1/3 Superfree - how do you do it?

debtin said:
The only thing I don't understand is for example. Pre sw you eat two weetabix at breakfast which keeps you going til lunch. You then join sw and need to eat third superfree with breakfast so you add a banana to the two weetabix...surely this is adding to your calories? Does anyone ever not eat the two weetabix anyway? I get the whole superfree keeps you fuller for longer but sometimes I don't get why adding tomato and or spring onion would keep you fuller as you would prob still finish what you put on your plate? Know I usually do. Breakfast keeps me going majority of time so adding fruit or veg to it wouldn't do me any favours. I fully get other meals or certain meals but if I know I am having slice pizza, am going to have that full slice regardless if the salad is there or not but I know eating it will do my body good. Think this is why am prob not losing as I can't face adding to a breakfast that already fills me. Sorry in I sound confused but I think I know what I mean x
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I don't think it's about adding superfree to your meals at all. It's about replacing free/HEX/syns with super free. For example if you have chicken, SW chips and peas, I wouldn't add superfree just to say I have had it, I would take away maybe half the chips and replace with something super free, say mushrooms. Therefore you shouldn't be over eating at all. Hope I havnt made that confusing! X
 
LornaGrace said:
I don't think it's about adding superfree to your meals at all. It's about replacing free/HEX/syns with super free. For example if you have chicken, SW chips and peas, I wouldn't add superfree just to say I have had it, I would take away maybe half the chips and replace with something super free, say mushrooms. Therefore you shouldn't be over eating at all. Hope I havnt made that confusing! X
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I understand replacing the free/synned foods but the HEX are there to ensure you get calcium and fibre. That was my understanding of it anyway. Maybe I'm wrong :)
 
SaraD123 said:
I understand replacing the free/synned foods but the HEX are there to ensure you get calcium and fibre. That was my understanding of it anyway. Maybe I'm wrong :)
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No you're right, you can't swap HE's with free foods etc, they are part of the plan! :)
 
SaraD123 said:
I understand replacing the free/synned foods but the HEX are there to ensure you get calcium and fibre. That was my understanding of it anyway. Maybe I'm wrong :)
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Maybe I should have given the example that debtin uses. Having one weetabix inted of two and replacing that with super free. Stil makin sure you have a hex later on somewhere. But you are also not following the plan correctly if you don't have that third, which is just as important, maybe more so as having you hex's. X
 
I do think an element of common sense & logic needs to be applied to the superfree recommendation, along with pretty much every other one in SW. Of course it doesn't make sense to add extra calories to your food in any form. If you are genuinely going to be full up till lunch by having 2 wetabix & milk, then don't add fruit uneccesarily. However, common sense dictates that if you are the kind of person looking to loose weight on SW , you are very unlikely to actually be full up by this, therefore,,the superfree will help you keep full for longer. I don't know about anyone else, but I could easily have eaten 4 weetabix per SW, and a 35g portion of cereal is teeny tiny Ian bowl. I've do idea how anyone could survive till lunch on that alone.

Similarly, if you are eating fruit after a meal to try & increase your superfree when you're not even hungry, it makes no sense. That's why the superfree is supposed to be on your plate, and is supposed to replace higher calories foods. Unless you plan to leave 1/3rd of your plate empty to exercise portion control. Its far too easy to say 'my consultant said its okay if I eat fruit salad after every meal cos I don't like veg' and hide behind that, without actually using your brain to think through the logic. My consultant is fab - but she insists that you can't split your healthy extras - which makes no sense me because last time I checked, 2 halves still made 1 whole. Therefore I do split my healthy extras if it works better with my meals for the day.
 
I try and add my sf foods to my meal but will have fruit after if I can. I refuse to eat fruit before as to me that's not normal eating, I wouldn't have desert before a main meal so I wouldn't stick to this long term. This works for me, but of course everyone's different.
my consultant says its a third of your day that needs to be sf not of a meal. That makes absolutely no sense to me for all the reasons everyone has said above so I stick with the third of a meal.
 
would i be able to have a bowl of veg soup before my lunch to qualify as 1/3 superfree as i sit in a car all day and my lunch is usually in a tupperware box but its not big enough to hold a salad as well as a jacket spud if you know what i mean
thanks
 
kingleds said:
This one is always a massive debate in group and on here. It doesn't help that SW advice differs from week to week either. Thopugh my Consultants advice is very firm on this - 1/3rd on your plate. No exceptions. When I work to this recommendation I loose well. It doesn't thave to be loads of differnet types - it can be just tomatoes and onions - as long as its 1/3rd.

The theory behind 1/3rd superfree is that you replace higher calorie foods with low calorie, but still filling, vegetables. By doing this you naturally reduce your calorie intake and therefore don't have to weigh all your food. You are natually exercising portion control. If you eat some carrot sticks an hour later, thats not really going to help with the portion control side of things.

Think about this way. If you have 1/3rd of your plate as superfree foods, you will definitely be limiting your calorie intake, as you will have less of the other foods on your plate. Unless of course you use a bigger plate :) You should find that in the short term, the same amount of free food as you ate pre SW, will keep you fuller for longer - so less snacking in general, and that long term, you should be able to eat less - so less calories in general.
For example, 500g pack of ex lean mince would feed me & my husband for 1 meal when we started SW. Now it feeds 3 people, sometimes 4 people, depending on how hungry we are, because we pack it full of superfree, and don't eat as much. With the example of the Ragu and pasta, I'd be adding a bunch of superfree to that sauce

The key thing is to remember that you ARE trying to reduce your calorie intake, so depending on your diet pre SW this might be able to be done quite easily in the short term by cutting out chocolate/crisps/bread/cakes/sugar/oils, and so the 1/3rd superfreee thing might not be so important to you. However as you continue it will become more important and you will need to start to stick to it within a meal, at the very least, more likely on your plate. If you find that you stop loosing weight, or SW doesn't work for you, then the advice will always be to increase your Superfree proportions and put them on your plate.

Ultimately, its up to you. But what I would say is that superfree foods are just good for you anyway- they have all the vitamins you could possibly need in them if you make sure you eat a wide variety, so regardless of SW advice you should be trying to eat them alot anyway!
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I agree totally but wish that SW consultants and magazine etc would press the point home more!
When EE came out around 3 years ago they superfree element wasn't mentioned and I was eating loads of sausage and chips and spag bol etc with virtually no superfree and my weight loss was slooooooooow lol. I abandoned it and went back to red and green - thinking that EE was great but just not working for me.

I rejoined for the final time in Dec 2010 and they have just recently started really stressing how important the superfree bit is, and I have to say I do lose much more when I stick to the rules.

Tonight for example, I had chilli and rice - there was tomatoes and onions in the chilli sauce but I had a gigantic salad with the meal. A couple of years ago there was no way I would have had salad with chilli.....but now I do. x
 
michmick said:
I try and add my sf foods to my meal but will have fruit after if I can. I refuse to eat fruit before as to me that's not normal eating, I wouldn't have desert before a main meal so I wouldn't stick to this long term. This works for me, but of course everyone's different.
my consultant says its a third of your day that needs to be sf not of a meal. That makes absolutely no sense to me for all the reasons everyone has said above so I stick with the third of a meal.
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Yea having fruit before meal is stupid I have a 1/3 veg with nearly every meal or in my meal if I really can't make veg for example I was out today so had a mug shot n then fruit after as amug shot isn't enough to to fill me till dinner I had apple n pear N I don't think there's much difference because if I'm having a small mug of pasta n then fruit rather than making a Big plate of pasta n veg it's about thinking about what your doing have less dinner so your not full for your fruit after n I'm sure it works the same it always has for mei like fruit as a dessert n just make sure you fit in veg with pretty much every meal when you can. Use your common sense with it. And a 1/3 of your super free for the day sounds about right to me.
 
I have only being doing the course seven weeks, slimmer of the week 4x, slimmer of the month, and lost 27 1/2 pounds so far. I manage the superfree easily for my main meals. I bought several big bags of frozen veg, all super free (with a smidgen of free corn and peas), largely carrots, turnips and runnerbeans. I emptied the big bags into a massive plastic bowl, mixed them all up and weighed out a few bags at about 250grams a bag and then guessed a similar amount for the rest. The bags are just cheap freezer bags from asda. Filled up an entire draw of my freezer.

When i cook a meal, i prepare everything else, when about cooked, i open the freezer empty a bag into a bowl and put in microwave for four minutes. Its surprising that this will go with pretty much anything, except of course cereal.

I have noticed several things being on Slimming World.
i) I now always have breakfast. For years i would just never have breakfast. Now i have 35g of cereal every morning with a banana, or an apple or a pear, or two of them.
ii) I never feel hungry. The one thing i havent got under control yet though is portion control, i am eating big meals , but the losses are still good.
iii) I eat substantially more fruit and veg than i ever did and the meat i eat is now lean.
 
vanilla_cupcake said:
Having fruit before a meal is definitely not stupid it's the whole point of EE! :)
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Why would you want to have fruit before a meal I've never had fruit before a meal and I've had a weight loss every single week as long as you have the same amount of food as you would eat after fruit what does it matter your filling up with the fruit instead of chocolate or crisp if having fruit stops you having something stupid like chocolate I'd rather have it afterwards
 
Actually, because fruit breaks down in your gut quicker than other foods it makes sense to eat it before other food. Otherwise the acids can create nasty reactions in your tummy.
 
You mean you don't have runner beans with your cereal, Gazter?? Seriously, excellent post and I like the way you have tackled the superfree issue.
 
kingleds said:
Actually, because fruit breaks down in your gut quicker than other foods it makes sense to eat it before other food. Otherwise the acids can create nasty reactions in your tummy.
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Yes, I read that somewhere. If you eat fruit after a meal it just sits on top of all that food fermenting away! Apparently. I'm sure eating it before a meal makes me eat less as well.
 
Just wanted to say thanks to gazter for that post. It is an amazing idea as I have the bags in the freezer and always have mixed. I am definitely going to try this :)
Ps I can't like as am I my phone but will tomorrow when I get to my pc :)
 
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