To think that Slimming World just doesn't work

[insomniasucks]

Ok, so I have been following SW for a week and have lost nothing! Exactly the same weight as last week. What am I doing wrong or does SW not suit everyone. Here is a typical SW day for me:-

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled in Frylight, tomatoes and mushrooms fried in Frylight, slice of wholemeal bread from a small loaf (HexB), cup of tea with milk from allowance (HexA)

Lunch: Batchelors Pasta N Sauce Cheese & Broccoli made with water (2.5 syns), jacket potato and a huge salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot, onions) balsamic vinegar

Dinner: Either syn free Quorn lasagne with HexA 30g cheddar cheese, salad and maybe syn free chips cooked in Airfryer or syn free Quorn curry and rice, or jacket potato with salad, or roast Quorn dinner with Frylight potatoes and loads of steamed vegetables

Snacks: Fruit, syn free homemade soup made with loads of speed veg, sometimes homemade crisps in AirFryer, Fage yoghurt with frozen fruit

Help! 😩

@Pebblexox

You are only allowed 1 HEXA so you can’t have milk and cheddar cheese ^^ You're allowed to hex a choices now.

Ah I thought I was doing it right. Thank you for clarifying.

@YonBonnieBanks

I have lost 4.5 stone on SW (have put the half stone back on in lockdown though so need to get my ass in gear).

You are not eating enough syns. Furthermore, you are not synning your frylight which is not syn free.

I am not a big fruit and veg fan so I did the plan a bit more flexibly - didn't eat all the fruit and veg I was meant to, but it still worked for me.

Wait what?! Frylight is not syn free?! And I'm not eating enough syns? Game changer.

But the bottom line is that the only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you use up. Unless you're young enough, fit enough and have spare time to exercise a lot (most of us aren't), then that means eating less. If you're going to eat less, pick a diet/approach that is balanced and involves fresh food. If you struggle with motivation (or knowledge), then join SW or WW or Jane plan etc.

I can recommend the vegetarian

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/vegetable-dhansak

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/black-eyed-bean-and-vegetable-chilli-bowl

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/carrot-and-coconut-dhal

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/baked-vegetable-frittata

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/mediterranean-style-vegetables I put this with tinned tomato and have for lunch

www.healthyfood.com/healthy-recipes/shakshuka/

@YonBonnieBanks

I have lost 4.5 stone on SW (have put the half stone back on in lockdown though so need to get my ass in gear).

You are not eating enough syns. Furthermore, you are not synning your frylight which is not syn free.

I am not a big fruit and veg fan so I did the plan a bit more flexibly - didn't eat all the fruit and veg I was meant to, but it still worked for me.

Well done for the 4.5 stone weight loss!

@YonBonnieBanks

I have lost 4.5 stone on SW (have put the half stone back on in lockdown though so need to get my ass in gear).

You are not eating enough syns. Furthermore, you are not synning your frylight which is not syn free.

I am not a big fruit and veg fan so I did the plan a bit more flexibly - didn't eat all the fruit and veg I was meant to, but it still worked for me.

Well done for the 4.5 stone weight loss!

I did SW. Lost a bit of weight but it was a slog and I didn't keep it off. Didn't work for me long term but I know people who swear by it.

My main positive/useful take away from it is that it really drums it into you that you should be eating loads of veg and fruit every day. It should make up a big chunk of your diet. Everytime I have a meal I always think - is there enough veg on my plate? That's a good habit that I'm glad I developed.

My main criticism is that it encourages you to eat a lot of shit that isn't nutritious. I call it fake food. For example, you had a dried pasta packet as part of your lunch. It's just utter processed shit that has no nutritional value. For me, I got into diet coke and fat free yoghurt, fat free desserts etc. They replace the fat with horrible stuff like aspartame. It's not real food and it has no place in a healthy diet. Nobody should be encouraged to eat it.

I'd give yourself a few more weeks to see how you get on, but don't feel bad if it's not working. Just chalk it up as a learning experience and move on.

Good luck with your weightless!

Id add extra salad - I would have chopped cucumber and beef tomato in the fridge with red onion that id add to most meals to give me a lot of food but nutrients and a full feeling

@IndiaMay

Bloody hell, you're 'snacking' on soup. Soup is a meal! Your eating pasta AND potatoes for lunch, chips AND lasagne for dinner. You need to be sensible. If you cram pasta in your mouth every minute of everyday you clearly arent going to loose weight just because its free

Bloody hell, I'm such a pig.

I have to say that SW sounds incredibly complex!

I must say I find posts like this pretty mystifying. OP, SW aren't selling you some kind of wormhole which allows you to eat lasagne and jacket potatoes and pasta for every meal without gaining weight! If there were some organisation in the universe with that power, forget a monthly subscription, I'd give them my firstborn child

I think the appeal of Slimming World is that it isn't too intimidating - a lot of their shtick (although I only really know about it from Mumsnet) seems to be focusing on all the nice things you CAN still have on a diet, which is good in its own way because I believe helps people hit their stride, whereas the diets which say "right, from Monday morning it's carrot sticks and tepid water and 10 miles a day for you until you're slim" are going to send anyone who's fond enough of food to be overweight in the first place into a tailspin, and it's a total non-starter. Easing people into a more sensible way of eating without scaring them off is not a bad idea

However, as everyone's pointed out, it's a business, not a fat-people-charity, and making a diet look easy and attractive is much more likely to get peoples' wallets to loosen. They're hardly going to make a point of the inconvenient truth that in order to lose weight you simply do have to eat slightly more boring food, at least some of the time, and less of it. It doesn't have to be miserable, but there's no loophole, there's no clever dodge, and you can't pay your way out of it. Even on a LCHF diet, which a lot of people adore as it feels counter-intuitive to be able to eat so much and still lose weight, there are still pretty hefty restrictions.

I'm not trying to hector you, by the way. Believe me, when I started to gain weight, I sulked for a good 2 years about the fact that I couldn't make fancy delicious pasta dishes every evening and have wine with them and follow them up with Maltesers without getting fat, and just couldn't bring myself to face up to it for ages, so just kept gaining weight. I still LIVE for pasta and wine and chocolate but I keep it to weekends, and that's now just how I eat, I'm completely used to it and don't give it much thought.

MFP is better. It's simple mathematics.

SW costs to participate right? Do you think they want everyone to lose all the weight and keep it off, to never pay again?

In any case I estimated the calories of the food you said above and it's way above what I can eat and lose weight on. I don't know your height and weight but I think you would have to be very big indeed to have that be little enough to lose weight. I love carbs but can't fit pasta and a jacket potato into the same meal even in weight maintenance.

@Glitterb

You are eating too many carbs, yes they are ‘unlimited’ but that actually means 1 x portion is free, not eat as many carbs as you like. It will never work.

You need to base most of your diet on protein and veggies. Slimming world does work if you follow the plan. Tot up your calories on myfitnesspal and I bet you are over

So just one portion of carbs is free a day?

The milk and cheese thing changed relatively recently- they now say 2 HexA per day (I think it was some change in advice about how much calcium is needed).

But this is part of my problem with SW. The 'rules' suggest that you can eat this, plus the HexB, plus as much 'free' food as you like- provided 1/3 of each plate is 'speed' (ie green veg etc). The reason I am overweight is that I like to eat a lot of food, and will continue eating when I am not hungry. I can eat a lot of food before feeling 'sastisfied' if it is tasty!

I did lose quite a lot of weight with SW but actually put weight on at the start as I was eating very much as you have described. Our consultant always told us to think of the calorie value of free food as well. Which sort of goes against all the publicity- their selling point is that there's not calorie counting etc.

That’s because diets don’t work. They’re not healthy

Being overweight like me is unhealthy. Diets are only a way of cutting your calorie intake which in turn will help you lose weight.

Exercise is the only healthy and safe way to lose weight and keep it off

Rubbish. I could be exercising morning noon and night and as long as I was eating too many calories for my body I wouldn't be losing much weight!

You're not doing this through a group though, are you? Otherwise you'd know about the healthy choices and have a set amount of syns per day.

My DH is doing SW, he's lost a lot of weight on it so I know a little about it.

Presumably if a third of your plate is the speed food, you are still eating the same amount - or more - of the speed food than pasta?

I think you are doing your own interpretation of SW!

@ErickBroch

Sorry OP I don't think it will be the diet for you. Not getting into all the pros and cons of diets but SW is not great for people who struggle with portion control. I follow a keto/low-carb way of eating and I eat more than I ever would on a 'diet' and lose weight every week. Not paying anyone... not following a diet plan.... just make some key different choices.

I would say screw SW off and calorie count but with better choices. Not pasta and potatoes all the time. You will get there!

Ah thank you! A very kind message. I do struggle with keto diets though because I'm a veggie. I just need to swat up a bit more as I'm eating far too many carbs and they are so addictive

@AlphaDalpha

That's an awful lot of junk food, is that what they recommend as healthy 😳

It's what's allowed.

I struggle to lose weight because I love biscuits and chocolate!

But I have lost (in the past) 4.5 stone.

I found that reducing carbs was key. Just because when I eat carbs my appetite increases.

So for example today I have had a banana and 2 boiled eggs with tomato's for breakfast

For lunch I have a ham, mushroom, spinach omelette with baked beans and for dinner chicken and veg curry with some rice and salad.

Fruit or cold meats or yogurt for snacks

I do have syns buy usually 1 x option hot choc, and syns in cheese or mayonnaise or dressings.

Plus exercise. I don't drink alcohol when dieting , or milk in coffee.

I do think two A and one B is the current guidance (for the extras) btw, but the syns depending on your starting weight and reduce as you lose weight.

It worked for me, I lost two stone and have kept if off for three years. Don't have the massive amounts even though it's free. I know this is confusing. Make sure you are eating lots of veg and salad (I did half a plate) and not piling lots of free food on your plate as you don't need it even if it is free.

Id add extra salad - I would have chopped cucumber and beef tomato in the fridge with red onion that id add to most meals to give me a lot of food but nutrients and a full feeling

For instance, further to my post, there's a lot of this kind of advice on this thread, and I agree with it, but it's important to be very clear that the salad should be instead of other food, not as well as. If you eat the same amount of pasta but with even more salad on the side, they don't cancel each other out. I know that's common sense and I'm sure you realise it, but I think it's easy to kid yourself that you're eating well because you just ate heaps and heaps of salad, without facing up to the fact that the salad is supposed to compensate for your having a much smaller portion of meat / carbs / whatever without leaving your hungry.

(I speak from experience )

Wow - that’s not really healthy food !

@SchadenfreudePersonified

Only two things have ever helped me lose weight.

1. Cutting back on carbs (falling up instead on veg - led to some funny food combinations, but it worked) I hope you don't mind me saying this - I'm not implying you are an idiot or anything, but i was chatting to a girl in the post office the other day about weight loss, and I suggested cutting carbs. She said she hardly ate any - it was sweets that were her downfall, and also she liked a drink. She was shocked when I pointed out that sweets were sugar, and therefore carbohydrate, and there were huge amounts of carbs in alcohol. She wasn't thick - it just hadn't occurred t her - she thought of carbs in terms of rice, pasta and bread.

2. this bloomin' pandemic! I don't know whether it's stress or what, but I'm not eating snacks at all, and hardly drinking any alcohol, and I've dropped the best part of a stone.

Oh bless you, no I haven't had sweets. I have on,y stuck to 'free' food mainly.

I lost 4 stone with SW and have kept it off bar the odd half stone going on and off over holidays etc.

I don’t follow it to the letter these days but when I did it took 3 weeks for my first loss which was 8lbs.