Have just joined online....what to buy! Help me please!

[Insideout2015]

Hello!
I have just joined Slimming world online and i am so excited. I have BMI 31 and i am shocked that i have let myself go so much.
I really need to get hold of myself and slim down as I am worried for my health!

I am going to the the supermarket during my lunch break and i would like to buy all i need to start and be successful. I do not have any special requirement.
What do you recommend me to buy? thanks

[StayGoldPonyBoy]

To help make life easier I'd recommend getting grab and go healthy extras eg babybels or Alpen lights until you get used to weighing and measuring milk and bread etc. Stock up on loads of fruit and veg, trying to get as many speed foods as you can! If you don't mind artificial sweetener get muller lights to snack on as well! Maybe make a mini meal plan for the next few days in your head and try stock up for that as a starting point?

[Kim82]

I am now into my second week of the plan so still trying to get my head around it all. Last week I bought hoards of fruit, salad and veg, meat, fish, eggs and fat free natural yoghurt. I made all my meals using healthy extras and free/speed food, I snacked on fruit with fat free yoghurt poured over whenever I felt peckish (also syn free) and used my syns for treats. I had a packet of low syn crisps and a curly wurly (6 syns) or freddo (5 syns) every day and lost 7.5lb in a week! I know that kind of loss isn't sustainable and it because it was my first week but it has given me a good boost and made me determined to stick with the plan.

Good luck!

[Insideout2015]

Thank you!!
And What can I have for dinner. Consider I don't have more than 30 mins to cook dinner!

[emwithme]

YY to doing a rough meal plan, but at a bare minimum you will need:

Frylight
Babybel (lights if you want 3 rather than 2 - saves fuss weighing cheese)
Lots of fruit and vegetables - satsumas are great for snacking on
Whichever lean meat/poultry or fish you want
If you eat bread, get the Hovis Wholemeal SMALL loaf - you can have two slices of this as a HEB
Something for treats - freddo frogs, 2 finger kit kat, hula hoops all come in between 5 and 6 syns.
Fat free natural yoghurt

[emwithme]

As for dinner - how many are you feeding?

[Insideout2015]

It's two adults and 2 children (7 and 5) and they go crazy for pasta

[Kim82]

My evening meals last week were:

• Omelette and salad
  
• Gammon, egg, jacket potato and veg
  
• Spanish chicken and rice (I used 5 syns for the sauce as it as from a jar)
  
• Grilled fish, new potatoes and veg
  
• Pasta bolognese
  
• potato, onion and bacon bake with an egg on top
  
• Roast chicken dinner
  

Breakfast was weetabix, shreddies, fruit and yoghurt and at the weekend I had a cooked breakfast - bacon, egg, beans, mushroom, grilled tomato - it was amazing!

Lunch was scrambled egg and beans, sandwich, tuna salad, jacket potato beans and salad, that kind of thing.

I drank tea, sugar free flavoured water, plain water and diet coke.

[emwithme]

Most of my dinners take around 1/2 an hour to cook. DH is v boring though and would be happy with a chop/other piece of meat, some potatoes and a couple of vegetables every other day.

Last night (for me) was a tuna steak, done in one of those oven bags that supermarkets have (aka no washing up) with boiled carrots, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and kale (no potatoes as I was doing an SP day). Tuna (giant piece) took 20 mins in the oven, everything else was 15 minutes on the stove in a 3 steamer tier pan (over the carrots). If I hadn't been doing an SP day, it would've taken 25 minutes (for potatoes - with the other veggies steaming over).

[emwithme]

Pasta is good, pasta is free (as long as you have your 1/3 speed - which is what chopped tomatoes and passata etc were invented for).

There's a fab recipe for rapid ratatouille somewhere (am about to go out now but will find it later) which is excellent with pasta or a jacket spud or on toast

[Insideout2015]

Thank you ladies. You are really helping me a lot.
I am really confused. I have to find the time to read everything.
So, to summarise:
I will get lots of fresh fruit, veggies, eggs, chicke, baby bell....
Can I get seeded bread instead of wholemeal? I really don't like it.

What about flora orb toast? Is it a syn?

[Kim82]

I don't think seeded bread counts as a healthy extra, I'm not 100% sure though. You can still have seeded and syn it though. You can eat any meat as long as you cut off any visible fat and if you have minced beef it has to be 5% fat or less.

Do you mean flora on toast? If so, yes the spread will have to be counted towards your daily syns but not the bread if it's your healthy extra.

Some yoghurts are syn free - a lot of the muller lights are (but not all!) and any fat free yoghurts are syn free too. If you blend any fruit into a smoothie then it's no longer syn free. I think it's something to do with your body not needing to break it down or something like that.

[OrangePeels]

Maybe someone can help me too!

I have done SW before but it was red and green days then. I now live abroad and SW is only available online here. I started on Saturday.

My understanding of he new plan is that you can eat any free food but 1/3 of the plate must be super free. Correct?

Therefore if I want a pasta mug shot I should eat something else such as an orange?

What about the pasta mug shot with Syns in? Do I just have them alone and count the Syns or do I have to eat super free too? Is it more Syns if I eat it without anything else?

If that's the case, if I decide to eat a chocolate bar, do I have to eat fruit with it?

Can muller lights be eaten independently or do I have to have fruit with them?

I'm getting myself a bit confused!

[StayGoldPonyBoy]

Orange I don't have superfree with my syns all the time but if I'm having eg a fat free yoghurt I'll dip an apple in. The idea is to fill up on Superfree food so having a big bowl of pasta and forcing a fruit salad down after doesn't count. If your meal is mostly free food and you can't squeeze any more superfree in/don't want to have a melon 'starter' or something. Just eat the superfree first when poss so it fills you up!

It's mainly to stop people binging on potatoes and pasta and wondering why they aren't losing properly so as long as you're sensible it isn't a super strict rule.

[FlopIsMyParentingGuru]

Iceland do a range of ready meals and sauces and soups

If you can get there it's worth grabbing one or two for the day when plans change or you are stuck for ideas

[emwithme]

Rapid Ratatouille

serves 4

Frylight
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 aubergine, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 large courgettes, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and cut into bite-sized chunks
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g chopped tomatoes
400g passata
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp sweetener
salt and pepper
12 pitted black olives
Small handful of fresh basil leaves

1. Spray a large pan the largest you've got, this makes a BOATLOAD with frylight and place over a medium high heat. Add the onions, courgettes, aubergine, peppers and garlic and stir fry for 2 - 3 minutes.
   

1. Add the tomatoes, passata, balsamic vinegar and sweetener. Season with salt and pepper and stir. Cover tightly, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.
   

1. Remove the ratatouille from the heat and scatter over the olives. Add a twist of black pepper and scatter over the basil to serve.
   

Syns per serving: 1/2 - but free if you omit the olives