How well does it actually work for you?

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I'm currently doing SW. If I stick to plan 100% I lose 0.5-1lb. If I go off plan a tiny bit (last week I ate all my syns every day and went 1.5 over on one day) I maintain, anything more than one meal off plan and I see a gain of up to 2.5lb.

I've been doing it now since September and I have lost 2.5lb in total. It's embarrassing! My consultant just says that I can see where I have gone "wrong" on the weeks I gain (going out for dinner one night, for example), and that a 1lb loss on a 100% week is a "healthy pace for weight loss"

The problem is I can have 4 weeks on plan and lose, say, 3.5lb, one dinner off plan and I'm back up 2, so I'm losing less than 2lb a month! Christmas scuppered all the weight loss I'd had up until then so I was back to square one after 3 months of hard work.

Do I really have to have no life for a year to get to goal? Then what happens once I am there, popping out for dinner once a week I am just going to put it back on again.

Anyone else experienced such a frustratingly slow weight loss? Consultant checks my diaries (I still hand them in every week even though I've been doing it 5 months!) and she says they are fine, just comments that maybe I should try less syns :(

Sounds like a plan.

On portion size something I've been experimenting with is cooking my normal quantities then serving up about 2/3 on the plate. Some days I have seconds, some I don't. I've lost 4st 5lb now and i'm at 26BMI. I am sort of at the point you are, hovering around the same weight/ slight loss. So i'm experimenting with introducing changes without being hungry. I don't want to go back to skipping meals then pinching the kids biscuits and being in a cycle of not eating/ feeling guilty about what I've eaten.

You definitely shouldn't be hungry. Thats when it all goes wrong.

When i first started the consultant at an early group said stick to 5 syns or less for 2lb losses, 10 for 1lb and 15 if you're happy with 1/2lb a week. Its a big generalisation but I can sort of see the philosophy.

I go for chocolate over alcohol. At first it was odd particularly on a weekend not opening a bottle but now it just isn't part of my routine.

"You definitely shouldn't be hungry. That's when it all goes wrong"

I am hungry all the time. That's why I liked the SW plan, because if I am hungry, (and proper hungry, so still hungry after a large glass of water) I eat something. No weighing or measuring, just eat something on the plan.

I think to lose weight I am going to HAVE to be hungry. Otherwise I will just keep doing what I am doing which is eating all day and that isn't working.

I lost really quickly the first time I did it after having dd but the second time (after having dtds) my experience was like you. I've been doing my fitness pal for 4 weeks now and lost 11 lbs so far. I eat like I used to as it is all about calorie counting so I adjust my normal meals to fit. Tonight I'm cooking duck and want wine so I had a very light lunch.
I'm finding it helps me to be aware and make good choices. I even included a meal out at Pizza Hut one day - admittedly I hardly ate lunch or breakfast and still went a few calories over but less than 100. I'm only on 1200 calories a day and finding it fairly easy to keep in that and not feel hungry.
after sw I formed a true hatred for muller light yogurts.

Having done SW on and off for a few years i find that what works for me is using the old green plan so that I can have 2x HexB and 2 x HexA also if I choose and using hi fi lite bars as a snack using my HexB. A typical day as follows.

Breakfast - 1 weetabix crumbled into mullerlight yoghurt with chopped fruit (vary the flavour yoghurt and the type of fruit)

Snack - hi fi lite bar (or aldi benefit bar 70 cals) plus piece of fruit

Lunch cous cous or rice salad with chickpeas and chopped salad or baked potato with baked beans or vege chilli or home made lentil or bean soup

Snack hi fi lite and piece of fruit

Dinner - quorn cottage pie and veg or quorn sausages , mash and veg or pasta with tomato sauce or quorn chilli and rice

evening snack mullerlight and hi fi lite bar

that way I manage to snack and keep my syns to the limit. I also eat out a couple of times a week but choose meals that fit with the plan as best as I can eg vege curry and boiled rice. I also have a couple of glasses wine 2-3 times a week.

I appreciate that this doesn't work if you're a big meat eater. I previously did the EE plan but struggled with syns and snacking so I switched to the green plan which I'd followed years ago. It took a while to get used to the quorn but I prefer it now and I've actually stopped eating meat.

This still gives a slow weight loss half to one pound a week but is something I can stick with.

Sorry what I meant by keep syns to the limit was to keep them as low as poss - about 5 syns a day for mayo and gravy so I can then afford to eat out and have wine a couple if times a week.

I coulldn't face another muller light yoghurt after doing SW. I'mgoing to try calorie counting again. I always find I lose weight if I can cut down on bread to one or two slices a day or even cut it out altogether some days.

I don't eat Muller lights either. SW must have shares in them though.

Firstly - thank you for posting, I am feeling EXACTLY the same, so it is rather nice to know I'm not alone. I am so sick of the success stories - mostly on the SW page, but also everywhere else, of people dropping a stone a month, every month etc....

I think SW sells the belief that Food Optimisng is some sort of magic, and after a while you realise that it just isn't. Maybe it is for some people. Or maybe when they follow the plan, they have some very light calorie meals, without realising it - like the skinny housemate mentioned above?

I don't have any answers, but just wanted to say I truly feel your pain :-(

I've decided to go at it for 4 more weeks of really sticking to plan - I'm exercising more now I've got a pedometer. It I don't see at least 6lbs off in that time then I think its end of SW for me, as its just not worth the restrictions for 1/2 lb a month. (restrictions like no alcohol, ordering things that feel like the last thing I want when out, and the teeny amount of choc I get for my self-set 5 syn daily choc allowance followed by hours of wanting more)

Sency xx

Is there any truth in the idea that if you don't have much to lose, it's harder to lose it on SW?

Personally I'd say yes to your question Perkins. I want to be 10lb lighter just under 12st. It took me from new year till last week to drop 6lb. I need to curb snacking or drinking. A meal out with wine can wipe out 3 days syns, if your not careful. I would suggest might be wrong, if you've only a small amount to lose your in betweens is a problem not meals. That's me anyway.

I would say yes - because if you are only a little overweight you probably eat pretty healthily anyway. If your issue is not what you eat but portion control, you're going to need a calorie counting system.

I'm doing SW and trying to lose 2lb a week. I find I only lose if I'm totally ruthless and have no syns whatsoever. If I syn I don't lose as much. Normal week of super strictness and I'll lose 2lb, any deviation and I'm lucky to lose at all. I've lost 10lb since beginning of Jan.