I’m not losing any weight. What am I doing wrong?

[MemorableLlama]

I’ve been doing slimming world online for about 6 weeks. I’m sticking to it rigidly but have only lost 2 pounds.

I think the issue is, I have a huge appetite and am eating large portions of free food (eggs, chicken, salmon, pasta, potatoes). If I don’t, I get really hungry.

Consequently, I have maintained the last 4 weeks. (I lost 1lb in week 1 and 1lb in week 2. )

I’ve got about 2 stone to lose to get to a healthy weight so not massively overweight- but significantly so.

Any advice?

Do you know your height/weight/TDEE?

Are you tracking calories?

What are you eating at the moment?

Also remember maintenance is normal, and progress if you were previously gaining, and can happen for lots of reason.

No I’m not tracking calories. That’s the whole point of SW - you don’t need to do it.
But I assume I’m taking in quite a lot of calories otherwise I’d be losing weight.

It’s just that everyone else seems to have good losses just by following the plan and I’m not. ☹️

I think the issue is, I have a huge appetite and am eating large portions of free food (eggs, chicken, salmon, pasta, potatoes).

You've answered your own question - you need to eat smaller portions.

No matter how SW dress it up, there are no 'free' foods when it comes to calories, particularly not the ones you've listed.

Feeling hungry is not nice but you can ignore and it gets less as you get used to it. Try drinking water or black coffee or tea or fruit teas in between meals if you feel hungry.

Eat less. Any calories in are still calories. Count your calories, gets low as possible and you will lose weight more quickly.

I did decrease my portion size a little and I felt hungry for few days but then my body adjusted. Are you remembering to have a third of your plate speed food. You may find a group useful. Whilst I dont always stay Ive found a really good supportive group. The lass that runs it gets you to do food diary and she takes a look and gives pointers if needed.

No food is really free, because all foods contain calories. To lose weight you need to consistently consume fewer calories than you use. SW designating some foods 'free' doesn't magically eradicate their calorie content. Eat less than you have been eating (or do more activity, but be realistic- an 11 stone woman burns just 350-450 calories by walking 10,000 steps at around 3mph, you really can't buy many extra calories without a lot of exercise!) is the only realistic advice anyone can give.

You have fallen for the - its free - fill your boots - idea

Slimming world can and does get taken out of context on here and other forums

The "free" food is there to satisfy your hunger - that's it - eat to full and go no further

When I started SW, finding pasta was free was like " Ive died and gone to heaven". Then I read the food optimising rules 1 third of the meal to be veg . Now my pasta portion is a portion that the packet tells me is enough for one person rather then the half a pack I could easily scoff before

Eat away at lean protein, that's not going to rack up the calories

So before SW, Id cook half a pack of pasta, drizzle in olive oil, add a pesto and grate on the parmesan like it was going out of fashion

Now SW, is a moderate portion of pasta, Ill add chicken or fish, spinach, mushrooms, asparagus , make a tomato based sauce or a creamy one using low fat triangles

I still get that nicely stuffed feeling, but lower calories ( even though we dont count them on SW, but you have need to lived under a rock the past 20 years if you dont know some foods are higher then others )

I chuck so much into my pasta now - veg and lean protein. that a full portion of pasta feeds me and the chooks - I cant mange it now

Because you're eating large portions of eggs, chicken, salmon, pasta, potatoes. Simple as that.

When I did SW the leader used to tell people to cut back on the carbs and eat more lean meat and leafy veg if they weren’t losing weight.

I know it’s not specifically slimming world based but volume eating helps me
if I have salad it’s an entire bag of salad leaves, then tomatoes, onion, cucumber, pickles, peppers, roasted veg, basically as much as I can stuff into it

I cook with veg in things - so cottage pie has onion, celery, carrots, peas in plus the topping will be a mix of sweet potato, normal potato and carrot or butternut squash
then add a load of veg on the side

Your OP doesn’t mention any speed food.

If you are eating as much free food as you like but not adding the right proportion of free speed food (meaning almost all veg and some fruit) you aren’t following the plan. Your plate should be 1/3 speed food for every meal. And when you snack between meals you should be choosing speed food first.

I am currently an online member and have previously been a group member. 1/3 speed food is emphasised a lot more in groups and it’s usually suggested that the remaining 2/3 should be split equally between protein and carb.

I have dug out the online book and although it says this on page 5 it is easy to miss - there is a much better diagram and explanation at pp 90-91.

As PP have said, Slimming World isn’t in truth about eating unlimited anything. The 1/3 speed rule is what stops that. If at every meal you have to eat the same volume of veg as your pasta/protein, you will very quickly cut down your portion size as you won’t be able to fit in the carbs alongside all that veg!

It is still true you don’t have to weigh or measure. You don’t have to faff around weighing your chicken breast or whatever. But you do have to maintain the proportions.

Good luck. As PP have said, it might be that a group works best for you initially. I get along well as an online member, but I am an old hand and I use the app to track and for a comprehensive list of swip values.

Are you measuring your healthy extras/swips? Are you eating enough speed? Are you eating your swips? I lost 4 stone on SW so I know it works.