Thread: Sarah's Diary - please tell me where im going wrong!

Can someone please tell me where im going wrong - ive been doing slimming world for a while but i couldnt afford the subscription online so went it alone but ive joined again online so now ive been doing it again properly for the past 3 weeks and ive managed to put on 1lb!
I exercise every evening - i jog for a mile or ill do my workout dvd - either way im doing some form of exercise 5 nights a week.
I initially thought the no weight loss was due to muscle weight from exercise but my jeans actually feel a bit tighter, especially around my bum!

So.. here's my diary for last week to see if someone can see where i'm going wrong!

Following the extra easy plan

Monday 1st March

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled on 2 slices of 400g wholemeal bread (HEXB)
Cup of coffee with 25ml of milk out of HEXA allowance

Mid morning snack - banana & tangerine, cup of coffee with more milk from HEXA

lunch - super low fat noodles and a baked potato

afternoon snack - muller light yog and 2 more tangerines

get in from work at 5.30 absolutely starving so cook 2 boiled eggs and because i cant wait for them to cook i grab a biscuit! (3 syns)

wait an hour then go jogging for a mile which takes about 15 mins.

Dinner - low fat sausage grilled and sliced up, boiled rice mixed with peppers, sweetcorn onions and the sliced sausage topped with soy sauce

Pudding - fat free natural yogurt with 2tbsp canderel and sliced apple and grapes

Total syns for the day - 6


Tuesday 2nd March

Breakfast - scrambled eggs on 2 slices of hexb bread as on monday and cup of coffee with some of hexa allowance milk

Mid morning snack - cup of coffee with milk from hexa, banana and tangerine

Lunch - home made vegetable soup made from carrots, sweetcorn, broccoli, tinned tomato's, vegetable stock cube, peppers, butternut squash, cauliflower, peas, onions, garlic, and chilli's.

Afternoon snack - 2 plums, 2 tangerines

Get in from work starving again so have 2 boiled eggs again and grab another biscuit! (3 syns)

wait an hour then go jogging for a mile which takes about 15 mins.

Dinner - 2 chicken thighs marinated in chinese sauce which is made from soy sauce, garlic, 2tbsp canderel, chinese 5 spice powder, chopped chilli's served with boiled rice.

Pudding - fat free yogurt with 2tbsp canderel, and some grapes.

cup of tea with milk from hexa

Total syns for the day - 3


Wednesday 3rd March

breakfast - scrambled eggs with hexb bread
Coffee with some of hexa milk

Mid morning snack - banana, tangerine, coffee with more of hexa milk

Lunch - home made vegetable soup (same as day before)

Afternoon snack - 2 tangerines

get in from work - have a banana

wait an hour then go jogging for a mile which takes about 15 mins.

Dinner - same as night before, chicken in the chinese sauce with rice

pudding - fat free yogurt with 1tbsp sweener and some grapes

Total syns - 0


Thursday 4th march

Breakfast - scrambled eggs with hexb bread
Coffee with some of hexa allowance

Mid morning snack - 2 plums and a tangerine, coffee with milk from hexa

Dinner - home made vegetable soup

Afternoon snack - muller light yogurt and a banana

2 boiled eggs when i get in from work

wait an hour then do workout on the wii fit for an hour which burns 250 cals

Dinner - sirloin steak with syn free peppercorn sauce and SW chips

Pudding - home made welsh cake (6 syns)

Total syns - 6


Friday 5th march

breakfast - scrambled eggs with hexb bread
coffee with some of hexa milk

mid morning snack - banana, tagerine, coffee with some of hexa milk

lunch - home made vegetable soup

afternoon snack - 2 tangerines and banana

get in from work - 2 boiled eggs

wait an hour then go jogging for a mile which takes about 15 mins.

go out for a few drinks which consists of 5 bacardi and diet cokes

Dinner - chinese! - small portion of chicken fried rice, sweet and sour chicken chinese style, chips and curry sauce - all shared with other half and nephew, and lots left over - no idea of the syns!

total syns - ??

Saturday 6th march

breakfast one crumpet with small knob of butter - no idea of syns,
cup of coffee with some of hex milk

lunch - too busy so grab 2 biscuits ( 6 syns)

dinner - syn freesuper noodles and jacket potato

go out for more drinks which consists of 5 more bacardi and cokes!

Total syns - ??

Sunday 7th march

breakfast - one crumpet with small knob of butter - no idea of syns

lunch - syn free super noodles

dinner - roast dinner - chicken, roast potato's cooked in fry light - mashed potato with small knob of butter, roast parsnips, small yorkshire pudding, home made gravy made with 3tbsp flour, chicken fat, oxo cubes and water - this made enough gravy for 4.

total syns - ??


ok so looking back now its more than likely my weekend takeaways and roast dinners that are contributing to the non existent weight loss but i was kind of hoping i would have saved up enough syns and done enough exercise to still be able to lose some

Just had a quick read, do you have much to lose Sarah.

At first glance if it were me I would be tempted to get rid of the 2 boiled egss in the afternoon and have something different than the morning, mix it up a little.

I know the plan says that things are free and eat as much as you like, but I only eat til i'm satisfied and watch my portions not sure if that is an issue.

I also find if I eat a lot of fruit this can have a detrimental affect on me seems there are a few of us who feel like this.

Have you taken any measurements all that exercise is bound to be doing your body some good by losing the fat and gaining muscle, there was a great picture on the forum a little while ago which shows a pound of fat and a pound of muscle it looked a 1/3 of the size

If you have only put a 1lb on are you just imagining your jeans being tighter lol

Just a couple of ideas, overall what you are eating sounds good.

good luck

Originally Posted by soccermom

Just had a quick read, do you have much to lose Sarah.

At first glance if it were me I would be tempted to get rid of the 2 boiled egss in the afternoon and have something different than the morning, mix it up a little.

I know the plan says that things are free and eat as much as you like, but I only eat til i'm satisfied and watch my portions not sure if that is an issue.

I also find if I eat a lot of fruit this can have a detrimental affect on me seems there are a few of us who feel like this.

Have you taken any measurements all that exercise is bound to be doing your body some good by losing the fat and gaining muscle, there was a great picture on the forum a little while ago which shows a pound of fat and a pound of muscle it looked a 1/3 of the size

If you have only put a 1lb on are you just imagining your jeans being tighter lol

Just a couple of ideas, overall what you are eating sounds good.

good luck

Thanks for the info - the reason i have the eggs in the morning is because they fill me up til lunch, anything else and i usually end up starving and i only tend to have around 15 minutes in the morning to make breakfast!

Again with the eggs in the afternoon im usually ravenous when i get in from work so to stop me grabbing a packet of crisps or a sausage roll (too many temping things in my fridge thanks to my dad!!!) so ill just throw in some eggs and have them as i know they are syn free - either that o rill have fruit as i cant really think of anything else to snack on

Definitely not in my head about the weight gain as my jeans definitly feel tighter and uncomfortable on a monday morning especially on the top of my thighs (where theres a lot of fat) and my bum!

I have about 10lb to lose..

"""Can someone please tell me where im going wrong - ive been doing slimming world for a while but i couldnt afford the subscription online so went it alone but ive joined again online so now ive been doing it again properly for the past 3 weeks and ive managed to put on 1lb!
I exercise every evening - i jog for a mile or ill do my workout dvd - either way im doing some form of exercise 5 nights a week.
I initially thought the no weight loss was due to muscle weight from exercise but my jeans actually feel a bit tighter, especially around my bum""""

hiya sarah(?)
i dont oftern follow the ee plan so cant comment on that aspect but ....and this is only my opionion for what its worth lol..

you say you have only been doing it properly for 3 weeks now....and your doing it alone as it were...im betting the whole sin aspect- ie going over sins or not counting the right amount and even forgetting to count them coupled with what must be a fairly relaxed environment and relaxed mental attitude-ie no public wi therefore maybe in your mind no one to answer to(if you see what i mean)...well this all could be holding you back weight loss wise....

and sorry to say il bet if you wernt doing your excersise youd prob have put more on-sooo sorry dont hate me for saying that will you....lololol...

i just know from my own experience that having a food log to fill in as you have each meal/snack/sin is invaluable and to me is the only way for me to see what ive had and can have....and writing sins down even if youve gone over your allowance is the only way to see where you might be going wrong...or right lol

at end of day if you follow the plans 100% ...and i find thst unless i csn sin a treast or takeaway-for me its just not worth spoiling my potential weight loss.....and stick to your 10-15 sins a day-and i think best not to carry them over or save up-then you cant fail to lose weight

stick with it but try a week of 100% with no extra sins or flxi sins and weigh everything your sposed to and make sure you only have 1x hea and he b and have your 1/3 super free food with each ee meal....after all what have you got to lose..except lbs lol x

ps...yrs back i lost 4 stone and did aerobics 4 times a week...didnt seem to hinder what loss or gain i ever had...if i wet off plan or over sins i mostly always put on lol

hi - i do keep a diary as i've joined up again to the body optimise site so im able to enter in all the food i have so i keep on track but obviously im going wrong somewhere!!

Sarah

I've been doing EE since 28 December, and have lost 1st 10.5lbs.

My comments, for what they are worth:

Well done for writing everything down - it makes it easier for you to think about where you are doing well, and where you could do better.

1. You do seem to have the same things every day - can you try to change your HExs (especially the b) a bit more?

2. It is not a good idea to have no syns at all, so you should try to use your syns each day.

3. How did you get to a stage on Friday evening when you ate something you did not know the syn value of? Sorry to sound as if I'm nagging, but the rules are that you must know (or estimate) the syn value of everything you eat before you eat it. Is there something you could do differently in your planning so this does not happen again? The current magazine has an article about weekends, which seem to be your most difficult part of the week.

4. A single pub measure of bacardi (35ml)will be 4 syns, so 5 will be 20 syns. If these were measured out at home, they may well be two or three times more than this!

5. Estimates from the SW book on the Chinese are: 4 syns for the fried rice (or 9.5 syns if it was special fried rice with chicken). 8.5 syns for the sweet and sour chicken, chips (assuming they were not SW chips, but from the takeaway), are 17.5 syns for a small portion, I'm not sure about the curry sauce.

6. Saturday - 1 standard crumpet is 5 syns. 1 level teaspoon of butter is 2 syns. I sometimes have crumpet, but I have it with free cottage cheese - not as nice as butter, but it's OK and it helps me to lose weight. Or, I like eggs as you do, and sometimes chop a hard boiled egg in some cottage cheese (with herbs and any other veg such as peppers). You could put this on a crumpet. 5 more bacardis (assuming they are 35ml measures, is another 20 syns.

7. Sunday. It is difficult if you have to cook for others who are not trying to lose weight. What I would do is have the roast dinner but not the yorkshire pudding or gravy (or make yourself some gravy with an oxo cube and water only).
1 level tbsp flour = 3.5 syns, 1 level tbsp of chicken fat = 6 syns, so the gravy is definitely not on the SW plan! Yorkshire puddings are 3 syns for 28g cooked weight, or ready made ones are 3 syns for medium and 3.5 syns for large.

So, I think you are being 'too good' during the week, and assuming you can eat what you like at weekends, which is not how it works. I don't mean to sound harsh, we've all been there.

Can you get hold of a copy of this month's magazine, as it does have a useful article about coping with weekends, which you may find helpful?

Also, have you tried noodle mug shots? they come in different flavours (sweet and sour, tomato and herb are free, and Thai is just half a syn). They are near the packet soups in the supermarket, and all you do is boil the kettle and let them stand for a couple of minutes. Very filling. Maybe you could try one of these when you get in from work hungry (or have one before you leave work, so you are not so hungry when you get home).

Nothing wrong with having a biscuit now and again, but better to have it when you can enjoy it, rather than have it when you are hungry.

My final thought is that I too am always hungry, and I find it helps to have a second healthy b as part of my syns. Healthy bs count as 6 syns. How about having 4 original Ryvita crispbreads with one or two of your eggs, with cottage cheese, paprika, cucumber, tomato and any other superfrees you want to add? This makes a good snack and is filling, and you can vary it to have different veggies in it.


Annie

goodness

Originally Posted by Annie82

Sarah

I've been doing EE since 28 December, and have lost 1st 10.5lbs.

My comments, for what they are worth:

Well done for writing everything down - it makes it easier for you to think about where you are doing well, and where you could do better.

1. You do seem to have the same things every day - can you try to change your HExs (especially the b) a bit more?

2. It is not a good idea to have no syns at all, so you should try to use your syns each day.

3. How did you get to a stage on Friday evening when you ate something you did not know the syn value of? Sorry to sound as if I'm nagging, but the rules are that you must know (or estimate) the syn value of everything you eat before you eat it. Is there something you could do differently in your planning so this does not happen again? The current magazine has an article about weekends, which seem to be your most difficult part of the week.

4. A single pub measure of bacardi (35ml)will be 4 syns, so 5 will be 20 syns. If these were measured out at home, they may well be two or three times more than this!

5. Estimates from the SW book on the Chinese are: 4 syns for the fried rice (or 9.5 syns if it was special fried rice with chicken). 8.5 syns for the sweet and sour chicken, chips (assuming they were not SW chips, but from the takeaway), are 17.5 syns for a small portion, I'm not sure about the curry sauce.

6. Saturday - 1 standard crumpet is 5 syns. 1 level teaspoon of butter is 2 syns. I sometimes have crumpet, but I have it with free cottage cheese - not as nice as butter, but it's OK and it helps me to lose weight. Or, I like eggs as you do, and sometimes chop a hard boiled egg in some cottage cheese (with herbs and any other veg such as peppers). You could put this on a crumpet. 5 more bacardis (assuming they are 35ml measures, is another 20 syns.

7. Sunday. It is difficult if you have to cook for others who are not trying to lose weight. What I would do is have the roast dinner but not the yorkshire pudding or gravy (or make yourself some gravy with an oxo cube and water only).
1 level tbsp flour = 3.5 syns, 1 level tbsp of chicken fat = 6 syns, so the gravy is definitely not on the SW plan! Yorkshire puddings are 3 syns for 28g cooked weight, or ready made ones are 3 syns for medium and 3.5 syns for large.

So, I think you are being 'too good' during the week, and assuming you can eat what you like at weekends, which is not how it works. I don't mean to sound harsh, we've all been there.

Can you get hold of a copy of this month's magazine, as it does have a useful article about coping with weekends, which you may find helpful?

Also, have you tried noodle mug shots? they come in different flavours (sweet and sour, tomato and herb are free, and Thai is just half a syn). They are near the packet soups in the supermarket, and all you do is boil the kettle and let them stand for a couple of minutes. Very filling. Maybe you could try one of these when you get in from work hungry (or have one before you leave work, so you are not so hungry when you get home).

Nothing wrong with having a biscuit now and again, but better to have it when you can enjoy it, rather than have it when you are hungry.

My final thought is that I too am always hungry, and I find it helps to have a second healthy b as part of my syns. Healthy bs count as 6 syns. How about having 4 original Ryvita crispbreads with one or two of your eggs, with cottage cheese, paprika, cucumber, tomato and any other superfrees you want to add? This makes a good snack and is filling, and you can vary it to have different veggies in it.


Annie

hi, thank you so much for taking the time out to look through my diary

Regarding the chinese - i dont have access to the SW books, only the online version and they dont list everything on there so ive had to guess.

With the bacardi's i have them from a pub and they are the 25ml measures.

It is definitely my weekends that are letting me down then?
Ive started having some syns in the evening but ive noticed that its making things worse

I had a look for those mug shots in my local supermarket but they dont stock the low fat versions.

Does changing what you have really make a difference? I mean if i went from having scrambled eggs on toast everyday to having something else will it effect my weight loss in a good way?

Sorry for all the questions but it seems im not even losing a pound

Hi Sarah,

I would completely agree with what Annie has said and would add one comment.....i know you have had the vegetable soup but it doesnt seem that there has been 1/3 of your other meals as superfree foods and maybe therefore you are eating too much of the "free" foods and not balancing that with the "superfree" foods.....all the superfree foods give us the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to function properly and they also give roughage, not only that but by making sure we have at least 1/3 of our meal made up of superfree foods we control the amount of "free" food and therefore our calorie intake.

Hope that helps

Claire x

Originally Posted by boncuk

Hi Sarah,

I would completely agree with what Annie has said and would add one comment.....i know you have had the vegetable soup but it doesnt seem that there has been 1/3 of your other meals as superfree foods and maybe therefore you are eating too much of the "free" foods and not balancing that with the "superfree" foods.....all the superfree foods give us the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to function properly and they also give roughage, not only that but by making sure we have at least 1/3 of our meal made up of superfree foods we control the amount of "free" food and therefore our calorie intake.

Hope that helps

Claire x

Hi Claire, thanks for your input - the problem is i have a really hard time eating vegetables - i absolutely loathe the taste of them, i mean im not being like a child here and having a tantrum but i physically cannot eat vegetables the taste and the texture makes feel really sick which is why i tend to omit them from everything unless i mash them all up and have them in soup - i can cope with that because all of them mixed together doesnt taste that bad and the texture is different!

I'm such a baby but ive been like this forever as far as i can remember - its just not something ive ever ever liked which i know is a great contributor to me not losing weight, believe me if i could stomach them id just eat mostly veg!!

I did try eating things such as spaghetti bolognese but its the taste of tomato's that i cant cope with which is why my meal choices are so difficult and i tend to go for the basic rice with meat in some sauce, pasta with meat in some sauce toast with eggs etc etc.....

im cringing reading that back as i sound like such a baby!

Oh no Sarah what a nightmare!!

Do you eat any salad or vegetables other than in soup? I have certain things that I dont like (see previous thread that I cant even pick a banana up - not even with the skin on!!)

There are so many different ways to cook things and that can make the taste different....I know how to do veg every which way cos its the cheapest food here so if you give me some ideas of things you may be able to stomach then I can give you some ideas

Speak soon

Claire xx

Originally Posted by newbie09

hi, thank you so much for taking the time out to look through my diary

Regarding the chinese - i dont have access to the SW books, only the online version and they dont list everything on there so ive had to guess.

With the bacardi's i have them from a pub and they are the 25ml measures.

It is definitely my weekends that are letting me down then?
Ive started having some syns in the evening but ive noticed that its making things worse

I had a look for those mug shots in my local supermarket but they dont stock the low fat versions.

Does changing what you have really make a difference? I mean if i went from having scrambled eggs on toast everyday to having something else will it effect my weight loss in a good way?

Sorry for all the questions but it seems im not even losing a pound

Sarah

Sorry you're having such a bad time trying to lose weight - it is very difficult.

The idea behind variety is that your body will get all the nutrients it needs from a varied diet, so we are less likely to binge. We need to stop doing the things that made us put on weight in the first place (ie eat very little some days, and binge on others, often the weekend). We need to learn to be in control of what we eat.

The golden rules in the book state:

1. eat a wide variety of foods
2. everything in moderation.

The EE then involves 3 steps:

1. choose free food first
2. add 2 healthy extras (one a and one b)
3. enjoy 5-15 syns per day.

The advice from my consultant is not to save up all your syns for the weekend, as this encourages bingeing, which is what we are trying to change. You should therefore have your syns every day. You can use more healthy extras as syns if you want ( I find the healthy b's are good because they tend to be more filling). Some people are able to save their syns up, and still lose weight, but I think these people are few and far between. The EE plan does not recommend this.

25 ml of bacardi will be 3 syns.

I've bought mug shots from Sainsbury's, Morrison's and Asda. I think they are widely available. Where do you shop?

There are some meal plan ideas on the SW website - have you looked at these? I did these myself for 2 weeks before I joined my local group, mainly because of the snow, I did not want to go out in the evenings.

Was the Chinese from the take-away, or did you make it yourself? It is really much better to avoid take-aways if you can while trying to lose weight, and make your own version at home if you can.
SW places an emphasis on home cooking rather than convenience meals.

I know it is expensive to go to SW, but could you manage even one or two sessions to get started and make sure you understand the plan? This may help you to lose weight, which is what you want to do.

I think the exercise is a bit of a red herring. Your weight loss will be mainly affected by what you eat and drink. Exercise may add to this slightly, but doing lots of exercise will not make up for bingeing. I have not done any exercise yet, and have lost weight. Exercise is good for your health for other reasons, but the main influence on your weekly weight loss will be calories consumed.

I've read your other post about not liking vegetables. The EE plan is based on the principle of eating a third superfree (fruit or vegetables.). There are over 60 different vegetables in the book - have you really tried all of these?

I hope this helps. It is not easy trying to lose weight.

Annie