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! 😩

@Viviennemary

Thats why I loathe SW now. Their ideas are nutritionally unsound and they are brainwashing women into believing total nonsense about food. Syn's, free food, speed food

It's quite damaging.

@KatherineParr4

Too many fried foods and fat too much carb I would say OP. The fewer carbs the better, don’t fry anything and eat a lot more fruit and veg.

Not even with Frylight?

@MadCattery

I use an app called LoseIt! I told it I wanted to lose 1.5 lbs per week and it tells me what my calorie allowance is. It communicates with my Fitbit so I can earn extra calories. As I put in the foods I’ve eaten, it calculated my fat, protein, sodium, carb, etc intake. I’ve lost 33 lbs and am within a pound of my goal. I actually ended up losing a little under a pound a week. If I eat too much at lunch, I adjust my evening meal to stay in my calorie range. And if I don’t eat enough, I adjust my snacks. It all comes down to the numbers for me.

Ooh that sounds good. Is it a free app?

I think it works. I had a bit of a lockdown belly and been on it for a week an I’ve definitely lost a few pounds. I’m a fan personally because I think it’s sustainable and the meals are healthy. Also you can adapt your regular meals to make them SW friendly. Everyone on here will predictability slag it off though.

@NorthernSpirit

Fry light IS free

There's so many conflicting advice on here. I always thought it was free.

Dieting makes you fat - it really does. It does all kinds of crazy shit to your body and mind. It doesn't matter if it's low fat, low syn, low sugar, low calorie; it messes you up.

Stop dieting. Focus on health. Physical and mental health.

Physical health means moving in ways you enjoy. Resting when you need to. Eating foods that you enjoy and that fuel your movement. That are nutritionally dense.

Mental health means not beating yourself up thinking your fat is a moral issue. Not being ashamed of yourself. Looking at ways to get the right amount of sleep. Looking at ways to reduce stress.

@SauvignonBlanketyBlank

Thats a lot of food.I can't lose on that amount

Neither can I

@insomniasucks You are not being a greedy cow! The basic premise of SW is that you eat more. Those that are calorie counting will always see what you've eaten as 'too much'. A PP said 3 eggs was too much, I eat 3 eggs a day, I honestly go through 12 eggs a week (my partner thinks I'm crazy!). You just need to find what works for you, I promise you it works it's just really disheartening not seeing the scales go down.

I have to justify how much I eat these days because people swear I don't eat enough, then I tell them exactly what I eat in a day and they shut up, all because to them I can't honestly be a size 6-8 and eat as much as I'm claiming..... but I do, honestly I'm not sure why so many people seem to be bothered . Personally for me SW has transformed my relationship with food. I don't worry what I'm eating but I 'count' it the way I've been taught which lets me be less harsh on myself if I have an indulgent evening/day.

Don't give up yet, SW takes a long time to get your head around, I was lost for weeks and then the weight started to come off. I never gave up alcohol, chocolate or pizza (my biggest weakness) and I on average lost 1.5lb per week, never more than 4lb in one week. I also didn't have these big losses in the first couple of weeks that every one seems to have when they start.

As for the syns, yes you need a minimum of 10 per day (unless you choose to do flexi syns, which is not widely advertised but is possible) - even on an SP day you're supposed to have 10 syns because you need the fat content as well. If you follow the plan to the letter and write down everything that passes your lips (a bit boring and daunting at first) you will loose weight. It is important to accurately count the syns, as PP have said quorn tends to have a syn count. It didn't used to in the older plan but they revise syn counts at least once a year.

Also a PP said that you're only allowed 1 HEXA this is incorrect, you're allowed 2 - I have milk and cheese every day (thank god because I LOVE cheese)

It is true the SW doesn't 'teach' you about portion control, but if you have 1/3 plate of speed the portion control comes naturally, which is why you don't have to count anything.

Feel free to PM me if you want any specific help.

@tabulahrasa

“Yep a third of my plate is always speed food.”

So you’d have normally eaten 5 eggs for breakfast?....

Eh? Aren't tomatoes, mushrooms and wilted spinach speed food?

That sounds like a huge amount of food to me. I lost 2.5 stone this year after piling it on in pregnancy. For me I just centred every meal on veg and a lean protein and focused on that instead of a "diet"

No, I dont find the sw works for me.
I find that in meetings when they say, eat as much as you want! You dont need to feel deprived on this diet is not right for some of us. Many of us will use it as an opportunity to eat a lot more than we should.

Also, some of us really dont lose weight because of the high amount of carbs we can eat on the diet.

I rejoined, stuck to it my first week. I weighed everything. I was so so careful. I lost 1lb
My husband slipped off a few times. He lost 8lb.
I stayed for club and everyone was told about my loss and I was questioned why I hadn't done better.

I've been on a lot of diets. I've tried a lot of different approaches. The best I've ever found was the paleo diet, or calorie counting with trying to fill half of my plate with vegetables/ fruit and trying to not have massive portions of carby foods like potatoes, rice or pasta.

At the moment I'm on a pre op diet. Its 1000 calories a day and I'm trying to keep low carb/ low sugar, and I've lost 6lb since Thursday.

@insomniasucks frylight is free

Is this actually real?

I'm a big eater and to me that is a HUGE amount of food for one day!

[quote BIWI]**@insomniasucks* if you're really worried about diabetes then you seriously* need to cut down on the carbs.

I get that it's harder as you're a veggie, but it's really possible.

Rose Elliott has written a whole veggie low carb diet plan (with recipe book to go with it).

Not only are you eating far too much overall, you're also eating too many carbs - which means I'd put money on you being hungry all the time![/quote]
I'll look in to that. Thank you.

I've been doing SW since January I was really religious about it, I've given up now I still follow there reciepes but I'm not fussed if I have a treat! I Bought all the books threw everything "unhealthy" away from the cupboards (well donated to the local food bank) I weighed everything out even ate all speed foods one week and still didn't loose the most I've lost is 2lb - I am still a member foolishly but I dont think it works for everyone. I joined because my friend lost 2 stone and I had just had a baby so wanted to loose some baby fat and feel better about myself. I've actually started couch 25k and I've lost more weight by doing that and I feel better in myself.
I think i will end my subscription after this month what a waste!!!

SW doesn't work for everyone. It does work for some people. Same as any other diet. I never lost anything on SW. I just felt like a twat in the group round robin.

I found WW has always worked in the past where SW hasn't. I can't be arsed any more with pointing, but they are very focused these days on eating healthily and not opting for processed food. That doesn't mean they don't push their snack foods because they do. They're a business and trying to cash in on that stuff. But in general its a much healthier way to eat and promotes a lifestyle not diet culture.

@mencken

''syns', 'green days' , 'red days'...sounds like you are paying to create a 'relationship with food' which is a great way to an eating disorder.

normal mental health means food is tasty fuel. Not something that rules you 24/7.

Agreed.

I can't think of SW without remembering the old 'Things only people who've joined slimming clubs will know' list.

1. Group leader: "You can eat a whole bag of pasta if you need to.....but you won't be able to."

You: "I beg to fucking differ, Linda".

I'll see myself out

You can’t snack on things like homemade crisps or chips. You have to syn them. They are considered a tweek. Unless you have them as part of a meal.

Your speed food is meant to replace a third of your plate not an extra on the side of the portion you already have.

I snack on fruit if I’m hungry or babybel light cheeses as part of my HeA. Sometimes I’ll eat a bit of ham.

You don’t need lasagne and chips and pasta and a baked potato. Your portions are way too big.

There are lots of SW groups on Facebook, have a look for advice and meal ideas. It can be done, I lost a stone. But you’re expecting a lot in a week. Already you’re thinking of changing your diet because in a week you didn’t have miraculous results. This is why people don’t lose weight but say they’ve tried all the diets, well if you try 17 different diets in a month, they won’t work.

So today I’ve eaten

40g all bran with Skyr yoghurt and berries and grapes and a splash of milk.

Mid morning snack: a banana and a cup of tea.

Lunch I’ve got some leftover Katsu sauce (SW recipe) which I’ll have for lunch with some cous cous or something and a salad.

Might have an apple as a snack

Dinner is meatballs made from less then 5% fat mince, with a homemade syn free sauce, spaghetti and a salad.

I tend to save my syns for a treat in the evening.

“Eh? Aren't tomatoes, mushrooms and wilted spinach speed food?”

They are... but if they’re a third of your portion, then your original portion must have been 5 eggs to be left with 3.

Sounds like loads of food and loads of fake food.

Just cut out the crap, eat as naturally as possible - avoid processed foods - and don't overdo the carbs. Add in some exercise. Drink lots of water. You'll lose weight easily.

You might find using a diet plate when serving up your main meals will help you to work out sensible portion sizes, for protein and carbs.

Unless you’re training for a major sporting event, 3 eggs for breakfast is excessive, especially when you’re trying to lose weight. The only time that will work for weight loss is if you’re doing a very low carb diet, but they’re very unhealthy if you use them for any length of time as you’re not eating the full range of vitamins and minerals.

OP, one piece of advice which is always repeated on Mumsnet but which I don't think has come up on this thread is to get a smaller plate. It sounds simplistic but it really works. If you get a small plate, and fill half of it (or whatever) with salad/veg, there's limited space left for the carby stuff you love. Psychologically it's easier to eat from a plate that looks full to one which looks empty, even if it's the same amount of food. Presentation is surprisingly important - I'm always pointing out to my husband that in nice restaurants portions are frequently much smaller than we have at home, but beautifully presented, and he never complains of being hungry or dissatisfied after them.

Of course it doesn’t work - it’s business model relies on a cycle of yo-yo dieting !

A week is nothing!!! It happens slowly and then suddenly, boom. I'm sorry but if you give up after a week it's never going to happen.

Weight loss that actually stays off is a slower process.