Would Slimming world work for me?

[MountainDweller]

Hi, I have 4-5 stone to lose and am thinking about trying slimming world. In the past I have dieted by just trying to eat less junk but I only ever last a few days! This week I have been tracking calories on MFP and even though I get 1500 because I'm a fat cow, I still find it very restrictive - though I have kept on target for 4 days I constantly think about food and what I can actually eat.

I was wondering if Slimming world would be better as it seems you can eat loads! My concerns are that I hate artificial sweeteners and there is no way I will give up sugar in my tea; I'm not too keen on very low fat stuff (wtf is low fat cottage cheese about? It is a low fat food anyway!!. So are most yogurts!); I am gluten free and the free sample menu I got seems to be pretty wheat/gluten heavy - one day has pasta twice, and there's an awful lot of bread. I do eat GF bread and pasta but really only once a week each. Do people think I would be able to manage by using syns for the things I can't live without and avoiding the stuff I can't eat/don't like?

Am I allowed to ask how many syns in a teaspoon of sugar and in normal yogurts/cottage cheese? I hate that there is not any info given about this before you join, considering the fee is quite hefty (not unlike me!)

Thanks for any thoughts.

[flagnogbagnog]

Yes I'm sure it will work for you. You don't have to eat pasta, it's just an option. So you could just avoid it altogether.

Sw is great for eating lots and keeping yourself full. I've been doing it for 5 weeks and have lost a stone. I use my syns for chocolate, and have the maximum allowed everyday and still lose weight.

[tabulahrasa]

There's an awful lot of bread? What menu did you get? It's a tiny amount of bread if you like bread, lol...

The basics are, no weighing or measuring of, lean meat, fish, veg, fruit, pasta (gf is fine), eggs, rice, pulses and some vegetable proteins and some zero fat dairy products.

A measured amount of milk or cheese and a measured amount of bread, cereal (or stuff like that again there's gf options) or nuts.

Sugar is 1 syn a teaspoon. Couldn't tell you about yoghurts because I rarely have anything other than zero fat plain Greek yoghurt and cottage cheese isn't food whether it's got fat in it or not, lol.

So yes, totally do-able without loads of pasta, fine with gf stuff and no, you don't need to have sweetener.

[cheapskatemum]

I agree with the above. I eat a gluten-free diet, as does my SW consultant. I usually eat GF porridge oats for my Healthy Extra B (where many people would eat bread). So I eat them for breakfast and have potatoes or rice with lunch and dinner. I'm also lactose intolerant, so wouldn't eat cottage cheese either. I take lactofree milk in tea, which usually takes care of my Healthy Extra A allowance. I love that you can eat so much lean meat, potatoes, rice etc - as long as you eat a third of your plateful of speed foods. I make nice vegetable sauces with onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers etc. I've lost 1.5 stones & have been at target weight for over 10 months now. Do give it a go.

[MountainDweller]

Thanks for all the encouragement. I may give it a try. Sounds like weight loss is comparable to my calorie counting (I've been loosing 2 pounds a week) but with more food, and probably healthier food as I would have to encourage myself to eat more fruit and veg!

[WallToWallBastards]

It's far easier to just use your syns and enjoy yourself than farting about with splenda "cakes" and sweaty frylight but I failed as I have no limit to the number of potatoes I can eat and I hate moving
I was far more successful when I made reasonable tweaks but I'm struggling now with a much smaller food budget which has led me to bulk out food with pasta and rice and not able to buy as much veg/store tins and frozen veg. But everyone else I know has had great success with it, with and without bathing in muller light.

[Nanniebrown]

I'm at target now, started in January this year and lost 4st 3.5lbs. Slimming World works for everyone if you follow the plan, they can tailor it to your diet/preferences/medical requirements. Good luck!

[FatMe]

It's really easy to eat lots of bad food or substitute food doing SW (cake made out of couscous and mullerlight etc...) but with a bit of planning and a conscious decision not to eat crap, the 'no measuring' is brilliant.

[tabulahrasa]

Cake made out of couscous...and other stuff like that, isn't actually free on slimming world.

Technically muller lights aren't free either, they just don't have Syns - there is a difference.

[FatMe]

What's the diff between free and no syns?

[yummycake123]

I joined SW 6 weeks ago and have lost 10.5lbs so far. It is a very realistic diet, I think you can totally do it.
Food are separated into groups:

• Free food (this is most fruit, veg, pasta, rice, potatoes, lean meats, etc). You can eat as much free food as you want but I always measure and try to be reasonable. I think people can overeat free food, and things like pasta, rice and potatoes are classed as free, so you have to be careful and vary things a bit:

-"Speed food" which are certain fruits and vegetables like apples, plums, broccoli, spinach, salad, tomatoes etc. With every meal, 1/3 of your dish needs to be a "speed" food.

• Healthy extra A: this is dair, like milk, cheese... You have to measure these.
• Healthy extra B: cereals/grains. You have to measure these.
• Syns: these are mainly treats: you need to have a minimum of 5 syns a day, max of 10. Some foods will have syns (i.e. Low fat sausage: 1 syn) but I tend to save my syns for treats like a chocolate square or a bag of haribo... I try to have around 8-10 syns per day max.

I also like staying for the group chat.People give ideas and recipes, and our local group also has a Facebook page. I like it and it seems to be working, without me feeling like I'm on a "diet".

[JaceLancs]

I am also gluten free, and very rarely eat GF bread (expensive and not that nice) but not a big fan of pasta or rice, my only healthy B as someone else has said is porridge
I save my syns for alcohol and the odd bit of chocolate.
As a family we have always eaten lots of speed foods, the biggest changes I have had to make are cheese, cream, olive oils, sauces and pickle type things, also lower fat mince, extra lean meat etc.
I am losing, but find some of my meal options quite boring, for example if I eat out at lunchtime (pretty frequent with my job) most salads have dressing already applied, can never guarantee what will be in soup, obviously any kind of sandwich/toastie is out, so am living on jacket potato with beans!
I don't even really like potatoes, at home we always have sweet potato as a jacket instead

[tabulahrasa]

"What's the diff between free and no
syns?"

Free foods are in the book up to page 25...if they're not listed there but don't have Syns, they're absolutely fine to have, but it should be in reasonable quantities and not so that it's making up a significant portion of your day or week's food.

They are still snack food rather a meal and that's how you should be treating them.

[cheapskatemum]

JaceLancs you can ask for your salad dressing to be served "on the side". I got into the habit of this in USA, but I've never encountered any problem with it here in UK. Like you, I find I'm usually limited to salads or baked potatoes when I eat out. Fortunately, I like potatoes!