Clearing your whole plate?

[daisy-janine]

Hi everyone Being very new to SW, I am still trying to get my head around certain things. I know that 1/3 of your plate needs to be SpeedFoods/Superfree or whatever (where it makes sense.) But I am struggling with this.. so if I decided to have cereal and milk one day (as healthy extras) would I need to have fruit aswell?
Also I read that you have to eat your 1/3 SpeedFood/Superfree first so that you fill up on this and don't need as much of the food on your plate - but I have no switch to being full so would just eat my whole plate of food anyway?
Can anyone help please, as I really want this to work and I'm getting so confused! Thank you

 

[green eyed monster]

I always finish what's on my plate, stems back to those days as a kid where I was told I had to .

1/3 speed will help you feel satisfied but there is nothing wrong with emptying your plateif you want to. That's half the joy of sw, it's all good for you.

I don't always have a 1/3 speed at breakfast either, but do try to make it your first choice between meals as much as you can. Make it work for you. X

 

[daisy-janine]

Ahh I'm just greedy! lol so it's okay if I eat alllll my food on the plate?

 

[AnnaFaraday]

I don't understand what you have been told. I have never heard that you have to eat the vegetables first.

The idea is that you put on your plate your free food (meat or fish, for instance, and potatoes or pasta) and then make sure that at least one third of the plate is vegetables (what used to be called superfree and is now called speed). Then you eat it in whatever order you like.

There's no point in putting food on your plate that you aren't going to eat.

 

[daisy-janine]

Thats what I thought Anna, which was why I was confused.. it says on the website 'reach for these foods first', and then on a forum thread it said you have to eat those foods first! It really confused me.

 

[AnnaFaraday]

I don't know what the latest books say, because I am using old ones, so other people can feel free to correct me here, but it certainly used to say that for snacks one should "reach for" superfree/speed foods first, rather than choose free food as snacks. But I have never seen anything which says that while eating a main meal one should eat them first.

(Somewhat off topic, what is all this "reaching" for food in SW books anyway? It always makes me think of people keeping their food in inaccessible places and having to climb on chairs to reach it. But that's just me being flippant!! )

 

[daisy-janine]

Hmmmm maybe someone was misinformed in the forum thread I read then! I need to take my book to bed with me and study it I think lol!
And haha yeah reaching for makes me giggle!


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[jen3]

I think it probably means to have your superfree (or speed as it now is) with your meal - a lot of people fill up on free then force fruit down after which is defeating the object of using superfree/speed foods to naturally limit how much free food you eat (if that makes sense)

With the cereal/milk thing - you already have controls built in as they are both measured Healthy Extras so dont worry too much about the lack of superfree/speed

Also - dont take whats said on forums as gospel. A lot dont attend sw and sometimes its pure misinformation (though usually well intentioned!)

 

[flashharry]

If you want to eat everything on your plate go for it! As Anna said, why put it on your plate otherwise? And as long as a third is superfree I don't think it matters what order you eat it in, as long as it gets eaten.

For breakfast I just try and have some fruit at the same time

 

[jen3]

The only thing I will say about eating everything on your plate is that sw says you should eat until you're full/satisfied NOT stuffed. Thats one of the controls to help you lose weight. Its hard to start with to actually cook the right amount of food (I also struggle with "wasting" food so tend to eat the lot!)

You'll get used to how much pasta/rice etc to cook after a while

 

[daisy-janine]

I bought some pasta measures just so I don't cook too much (which I usually do!) Thanks everyone

 

[jen3]

Just read your "I've joined" thread and see you're an ex WW. One thing thats good about WW is teaching you about portion sizes. If you can bring some of that portion knowledge on your sw journey it will really help you. I've never liked the consultants that say you can eat three tonne of pasta - I certainly wouldnt lose on it! But whats lovely after doing WW and coming to SW is not having weigh and point every bloody thing that you eat!! I found with WW I was constantly thinking of food and their points value and what I had left and what I could have for my spare points etc. With SW you just get to know what you can have and eat it

Its a very "liveable" eating plan which I think most of us want

 

[daisy-janine]

Yeah it did teach me that much, but the constant counting stuff was a bit obsessive and I was hungry a lot and eating loads of ready meals! I can see how it works as nothing is off limits but I think SW will be better for me

 

[ingeh]

I always eat my veg part of my meal first so I fill up on veg first. Also its nice to get the veg out of the way sometimes!

 

[matt9210]

I'm the same as you, I can definitely clear my plate. Not had one Slimming World meal where I haven't

My consultant has advised in the past having the fruit as a starter for the reason you stated, but everybody's different. We know our own bodies best

 

[NotsofattyPatty]

(Somewhat off topic, what is all this "reaching" for food in SW books anyway? It always makes me think of people keeping their food in inaccessible places and having to climb on chairs to reach it. But that's just me being flippant!! )

Staying off topic - I agree. Why can't people 'choose' or 'pick' something? My pet hate is 'grab' as in 'grab an apple', or 'grab a sandwich'.

To get back on topic - I'm another who always clears my plate. It was something I was expected to do as a child and so I have no 'off' switch as I don't recognise when I feel full. I've tried to gain awareness, but haven't found it yet! To my mind, this is where the SW mantra of 'eat until full' fails because if we're needing to lose weight then clearly we're not good at recognising when we are, or when we are not, hungry or if we do recognise that point we have something within us that makes us fail to act on it.

The idea of filling your plate with 1/3 Speed foods is meant to get round this by reducing the amount of Free foods (which are more calorie dense) you eat. It is worth considering whether you could manage with, for example, a smaller amount of meat than you would have had pre-SW. Something I read many years ago was an article which mentioned that we often eat things in pairs and so try eating an 'odd' number eg one egg rather than two, 1 slice of toast where you might have had 2 etc. It's a tip which I've found works for me.

 

[lilili]

I always eat my veg part of my meal first so I fill up on veg first. Also its nice to get the veg out of the way sometimes!

Lol I do this too!

 

[Letzes]

I am not officially following SW, but I think that I am eating as it says. Lots of free food and so on. What keeps me doing it is that I can eat super large portions
Now, about WW, I agree with jen3. I found myself a bit paranoid when I started it, so I gave up. For me, there is no reason in taking care of your body if you are damaging your mind.

 

[Sunshine496]

I am not officially following SW, but I think that I am eating as it says. Lots of free foods and so on. What keeps me doing it is that I can eat super large portions
Now, about WW, I agree with jen3. I found myself a bit paranoid when I started it, so I gave up. For me, there is no reason in taking care of your body if you are damaging your mind.

Yeah for me at the moment im worried about the portion size. Ive always done this when i start back up "How can i loose weight when im having so much?" but this time im doing it at home, and im not weighing myself, im just doing and if i lose dress sizes along the way, thats great. but im already feeling energic and thats what i needed, i was getting slow, depressed and didnt want to do anything because mainly the food i was consuming, chicken nuggets and chips, pizzas, no fruit or veg what so ever, now i want to go around my mums and take the dog for awalk, so the energy I am liking at the moment, but the portion sizes im still worried, im have 3 meals aday, breakfast, lunch and dinner, lunch is usually the biggest plate :S but it stocked with loads of salad, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, s.onion, peppers and carrots and then small free stuff like ham, chickpeas, turkey or chicken with syn free dressing.
but the plate is big, still wondering if im eating too much as i snack during the day too. On fruit, veg sticks, banana and fat free natural yogurt.
Am i eating too much??

 

[NotsofattyPatty]

Yeah for me at the moment im worried about the portion size. Ive always done this when i start back up "How can i loose weight when im having so much?" but this time im doing it at home, and im not weighing myself, im just doing and if i lose dress sizes along the way, thats great. but im already feeling energic and thats what i needed, i was getting slow, depressed and didnt want to do anything because mainly the food i was consuming, chicken nuggets and chips, pizzas, no fruit or veg what so ever, now i want to go around my mums and take the dog for awalk, so the energy I am liking at the moment, but the portion sizes im still worried, im have 3 meals aday, breakfast, lunch and dinner, lunch is usually the biggest plate :S but it stocked with loads of salad, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, s.onion, peppers and carrots and then small free stuff like ham, chickpeas, turkey or chicken with syn free dressing.
but the plate is big, still wondering if im eating too much as i snack during the day too. On fruit, veg sticks, banana and fat free natural yogurt.
Am i eating too much??

Loads of people worry about the quantity they can eat on SW, but many go on to lose weight - and those who don't most likely fail because they haven't followed the plan either because they over-tweak it or because they make unintentional mistakes.

If you added up all the calories in your salad they wouldn't amount to much and that's precisely why SW works - you get a lot on your plate for very few calories. In addition you are eating a much healthier diet and your snacks are excellent choices and as long as you are feeling just comfortably satisfied and not stuffed, then I'd say you're not eating too much.

Our eyes and brain can be easily deceived, so if you're concerned about your plateful, have a look at your plate. Many modern plates are like flattened dishes, with no rim. If your's is like this, try swapping it for a dinner plate with a wide rim - you'd probably find one in a charity shop or on a market stall for very little money. The plate still looks big, but the usable space is less and I think think is far more effective than using a plate with a smaller diameter!