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! 😩

@insomniasucks genuinely show me where it says eat those amounts and lose.

@Allnamesaregone

I did slimming world and lost 2 stone but it all went on again. It’s portion sizes which are the main problem. Also it’s low fat which isn’t great. If you look at the pre packed SW meals they are massive. Also very carb heavy. Yes, they limit bread but not pasta and potatoes. Also your 15 syns a day is equivalent of 300 cals which could easily be eaten as junk.

DH and I are losing weight at the moment and all we’ve done is cut our junk snacking completely and restricted portions depending on what we’re eating. It’s going well.

Yes, portion control is a problem for me too.

“But SW says you can hmm”

Except for the bits that say don’t...

You’re definitely not doing the plan right. It’s not an all you can eat free for all. You need to make sure you’re eating at least a third of speed food at every meal. And I don’t mean a handful of veg and then a mountain of pasta beside it. And like everything in life you need to have some moderation.

You are eating a huge amount of food - do you really need three eggs for breakfast? And chips as a snack?!?! With the size of the meals you’re eating I really don’t think you need snacks. Are you eating when hungry or bored?
Go on Instagram and follow some of the successful slimmers so you can see what a balanced plate looks like, plus get some ideas for tasty meals.

@Saladd0dger

How much water did you drink op? And did you log syns correctly?

I do drink quite a lot of water in a day, probably 7-8 glasses with lots of ice, maybe a diet fizzy drink in the evening and a tea and a coffee throughout the day,

@WellAmThatBad

Drinking plenty of water, being mindful and having everything in moderation and exercise is the only way to lose weight for me anyway

Easier said than done though

Why not just count calories? I've been watching what I eat since the start of lockdown and have lost nearly 2 stone. I have between 1200 and 1400 cals most days, not felt too hungry at all.

Anyone who follows slimming world and believes they will lose weight and keep it off is stupid.

They have 0 syns for totally sugar filled products. It makes no sense

You're not doing it right.

Lunch is jacket potato and pasta plus large salad, right?

So jacket potato is 150g and those bachelor's jobbies have got to be 250g or so? You need to be eating 1/3 of your meal as superfree so your salad needs to be about 150g of the dull stuff to balance it out, before your fun veg is added.

That is a LOT of salad to plough through, like a whole bag of florette!

But SW says you can

It says a wide variety of food.

That's interesting. I'm a vegetarian so rely on too many carbs to fill me up as protein meals on SW take a lot of preparation.

No they don't, I batch cook and freeze. Take it out before I go to work and it's ready when I get home.

@Chloemol

It does work, are you telling me that you had no Syns at all? Other than 2.5? i think you will find that yoghurt may have some Syns. Also portion size does matter, it may be free meat for instance but you shouldn’t be eating shedloads. You need far more speed food, lots of veg etc

The roast dinner, did you have gravy? That’s normally a syn. Some quorum has a syn value n

Why not follow the meal plans they provide for a week and see how you get on

Yes, I did count my syns but rarely never went over 10 a day. Is this right? My treat was two rich tea biscuits in the evening.

That's harsh @2155user

What SlimmingWorld doesn’t teach you is portion control. They encourage you eat lots of foods they say are syn free.

I haven't read the whole thread OP, just your first post.
That's a hell of a lot of food and calories there OP!
Lots of processed rubbish too.

SW doesn't work in my opinion, because it encourages 'limitless' amounts of rubbish.

Yes, of course, the lots of salad and veg should stay - that's what I eat a lot of. Controlled amounts of unrefined carbs, and small amounts of lean protein.

I would gain weight on what you've posted as your daily intake, and feel awful.

I lost 4 stone last year - calorie counted, healthy food, no processed crap.

SW doesn't teach its members to limit their food intake - it relies on people, loosing, and regaining, then rejoining and loosing/regaining again.

So, people might loose on SW, but they are still eating too much - when they get bored of the 'allowed' foods, they start eating too much of the rubbish again, because they haven't retrained their appetites and lost their sugar/refined carb cravings.

@2155User

Anyone who follows slimming world and believes they will lose weight and keep it off is stupid.

They have 0 syns for totally sugar filled products. It makes no sense

But they aren’t.

I have kept 7 stone off for coming in for 5 years.

I know other people who have done similar.

It’s like anything else it works if the person doing it is willing to make changes to their lifestyle and see it as a long term thing not expect results overnight then go back to old habits

Surely soup is a meal not a snack? Pasta AND Jacket? You are eating a hell of a lot of food and I’m not surprised you haven’t lost anything.

I think some of the principles of SW are good, such as ensuring your plate consists of a load of veg or salad is good, but other parts are not really sustainable. Unlimited pasta etc (I know you're supposed to have a proportionate amount of speed food to stop you having loads but...) can still add up to a lot of calories. 3 eggs isn't neccessary either, I would try to count calories to be honest and once you understand what that looks like a bit more, try intuitive eating maybe.

@princesshollysmagicalwand

SW doesn't work for me, at all. I've got sensory issues around food and am a massive fruit and veg dodger. I'd gain with SW. My MIL however has lost 3 stone on it and kept it off by continuing with SW food 80% of the time for years.

I've just lost a stone in a month (3 more to go) by strictly counting calories, sticking to 1500 a day, walking lots (20000 steps a day) and taking Alli. Like someone said unthread, you can't outrun your fork (or outwalk it in my case). Calorie counting doesn't work for everyone but it does for me as I'm quite all
or nothing too.

Gosh, well done for losing a stone! It sounds like you have it together. Am I right in thinking you can only get Alli prescribed from your doctor?

*losing - not loosing!

Op bung up a photo of your food log.

I've lost 9.5 stone by following the no count/core/filling & healthy plan on WW - it's a set list of food that you can eat from but you do have to have portion control. If I have potato it's the size of my fist, spaghetti is 60g dry weight, same with rice, and I use loads of veg to bulk things out. I'm now at my goal weight and maintaining but I haven't let my portion sizes creep back up or I'll be back to where I started, but I'll allow myself a couple of 'treats' during the week whether it be a small chocolate bar or a takeaway.

My menu today is:

B: 45g porridge oats, skimmed milk, banana, skinny latte

L: Chicken breast, 2 hard boiled eggs, loads of salad veg, small amount of LF mayo. Fat free Greek yogurt, teaspoon of honey

D: Prawn spaghetti made with tomatoes, olive oil, chillis, red wine vinegar, prawns, garlic and spaghetti. Fat free Greek yogurt, raspberries and for a treat I'm having a crushed meringue nest and a teaspoon of melted Nutella with it

If I need to snack during the day I have fruit and chopped up veg in the fridge ready to go.

The last time I went to a meeting which was a few years back, a woman was eating home made chips between meals as they were 'free' on the list. She couldn't understand why she wasn't losing weight

@2155User what a strange thing to say. People who use SW aren't stupid. And it does work. It might not be for everyone but to make such a rude and sweeping generalisation is ridiculous.

@LynnThese4reSEXPEOPLE

I did SW for 3 weeks. I was miserable, I ended up eating things I would never normally eat (so many jacket potatoes, jam on toast) and avoided things I would love (fancy salads at cafes - couldn't work out the syns).

So I decided not to do that and did Couch to 10k instead. Back in my pre-pregnancy jeans.

Yes, I'm feeling pretty miserable too and my whole day revolves around food prepping. I'm sick of it.

@LynnThese4reSEXPEOPLE

I did SW for 3 weeks. I was miserable, I ended up eating things I would never normally eat (so many jacket potatoes, jam on toast) and avoided things I would love (fancy salads at cafes - couldn't work out the syns).

So I decided not to do that and did Couch to 10k instead. Back in my pre-pregnancy jeans.

Oh and well done in getting back into your pre-pregnancy jeans

@UnfinishedSymphon blimey that's an amazing loss, congratulations! Seems like a decent amount of tasty food too.

I do find with SW as I follow a lot of the big insta accounts from when I used to follow the plan, is that, almost without exception a lot of the cover stars have put all of the weight back on. Not a great advert.