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! 😩

@Bercows

OP come over to this thread:

Fuck, some serious dieting and princessing required http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weightlosss_chat/3938678-fuck-some-serious-dieting-and-princessing-required

It's a friendly and relaxed thread full of encouragement and support.

Sounds ideal. Thank you, I will.

@SophieB100

Over eaters are drawn to the myth of SW that says you can continue with your bad habits, if you just switch around what you eat. Hence all the alarming 'free' foods and 'syns'.

I used to over-eat. I gained weight. BMI was 29. Years ago, (decades ago). I lost a huge amount of weight on Atkins. I continued to over-eat and thought I'd found the holy grail of how to lose weight and stuff myself silly at the same time. I got ill, stopped the diet, and because I hadn't realised that I had to eat less to lose weight, I regained it, and some.

I get that some of us want to eat loads of food and lose weight. But this won't happen. You can, however, eat enough food and lose weight.

I eat three meals a day, and probably around 1600 calories a day. And I maintain my weight loss of 4 stone, that was achieved by dropping to 1200 calories a day. I'm no longer losing at 1600 calories a day. This tells me that I eat enough for me. I'm active, tall, but late 50s. Some people my age, eat a lot more than I do, and they think they eat normal amounts. I know that if I ate like them, I would gain. I would definitely, without a shadow of a doubt gain weight if I adopted the SW method.

We're all different. But we often don't need as many calories as we think we do. A lot of people would lose weight at my calorie intake, so this shows that our intakes are different, but a lot of people, and I was one, think we need more calories than we do.

It's about cutting back on the processed foods, unhealthy fats, and increasing the salad/veg. It's about portion control. Cutting out sugar was key for me, and the refined carbs.

You don't have to pay to be told to do this - but you do have to expect to be hungry for a few weeks whilst you adjust. So what? So, at 4pm you're ready for your 6pm dinner...so, that's not a problem, accept it, and push through. Willpower! After a couple of weeks you'll be satisfied on three meals a day, that are portion controlled and healthy.
You won't obsess about syns and fry shite, and free foods and "healthy" extras. You won't recoil in horror from an avocado, and rush to the Muller Frights. A lot of people want the best of both worlds - loads of big meals, snacks and lose weight. SW rely on this - but it rarely works, because like I found out on Atkins, to be healthy and well, you need to adjust your food intake in a healthy way that allows all food groups, in the right amount for you.

Muller Frights

You talk so much sense! Thank you.

@Madein1995

God your post brings back memories of sw op! Encouraging over eating and binging on 'syn free' stuff yet discouraging sandwiches from tesco and making your life more complex. Not at all healthy. From my experience diets dont work. When I tell myself I'm on a diet and restrict myself I binge. I currently have chocolate in the fridge and its stayed there for days because I've told myself if I want it I can have it and as it's not forbidden I've not fancied it really. I'm purposely not calorie counting or weighing as I get obsessed. I eat food when hungry stop when no longer hungry, and eat mainly home cooked stuff with plenty of fruit and veg, drink mainly water, but dont restrict myself. I'm actually finding my tastebuds change and am looking forward to carrot and hummus etc. I fancied dominos last night and told myself if I still want it then I can order one on Friday evening.

I definitely think it is damaging to my mental health as I have thought of nothing but food this last week.

@Madein1995

A better meal plan might be -

Egg on toast / porridge and berries / cereal etc with fruit

Wrap with chicken and salad / pasta salad / veggie fried rice/ crackers, cheese, chicken, hummus and veg / leftovers from previous evening

Home made lasagne/ pasta bake/ curry / stir fry/ chicken and rice / halloumi burger and sweet potato fries etc with appropriate sides, plenty of veg in the sauce.

I do think jacket potato and pasta is a bit ott and am surprised you thought to eat that. Also all the processed shite isnt good. Batchelors packet pasta is full of crap.

Snacks - cucumber and carrot with hummus, yogurt and fruit, etc. Dont make snacks too interesting they should be something 'boring' as if you snack on cake of course you'll want more! If you want chocolate or crisps etc have it as part of a meal, eg dessert after tea or similar.

The jacket potato topped with pasta n sauce was a lunch idea in a Slimming World magazine about ten years ago when it was red and green days. That's where I got the idea from. Totally carb heavy and just wrong.

The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you burn. is overly simplistic.

“I need an degree in maths I think confused”

No, it’s not about the maths, it’s that it repeatedly says replace, swap and other words like that.

You’re not supposed to be taking a portion of something free and then arranging your plate to add on the speed veg so it looks like a third, you’re supposed to be replacing a third of that original portion of free food with the speed free veg.

If 5 eggs was a portion, you’d end up with 3 and veg

If 3 eggs was a portion you’d end up with 2 and veg

If 2 eggs was a portion you’d - well you’d have 1 because they’re eggs, so unless you’re sharing you’d have to do whole eggs.

The point being, it lowers the end portion of the other food.

I’ve always said SW is great for a short time if you’re so far off the wagon you can’t even see it, but in no way is it a healthy way of eating to adopt for life

OP I skimmed through but did I read this right, you only want to lose 1lb? Did you mean 1 stone? If it's only 1lb that means you're already at a reasonably healthy weight? If so to lose that last pound you're gonna have to work very hard. I'm trying to lose the last 5lbs of baby weight that is stuck on my midsection and it's so hard. I'm already at a healthy weight for my height so I have to really try to cut down on calories. What you're eating is not going to help you lose that last pound? Unless that was a typo then ignore me!

@tabulahrasa - a great of explaining any eating plan. Thanks

SW only really works if you have a very poor diet to begin with. If you have loads of crisps, cake, biscuits fizzy drinks etc it will work at least short term. You an eat huge amounts , as the OP is doing, but its unlikely you'll loose anything if you have a big appetite. I remember being told you can eat as much cottage cheese as I wanted. I could do 500g do probs.

I spent 6 weeks on Slimming World a few years ago because I liked the idea of being accountable at a structured weigh-in session. However I guess it's only as good as the group leader running the session and ours was terrible. She told me to up my speed food after a small gain despite me explaining I'd followed the plan meticulously that week but I'd had a coil fitted a few days earlier. She couldn't answer me when I queried why SW branded sausages were syn free yet the WW ones were synned despite being lower in calories and fat than the SW ones (both per 100g and per sausage). Final straw was when slimmer of the week was applauded for losing 5lb because they'd had a mad busy week and had practically lived off multipacks of crisps that week and not much else.

It's funny how we wouldn't, for example, try just one pair of jeans on in a shop, find it doesn't suit us then go on to dismiss all jeans as not working for us or anyone else. It's the same with ways of eating (for me, low carb works well).

I have had a nutrition plan written by a fitness trainer as I need to lose loads and thought I would give that approach a go. Basically the plan is mega low carb in first couple of weeks but replaces it with protein and fibrous vegetables which keep you feeling full. I'm on day 6 and really have not missed carbs - and I ate loads of them!

I do SW and have never eaten packet pasta and sauce.

SW has changed massively since the red and green days of ten years ago. I don’t even pay for it anymore because I follow Facebook and various websites instead. Fatgirlskinny, slimmingeats, pinch of Nom and two chubby cubs are a few that I get my recipes and ideas from.

You’ve given it a week and decided it’s not for you, you’ve barely started. It takes me two weeks to change how hungry I feel and stop wanting sugar. The first week I only lost half a pound. It’s not a quick fix, nothing is.

If I eat a baked potato I put fat free cottage cheese on it (no butter), or tuna mixed with some natural fat free yoghurt (I don’t like mayo), or beans with one of my HeA amounts of cheese, and salad.

I rarely eat muller lites and never eat packet pasta.

@pinkgin85 I read it as OP would have been happy to lose a lb in her first week following the plan, not that she only wants to lose a lb in total.

@pinkgin85

OP I skimmed through but did I read this right, you only want to lose 1lb? Did you mean 1 stone? If it's only 1lb that means you're already at a reasonably healthy weight? If so to lose that last pound you're gonna have to work very hard. I'm trying to lose the last 5lbs of baby weight that is stuck on my midsection and it's so hard. I'm already at a healthy weight for my height so I have to really try to cut down on calories. What you're eating is not going to help you lose that last pound? Unless that was a typo then ignore me!

Sorry no I meant a pound a week. I don't have a lot to lose.

@tabulahrasa

“I need an degree in maths I think confused”

No, it’s not about the maths, it’s that it repeatedly says replace, swap and other words like that.

You’re not supposed to be taking a portion of something free and then arranging your plate to add on the speed veg so it looks like a third, you’re supposed to be replacing a third of that original portion of free food with the speed free veg.

If 5 eggs was a portion, you’d end up with 3 and veg

If 3 eggs was a portion you’d end up with 2 and veg

If 2 eggs was a portion you’d - well you’d have 1 because they’re eggs, so unless you’re sharing you’d have to do whole eggs.

The point being, it lowers the end portion of the other food.

Oh right I see.

I did SW for a while and it did work but when I switched to calorie counting I was surprised at how many calories I was eating during SW.

The more exercise you do the more calories you need, the taller and bigger you are the more calories you need.

Pre lockdown I was very active, I was losing weight on 1600 calories a day. I would plan my meals accordingly, nothing was restricted as long as it fitted into my calorie allowance. If I wanted chocolate then I could, it would mean that I would have to eat less cheese or not drink wine as well. Typical meals would be a bowl of granola, fruit, fat free yoghurt for breakfast, jacket potato with a topping for lunch and pasta with some form of sauce and protein for dinner. Snacks would be anything from popcorn to babybels or I would not snack so that I could have wine.

At the minute I'm not as active and want to try lose my lockdown weight a bit faster than normal because I'm carrying too much excess. My meals today were homemade smoothie made with coconut milk, fruit, protein powder, ground flaxseed and chia seeds. Lunch homemade soup and small sandwich and dinner will be a homemade curry and rice.

All comes in at 1200 calories.

@HavingAMoan

I do SW and have never eaten packet pasta and sauce.

SW has changed massively since the red and green days of ten years ago. I don’t even pay for it anymore because I follow Facebook and various websites instead. Fatgirlskinny, slimmingeats, pinch of Nom and two chubby cubs are a few that I get my recipes and ideas from.

You’ve given it a week and decided it’s not for you, you’ve barely started. It takes me two weeks to change how hungry I feel and stop wanting sugar. The first week I only lost half a pound. It’s not a quick fix, nothing is.

If I eat a baked potato I put fat free cottage cheese on it (no butter), or tuna mixed with some natural fat free yoghurt (I don’t like mayo), or beans with one of my HeA amounts of cheese, and salad.

I rarely eat muller lites and never eat packet pasta.

Yes but the amount of calories I'm allowed to eat is ridiculous. I guess that's why people who lose weight on SW, come off it and gain it all back because their appetites are still huge.

that sounds really carb heavy. pasta and a jacket potato for lunch is way too much. choose one or the other.

I also think 2 eggs max for breakfast. The yolks are high calorie.

Personally I would also try to lower the carbs on 1 or 2 of those meals. Maybe cauliflower rice instead of rice.

But that’s the same as all diets. If they worked then people wouldn’t keep doing them. As soon as you start eating ‘normally’ again, you’ll put the weight back on. That’s why people constantly change diets. SW works for me, but I’m only trying to lose half a stone.

SW has never worked for me, but I know that lots of people swear by it. The problem is that 'syns' do not educate you about calorific deficit. I would put all that into My Fitness Pal and see how many calories it works out, I'll bet its high. Good luck with your weight loss.

@ttim985y

that sounds really carb heavy. pasta and a jacket potato for lunch is way too much. choose one or the other.

I also think 2 eggs max for breakfast. The yolks are high calorie.

Personally I would also try to lower the carbs on 1 or 2 of those meals. Maybe cauliflower rice instead of rice.

It does sound carb heavy and it is! Despise cauliflower rice.

@ttim985y

that sounds really carb heavy. pasta and a jacket potato for lunch is way too much. choose one or the other.

I also think 2 eggs max for breakfast. The yolks are high calorie.

Personally I would also try to lower the carbs on 1 or 2 of those meals. Maybe cauliflower rice instead of rice.

It does sound carb heavy and it is! Despise cauliflower rice.

I struggled with Slimminh World too. It was too free. Jacket potatoes twice a day and pasta + potato at lunch is never going to shift weight.
I tried Weight Watchers which worked for me at it involved a lot of portion control and only protein and veg were free foods. I think these diets only kick start weight loss anyway then you need to move to something sustainable like low carb for long term maintenance.

@Notnownotneverever

I struggled with Slimminh World too. It was too free. Jacket potatoes twice a day and pasta + potato at lunch is never going to shift weight. I tried Weight Watchers which worked for me at it involved a lot of portion control and only protein and veg were free foods. I think these diets only kick start weight loss anyway then you need to move to something sustainable like low carb for long term maintenance.

Yes I think you're right. Although WW has changed too. I lost 2 stone about ten years ago with WW but I remember having to point everything, even fruit and eggs, but you don't have to anymore. I hate calorie counting but I think it's the only way for me.