I try to stick to under 12, when I first started SW a few years ago I was told that for my weight, I should stick to 12 syns. So I've kind of always used that. Except when I was completely off the wagon. When I first did SW I would use as few as possible, but as someone else said, it really did not help me master keeping myself in check. Sure, I lost weight and relatively quickly, but I hadn't fully got the hang of all the SW principles. So on went the weight again. Now I am struggling with guilty feelings about using syns, but I know that ultimately it will stop me feeling deprived.