SW Newbie!! *waves*

[cjt110]

So I signed up last night. Got home, quickly made up a menu for today but really need to get my head into SW and out of WW.

Does anyone have any good tips that will help see me through the first bumpy days?

No-one?

Main tip is to write down everything you eat, and check syn values before you eat anything.

Why don't you post your menu for today so we can check it over :)

Hiemma

So today I am planning/have had:

30g porridge oats with 200ml of semi skimmed milk

For lunch Im having 2 slices of wholemeal bread with beans followed by an apple and a pear and some fat free vanilla yoghurt.

For tea I'm planning mince and onions with gravy granules, potatoes, carrots and peas.

So based on the above, My A choice is 250ml semi skimmed milk. My B choice is my porridge oats. I need to syn in my golden syrup (2.5 syns?) and also my bread (4syns each slice? So 8 in total?) Which leaves me with 4.5 syns out of 15?

My menu today is totally of the cuff today as it was 9pm by the time I got home last night. So I already feel I'm doing pants

Yep, definitely record everything you eat. Not only will it keep you in check, but you will also start to see patterns in your eating that may help you realise any significant changes you need to make.

My big tip food wise though is to make sure you plan for healthy snacks in advance for the times of day you know you are going to struggle. For me, this is when I get home from work so I make sure I have something ready. Sometimes this is my HexB (I usually have two Alpen Light bars for this), other times I have something like Quorn roast fillets or a boiled egg (both of this are syn free on the EE plan). I would avoid anything like yogurt at this time as most of the yogurts that are syn free are quite heavy on the sugar and that's not a good way to go when you're hungry and snacking (imo).

Based on your menu, the only things I picked up on is that the gravy needs to be synned and you don't have any superfree foods with breakfast. But I'm saying this going on you being on the EE plan, I'm not too familiar with the other plans.

Ah yes, gravy.

I don't feel I've done all to well so far as I planned on having some wine tonight but I cant based on my syn use already!

I have just looked and if I syn my porridge instead of my bread that’s 4.5 syns and I can have upto 60g of wholemeal bread…. My loaf has 18 slices ibn – divide by 800g which is 44.4g so ill have a piece and a half of toast with my beans :D meaning my syns are 7 for the day instead of 10.5. Or I might even just have the one piece of bread

The easiest way for you to cut down on your syns for today is to swap the bread for something like a jacket potato. I very rarely eat bread now as you don't get much for your HE allowance and it is quite a lot of syns for not much reward IMO. I always feel rubbish after eating it.

emma I would but I have nothing else with me (and only get 30 mins lunch!)

Ah ok. When I am at work, I tend to eat leftovers from dinner the night before, so pasta or rice dishes. I just bung them in the microwave for a couple of minutes.

Fab idea! I will start doing that.

I just feel so disorganised with it all. I will try my bets today and start properly tomorrow

Totally agree with Emma on the bread issue. I rarely eat it because it's not worth it. Occasionally I will have two slices of nimble bread if I'm eating an SW fry up at home but more often than not I use my HexB on the Alpen Light bars.

For work days, I usually take either leftovers in a box or a Mug Shot or Deli Box (the latter is made by Batchelors I think, not sure about the mug shot). I have it with a tonne of fruit for the superfree aspect.

I'm always a bit iffy about reheating rice. I'm never quite sure if I should!

Is the mince 5% fat or less? If not you will need to syn it.

I use the Uncle Ben's microwave rice. It isn't syn free, but low in syn. I think reheating rice is fine if you put it in the fridge straight after cooking. I think it is bad if you let it cool before putting in the fridge.

The mince isnt 5% or less I dont think :( Oh I've lost the will to live lol

Just go with what you have planned for today, and start properly tomorrow! All meat needs to be lean with skin and visible fat removed. So that means 5% mince, chicken with no skin, bacon with the fat removed.

Tomorrow emma I plan the following:

B - porridge oats (From HEB) with 200ml of milk (From HEA) and 1 tbspn of golden syrup 2.5 Syns
L - a vegetable curry/chilli (carrots, peppers, onions and a few potatoes maybe made with spices and pasatta) with rice
D - Diet cola chicken with some slimming world chips.

As snacks Ill have the obligatory fruit and Im not sure what else. Do you have any suggestions?

Sounds good overall. Could you add some fruit at breakfast and some veggies at dinner?

You have some syns left, so you could have some of those for snacks. I try and have at least 5 syns a day so I'm not depriving myself of yummy things!

Im not really a fan of fruit with my breakfast emma as I only really eat apples, pears and melons. I could have one mid morning. Not sure what veggies I could have with tea - I could make up a coleslaw?

1/3 of your meals should be speed foods. You could have an apple at breakfast and pretty much any veggies with dinner. Potatoes aren't speed food. I would have peas with it personally.

I am still trying to get my head around it. Am I doing whats called the Extra Easy plan?

Yes :)

I thought that was OTHER plan lol

Also, although my paper diary says something about at least 1/3 of myplate needs to be super speedy, (with a little S in a circle) I cant seem to find these in the book?

Super speedy are the fruit and veg pages in the free food section of the book . Speed foods are most fruit and veg excluding a few like potatoes. I only joined slimmng world last night too so am still getting my head round it too. i don't feel as if I have had a very good first day either !!