Ahhh, Slimming World gurus, I think I'm going slightly mad!

Rachel425

New Member
Hello!

D'you know, I have always consulted this site when in need to recipes or a bit of encouragement, but have never joined. However, I feel really, desperately in need of advice.

I joined Slimming World originally in 2008 and lost just over three and a half stone (I could have done with losing a few more), then I started a stressful job and felt I didn't have time for it so I decided to leave. Inevitably, the weight crept back on over the years and then just exploded when I became a mature student this time last year.

I decided to rejoin Slimming World 6 weeks ago, weighing two stone heavier than I did when I originally joined in 2008, however, the weight just isn't budging. over the last 6 weeks I've lost a total of 5 and a half lbs - some weeks putting on half, never losing more than 2 lbs, even in my first week. I feel so devastated, as by this time when I did it before I'd lost over a stone. I'm also going with my sister who, like me the first time, reached a stone weight loss on her fifth week.

I'm sticking to the plan rigidly weighing and measuring everything I have to, checking the website for all syn values I'm unsure of and I exercise. I really don't know where I'm going wrong and feel at a loss for what to do, especially because I have lots of weight to lose.

Here's an example of what I usually eat on an extra easy and green day (taken from the email I sent my consultant):


Saturday - extra easy day


Super free: cherries, bananas, carrot, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, garlic, chives, strawberries

Free: Mullerlights, Waitrose turkey slices, pasta, paprika, chili flakes, Waitrose flame grilled chicken, fat free natural fromage frais

Healthy A: 40g reduced fat cheddar

Healthy B: 2 slices bread (from 400g loaf)

Syns: 8 level tablespoons extra light mayo - purple one (4 syns), 100g lightest Philadelphia (4 syns) - Total 8 syns


Monday -
green day

Super free: blackberries, bananas, strawberries (2 punnets), spinach, cherry tomatoes

Free: Mullerlight, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, salt and pepper, tinned spaghetti

Healthy A: 3 light Babybels

Healthy B: 1 x Hi fi light bar, 2 slices bread

Syns: 100g light mozzarella (8 syns), Del Monte mango smoothie lolly (4 1/2 syns) - Total 12 1/2 syns




I've shown my consultant my food diary before and she can't think of any reason I wouldn't be losing weight. I try to make sure I drink water, eat as early as I can to kick start the ol' metabolism. I'm sorry to have gone on but I don't know what to do. Since my weigh in last night I've been so sad! :sigh: Does anybody have any ideas or advice on what it could be?!

Thank you so much for your time.
 
Hi Rachel

The only thing I wonder looking at your food diary is if you're definitely eating 1/3 superfree with your meals? I know there is plenty of superfree listed but if you're not having it on you're plate with your main meals you're not getting the portion control advantage of the superfree. Of course you could be and its just not obvious with the way you've written your diary.

The other thing that I notice is that most of your superfree comes from fruit and not alot of veg. Maybe try replacing some of the fruit with veg cause it has less calories (I know we're not meant to be considering calories but its a fact really) oh and I find if I have more than 1 Muller light a day it really affects my losses - again I don't know if you're having more than 1...

Anyway thats my 2 cents worth - hope it helps!!
 
I agree perhaps go easy on the fruit and up your veg intake but really my other reaction was that you are not eating a lot full stop. On your green day in particular I think your calorie intake would have been very low although its more difficult to see what you are eating on a meal by meal basis. It may be you are filling up too much on fruit rather than free foods. So I would up free foods too xx
 
Don't be too downhearted, there has to be a reason why you're not losing. It's a bit hard to tell what's going on from the way you've listed it - perhaps you could list it on a meal by meal basis instead? Hopefully then we can get to the bottom of it.
 
Also how much exercise are you doing? I have found this sometimes slows down weight loss. I feel you may be losing inches but not seeing it on the scales. Make sure to measure yourself this time and use this too as a guide to how you are doing.

Make sure to bulk out your meals with the 1/3 superfree. I know it's disheartening when you can't see much happening, but keep going and try having the full 15 syns and see how you get on :)
 
This may sound silly, but you guys have almost completely restored the hope I had lost since Wednesday evening. Seriously, I'd been moping around yesterday unable to concentrate properly and now I've woken up to this and you've all made me feel so much happier! Thank thank thank you so much for replying, I was expecting my question to just be eaten up by the amount of posts on here, but you came to my rescue, and I'm so grateful!

Connmel - Ahh you're like a Slimming World super sleuth! Because, although in the two examples I posted here I definitely had at least a third of the plate super free, what I sometimes do is have a meal - like beans on toast for lunch for example - then I'd go and have some super free food like some strawberries or cherries separately. A majority of the time I include super free in the meal, but sometimes I don't so I will do that every time from now on. I must admit I don't often do extra easy, I mainly do green days and even then try to include lots of super free foods, should I do a third of the plate on green as well? And yes, absolutely, I love fruit and am not the biggest fan of veg, but I shall give that a go. Ooo yes, I actually heard that about Muller lights whilst frantically searching for posts where people hadn't lost much weight on Slimming World (of which there weren't many), and that seemed to be a recurring problem. I usually pour one or two of the vanilla sprinkled with chocolate ones over a bowl of chopped strawberries, but will then go and have a few more during the day. I will revise that in the hope that it gets the weightloss movin'!

Patchwork Puss - Oh I would love it if it was because I wasn't eating enough! But I do have a huuuuuuuge appetite, much bigger than most people, and make sure I fulfil it (I was always the girl who would think 'how the HELL is that enough?' when my friends would order two large pizzas between 4 or 5 people - c'mon, I could triumph one on my own!) On that green day I had for breakfast: chopped strawberries and blackberries covered in Muller light and a hi fi light bar and a couple of bananas, lunch: tinned spaghetti with some Worcestershire sauce on toast, dinner: a spinach and cherry tomato pizza style omelette thing (it didn't turn out too well, but I was trying to recreate the Tesco spinach, tomato and ricotta pizza!) so 3 eggs, lots of cherry tomatoes, lots of spinach, mozzarella and babybels cut up and seasoned, then followed by the smoothie lolly and some more strawbs' with yoghurt (and I probably had some more yoghurts as snacks too.) My sister has a lot of cous cous, and I used to as well so perhaps I can add some more free foods in like that? Then I could chop up veg into that! I'd love to hear the types of things you have as your weightloss is almost identical to the type I was hoping for - I've decided I'd like to lose a total of 6 stone! (Very well done by the way, marvellous loss - each of you have!)

Krupskaya (ahhh, I love that name! Like the Bolshevik revolutionary) - Thank you for those kind words of encouragement. I posted the green day on meal by meal basis above, but shall divide up the other one too - extra easy breakfast: cherries and bananas and probably a Muller light, lunch: turkey sandwich and a cheese layered salad (grated carrot, lettuce, small bit of pasta, light mayo mixed with fat free natural fromage frais and topped with my HeA), dinner: garlic mushroom and chicken tagliatelle (pasta, chicken, lots and lots of chopped mushrooms, lots of chopped red onion, some crushed garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, chili flakes, then the light Philly mixed in and topped with the chives) then some chopped strawberries and a couple of Muller lights (I would have also had some for snacks, along with bananas.)

Jeanne Von Buttonpopper - THANK YOU for your avatar firstly, bloomin' brilliant! I have been going to the gym and am more likely to concentrate on weights than fat burning cardio so I'll spend about half an hour on cardio and 45 minutes on weights (I much prefer them.) My membership will expire in a few days but I'm also lucky enough to live right near the forest and cliff top so I'll quite often go for a stroll to clear my head. I haven't been very active over the last week, partly due to disheartenment but I do feel happy after I've exercised so I will get back to it. I think I absolutely will try having the full 15 y'know, I normally stay around the 8 mark out of fear, but over the last few weeks my sister's been throwing caution to the wind and having evenings and meals out and being frighteningly flexible with her syns but losing loads of weight! I, on the other hand, have been super cautious, weighing everything, measuring everything, checking everything and never ever ever going over my syns, so I think I'll allow for maybe a few more treats!

I have to say a huge thank you to each of you again, you've really cheered me up! I'm also aware of the possibility that it could perhaps be a flaw in me rather than the plan so have booked in with my doctor, but she couldn't see me until early September. I'm hoping that it won't be though as I don't want to make weight loss any more difficult. I was hoping that I'd lose a good amount before I start University in October, I'll already stick out as the oldest in the class, so fingers crossed!

xxx
 
I've noticed that on a green day you only had one healthy A and one healthy B when you should have two B and you can have two A's. it's only one of each on extra easy. It would be easier to see what you eat if you could list it as each meal. I had to buy a book and write down my meals as I couldn't look back and work out from my dairy what meals i had eaten. Good luck on your weight loss journey. Oops just noticed you had a light hifi bar for a HEB you could have had 2 of the light ones they are only 3 syns each, 2 of these make the HEB. Also I see that your HEA is used for cheese. Do you not have any milk for drinks?
 
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Hi Rachel - hey, you know where my username comes from, not many do so well done lol! Re your food intake I agree with what the other posters have written. Try to have a third of your plate superfree with every meal, even on green and try to make that more veg based than fruit based. You don't seem to be overeating at all mind you. The only other thing I'd pick up on is the yoghurts - I think you should stick to just one a day as 3 or 4 could be the precise thing that's stopping you from losing. I overdid the Mullers when I first started SW and that seriously hampered my weight loss. Once I confined myself to one a day I started losing well. Just a thought anyway. Good luck and let us know how you get on. x
 
Hi Rachel, well I'm no expert but the first thing I picked up on was no veg...or hardly any. First day you only had mushrooms...unless the onions were veg ones and not spring with a salad, and the second day just spinach. I don't know whether this will help you but they always recommend you keep a food diary. I'm posting a page of mine, how I do it nowMy Diary.jpg if you enlarge, one side is free, the other superfree, (I stick to EE..with 1 each of the HExs...I have a lot to lose) I can see at a glance exactly what I have every day.....the bottom bit my HE.B should say 2 x sm. wholemeal bread. I don't list all the contents of my salads, or of e.g. my hotpot, because I just cook those (well not the salad/...lol!) the same.I always 1/3rd or 1/2 fill my plate with mostly green veg every day,broccolli, cauli, carrots etc and I snack on fruit, but NEVER straight after a meal, because fruit starts dissolving quicker than the foods you've eaten, and then lays in your stomach and clings to it's walls, eventually turning into fat as the sugar dissolves.(didn't know this, it was on one of the TV obesity programmes and explained by a doctor) . I'll have an apple or banana very often BEFORE a meal, because it curbs the appetite. BTW, I've not weighed OR counted anything except my syns since I started. HTH Good luck and hope to hear from you. xx:)
 
Jeanne Von Buttonpopper - THANK YOU for your avatar firstly, bloomin' brilliant! I have been going to the gym and am more likely to concentrate on weights than fat burning cardio so I'll spend about half an hour on cardio and 45 minutes on weights (I much prefer them.) My membership will expire in a few days but I'm also lucky enough to live right near the forest and cliff top so I'll quite often go for a stroll to clear my head. I haven't been very active over the last week, partly due to disheartenment but I do feel happy after I've exercised so I will get back to it. I think I absolutely will try having the full 15 y'know, I normally stay around the 8 mark out of fear, but over the last few weeks my sister's been throwing caution to the wind and having evenings and meals out and being frighteningly flexible with her syns but losing loads of weight! I, on the other hand, have been super cautious, weighing everything, measuring everything, checking everything and never ever ever going over my syns, so I think I'll allow for maybe a few more treats!

Glad you enjoyed the avatar! :D

Yeah the syns thing always crops up to begin with. Everyone is so nervous to eat too many but it usually has the reverse effect when you cut back. So go eat some more!!! :)
 
I really am overwhelmed by the incredible amount of support, advice and encouragement you've all provided, I could do a little cry! I have half a mind to just go it alone at home and come on here in times of need - it's soul destroying having to step up to the scales in front of a huge line of people and come face to face with a disappointing result.

I've taken on what you've all said and upped the veg (well most of the time, I've had a couple of days where I've been really busy and have just eaten whatever Slimming World friendly foods are available.) I've also cut back on the fruit, only having it for breakfast and snacks, seriously cut back on the Muller Lights (has anybody tried those greek style lemon ones? OOOOF *fans self* I know they're half a syn, but I'm definitely in love with them.)

Kazbryn - Ohhh I love cheese and don't drink hot drinks so it's my only option really, although I should probably try milk and see whether it helps. I could easily survive on cheese alone and that is probably a very accurate representation of my diet around the festive season (that'll be a challenge this year!)

Pollywotsit - D'you know after your suggestion I searched out my notepad and started a proper food diary, I've been doing them on my phone as I'm always forgetting but I'm trying to make a real effort and it does help keep track of the third of the plate thing. And ooo that hotpot sounds reeeeally nice, how do you make it? Do you have any other good suggestions for veg based meals? One thing that is a challenge is I'm intolerant to potato, so it takes away a few options. The other day I tried to make this cous cous bake with a vegetable sauce from the SW website but it was REVOLTING! I was far too liberal with the chili flakes in the sauce and the bake, well, it was just some weird sort of tasteless cake. My boyfriend wolfed it down but I just ate the vegetables I'd cooked alongside it. Never mind, if you don't try then you don't know 'eh?!

Ahhh thank you once more guys, it takes a while to read my ridiculously long posts but you've all trawled through and helped me immensely.

How are all your journeys coming along?xx
 
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