Eating my way to being a healthy yummy mummy.

Bslim2014

Full Member
(Copied from intro post):

I've been overweight for most of my adult life apart from about ten months between 2009 and 2010 when I miraculously reached my "recommended BMI" by eating mostly vegetables and using the Wii regularly. Then Winter 2010 brought big changes - pregnancy! A slightly problematic pregnancy where I was signed off work sick and under doctors orders to take it easy. I didn't put much weight on whilst being pregnant. After the birth I sat back and waited for the weight to fall off, which I had heard happens easily if you are breastfeeding. But before long I found that I could not even fit into my maternity jeans and I was soon heavier than I had ever been (around 108kg and ordering size 20 jeans)! Stress and depression had resulted in comfort-eating and little desire to exercise. At the start of 2012 I missed wearing my old clothes and decided to try the Dukan diet and stepped up my exercise and managed to lose two dress sizes.

Summer 2012, we bought a house that required several months of refurbishing and having to move in with my mum. Trying to stick to Dukan or Keto when I didn't have my own kitchen was too much of a challenge and the weight started to creep back on. I've tried to keep it at a maintenance level since then. Once moved in to our finished house I managed to get a grip, cut the carbs and fit back into my old size 14 jeans. But I definitely feel that I am in that yo-yo dieting territory that is actually less healthy than simply being overweight (there's no way I can cut out carbs over Christmas!) So I feel I've gone as far as I can with low carb dieting, because when I fall off the wagon, I fall hard. Then when I'm not off the wagon, it feels like I'm spending nearly every waking moment trying to perfect low-carb bread, biscuits and cakes.

That said, I'm now looking into Slimming World as I like the idea of not having to turn my back on chocolate and bread for good. I need simplicity. Joining a group does not work for me at the moment due to timings, so I'm going to give it a try on my own using the books and tips from these forums.
 
Day One

So today was the first day of sticking to the Slimming World plan. I am using the free 7 day menu that is on the Slimming World website as a loose guideline to start me off. I get my food shopping delivered on a Tuesday and I also received the Slimming World pack of books, so it was a busy day getting to grips with it all.

I was really excited to unpack all the new foods I had ordered and had to work hard to resist having a little taste of everything :D It's a good job I resisted because when I sat down and read the books later, I was surprised to see how many syns were in foods I had misunderstood to be free or low-syn :eek:

I thought I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew in cooking the Full English to start off with. I don't usually have time in the morning for such a leisurely breakfast but my daughter had a really long lie in so it all worked out well. And it was so delicious and filling!


Breakfast
90g Tinned mandarins
Slimming World Full English

Lunch
Steamed salmon, peppers and yams

Dinner
Roast chicken, rice and mixed vegetables

Snacks
2 x Low fat yogurt
Two finger Kit Kat
Apple
Fresh mandarin

My head is spinning a bit from flipping back and forth through the pages of the book to see what I can eat but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it...
 
Hiya, thanks for the welcome. I am doing the Extra Easy plan. As far as I can work out, I used 14.5 syns yesterday:

Cherry Mullerlight = 0.5
Rhubarb Mullerlight = 0.5
Roast potatoes = 2.5
Gravy from roast chicken juices = 2.5
Kit Kat = 5.5
Tinned mandarins = 2
Low fat spread = 1

Wholemeal toast = Healthy Extra B

Didn't have a Healthy Extra A as I wasn't organised enough.
 
Thank you ACH. Good to know I'm on the right track. Sticking to the right amounts of dairy may be tough for me. I love grating cheese over everything. Big fan of large bowls of breakfast cereal too. I will focus on what I CAN eat though.

Was a bit worried today when I had some dry grilled chicken to use up. I would normally slaver it in mayonnaise or cream cheese but I wanted to save my syns for a chocolate treat later. I spiced up some fat free fromage frais and low fat cottage cheese with paprika and cayenne pepper and that worked out great with the chicken :)
 
Breakfast
Mullerlight rhubarb yogurt
Mandarins
Pineapple
35g Shredded Wheat (HEA)


Lunch
Baked potato
Baked beans
Cheddar cheese (HEB)
Philadelphia lightest (3 syns)
Celery
Cucumber


Dinner
Flame grilled chicken
Fat free fromage frais
Low fat cottage cheese
2 boiled eggs


Snacks
Apple
Mandarins
3 choc chip cookies (10.5 syns)


I am not hungry but still tempted to eat more cookies so I might just have an early night.:eek:
 
Food diary for Thursday

Breakfast
Jordan's natural muesli (HEB)
Coconut milk with calcium (HEA)


Lunch
Roasted vegetables


Dinner
Chicken Chow Mein from SW website (1 syn)
Roasted vegetables


Snacks
Banana
Blueberries
Mango
Pineapple
Low fat rhubarb yogurt
Two finger KitKat (5.5 syns)
35ml Bailey's (5.5 syns) :cool:
 
Food diary for Friday

Breakfast
Bacon
Eggs
Cottage cheese
Mushrooms
Jordan's muesli and coconut milk (HEA and HEB)


Lunch
Roasted vegetables


Dinner
Chicken chow mein (2 syns)
Salad and fat free vinaigrette


Snacks
Mandarins
Apples and grapes
Banana
Kit Kat (5.5 syns)
ChocRyvita balls (8 syns)

Thursday was super easy since I made the roasted vegetables and chicken chow mein. They will last me a few days.
 
Food diary for Saturday

Breakfast
Eggs, mushrooms and cottage cheese with butter buds (0.5 syns)
Baked beans
Low fat yogurt and mango, strawberry and banana


Lunch
Roasted vegetables


Dinner
SW Chips, eggs, cheese and baked beans (Cheese was HEA)
Mayonnaise (5 syns)


Snacks
Caramel Snack-a-Jacks (5 syns)


Honey and lemon tea (2.5 syns) - was feeling a cold coming on

Was pleasantly surprised that the Slimming World chips tasted so good. I ate way more than my share but still was below my calorie target. I am totting up the calories on MyFitnessPal just to make sure I'm keeping on track until I get used to the Slimming World rules!
 
Food diary for Sunday

Breakfast
Jordans Muesli and coconut milk (HEA and HEB)
Low fat yogurt and mango


Lunch
McDonalds grilled chicken and bacon salad (chicken was dry and tasteless so didn't finish it) (1.5 syns? Read that somewhere I think)
Fat free vinaigrette brought from home
McDonalds small fries (8.5 syns)
Diet coke (Tasted weird so didn't drink all of it)


Dinner
Mixed veg
Roast chicken
Gravy (2.5 syns)
Yorkshire pudding (2.5 syns)
White rice


Snack
Apple


So glad I could take my daughter to McDonalds and not offend my Mum by turning down Sunday Dinner on this diet. Weekends are normally so hard to keep on track.
 
I'm really slacking with copying my food diary onto here daily. I must do it or it will be a slippery slope from not filling in my public food diary, to not filling in my paper food diary, to not sticking to the diet at all!
 
Monday 10th Feb
Breakfast- wholemeal bread roll (HEB), light spread (1), chicken chow mein (1)


Lunch- Roasted vegetables


Dinner- Roast chicken, white rice, gravy (2.5), yorkshire pud (2.5), mixed veg, beetroot


Snacks- Apple, Kitkat (5.5), SnackaJack (5)
 
Tuesday 11th Feb
B- wholemeal bread roll (HEB), Light spread (1), eggs, cottage cheese, low fat bacon rashers, cream cheese (HEA)


L- roasted veg


D- jacket potato, baked beans, cream cheese (HEB), butter buds (0.5),


S- apple, Victoria Sandwich cake (14) (wasn't that nice so didn't finish it)
 
Wednesday 12th Feb
B- normal bacon (4), cottage cheese, wholemeal bread roll (HEB), light spread (2)


L- roast chicken, mixed veg, white rice, gravy (2.5)


D- roasted vegetables, linguine


S- choc balls (4), pineapple pot in juice (2.5), fat free fromage frais, fat free yogurt
 
Thursday 13th Feb


B- muesli (heb), coconut milk (hea), raisins (3), mini quiches


L- squid cooked in olive oil (6), riced cauliflower, roasted vegetables


D- mashed potato, baked beans, fish finger (2)


S- choc balls (8), banana cookie (3), apple, banana, mandarin
 
Friday 14th Feb
B- raw banana and apple


L- roasted vegetables, lean ham, cottage cheese and fat free fromage frais


D- pasta, homemade pasta sauce, roasted vegetables


S- milk chocolate (6.5) pound cake (26) cream cheese (HEA)


Definitely went overboard on the syns but the cake was worth it.
 
Hmm. Really can't bring myself to continue writing out a food diary. Would have been better off starting a weight loss diary. There has been so much going on that writing down what I eat in the SW format seems frivolous/boring. I do keep track of calories in the my fitness pal app as portion sizes have always been an issue for me. So not strictly the Slimming World way as I am weighing and counting more than the plan dictates.

I am still following the SW plan and slowly losing weight. I just prefer to keep track of the syns in my head. I like to stick to free and super free foods throughout the day and save my syns for eating in front of the telly and unwinding after my two year old has gone to sleep. So I don't have to try and remember syns from earlier on in the day. And I pretty much have my Healthy Extras for breakfast, same basic format every day; 35g of cereal and a milk substitute.

I have extra motivation at the moment - going on holiday in two weeks time! Would have been nice to have more notice and time to drop a dress size. I don't think I will drop a dress size but I would like to look healthy and not have to worry if I eat too many syns on holiday. The plan is to enjoy the food that is on offer but don't go overboard finishing everything on my plate. That way I can enjoy myself but not undo all my hard work.
 
Slightly miffed that no friends/family have commented on my weight loss. As well as my 4kg loss on the scales, the tape measure shows I'm shrinking and looking in the mirror I almost look like I did just before I got pregnant. My belly looks almost flat when I hold it in, whereas before when I pulled my tummy in as hard as I could, it still looked fat! And I couldn't hold it in for more than a second or two either.

But why is no one else noticing? Are they that bored of my yo-yoing that they expect me to put the weight back on again anyway? Or is it that I'm losing weight in a healthier way so the loss doesn't look so dramatic? Doing Dukan and Keto, I would lose weight in my face straight away so it was more noticeable. This time I am noticing the loss more around my middle and not so much in my face which is probably the ideal in terms of health and longevity.

Anyway, warmer months are coming. Today I went out without a coat for the first time this year. Hopefully as I put away the jumpers and oversize flannel shirts, I'll have a trimmer body that others can't fail to notice.
 
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