Extra Easy Plan, all that free food? Really? Surely not!!!!

[dogood]

I've got my hands on the welcome pack and food directory. I don't want to go to a slimming class I'd rather do it myself. I kind of get the idea, BUT....My old calorie counting head just keeps interrupting!!! You see in my mind the safe amount of calories is 2000 for a woman. On this diet it could exceed that amount of calories so how on earth can it work. For example I read that a jacket potato and baked beans are free, it's now nearly 9pm and I'm hungry. If I was to gorge on that surely it would be wrong, wouldn't it?

[KBoniRose]

I have just joined to, and have no clue how it can work but there is some amazing stories out there of it working for people. I just cant see how..?

[dogood]

Doesn't make sense does it?? All these years it's been calories and now all that's changed and it's either a syn or free. I could get my head around the free foods if they were horrible. But love jacket potatoes, beans, Muller yoghurts etc... I could quite happily much on those all day, and some pasta n sauce meals are free!!!!!!

[AnyoneForTennis]

I'd be careful. There's no way those high carb/sugar foods should be 'free'

[mrsnoon]

The idea is to eat until you're comfortably full, not to stuff yourself stupid just because something is free. Eating lots of fruit and veg won't take you over 2000 calories unless you're constantly eating.

[bellybuttonfluffy]

The thing to remember is a third food is speed - eg most fruits and veggies. It does work for a lot of people.. I lost a stone and a half on the plan. Best thing to do to start off is keep a food diary. It's a low fat, low sugar diet. Sweetener is allowed, but I tried to steer clear of it as it gave me a ravenous hunger!

[FannyFanakapan]

im doing well on SW - 3 stone down since new year. for me, the first couple of weeks you do watch everything, really obsessive - just like every other diet, then for me, something just clicked and you stop all the food anxiety and obsessing, and just eat normally - and more healthily. I also think that by being really strict with bread and fats and sweet stuff, you naturally consume less empty calories. Plus you are filling up on high fibre foods, and good proteins, so less need to gorge on carbs.

[dogood]

I want to lose a stone, I tried "My Fitness Pal" and as I love all fruit but I nearly fell off my chair when it calculated the sugar and carbs in 1 large naval orange!! I certainly don't stuff myself, far from it. In fact this is why I was interested in Slimming World. I am living off 2 Weetabix for brekkie with a splash of skimmed milk, 1 slice wholemeal bread, 1 tomato & 1 slice ham for dinner (no butter), and 2 slices wholemeal bread with a boiled egg for tea with a splodge of tomato sauce and 1 or 2 Muller light yoghurts a day and that is it!!! Absolutely categorically, not an ounce more has been passing my lips and I still am carrying that extra stone. I also walk my black lab twice a day. Some would say I'm not eating enough, I know I'm not because I'm always starving!!!!

[dogood]

Ps. Just wanted to thank you all for your comments, this is my first time on Mumsnet!! :)

[blueistheonlycolourwefeel]

That is not enough food!!! You need more super free and more variety!!

[avocadotoast]

So eat more then if you've been calorie counting then surely you know that's not enough food for you?

[dogood]

Didn't think it was enough food, nothing worse than going to bed with hunger pains!!! Thing is I love fruit especially naval oranges and strawberries. So are they super free? Would happily fill up on fruit.

[thatstoast]

What you've listed there isn't really compatible with slimming world. Definitely not enough food and too much bread/cereals. Would you mind if I tweak it?

Breakfast: weetabix, 250ml of semi skimmed milk, strawberries.
Lunch: Ham salad. Lots of Ham, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, peppers. Maybe add some cous cous?
Dinner: Jacket potato, lean bacon, beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato.

You should not be hungry, but on the flipside you shouldnt be snacking on jacket potatoes either.

[tabulahrasa]

I sometimes add up the calories if what I've eaten on SW, just out of nosiness and without cheating I don't get anywhere near 2000 calories.

[calzone]

Dogood

Come and join us on my sw food diary thread.....lots of support.

You are definitely not eating enough.

Yesterday I had a mahoosive sw cooked breakfast with hash browns, beans, bacon, egg, sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Lunch was quorn burgers wrapped in lettuce and chips

Turkey stir fry for dinner

Stacks fruit......Tis great. Lost 30lbs so far.

[MisForMumNotMaid]

I've lost 5 stone on slimming world and i'm eating more than I have in the last 20 years and I'm now a healthy BMI.

I limit my bread to wholemeal or the odd bit of white (maybe 2 slices a fourtnight).

I eat masses of pasta, rice, jacket potatos, baked beans, veg and fruit. I batch cook currys, pasta sauces and soups.

I almost always have a cooked breakfast. Bacon medalions, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatos, sliced new potatos, egg.

I tend not to have muller lights very often anymore.

When I first started I could free eat and still see results. As time went on I needed to learn to listen to my body and eat regularly so as not to snack on syns but not go mad on free foods either.

The free foods are also filling foods so a jacket potato may have the same calories as a mars bar but doesn't give you a sugar rush then dip.

I must confess, i don't really fully get why it works. I've been quite a big fan of low carb the last few years, but this has been far easier to stick too and work around nights out/ special,events.

[dogood]

What a fab bunch of folk you are :) :) Thank you for the food suggestions, sounds yummy. It is hard to get your head around the "science" of it all. I'm a forty something female with "calorie counting" tattooed on my brain. As I said before free foods scares me a little. But looks like a found myself a gem of a place to go for any advice :)

[nbee84]

To begin with just cutting out all the chocolate/crisps/cheese/bread etc will instantly lower your calorie count and start off your weight loss.
Once you get into the swing of it you really need to concentrate on what they call 'speed foods' and to ensure a third of your meal is speed foods. So, your jacket potato and beans wouldn't really fill the criteria - a third of your plate should be vegetables - so add a salad or some roasted (in frylight) veg.
Egg, bacon & beans is a 'free' breakfast, but again a third of your plate should be speed - so add to that some mushrooms and tomatoes.
If at the end of the meal you are hungry and you decide to have an extra couple of boiled potatoes and some chicken you need to add a third 'speed' veg.

[nbee84]

The idea being that by making your meals larger with the speed foods you will have satiated (is that a word ) your appetite more and should feel full up.

[dogood]

So here is an example day, have I got it right for extra easy?
BF 2 w/bix with milk from HA & apple
Lunch 2 x 400ml w/meal (HB) 2 slices lean ham, tom & cuc, nectarine
Dinner jack pot, beans, 30g 30%less fat asda cheddar, fresh strawberries with a mullerlight yog
Evening fresh strawberries muller light yog, options hot choc

Thanks

[tabulahrasa]

If you've synned the weetabix, cheese and options and it's under 15...and you salad stuff and strawberries makes up roughly a third of what you've eaten then yes.

[dogood]

Yes synned weetabix, cheese and hot choc. Well I'm getting there, that's one meal planned!!! :)

[MisForMumNotMaid]

If you like wheetabix type breakfasts it might be worth trying over night oats. You soak 35g oats overnight in a muller then serve with fruit for breakfast. I like it. You can layer the oats/ yogurt mix iwith frozen berries in a fancy glass jar and the fruit juices soak in to add to the flavour.

If you fancy something cooked come morning you add an egg to the mix and fry it in blobs for puffy pancakes lovely with a drizzle of honey of fruit and a blob of creme fraiche.

It saves your healthy A for cheese later in the day.

[dogood]

OOh thanks MisForMumNotMad, will try that. Trouble with Weetabix is it just isn't very filling. Can I ask another question, so lets say I've planned my meals for the day, if I get hungry could I have a packet of dried noodles to keep me going? as these seem to be free or does it have to be fruit?

[tabulahrasa]

I don't plan my meals at all, so yes, lol.

Ideally you'd eat some melon while it was coking or add some speed veg to it...but yes you can have extra unplanned free food.

[tabulahrasa]

That is melon or something...it's not compulsory melon.