Desperate, but too busy?

[redmel]

Hello Everyone,

I am desperate to lose weight and would like to try SW as I have had some success with it many years back. I am worried that I simply don't have time to diet and would love some feedback/reassurance/ideas from you guys.

For the next 4 weeks I have a fair bit of free time, so feel confident I could get started and lose a little. The issue I am having is that I am a trainee teacher and mum of 4 children and once I am in my 2nd placement I am scared it will just go back on, and some.

I don't see the point in starting if I am not going to be able to carry it on. In total I have about 4-5 stone to lose.

It isn't possible for me to go to group so I will have to do it alone using this site and maybe signing up online to SW.

Signed - Frustrated busy mum.

 

[Smurfette1984]

Slimming world do have they own range of ready meals at Iceland and they are £3 each for a 500g pack so that could easily be eaten over 2 days x you could also try batch cooking then it's a case of warming up when needed xx keeping speed food handy on your placement like carort sticks, fruit etc will stop you reaching for high synned snacks xx
When you did SW before what plan did you follow x

 

[Pootle]

Hello Everyone,

I am desperate to lose weight and would like to try SW as I have had some success with it many years back. I am worried that I simply don't have time to diet and would love some feedback/reassurance/ideas from you guys.

For the next 4 weeks I have a fair bit of free time, so feel confident I could get started and lose a little. The issue I am having is that I am a trainee teacher and mum of 4 children and once I am in my 2nd placement I am scared it will just go back on, and some.

I don't see the point in starting if I am not going to be able to carry it on. In total I have about 4-5 stone to lose.

It isn't possible for me to go to group so I will have to do it alone using this site and maybe signing up online to SW.

Signed - Frustrated busy mum.

Hi redmel,
I am a full time deputy head teacher so lots of long days at school what with meetings etc. I have a son in his first year at high school so lots of support needed each night for homework, scouts, sports etc. so I know only too much how busy you are and how difficult it is to find time for yourself.
The fact is with SW or any diet plan, if you don't spend the time preparing your food, you will resort to eating 'off plan' food which usually results in giving up completely. I have just spent a week 'off plan' through laziness!
I find the best thing to do is make your breakfast overnight oats or fruit salad, these can be eaten at school first thing once photocopying etc is done or at break time (as a trainee, you should NOT be doing break duties, you are not insured.)
If your placement school has a canteen, choose jacket spud and beans.
Dinner should be something the whole family can eat: Spag Bol, cottage pie, chicken portions etc. it is really easy to cook SW friendly meals the whole family can eat. my husband and son don't even realise they are eating 'diet' food.
It is hard, I remember how many hours I spent planning and resourcing as a trainee, all those detailed lesson plans! (You don't do those when you have your own class I can assure you!)
Don't let busyness put you off starting. use this forum for support instead of going to group if you like, that's what I do. there are some great people on here with so much fantastic advice. Good luck, we're here for you.

 

[redmel]

Hi redmel,
I am a full time deputy head teacher so lots of long days at school what with meetings etc. I have a son in his first year at high school so lots of support needed each night for homework, scouts, sports etc. so I know only too much how busy you are and how difficult it is to find time for yourself.
The fact is with SW or any diet plan, if you don't spend the time preparing your food, you will resort to eating 'off plan' food which usually results in giving up completely. I have just spent a week 'off plan' through laziness!
I find the best thing to do is make your breakfast overnight oats or fruit salad, these can be eaten at school first thing once photocopying etc is done or at break time (as a trainee, you should NOT be doing break duties, you are not insured.)
If your placement school has a canteen, choose jacket spud and beans.
Dinner should be something the whole family can eat: Spag Bol, cottage pie, chicken portions etc. it is really easy to cook SW friendly meals the whole family can eat. my husband and son don't even realise they are eating 'diet' food.
It is hard, I remember how many hours I spent planning and resourcing as a trainee, all those detailed lesson plans! (You don't do those when you have your own class I can assure you!)
Don't let busyness put you off starting. use this forum for support instead of going to group if you like, that's what I do. there are some great people on here with so much fantastic advice. Good luck, we're here for you.

Thank you for replying and it is nice to hear from someone that understands Yes, those lesson plans are killers lol. I haven't done any solo break duties, but I have shadowed a teacher for break duty in my 1st placement. I am assuming I have enough experience of break duty now so I won't be rushing off to shadow anyone in my 2nd placement.
I will have to 'get organised' and start to prep breakfast/lunch/snacks that I can take with me. I'm not really a fan of breakfast and struggle to eat anything until I have been up for an hour or so and had numerous cups of tea But you are right when you say that it is easy to eat 'off plan' food if you aren't organised; Since I have started the PGCE we have eaten more take-aways than we normally eat in a year! It is really not good for the waistline or the bank account, so needs addressing.

It would be helpful if my kids weren't so fussy: they don't like this, they don't like that, moan moan.... I end up giving in and cooking oven food (or sausages etc.) 'for a quiet life' and because it is 'easy'.

Slimming world do have they own range of ready meals at Iceland and they are £3 each for a 500g pack so that could easily be eaten over 2 days x you could also try batch cooking then it's a case of warming up when needed xx keeping speed food handy on your placement like carort sticks, fruit etc will stop you reaching for high synned snacks xx
When you did SW before what plan did you follow x

I did the GREEN plan mainly because it was so much cheaper to buy a big sacks of spuds and big bags of pasta, than lots of meat.

I am aware the plan has changed to EE and SP, and that Red/Green has 'gone'. I have recently started getting a large online shop from Iceland to fill the freezer, so will check out the ready meals. Although that doesn't really solve the issue of feeding the family I think it would definitely help to have some in as a back-up plan for me to have IF I have to cook them something quick and unhealthy.

 

[Smurfette1984]

Thank you for replying and it is nice to hear from someone that understands Yes, those lesson plans are killers lol. I haven't done any solo break duties, but I have shadowed a teacher for break duty in my 1st placement. I am assuming I have enough experience of break duty now so I won't be rushing off to shadow anyone in my 2nd placement.
I will have to 'get organised' and start to prep breakfast/lunch/snacks that I can take with me. I'm not really a fan of breakfast and struggle to eat anything until I have been up for an hour or so and had numerous cups of tea But you are right when you say that it is easy to eat 'off plan' food if you aren't organised; Since I have started the PGCE we have eaten more take-aways than we normally eat in a year! It is really not good for the waistline or the bank account, so needs addressing.

It would be helpful if my kids weren't so fussy: they don't like this, they don't like that, moan moan.... I end up giving in and cooking oven food (or sausages etc.) 'for a quiet life' and because it is 'easy'.




I did the GREEN plan mainly because it was so much cheaper to buy a big sacks of spuds and big bags of pasta, than lots of meat.

I am aware the plan has changed to EE and SP, and that Red/Green has 'gone'. I have recently started getting a large online shop from Iceland to fill the freezer, so will check out the ready meals. Although that doesn't really solve the issue of feeding the family I think it would definitely help to have some in as a back-up plan for me to have IF I have to cook them something quick and unhealthy.

Yes definitely is a good back up plan xx

 

[redmel]

I have made a start today. It hasn't been perfect because I am not completely organised yet. I took a banana and a pot of grapes to have when I got to uni; I chose jacket potato with cheese and beans for lunch and have just had the Iceland SW burgers for dinner... I only had white warbutons rolls in the house though :/

Anyway, thanks for giving me the kick up the bum I needed.

 

[Smurfette1984]

I have made a start today. It hasn't been perfect because I am not completely organised yet. I took a banana and a pot of grapes to have when I got to uni; I chose jacket potato with cheese and beans for lunch and have just had the Iceland SW burgers for dinner... I only had white warbutons rolls in the house though :/

Anyway, thanks for giving me the kick up the bum I needed.

Aww bless you are the right footing and got the concept in place xx

 

[Jhsax]

I'm a trainee RE teacher at uni too with two kids, 4 dogs, a litter of puppies and a part time job.
Sometimes I'm not in the mood to cook either, but the good thing about SW is that you can have sausages, chips and beans and it really doesn't take much longer to whip up SW syn free chips.
You can also make batch food when you have free time and freeze it for when your too tired to cook.

 

[redmel]

Aww bless you are the right footing and got the concept in place xx

Thank you

I have an Iceland order coming this evening and I have added a few SW meals, as well as some more of the burgers. I have also added 5% mince and loads of salad stuff.

 

[redmel]

I'm a trainee RE teacher at uni too with two kids, 4 dogs, a litter of puppies and a part time job.
Sometimes I'm not in the mood to cook either, but the good thing about SW is that you can have sausages, chips and beans and it really doesn't take much longer to whip up SW syn free chips.
You can also make batch food when you have free time and freeze it for when your too tired to cook.

Hello Are you enjoying the teaching? I have no idea how you fit in a part-time job as well!!

I really do need to find some time to batch cook as it would be handy to have meals ready/almost ready. Baby steps though Hopefully having some ready meals in will start me off on the right track on those busy/tired days.

I had to opt for a prepacked sandwich at lunch today, as all my uni buddies were going to the common room; I had planned to get a jacket potato and sit in the canteen. I opted for tuna and sweetcorn on wholemeal bread, so of course there will be syns in the marge and mayo but the rest I am counting as my HEb, syn free tuna, syn free sweetcorn. I have also had grapes and half of half a double decker duo. I will look up syns in a minute.

 

[Jhsax]

I hate guessing syns for food. I had a tuna melt in the canteen the other day and have no idea what the bread was called so I had to guess.

 

[redmel]

It is extremely frustrating!

I will have my own food to take tomorrow If everyone wants to sit in the cafe then I will order a spud, if we all decide to sit in the common room then I am already sorted I don't generally go along with the crowd, but I'm not really a fan of eating alone aha.

 

[Jhsax]

I'm not back at uni properly until next week. Longest Xmas holidays I've ever had, so I haven't had to worry too much about lunches. Will have to get my thinking head on. I've got one of those soup bowls (rather than flask) and so I can put cous cous and pasta in it too which is good, if I can be bothered getting up and making pasta, cous cous is just hot water though so not too bad. I get the Ainsley Harriot free ones.

 

[redmel]

I'm not back at uni properly until next week. Longest Xmas holidays I've ever had, so I haven't had to worry too much about lunches. Will have to get my thinking head on. I've got one of those soup bowls (rather than flask) and so I can put cous cous and pasta in it too which is good, if I can be bothered getting up and making pasta, cous cous is just hot water though so not too bad. I get the Ainsley Harriot free ones.

Have you been off school and uni since Christmas???!!!

 

[Smurfette1984]

Thank you

I have an Iceland order coming this evening and I have added a few SW meals, as well as some more of the burgers. I have also added 5% mince and loads of salad stuff.

Great xx organisation is key xx

 

[Jhsax]

Yep, I only went in one day to hand in an assignment and have to go in again this Fri to hand in another, but haven't had a single lecture since before Xmas...

 

[redmel]

Wow! I wish I was at your uni
We went straight back to school after Christmas, for 3 weeks. We have been back in uni this week and are there until half-term. It is non stop.

 

[Jhsax]

Id rather be working, I'm bloody paying for it!

 

[redmel]

Id rather be working, I'm bloody paying for it!

Very true :/

Today was a snacky kind of day. Banana, grapes, 2 x tangerines, lemon muller yoghurt, 2 x slices of ham, packet of crisps 4 syns.
I'm cooking spaghetti bolognese for dinner, but using a Dolmio jar (I have about 10 big jars in the cupboard, so will need to find out syns for them) I'm not sure whether I should fill half the plate with salad, as there is only a handful of onion and a handful of peppers in it.

 

[Pootle]

Very true :/

Today was a snacky kind of day. Banana, grapes, 2 x tangerines, lemon muller yoghurt, 2 x slices of ham, packet of crisps 4 syns.
I'm cooking spaghetti bolognese for dinner, but using a Dolmio jar (I have about 10 big jars in the cupboard, so will need to find out syns for them) I'm not sure whether I should fill half the plate with salad, as there is only a handful of onion and a handful of peppers in it.

Could you add some chopped carrots and mushrooms?