Please can someone explain SW to me?

[MotherGirth]

I'm considering joining online but it's ££ and I can't really tell what it is I'm buying into. Is this something I could do sustainably and without having to think about sodding food all the time?

It's worked really well for me but I'd struggle to explain it to you. It's more about healthy eating than diet as such but you do need to follow the plan. I'm not sure what online is like though as I went to a group.

I don't want to go to a group as the timing is difficult.

What I did was went to group and paid them the tenner joining fee for the book with most of the syn values in but it's quite easy once you know how it works. I'm using the Extra Easy plan and losing 4-5lbs a week.
Basically, lean meat with no visible fat is free, mince has to be extra lean and chicken can't have skin on. Starchy food like rice, pasta, noodles etc and veggies like potatoes, corn etc are free too. Be sure to cook everything in fry lite which isn't any syns, but oil is and can add up.
There is no real portion control but you want to look to fill your plate with 1/3 superfree food. All raw fruit is superfree, any types of veg, except potatoes and corn, are superfree like mash or puréed. The reason fruit is different is because it's sugary and there can be 30 apples in apple juice but you never could sit and scoff 30 apples! Super free is the lowest cal food and fills you up so it's best to eat more of this than having piles of potatoes and rice.
You have healthy extras A and B which you NEED to have. A is calcium so you can have 250ml milk per day or some cheese. I can't remember the amount because I stopped weighing cheese, I just know there's enough to go on pasta or in a sandwich as long as you don't go mad! Or just have 3 mini babybell as a snack, easy. Then your healthy B is fibre and you get 2 slices of whole meal bread, a wholemeal roll and some nuts and dried fruit are included too.
For syn values, I joined an online forum called Minimins which is great for support and info and I now just search the forum for 'syns Jaffa cake' or whatever and I always find it. If you don't want to join just google the very same and use the Minimins pages to flick through. You are allowed to do syns two ways- use them 15 per day or what I do is take the total amount for the week and divvy them out if I want a night out or a nice meal and then stick to soup and salad for a few days in the week. It's probably best to stick to the regular way til you're used to the diet though so you don't have hidden syns and ruin any weight loss.
If there is no free food allowance, so if it has no meat, fruit or veg like a choc bar or pizza, you can work out rough syns by doing 20 cal per syn. Remember to syn all sauces and alcohol too.
Carby things like pies and pasties tend to be loads (22 syns for a steak bake!!!) and then you can have a whole roast dinner for just 3 syns for the gravy! It doesn't make sense, but it does work. It sounds like a lot to take in but you learn it by heart after a few weeks and know what you can have and what you must syn. Sorry if that's too long and rambly, I don't think I missed anything though!

That's amazingly helpful, thank you so much! A few of my colleagues are SW devotees and after reading your post and discussing with them at lunchtime, I decided to sign up for three months. It does fly in the face of all the low carb / fasting trendy plans, but I can't cope with hunger and tiredness at the moment, so eating pasta and jacket potatoes could be just what I need. I also ordered gin and slimline tonic with the shopping .

Thanks again.

Good luck with it.