What am I doing wrong?

[Tigerpit]

Second week on SW, and second week to stay the same.

This is a typical day for me. What could I be doing wrong?

Breakfast - wholemeal toast with laughing cow light (Healthy Extra A and B)

I use semi skimmed milk in tea through the day - I count this as 2.5 syns

Lunch - Homemade. Sometimes a sandwich (counting the extra 8 syns for the bread) or pasta, or leftovers from dinner the night before....if there's anything that needs counted, it gets counted. Usually I'd say that was just bread for a sandwich, but sometimes I have a multipack sized bag of walkers baked (6 syns) after a salad. The rest of lunch is always free foods.

Afternoon snack if needed - fruit. But I don't often have a snack. If I've not had any syns at lunch, then I might have an Alpine Light bar late afternoon (not sure of the syns of these...I'm guessing around 6)

Dinner - Always home cooked, and always syn free, or at most, using 2 or 3 syns for anything I add, such as a measured portion of cheese to pasta.

I'm always under the max 15 syns.

Here I am, staying the same. I'm clearly doing something that isn't working.

Any advice for me please?

Maybe try more speed food? I’d cut down on the bread to two bits a day then add it back in if you miss it once you’re in the swing of losing weight. I had a really slow start but lost over 3 stone really gradually over a year and have kept it off so it’s worth persevering I promise! x

Are your plates 1/3 or even 2/3 speed food? Vegetables etc

It looks to me like you're being a bit casual with the way you're counting the syns. The bread from sandwiches, the alpen light bars, the additional milk on top of the cheese allowances. I think you may be eating more than you realize. I would stick to the allocated healthy a and b choices for one week, just at breakfast and use the syns on something else other than milk and bread as its easier to be precise about what you've had.

Oh yes, I always have loads of veg. I eat less fruit than veg, mainly down to the cost of it, but I do have at least 8 veg portions a day.

Last night's dinner wasn't quite free, as I had three of the Heck chicken italia skinny sausages (1.5 syns total) grilled. I had that with one medium potato, made into a rosti (cooked with frylight), two grilled tomatoes, one poached egg and a massive portion of salad with 1 syn's worth of low fat dressing. The salad and grilled tomatoes covered more than half my plate. Salad was spinach, carrot, pepper, cucumber, celery and fresh basil. I was beyond stuffed after that.

I don't snack in the evenings, I just don't want or need to. We don't eat until close to 8pm most nights, so it's very VERY unusual for me to have anything else after dinner. I'm going to say I have a biscuit with a cuppa about once a month.

So glad you posted this Tiger - i was about to post the same question. I think i followed it religously but weight is the same after the first when I was expecting a biggish loss, it is a pain isnt it? So I googled and maybe i am not eating enough speed foods, maybe not eating enough ( find that hard to believe but maybe) and today i weighed and measured my milk and cereal to make sure my portion sizes are correct going forward. I also measured my hips, waist and bust in the vain hope that thqt is changing but not showing on the scales.

Will follow thread for more suggestions. Also can I add a quick question? I am having my cereal with milk ( healthy a and b allowances) in the evening since that is my problem time, I would hate to give this up but maybe it is too late?
Good luck with this week, fingers crossed for you.

Danielcraig - everything's measured and the syns are counted, and I'm within the allowance I'm given by Slimming World. I hardly call that "casual".

ps sorry - I've realised that sounds really defensive. I noticed I haven't specified that I measure everything in my first post, I thought I had. Sorry again. You may very well have a point about dropping the extra bread, but I don't understand why it would matter WHAT the syns are made of, as long as I don't go over the allowance. Why would it matter?

Humphriescushion - my understanding is that you use a certain number of syns within a 24 hour period. If you save yours for the evening then I don't see why it would do any harm. You'd save syns to have a glass of wine to have with dinner, not many would drink it at 10am.

I see a LOT of social media posts of people's "snack plates" for evening munching in front of the telly. Now a lot of them use ALL their syns in that snack plate...they have a few sweeties, a couple of cereal bars, some fruit, maybe a yogurt, whatever takes their fancy.

I don't understand how that's okay, but using my syns for extra bread at lunch isn't. Syns/calories are syns/calories. It doesn't matter one jot when you consume them, surely?

Are you definitely having the right bread for your HEB? It’s one slice from an 800g loaf, or 2 slices from a 400g loaf. If you’re having 2 slices from an 800g loaf that could be it.

How many cups of tea do you have? The recommendation if you’ve used your A choice for cheese is to count 0.5 syns for a dash of skimmed milk in tea. If you’re using semi skimmed milk you should probably count 1 syn per dash (maybe more if you like your tea milky).

You mention cheese on your tea sometimes - 2-3 Syns really doesn’t get you much cheese so are you sure that’s right? 25g normal cheddar is 5 Syns and that’s really not very much!

Alpen light bars are 3 Syns each so lower than you thought!

Yes that was what I was hoping, that it did not matter when you eat, but thought it maybe a reason. This cereal is not my syns though they are my healthy extras. I have tried to be careful with syns, since have to use some for oil because I cant get fry lite or a spray thing at the moment. I am careful though and measure oil ( and am not using it very often anyway). I am very disheartened atm but trying to think that I look better ( i hope) and It will come off soon!

Going to try and be postive and try and up my speed foods.

I would do a calories count up of your day and see what sort of calories you are looking at, what do you weigh op? You don't have to say but I think lots of weight lost in the first couple of weeks of slimming world is from people who have a lot to loose and a lot of it is water weight.

Has your diet changed a lot on slimming world? Again it's designed to teach normal healthy eating, but if your problem was slightly too big portions then it doesnt really help.

What youc ould also try is measurig out youe milk and cheese in the morning, so you dont just end up using loads throughout the day and just vaguely adding syns

alpen lights are 3 syns each. As above check your healthy extras and count syns properly. 1 hex of each unless breast feeding it’s more.

Ah....the bread I'm using is from a medium sliced large loaf. Thank you!! So I get one slice of breakfast for my HE-b and the other has to be counted. That makes sense now.

Good to know about the Alpen light bars. I was overgenerous as I couldn't find them in my book, but that looked to be an average syn value, so I went with it. Better too high than too low...

The odd thing is, my diet hasn't changed that much at all, it's been more tweaks than anything. Protein has definitely gone up, but I've always measured out the pasta and rice etc before cooking, using the standard adult portion. I use low fat cheese (tesco extra mature lighter) and have done for years. I only need a little as it's really strong, and I measure it. I use frylight, and have always cooked my homemade chips in the oven using that. That's been my oil of choice for years. I'm measuring out my milk (100ml semi skimmed is 2.5 syns) in the morning and using that in tea, and counting it. If I do use a spread (not often) it's flora light, and it's a scraping (and counted). I don't eat processed foods, no ready meals, no dry packets of things (except for spices), no takeaways, no cakes or biscuits or bakery goods.

What I do have to contend with is a menopausal body and a decade's worth of stress hormone cortisol build up around my abdomen. I was a carer for my elderly parents for a decade, one with alzheimers, and was left by both sisters to do it all on my own, whilst trying to run my own business and raise my own family, whilst dealing with a life threatening medical condition of my own. It's been fun, not.

I just want my life back. I want to get rid of this belly, I want it to be as simple to understand as possible and I want to feel like me again.

Thedishranawaywiththespoon - my problem is sugar, specifically children's sweeties. Them and crisps.

I hate chocolate, but offer me a fizzy cola bottle and I'd sell my soul. Needless to say, those have been eliminated totally. That's partly why I've had so few alpen light bars - I don't want to keep the "taste" for sweet things. I've also limited sweetened yogurts, as it feels counterproductive to swap one thing for another. I have a muller light a couple of times a week, but I'm not a big pudding person anyway so could forgo these happily.

Crisps, I've found a few of my usual lower fat choices that are acceptable in terms of syn values. French fries and walkers baked would be my normal choice, and I can work them in quite easily.

I just need to get my head round this whole thing, somehow, and not give up before I've adapted properly. Clearly I still have work to do..

No speed with your breakfast, you’ve said you’re using the wrong bread. Make sure you are checking syns properly. Use the app/website rather then the book for up to date syns. The book can be out of date. I wouldn’t have 2 servings of bread in one day, it’s very bloating. Also, make sure you change it up throughout the week, I never lose much when I stick to the same stuff. Use different a&bs to what you normally would, there are hundreds of different ones out there.

It should't' matter what you spend the syns on in theory. I was just trying to give you a way of making sure you were counting properly. The bread allowance is measly, so is the cheese and as you're having milk too so its really easy to have more than you thought. For me just having the prescribed amount of both HEX A and B helps me to manage my syns really closely but what words for me might not work for you.

Sounds like you've had it very tough op

If your diet wasn't that different before then you aren't going to loose much on slimming world. It's not magic, it's just simple calorie control. Take into account the bread, what about things like strawberries instead of sweets and alpen bars etc? Try drinking more water, and make sure you are not being overly generous with your syns. That's my problem, just slightly undercalculating syns but it actually adds up to lots overall.

I agree it's probably the bread. I used to mix up different a&b choices and tried to never have more bread than allowance. I am at target now but still only allow myself 1 portion of bread per day.

Also think you are expecting too much too soon. Your metabolism slows as you get older especially in menopause (fgs like we don't have enough to contend with!).

I have been religious about diet and exercise and I've still not lost anything but I know it will come eventually. It is frustrating though!

Are you drinking lots of water?

It really does help with weight loss.

If I were you I would TRY to eat earlier and TRY to eat lighter in the evenings (eating more at lunch).

I don’t do SW as I prefer Low Carbing, but I’m diabetic so I test my blood glucose levels st various times. I notice a big difference if I eat too much in the evening or if I eat too late. Unfortunately I don’t get home from work until late, so I TRY eat more at lunch and lighter at night AND I TRY to be at least a bit active after dinner as it makes a big difference.

Fruit just turns to sugar once it hits your blood stream, so personally I avoid it, other than berries which are much lower in sugar, as much as possible as you can get everything you need from veg so I’ll have some celery, cucumber or radishes etc. I know if I don’t want those then I’m clearly not THAT hungry 🤣

Granted some people can eat utter crap at midnight and be fine, but not all of us can and the fact that it’s bloody unfair doesn’t change it. Sadly.

Good luck 😊

I find bread is my downfall too, I try to avoid it as it definitely seems to slow down my weight loss. If you're on Facebook join the group pinch of nom, I'm doing slimming world online and came across this group a few weeks ago and it has been a massive help, particularly explaining why you may not have seen a loss when you've been 100% on plan. Also lots or recipes ideas too

Okay, so I'll try just my morning toast (one slice) and see how that goes. Thank you all, for your patience with me. I'm really frustrated at how complex this moronic plan can be, for something that claims to be so bloody simple.

Maybe you aren't replacing free food with enough speed, having a big dinner followed by a bowl of speed fruit or veg isn't the theory behind the plan, it's about having less FREE food by replacing it with SPEED foods xx

Another suggestion would be to try My fitness pal it's a free app you log everything you eat and it works out the calories in a day. Even eating speed and free food those calories can quickly add up. All diets hinge on that you eat less than you expend, so definitely try a calorie check xx also it's early days give it time x and do measurements some people loose inches first.