Sashaying into a svelte 2025 with Slimming World

[Wilma55]

New thread for 2025, wishing you all a happy, healthy new year.

@suki1964 I'm hungry because I'm not eating enough. I'm scared to eat.

Tonight I went to all the bother of getting a chicken locally and cooking it and a tray of veg. Honestly it was utterly tasteless and miserable. I might try buying an air fryer.

Tonights meal has been red wine and Haribo.

Well done on the losses. I managed to shift 3 pounds. Wanted more in my first week so am disappointed! But will plough on.

That seems great to me. Keep going mate.

@birling16 you need to get back into it and start eating properly or you'll fall off the wagon or make yourself ill. Come on you can do it 💪

Try and get your cooking mojo back as it's the only way to have food in the house and a plan for the week. Can you do yourself a big plate of tasty comfort food that will provide leftovers to last another meal or 2. My go to meals low or no syn are: a slow cooked spag bol or chilli, sausage & mash, chicken curry, fried rice.

What was up with the chicken - did you properly season it? My favourite way of doing a whole chicken is spatchcocked, very hot (220 for 40 minutes.) sitting on a bed of onion & whole garlic cloves, covered with mixed herbs & a dash of chilli flakes and you add some stock half way to prevent it going dry. Serve with some carbs - SW chips, mash, couscous etc and some more interesting veg like garlic mushrooms or roast cauliflower.

OK Let's start with the Goddam chicken! It was from a local butchers, so expecting taste. Self and partner a bit grumpy. He covers it in foil, cooks it and fannies about with " gravey" Accompanied by one of those trays of veg in a foil container.

Tasteless, watery, whole house stank of chicken. Utter misery descends.

I hear you with the comfort food idea and I am a reasonable home cook.
Said it before, its texture that bores me.
Might try and air fryer and a bit more self belief. Also things like make our meals a more pleasant experience all round.

Thanks@lechatnoir and other helpful people.

@birling16 Air fryer is my best friend tbh , that and my Pressure cooker

You have got to eat, you should not be going hungry

What WAS your typical days food like before you started back to SW and what is it like now?

Give us something to go on and Im sure we can come up with help

And textures? What's that like for you? For me I cant do mashed potato, so a meal like mince and potatoes will turn me - yet put the mash on top of the mince and give it a browning in the oven = shepherds pie - I lap it into me

I always pop a cut up lemon inside the chicken and it tastes delish
I have only ever eaten the breast meat and it us never dry.

Are there any sausages that are recommended here please? My sister in law said Sainsbury's low fat Cumberland but they don't have them in my little Sainsbury's. What about Iceland?

The Aldi lean pork sausages aren't bad 6 in a pack, 1.5 syns each. My Sainsbury's don't do the Be good to yourself ones either.

There are also the red onion and rosemary (?) veggy Linda McCartney ones and Aldi do a dupe. They are free and not too bad!

Some of them books in the bundles look a bit old? Or is it just me?

Update on the chicken! We discovered that because we are so used to artifically altered ones, this one was a different shape! Turns out it was quite an ecomical and tasty buy after all.

But you didnt enjoy it all the same ?
Yes commercial chickens and hens have been messed about with, that's historical and its going to take generations to stop that

A Commercial chicken is 14 weeks old when it lands in the supermarkets

And dont get conned into thinking what the Butcher is selling is any better - its not

I stopped buying farmed chicken a while ago, when we went to KFC snd the breast was smaller then a pigeons , our own hens and roosters were 5 times the size of
Dont get me wrong I dont like supplying my own meat, but will do and eat it gladly

I do buy supermarket chicken, I have a back yard, not a farm. but I ensure what I do buy is red tractor certified. And we eat less , I have a budget, so meat/poultry portions are a lot smaller

But that's all off topic

Do you want help with menus. what can be swapped. how to make your SW journey work for you?

And still give the wine, a packet of crisps , whatever it is you are used to - and still lose the weight? Cos me, rarely if ever eats a sin, can give some ideas and you won't be hungry

Thanks so much @suki1964 . I'm wrecked right now. Will get back to you soon.

Weighed in and lost 1.5 pounds. Bringing my total to 1 stone and 3 pounds for this countdown. I have always half arsed SW when I’ve joined countless times before. This year something made me wake up and go for it. I gave myself a 12 week countdown and then I would reassess if I would continue or not.

@ListenLinda yeah I think they are having a clear out of their back catalogue it would seem. Bundle 1 looks the most interesting.

@birling16 i also recommend an air fryer it helps with so many dishes.

@ItWillBeDone 3 lbs is a great loss well done.

Brilliant @Mash88

Im just getting ready to go for my first weigh in in a fortnight , having had five days of dumplings and beer whilst in Prague so not looking a miracle :)

Tell you something, Czech people are tiny, didnt see anyone under 60 carrying too much, think a size 10 was the norm. So Im wondering if dumplings and beer is the way forward? lol

@Mash88 , that sounds good, tackle it like a project.

@suki1964 , I think ove rthe years my brain has become mashed by diets and then no diets.
With WW the basic idea is delayed gratification isn't it? I remember well a piece of toast, the no points soup, a small meal and a donut ( for example) Or skip the donut and have a meal and wine at the weekend.
SW I can see is more sustainable and healthy.
My pattern would be....struggle with breakfast.Can't stomach anything like oats or yoghurt first thing. So it's fruit or toast. Lunch could be leftovers or something I've batchcooked and made into portions. Dinner, usual British fare...fish, spag bol, veg curry, baked spud. All the usuals. Like fruit.
More or less given up drinking.

So SW is very much sustainable and easy to work around family meals

I dont do breakfast - Im out the door at 5;30am and in work by 5;40 till around 10am So. I work through without, usually getting through a can of Diet Coke , then I get home and take the dog for a walk - Usually 2 miles, then I come in and treat myself to a cappuccino - semi skimmed - and a sit down

This is when it gets messy for me, because after my sit down Im usually then full speed ahead with chores and going for appointments or just getting the groceries ( we live miles from anywhere, so getting anywhere takes time ) and before I know it its 3pm. Im back out walking the dog - still not having eaten - and soon DH will be home and its time to get the dinner sorted - so I say to myself - may as well hold on now

So I do tend to eat just once a day and its a habit I just got into because of this early start

If Im not rushing pillar to post I do tend to feel hungry for the first time around 1pm where I will use my HEB in the form of a warburtons thin or pitta and lots of protein and speed. I like tinned fish, I like cottage cheese and I like eggs so it will be based around those as my protein choices. I often have a bowl of Mexican caviar mixed and in the fridge ready to go Or if Im not so very hungry I will take the greek yoghurt and fruit. This weather is soup weather as well so I usually have two types on the go, yesterday I made a butternut squash soup whilst I was sorting the washing - it took about 5 mins to prep - 10 mins air fryer/ 10 min pressure cooker ( Im an all in one so just the one pot ) and 2 mins to blend and it was lovely

Then dinner is what families up and down the country eat, only if its chips or wedges hand cut and in the air fryer so syn free

I tend to just eat free and speed because I do like a drink

Even this week with 5 nights in Prague, eating dumplings and drinking beer and wine - 1/2 off because every meal at home is syn free

As target member I can have up to 30 extra syns per week and an extra healthy choice every day , I just take them as so what if Im making a proper gravy or making a cheese sauce . And of course now I dont have a melt down when a packet of Jaffa cakes are inhaled in passing

If you can get your head around that you can eat anything you want as long as it's not out of a packet or jar or the take away - you can pretty much eat without worrying about syns. Lean meats and even bacon - with all visible fat removed - fill your boots. Avoid the sausage or choose low syn ones or even free ones - Linda Mccartney rosemary ones, Mallons turkey /chicken and low fat pork ones are my go too. Swap the beef burger for a turkey one - our preferred ones now and use a thin or go bunless altogether . Get the veg in you - by whatever means. Bacon butty? throw in the lettuce and tomatoes. Making a pasta dish? I always stir in rocket or spinach, maybe some slice mushrooms, fine diced peppers and peas and corn . Make at least one third of your plate veg and start by eating the veg first, then heading to the protein - and you will naturally not want so many carbs.

Making curry sauces and tomato sauces from scratch is easy , you can make a pot full and freeze in bags ready to go when you get home from work and CBA with proper cooking

Batch cooking is always a life saver at the best of times but more so I have found since starting SW . Means I can plan ahead some and not make unwise choices . But like most women who are busy , there's times when I want tea on the table in 10 mins same as anyone and egg chips and beans hits the spot like no others so that's was we have - only I hand cut and air fry the chips so my meal is still "free"

There's a lot of food there that you can eat without being scared too so you really shouldn't be going to bed hungry, and plan correctly you can still have your wine ( only I switched to scotch as you can have 3 of those to 1 glass of wine ) :)

@suki1964 well done on the loss especially with the 5 days away. I also agree with I don’t tend to use my syns for snacks, I would rather use them for a bit of light mayo or cheese triangle in my bagel. Or teaspoon of crispy chilli oil on top of a meal to feel like I’m splurging, but if I’m really fancying a biscuit or packet of crisps then I have the syns to use and won’t feel guilty.

I’ve joined the soup bandwagon. Also look at soup as it won’t fill me up and I need copious amounts of bread to dip into it, but having re-read this thread I’ve been inspired.

Last week was a chicken and vegetable and this week’s is Carrot & Coriander. It’s been a help with what to have for work lunches as I was enjoying my salads but too cold. And my daily walk during lunch into the high street helps me stop falling into Greggs or Subway or more likely Costa.

Does anyone find they need to add extra seasonings to the SW soups? I found the chicken one a bit bland.

Useful ideas here, Thanks. Completely lost the plot yesterday, involving a bag of toffees, wine and Traitors.

Back on it today.

@suki1964 I had to look up Mexican caviar! Do you make it yourself or can you buy it?

Make it myself . It's also known as cowboy caviar and there are a million variations of it but the basis are the beans, corn, tomatoes . You can make whatever dressing you like, add whatever herbs and spices you prefer - its just a big colourful salad which lasts 3 or 4 days in the fridge and its great to have as its all free and speed food - depending on what you use and full of fibre and protein and really fills you. It only takes five mins to make , finely chopping tomatoes is about the most prep there is, you just open cans :) I also use a bottle of oil free dressing and just pimp the flavour

And if you want to use it as a dip, and still keep on plan , I use a wholemeal pitta, split, cut into triangles and air fry till crisp

2lb loss this week, so that is 5.5lb in the 3 weeks I have been doing SW. I am very happy with that as a 5ft post menopausal hobbit😂

STS. No more messing about from birling.
Need 2 lb to go before next Monday to wave goodbye to half a stone.

You guys on here are super helpful.

I am an ancient hobbit also.

@IlovetoKnitandRead That's a great loss, well done you

@birling16 , Dont be beating up on yourself , You can do the 2 stone if you really want to, you can , you just need to want it more then a bottle of wine ( hence I drink spirits now ) :)

Im another 5ft and a bit in shoes post menopausal habit - even got a hairy big toe, but now at least I can bend in the middle now and take care of it :)