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Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

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Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Slimming World

Slimming world and snack shots ( free ones )

42 replies

ginorwine · 29/01/2017 13:13

Have lost weight on sw and am now trying to maintain the loss - finding thus harder .
I'm feeling really hungry at the mo and crave warm foods and also choc .
Am having a curly wurly at night with a gin for my syn treat but in the day I'm wanting to snack .
I've really got into snack shots and tend to crave on mid afternoon and late am - as snack s not lunch etc .
I looked at the calories - I know sw doesn't count them - and two snack shots come to around 500 calories ! So how come they are free ? And why don't folk gain weight with this many extra calories ? I'd rather have extra choc or wine but they are not free like snack shots ! Wish cd use the calories differently ! Can anyone explain this ? I'm not going to group at the moment .thanks .

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dannyglick · 29/01/2017 16:48

ginorwine, Snack Shots are syn- free, but not a "free food".
I f you choose to have them, they should be eaten as part of a meal, with speed veg, and not as a snack, because, as you say, that would mean eating unnecessary extra calories.
Between- meal snacks should be speed foods, free foods, or daily syns.

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ginorwine · 29/01/2017 19:11

Thanks
Oh hell I've got mixed up here ! I thought all syn free food was the same as free food !!!!!!

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dannyglick · 29/01/2017 19:13

Free foods are the ones listed in your Food Optimising book.

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ginorwine · 29/01/2017 19:21

Thanks
I've gone off track !
I think that syn free equals free and I need to focus
Will dig out my book ! Thanks .

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LavenderRains · 29/01/2017 22:31

I've only ever taken them to work as an 'emergency' but we were told at group that they were a free food so I think that's giving people the wrong idea. I had no idea there were so many calories in them!!

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ginorwine · 30/01/2017 11:20

I kno lavender ! I've been having two a day too !!!!

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Rikalaily · 30/01/2017 11:58

500 cals of something that is filling and satifying is better than eating 500 cals of a chocolate bar or crisps which wouldn't satisfy your appetite and would make you crave more junk. It's so filling that you can't eat huge quantities of it.

Pasta is a free food, it's listed as free in the free food section on pages 9 & 18.

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LavenderRains · 30/01/2017 13:14

Good point rik

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ginorwine · 30/01/2017 17:20

Help! I think I may have got sw wrong a bit .
So is smash ok to eat between meals to drive if peckishnrss ? That's free isn't it ???? Thanks again .

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NewtScamandersNaughtyNiffler · 30/01/2017 17:24

I thought free foods were syn free and could be eaten as much as you want?

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trinketsofgold · 30/01/2017 17:34

You can eat free foods as much as you like, but if a third of you food isn't "speed" food, don't expect massive losses at the scale.

Syn free, and free and exactly the bloody same. danny's advise is wrong

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ginorwine · 30/01/2017 20:32

Oh I'm confused now
Danny's advice us wrong
So if it's sum free it is in fact free ? So I can have two snack shots between meals and at about 500 cals for the two ? If they are free that is fab !

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ginorwine · 30/01/2017 20:49

So are all non syn foods free ?

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trinketsofgold · 30/01/2017 21:41

Yes, Syn free means FREE

But if you are solely eating free food and not speedy you will not see the big losses.

Third of the plate speedy ect

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ChessieFL · 01/02/2017 09:57

Danny is right. The free foods that you can eat in unlimited quantities are those listed in your book. Syn free processed foods obviously don't count towards your daily Syns, but shouldn't be eaten in unlimited quantities. If you need to snack you should go for speed foods first then protein.

Having said that I do agree with others that it's better to eat 500 cals of a syn free mug shot or whatever than 500 cals of chocolate or crisps.

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ginorwine · 01/02/2017 17:47

Some folk agree with Danny that there is syn free food such as snack pots but that they cannot be eaten in sane way as free speed food . Others think free us free ! Confused - any other views please .

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ginorwine · 02/02/2017 11:15

Bump
Just hope to clarify

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pinkunicornsarefluffy · 02/02/2017 11:20

Syn free is syn free... if it wasn't it would be synned. don't look at the calories.

Just common sense really, if you lived on syn free mug shots you wouldn't lose weight, but they are totally allowed as a syn free snack and a great idea as very filling.

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BasinHaircut · 03/02/2017 10:05

For me it's all about regulating intake and being sensible/eating in moderation. Eating 2 snack shots (are they the same as mug shots?) isn't really eating in moderation IMO. I'd look at finding some lower calorie snacks if I were you.

500 calls worth of snacks every day seems excessive. I know SW doesn't encourage counting calories but do you know your average daily calorie intake? Mine is about 1500 so if I ate 500cals in snacks I'd struggle to eat 3 satisfying meals For the remaining 1000 and if I regularly went over this I'd gain weight.

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ginorwine · 03/02/2017 12:30

I understand what you mean Basin- it's just that I thought that you could eat unlimited free foods and my natural preference is things like the snack shot , cottage cheese with beetroot and smash ! 😄I'm quite a literal person so when slimming world indicates that these things are free and can be eaten when wanted I took that to be the case you see !

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ginorwine · 03/02/2017 12:33

Can anyone suggest tasty low cal snacks ? Apart from cottage cheese and pickles - I really like savoury things - if I have fruit - I eat the fruit but still crave savoury or spicey food . I quite fancy the cheese scones made of egg , cottage cheese and mash . But I'm not thinking I need a more low cal option ?

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ginorwine · 03/02/2017 12:34

Re calories
I have no idea
My old group leader said don't count them ....

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BasinHaircut · 03/02/2017 13:14

You can eat unlimited to satisfy your appetite, but you still have to temper your consumption to make sure it isn't excessive. All food has calories and free foods are not necessarily low calorie. Pasta and rice are easy to eat to excess.

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Frouby · 03/02/2017 13:27

Sw is about using speed foods to satisfy your appetite first. So 1/3 of your plate should be speed foods.

If you are hungry and want a plate of pasta that is fine. With the proviso that 1/3 of that plate has speed on it. So the snack shot and a big side salad would be absolutely fine. As long as you are genuinely hungry and eat until you are satisfied, but not beyond your own satisfaction level.

What are you eating for breakfast and lunch? Are you chosing lots of speed food then? With a portion of protein?

So for instance and jacket potato and beans is free. But there is no speed on there so it's not really a true slimming world meal. If you were to add a big salad to your plate then it would be sw friendly.

Free food is free. Something processed like ham or a mug shot should be treated the same way as potatoes or plain pasta. Eat them and enjoy them. As long as 1/3 of the serving is speed.

And 1/3 speed should ideally replace food not be in addition to it. So think about your plate. Put 1/3 of speed on first. Then the rest of your food. So with something like pasta the idea is that the speed replaces some of the pasta.

It's not always possible to do that. Like with a jacket potato. I am going to put the full potato on regardless. But if I eat the speed first I might feel full after 1/2 the potato. Or I might eat it all but then not eat as much at teatime because I am still full from lunch. Therefore reducing my calories whilst remaining satisfied.

I sometimes use MFP to check my calories and am always surprised by how few I am eating, despite usually thinking I have eaten too much that day. Which is when I usually check.

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ginorwine · 03/02/2017 16:46

Ha ! I understand
Have been using free but not speed food as snacks !!!
Thanks v much 🍷

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