are also some soups which can count as your HEb choice and if you like to use extra virgin olive oil, then you can use 1 tbsp as your HEb too.

Like Midori said, SW don't say that you have to have them, but they are beneficial. If you don't really do bread/cereals, then find some creative ways to use them as the measured amount does help to fill you up - breadcrumbs to coat things, adding some oatbran to soups/casseroles to help thicken up without adding the syns from cornflour etc.

With the syns, you are better off to have some so that, in the long term, you don't feel deprived. It also makes it easier when you get to target if you have been using your syns along the way.

About the superfree - a curry with veg included in the recipe would probably have 1/3 superfree. Increasing the amount of superfree that you have though is a great way to boost your weight loss. So if you were having a curry which already had veg in the receipe but wanted to have additional superfree, you could make a side salad to go with it using onion, cucumber, tomato, pepper with some coriander for example.

[WeShouldOpenABar]

That's great thanks, guess one meeting would have helped but I can get going properly now

[WheresMyCow]

Any questions, just ask. There are plenty of people on here who do go to meetings but also people who do it online too. We can all try to help out with anything you are unsure of.

Good luck...but you won't need it, it's dead easy when you get going