Thread: eating the wrong stuff but still losing weight

I follow the diet to some degree, not the biggest veggie eater, but i always find myself snacking on the bad stuff (chocolate, sweets, crisps). I've eaten over my 15 syns a day on most days, yet i've always lost at least a 1lb a week. I'm not complaining that I've lost weight each week, but i just think i would be happier if i didn't eat all the bad stuff and i might even lose more weight.

Anybody got any tips to help stop or cut down??

i was you the trick is to find something low syn or syn free to snack on that you love ..... my homemade low syn smoked mackerel pate is addictive and really stopped my cravings for junk also homemade hummus is fab sainsburys do savoury popcorn salt and vinegar, sour cream and chive and paprika flavour in a multipack 2.5 syns a bag i love it even if i eat alot of bags i still dont break my diet

Where are you when you are having these snacks? Are you at home? If so, then the solution is not to have these things in the house.

The time for the discipline is at the buying stage - if you don't have them in the house then you can't eat them.

Sadly it will catch up eventually then you will probably just go off plan completely. If you fill up on free and super free foods you might not need to snack as much so might be an idea to get your books out and scour the recipe sections on here to get some ideas for meals. Then batch cook some so you have them ready and you're less tempted to snack. Might also be a good idea to work out why you're snacking so much. It must mean you aren't satisfying your appetite at meals. If you aren't keen on veggies does that mean you're not having your third super free as that is what helps to fill you up and keep your intake a bit lower. Could you try making some soups and freezing them and having them before your meals as your super free. Also there are some good threads on here from about low syn treats so have a look at them and also the ways in which people manage to keep within their syns. It may be an idea to keep a diary of what you're eating, why you're eating it and when you're eating it and seeing if you can make some changes. You are totally right that you will lose more if you stick to the plan but as you say, you are still losing its just that it has a nasty habit of eventually stalling you then you might think SW doesn't work when it absolutely does if you do it correctly. If you try not to think too far ahead and have at least one 100% week to see how your losses go it might help you to see that the plan could work in the long run and give you a big psychological boost. Plan meals and be very conscious of your syns and good luck in getting to your target :-)

Originally Posted by cat yoyo greaves

i was you the trick is to find something low syn or syn free to snack on that you love ..... my homemade low syn smoked mackerel pate is addictive and really stopped my cravings for junk also homemade hummus is fab sainsburys do savoury popcorn salt and vinegar, sour cream and chive and paprika flavour in a multipack 2.5 syns a bag i love it even if i eat alot of bags i still dont break my diet

Oooo the sainsburys popcorn sounds lovely, might have to have another walk into town today to see if they have any in our little sainsburys (if not I'll be gutted as went to the big sainsburys the other day to get extra lean mince)


I have to agree you have to be careful because it might catch up or you might go completely off plan. Just try and think about why you want to loose weight and why it would be nice to get more then a lb off a week. You could try weekly syns but you would have to be strict with yourself, so let yourself go over but make sure you know that if you go over one day it means you will have less another day. Only you can change your habbits.

I've been there before. Started off just having a few naughties and was still losing and got worse and worse until I ended up totally off plan. As they often say on here take it one day at a time. Tell yourself that today your going to be 100%. You'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here. Find free, super free and low syn things you like and make sure you keep them on you so when you do get peckish it's there ready and waiting.

Originally Posted by AnnaFaraday

Where are you when you are having these snacks? Are you at home? If so, then the solution is not to have these things in the house.

The time for the discipline is at the buying stage - if you don't have them in the house then you can't eat them.

Quoted for truth. If you follow this you wont go far wrong.

Agree with Anna and Craig. Don't buy it, you can't eat it then!

On the plus side, you know you are doing it but it will catch up with you and you will have to stop if you want to continue losing weight.

Perhaps the reason you're eating too many syns is because you aren't filling up on free food?

Thank you for the replies. Its hard keeping it out of the house when my parents still buy it for them and my sister, i think my bigger issue is saying no to myself and picking the healthy options. And as most of you have said i properly don't eat enough free foods or low syn to stop my hunger, as i have noticed on some days i'm not as hungry when i've eaten more fruit and low snacks throughout the day. My friend gave me a tip of drinking more water to curb my hunger so will be giving that a try ASAP!!

Drinking water does help, and having a diet fizzy drink before a meal I find fills me up.
As others have said, find free foods to snack on. I'm not keen on lots of fruit and veg but have the lunchbox sized apple packs from Asda (5 for £2) and munch them when feeling peckish, or have an Options hot choc for a sugar craving (2 Syns)

A favourite snack of mine is slicing up my healthy extra allowence of cheese thinly (and then I tend to chop it up a bit too) and eat it on a sliced up apple. It us really good and ups your superfree. Bad habits are hard to break but it is best to break them early on when you are still losing than when you get disappointed when you stop losing. I have my own treat box and I know the syn values of everything in there, I tend to save syns for the evening and i pick out of my box exactly what I'm allowed to have early on, if I want anything else synful tough, I can have fruit, yogurt, soup, leftovers, etc.

This is something I wrote when I was in a reflective mood last time I was dieting. Seems kind of appropriate for this thread so I thought I'd post it.


I think when we're overweight we find it really hard to say no to food that is offered to us. We think that by saying no, leaving something on our plates, or giving food back, we will insult people. The truth is people will be proud of you if you can say no.

Look at those people that we're all jealous of because they're 'naturally skinny'. The only difference with them is that they can say no! No thank you I don't want that chocolate bar. Thank you but I'll leave the rest of that as I'm full now.

By even considering giving back the chocolate bar your mind is going into 'slim' mode which is it's natural setting. It's only societies pressure's that has taken us out of this. I mean how many people on here were told they couldn't leave the table until their plate was empty? It's something that has been so ingrained into us it's hard to stop.

The problem is that when the portions get bigger, and we still can't say no, we get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. It's something that is really hard to stop though.

You can almost think of that inability to stop as an addiction to saying yes. Yes I will have that cake, that chocolate bar, that dessert. You can be told what harm your addiction is doing to you but to start with you just can't see it. That addiction to 'yes' is ruling your life. That addiction to yes could give you diabetes, a heart attack, a stroke. That addiction to yes could quite literally kill you. But yes is everything.

How often do you sit there and all you can think about is that next yes? Yes to McDonalds for lunch. Yes to that bar of chocolate from the shop. Yes, yes, yes!

Now compare that to your next no. No I don't want to finish that McDonalds. No I don't want that chocolate bar from the shops. No is like the nicotine patch to your yes. And you don't really want that nicotine patch because yes just makes you so happy. For a short time.

The problem is when you look back and realise you have a problem. The thing is you don't want to admit that yes is that problem so you'll deny the problem. Put it to the back of your mind and pretend you're happy, whilst all along it's niggling at you.

There is a different thing for each of us that eventually make's us face up to our addiction. Make's us stand up and take notice. For some it will be their kids, watching them grow up but being unable to go out there and play with them like you want to. For some it's seeing the final results of a yes addiction, whether in a friend, family member, or themselves. For some it will just be that that niggling has gotten so insistent it can no longer be ignored. It's different for all of us.

Now here the problem lies. Yes is an addiction, but we can't give it up. Not entirely. Other addictions, smoking, drugs and the like, can all be stopped completely. But we will have to eat for the rest of our lives. No getting away from it. So now we face the hardest task ever. Facing that addiction, and beating it.

Again different people will take different approaches to this. Some can fight addiction while still eating normal foods, whilst some will take the food replacement option. Which ever option is taken though you have to work on that addiction, because if you don't, it will just bite you in the ass. The weight loss programs we embark upon when fighting this addiction often only provide half the battle plan. They will tell us what to eat and when. They will tell us where we can say that beloved yes. But we have to have the strength and willing in ourselves to say that other word. No. We have to say no to the foods that have got us where we are. And we have to remember that when is diet is done we need to keep saying no. No, no, no.

When fighting our addiction of yes we need to look at those people who aren't addicted. The skinny people. We need to look at how they think about food and how they use their yes's and no's. One thing that is often noticed is that no is used a lot. They don't want to finish their meal as they're full so they say no. They aren't hungry so they say no to that chocolate bar. Not because they are thinking about it but because they have formed a habit where no is just part of life. If they aren't hungry it's a no.

For us to reach our goal, and more importantly, stay there, we need to work on that no. Just say it now. NO! At the end of the day, if we can't learn to say no we can't learn to live. No is the antidote to the venom of yes. Without that antidote we will always have yes ruling our lives.

So it's out with constant yes, and in with a good balance of no. Every one can do it. It's not going to be easy but one day, we will get there.

Originally Posted by Cherry-Blossom

This is something I wrote when I was in a reflective mood last time I was dieting. Seems kind of appropriate for this thread so I thought I'd post it.

I think when we're overweight we find it really hard to say no to food that is offered to us. We think that by saying no, leaving something on our plates, or giving food back, we will insult people. The truth is people will be proud of you if you can say no.

Look at those people that we're all jealous of because they're 'naturally skinny'. The only difference with them is that they can say no! No thank you I don't want that chocolate bar. Thank you but I'll leave the rest of that as I'm full now.

By even considering giving back the chocolate bar your mind is going into 'slim' mode which is it's natural setting. It's only societies pressure's that has taken us out of this. I mean how many people on here were told they couldn't leave the table until their plate was empty? It's something that has been so ingrained into us it's hard to stop.

The problem is that when the portions get bigger, and we still can't say no, we get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. It's something that is really hard to stop though.

You can almost think of that inability to stop as an addiction to saying yes. Yes I will have that cake, that chocolate bar, that dessert. You can be told what harm your addiction is doing to you but to start with you just can't see it. That addiction to 'yes' is ruling your life. That addiction to yes could give you diabetes, a heart attack, a stroke. That addiction to yes could quite literally kill you. But yes is everything.

How often do you sit there and all you can think about is that next yes? Yes to McDonalds for lunch. Yes to that bar of chocolate from the shop. Yes, yes, yes!

Now compare that to your next no. No I don't want to finish that McDonalds. No I don't want that chocolate bar from the shops. No is like the nicotine patch to your yes. And you don't really want that nicotine patch because yes just makes you so happy. For a short time.

The problem is when you look back and realise you have a problem. The thing is you don't want to admit that yes is that problem so you'll deny the problem. Put it to the back of your mind and pretend you're happy, whilst all along it's niggling at you.

There is a different thing for each of us that eventually make's us face up to our addiction. Make's us stand up and take notice. For some it will be their kids, watching them grow up but being unable to go out there and play with them like you want to. For some it's seeing the final results of a yes addiction, whether in a friend, family member, or themselves. For some it will just be that that niggling has gotten so insistent it can no longer be ignored. It's different for all of us.

Now here the problem lies. Yes is an addiction, but we can't give it up. Not entirely. Other addictions, smoking, drugs and the like, can all be stopped completely. But we will have to eat for the rest of our lives. No getting away from it. So now we face the hardest task ever. Facing that addiction, and beating it.

Again different people will take different approaches to this. Some can fight addiction while still eating normal foods, whilst some will take the food replacement option. Which ever option is taken though you have to work on that addiction, because if you don't, it will just bite you in the ass. The weight loss programs we embark upon when fighting this addiction often only provide half the battle plan. They will tell us what to eat and when. They will tell us where we can say that beloved yes. But we have to have the strength and willing in ourselves to say that other word. No. We have to say no to the foods that have got us where we are. And we have to remember that when is diet is done we need to keep saying no. No, no, no.

When fighting our addiction of yes we need to look at those people who aren't addicted. The skinny people. We need to look at how they think about food and how they use their yes's and no's. One thing that is often noticed is that no is used a lot. They don't want to finish their meal as they're full so they say no. They aren't hungry so they say no to that chocolate bar. Not because they are thinking about it but because they have formed a habit where no is just part of life. If they aren't hungry it's a no.

For us to reach our goal, and more importantly, stay there, we need to work on that no. Just say it now. NO! At the end of the day, if we can't learn to say no we can't learn to live. No is the antidote to the venom of yes. Without that antidote we will always have yes ruling our lives.

So it's out with constant yes, and in with a good balance of no. Every one can do it. It's not going to be easy but one day, we will get there.

No no no!

I love it

Thanks so much for posting x

Very true cherry. My grandmother would call me fat, then offer me cake. But saying no wasn't good enough for her, she'd keep pressuring me to have some cake, my saying no was an insult to her "why don't you want it? Don't you love me anymore? Don't you like my cake?" yes, she said them, not implied. Sandwiching it with comments about my weight.

Thankfully "no" has come more and more used in my life. This evening I was offered seconds, I said "no, thanks" dad: "are you sure?" me: "yeah, I'm full thanks." I just realised how great that is when I read your post