Understanding 'Fat logic'

[Bluetree]

To help me understand fat logic-y 'lifestyle changes' like Slimming World?

Aspartame full muller light yogurt is 'free'. Yet, a natural full fat yogurt is synned.

An avacado is highly synned yet you can have two of their Hifi bars as an extra which have a high % of fat in!

Mashing a banana doesn't go without it's syns either!

Advised against proper exercise as 'muscle weighs more than fat' - Ha.

I followed for a while and did lose weight. I'm not saying it doesn't work. Just that a lot of it is fat logic-y rubbish!

(I'm not talking about the ones who 'eat clean' while doing it and don't touch a muller light or hifi bar)

I'm on WW at the moment, but doing it at home - so I can measure my body fat myself, and I am never around consultants wanting to sell bars etc.

I have so far (2 weeks) found it very good. It definitely encourages you to be more mindful of what you're eating, and of course you could gorge yourself on zero-point artifically-sweetened food all week but that's just bonkers. Like other posters said, it's a helpful, guiding tool.

For example, as a trivial example, avocados are higher in fat than a tomato. So, if avocados have points whereas tomatoes don't, you may just have one avocado in a meal, AS WELL AS some tomatoes, rather than decide you'll ONLY eat avocados all day everyday because they're healthy. That is the kind of thinking people, myself included, can develop when they have a more difficult relationship with food.

I even had a doctor recommend different fruits and vegetables to me before, describing a pear as a 'sugar bomb'. It's about everything in moderation.

All the slimming plans are just different ways of getting you to restrict calorie intake. I believe the research shows that people in weight-loss clubs lose more weight than people dieting on their own (on average) and that it's the club element that is thought to be the benefit.. i.e. you're more likely to stick to your calorie-restricted diet if you know someone else is going to be checking up on you each week.

I believe both WW and SW let you stay on as a member for free after you get to your target weight so it's hardly fair to those companies to blame them for people putting the weight back on afterwards - you are at liberty to come along each week and get your head round how to maintain your new healthy weight.

I mostly use my syn allowance in cooking, but I do like to have a treat most days - whether it's a biscuit, bit of chocolate, glass of wine. The point of syns is just to make these things easy to count/moderate.

loobylou why am I lying? The plan says there is no limit on pasta/rice/noodles.

You sound a bit militant.

they dont tell you not to work out!! I did slimming world for ages and lost over four stone and felt much better. Ill be doing it again after I have this baby. Just to maintain my weight loss.

It doesnt work for everyone. I think different approaches work for different people. Slimming world worked for me because I eat compulsively and its to do with emotion. Slimming world allows you to eat a lot or constantly munch on things if you want to. Thats the point of the sugar free or fat free items being syn free. Because even though it would maybe be healthier to eat full fat yoghurt or whatever in moderation.. my problem is that I cant do that. Im not very good with moderation at all. So a diet where I can just swap to items which wont make me pile on weight works better for me.

they dont tell you not to work out!!

I can assure you, they did. I've been to groups by three different consultants and the message is very much "focus on the food, exercise won't help"

But there is a limit on pasta/rice etc. There’s a limit on all free food. You can’t just sit and eat cooked pasta from a massive bowl- you just have a) 1/3 speed food (ie veg), and b) you must stop when you feel full.
These things sound obvious, but for some people it’s really not. How often have we sat and cleared our plate despite being stuffed full?? The 1/3 rule applies even to seconds- so when you pile your plate high with a delicious roast dinner with loads of veg, then have seconds of meat and spuds, (all ‘free’), that is not following the plan. It’s reasons like this that mean people can feel they’ve followed the plan exactly but actually lose very little weight each week.

Above all.. their meals all taste the same. Repetitive and tasteless. Even with adding in mor flavour they’re still bland!

Stock and celery (cooked, puke) with everything or quark...

A chicken pasta bake doesn't taste much like chilli con carne or fish stew

The chilli, spag bol or anything where they say add mince or stock seems to taste the same imo!

Perhaps it’s more to do with How it’s being cooked then...

How weird, I've never thought chilli tastes just like bolognese Chilli is spicy for a start! What do you think is missing that would make them taste different?

All diet plans are as good or bad as the individuals doing them. It's frustrating watching people post criticism when they clearly have no knowledge or experience of it

I tried doing SW on my own by joining a FB group and fairly swiftly unfollowed it as it was all younger mums making fake desserts out of frozen Mullerlights with a melted Freddo bar, etc and posting pics of their syns each evening. That fits with the image you have but, when I joined a group, I was pleasantly surprised as it was reinforced to focuson fresh, healthy food, at least 1/3 plate "speed" fruit and veg at every meal and the processed shit was very much "it's allowed if needed" but not pushed at all. I think they are moving away from that stuff as, apparently, they keep increasing the syn values on things like Mug Shots.

Like others I follow the diet but eat, mostly, unprocessed and home-cooked food but the ability to eat other stuff makes life easier if you are out and need something quick.

Exercise is definitely encouraged and, while some of us are just increasing our walking, others do far more and one of our group is running a marathon later this year

PoorYorick I tried WW and was appalled when the group leader told the new joiners that her family were concerned that she looked, in her words, "like a concentration camp survivor" in a swimsuit but she didn't care as she looked fabulous in designerware and we could too if we stuck at it!

No plan or company is perfect, it's just finding a group and way of eating that works for you

Pink Over the last weeks I have made spag bol, shepherd's pie and a keema curry. They all tasted different. Am I doing something wrong?

I don't do SW though I have thought about it (put off by the potential high junk food consumption, hatred of artificial sweeteners and love of avocados

I have lost a stone using mfp. Admittedly am stuck at the moment but only because I am a greedy pig. One thing that shocked me was that in spite of the loss my annual blood tests showed my cholesterol and blood sugars are higher than last year. So it's possible to lose weight and become less healthy (which is a bit disheartening). I've thought about it and think it's because I've cut down on 'healthy' fats like olive oil because it's easy to leave out of a sauce, say. And I've been focussed on calories so if I can squeeze in a sweet treat I will .

So low fat/low calorie is not always better. I actually think I ate better when I just focussed on trying to eat healthy food rather than counting everything. But I'm scared to stop now!

Sw is great ive lost 8 stone on it and took me two years. Yes ive never understood the muller light etc stuff due to the calories and unlimited pasta but i learned to change the way i eat and keeping the weight off. Also there SP plan is great which i prefer to the normal plan but sw has changed my way of life. Im healthy and happy now. Ive still a way to go few stone left but will do it. I dont go to the gym but i go swimming and walk a lot.

Above all.. their meals all taste the same.

I hope this doesn't come across too rude but I think this is likely more to do with your choice in meals than the plan itself.

The plan allows for great variety but if you're choosing various different iterations of meat-in-tomato-with-veg-that-complements-tomato then it's all going to taste pretty damn similar.

I've had baked salmon with chips and veg tonight. Other meals recently have been Chinese steak noodles, cottage pie, chicken and spinach curry, roast lamb dinner and a bolognese.

I promise you, none of it tasted even vaguely similar