* * * * * SLIMMING WORLD - NEW YEAR, NEW YOU!!! * * * * *

[Sparkler]

Hi everyone. New thread as promised. A little later than planned but I'm blaming celebrating too much last night.
I wish I could say it was a good start but I'm feeding my hangover today so looks like I'm going to start tomorrow.
Is everyone feeling motivated?

hello - i've joined SW yet again. Not doing brilliantly but I am heading in the right direction so that's good. I've not got my head into yet, but I will.

Can anyone tell me if they've discovered any free branded stuff that I can have that's quick. I've heard asda's chick pea & veg curry is free so i'm going to stock up on that. Any others out there? They don't seem to do a syn free book any more and i'm sure the one I have is way out of date.

I just need some things in the cupboard for when i'm in a hurry, you know how it is!

Tia

Hi SWLURKER Starving here too, and that's after my huge sandwich! Same prob here with work catering in meetings. Always margerine-y sandwiches, with mayo fillings or - their latest fad- little deep fried samosos/bahjis etc . My solution? I bring my own SW sandwiches, or heated up meal, and take it along! Harder with cooked work meal in staff restaurant, but if it's nice I have it! (don't get much for free!)
I'm down in the big smoke on Friday for a all-day meeting which is in a hotel that serves the best, biggest portions you've ever seen. The food is divine! I think I will splurge on that! MMMM, hungry again!

Hi DELGIRL! . Liking the sound of the Asda curry. Would love to hear of more free ready-stuff too!

apparently it's really nice, just wish I could have a big dollop of mango chutney on top but that's too many syns I fear.

I've just checked the site again and there is a book for 2007 but it's out of stock.

I wonder if there's a Sainsbury's equivalent? [diege looks longingly out of offcie window at Sainsbury's over the road]. If anyone knows could they let me know asap so I can make a trip? . God I'm going to get the sack if I don't get some work done!!!!

Tins of spaghetti and smash are my saviours, as are some of the mug shots that are free (I can't remember which ones right now!), the famous asda smart price tinned veg curry is 1.5 syns, I think one of the uncle bens express rice microwavable thingies is free, will try and find out which one as most are a few syns, tins of chilli beans from any of tesco/sainsburys/asda are also free.

why oh why am I not a size 6 by now... I know my stuff, I just forget it at the crucial times!

Diege, know what you mean about friedn thingies, but they are so nice! And as for hotels, I'm away with work a lot and have banned myself from one hotel and made sure i book myself into one that serves jacket potatoes. Boring though, and I always tend to have a few too many G&Ts to make up for how boring it is!

what are mug shots?

They're these packets of pasta and sauce, a bit like bachelors "pasta and sauce" (lol sorry probably obvious!) but you make them in a mug. I think the tomato pasta one is nice, they also do chow mein, sweet and sour, cheese, and chicken and something.

hey hey people! well apparently the 4am walk didnt cancel out the pizza as ive just got on the scales and have put 3lb on since friday so im going 2 have to be extra good until thursday just for a slim chance of staying the same this week! ooo not happy with myself at all! so far today ive had 3 muller lights and a pack of batchelers rice totalling 1/2 syn! im gonna try and not have any syns today and 2moro to try and claw back to where i was before!

lol

Hello all and to the newbies. Well I lost wait for it...da da daaa a pound! 5 syns a day lots of exercise and all for a pound. i know I tell other people "at least its a loss" but I wanted more, stomps foot and sticks bottom lip out.
So Ill try again this week. All the recipes sound nice. What about egg fried rice or special fried rice for lunch boxes? Free on green and if you add chicken or prawns they can be your heb choices?
So far ive eaten a muller lite, a banana, an apple and beans, cheese and poached eggs on toast!

Hey all hope you don't mind the newbe here. So far I have eaten museli with a muller light mixed in, a banana, cherries, grapes, mango, homemade veggie soup, 4 ryvita and cottage cheese.

I did eat pizza on Thurs night and a KFC on Friday night so I am crossing everything that I will at least stay the same.

Knew I'd downloaded something.

Here are some low syn/free ready meals. I think they might have been from someone on here, so hope you don't mind me publisicing them again!

Low Sin/ Sin Free Ready Meals For Lazy Days
Both
Quorn fillets in mushroom and wine sauce, FREE on both days!
Birdseye Steam Cuisine Salmon & pasta with dill sauce (Free Red) (7 sins on green (or sneaky HEB +1)
Red
Princes Beef & Red Wine, tinned 410g: 1.5 syns Red
Princes Beef & Beer, tinned 410g: 2.5 Red
Princes Beef slices in rich gravy, lean, tinned 340g: FREE on Red
Sainsbury's Be Good to yourself Steamfresh style Chicken with trotolle pasta (fresh chiller)- Free on red
Waitrose Perfect Balance Moussaka (chilled) - 2 syns on Red
Green
Asdas own smart price tinned veg curry 1.5 on green (really tasty plus you could add to it )
Asda Chickpea Dhal (in purple tin near the tinned veg) FREE on green and really nice.
Healthy living cauliflower cheese Co-op chiller cabinet, 1.5 syns on green
Sweet & sour pork with chicken chow mein M&S (£2.99 ready meal, chilled) - 3.5 syns on green.
M&S Count on Us Roasted Veggie Lasagne (Fresh) - 4.0 on green
Sainsbury's Veggie Chilli in a spicy sauce (tinned) - Free on green
Sainsbury's BGTY chilled Mushroom Stroganoff with rice - 2 syns Green
Sharwoods Noodle Box Hong Kong S&S - 1.5 on green
Simply Organic Pure & Pronto Range includes:
Thai Veg Curry with lentils - 3syns Green
Spiced red lentils and vegetables - Free green
Moroccan Vegetable Tagine - Free Green
Mediteranean Vegetable and Bean casserole - free Green
Mixed been chilli - 1 syn green
Oriental Express Chicken Sweet & Sour with rice 1.5 syns on green (also only 75p from Farmfoods)
Oriental Express Chicken Curry with rice 2 syns on green
Tesco H/L mediteranean veg pasta bake (1.5 Green)
Tesco, HL, chilled Potato Wedges hot & spicy with salsa dip: 2 on Green
Tesco, HL, chilled Potato Wedges Spicy: 2.5 on Green
Tesco Bombay Rice Micro Pouch: Free
Weight Watchers Mediterranean Veg Pasta, chilled, 400g: FREE on Green

has anyone tried butternut squash cooked like syn free chips? someone told me to cook them like that but im doing it now and they smell disgusting! lol! just wonderin if anyone else has had them thought id give them a try as its a speed food and i need to eat all of them i can xx

I eat loads of butternut squash. Don't know how you do sw chips but I just chop the squash up (leaving the skin on), spray it with frylight, add a good dollop of pepper/garlic from my garlic lover grinder and stick it in the oven. Cook it for about 40 mins on 220c

I often roast scrubbed beetroot, parsnips and carrots at the same time and use it for snacking on. Also good to add to pasta (w chopped tinned tomatos) and couscous.

You can also slice all of the above very thin (I use my food processor), lay flat and cook as before for 10 mins and have vegetable crisps.

I haven't tried butternut squash as chips, but I will be making a soup out of it just as soon as I buy one!

I weighed myself this morning and have lost 2lb since last monday. I had actually lost that by Saturday so stayed the same since then. I'm not complaining though, a 2lb loss is good to me

I can't believe its coming off this easily. It is slow, but a steady loss is good. I started back on SW on the 2nd jan and have lost 7lb since then. It makes me want to stick to it, I just need to keep switching the food I eat so I am not stuck with pasta and rice all the time.

Keep going everyone, if I can do it, believe me, anyone can!

they are actually really nice! i cooked them similar to how you said nik but i par boiled them first which i think was a mistake. they are quite similar to parsnips i think! would go nicely with a roast beef or something like that instaed of potatoes have butternut! mmmm i think im hooked for life! does anyone know if i could freeze it?
and well done on your loss kid!

I had a bad experience with butternut squash chips - they turned out soggy - eugh! let me know how you get on though.

wow.. whoever had pizza & KFC & good luck at the scales

Today:

Breakfast: Grapes & pineapple & mullerlight

Tea: 2 slices of w/meal bread [HEb]

Dinner: boiled potatoes, turnip, cabbage, fried egg & bacon [HEb]

Not sure what dessert will be!!

Haven't had many syns all week so am going to have a curly wurly & a pkt of french fries tonight!!!!!!!

well lurker, they were a bit soggy but i had them with beans so they would haev gone soggy anyway! i'll try them again without boiling them first to see if that makes a difference! but the flavour to them is lovely!
do jealous of the curly wurly firefly! need to shift those 3lb tho to maintain this week

oh delgirl, have you tried batchelers savoury rices? they are between 1/2 - 1 syn per pack but are well worth it, also theres the batchelours dried pasta's which i think are free. (oh on green days) or i bake a lot of potatoes off and freeeze them then they only take about 5 mins in microwave and they are as good as oven cooked ones (perfect to take to work)

Diege - thanks! I like to try to eat as normal as possible within the limits of the plan. I had a sandwich crammed with tuna and mayo today and one round of brown and it was plenty, whereas i usually would have had two white rounds! Just shows.

SWlurker- sounds like a nightmare! do u know when this is going to happen or is it sprung on u? I would stock up with melon and fruit and yoghurt before your buffet thing, then you might be a bit less hungry. Dont see it as an excuse to just go mad if you can. I would have a red day, and stick to chicken and ham stuff, and have a red day.Have two little triangle sandwiches - egg preferably or meat - no cheese, so you can HEB the one round of bread. Dont forget syns for marinade on meats etc though. Difficult but i would try to make it look like i wasnt on a diet but stiull stay within the plan. I carry my book in my handbag, so if i see a custard tart (11 syns), fresh cream shoux bun (19), large choco eclair (12) then i can sneak to the loo and check how many syns it is. Then id debate with myself whether i reaaaaaaaaly felt it was worth the syns , or if id rather have a curly wurly and a packet of french fries (11syns) with a cup of tea at home

how the exercise affects if you miss a week - hard to say. I dont have kids so im able to get out and make the time

Im late eating again tonight, but think ill have fried eggs, SW chips and beans - green so all free as ive HEbd my bread and tuna.

Frys turkish delight 51g is 9.5 on eiter day so i think ill have one after dinner. I know some people dont use their syns but when i did go to classes they told me to aim for 10 syns a day. As i mentioned i exercise loads so dont feel guilty about having 15 some days, but we shall see what he scales say tomo. Nervous though, can i lose weight with all this exercise or will it all go to muscle?

Either way, i have a pair of jeans im trying on every weigh day and my muffin top on this particular pair is getting less and less each week so something is working!

i couldnt care if im 15 stone, as long as i fit the clothes i had from my slimmer days

Zippy, you have just saved me the bother of looking up the syns for curly wurly & french fries so thanks

Have just had a big mug of tea with the curly wurly & am now munching my way through the french fries

he he , no worries fire fairy!

Dinner near ready. Made half a potato of crisps SW chip style only cut into crisps. im rating them at around low fat crisps so worked out 20g to be around 4 syns. I left some chilli flakes on the tray and they were gorgeous. Still not eat them all will finish later.

Diege to syn your chicken its 2.5 syns per 28g cooked without fat (or 1.5 per 28g raw), so its probably way more syns than you realised. On a green day a HE portion of chicken is 113g , so if it was 113g at 2.5 syns per 28g thats 10 syns if im working it out right. Please someone tell me im wrong... Thats assuming the HE portion is cooked but the book doesnt seem to say

Ive noticed on a green day "red" free foods are higher in syns. Just as on a red day, green free food is very high in syns.....

its 6 syns if the weight of the HE chicken in the book is in raw terms. What size is a chicken fillet?

i knew working a calculator would come in handy some day.