Do you have to exercise portion control to be successful?

rumbletummy

Silver Member
Last week I really embraced Slimming World, eating an abundance of free foods, loads of Mullerlights, tons of fruit, meat and the like. I was not hungry once, never heard my tummy rumble or felt like I was on a diet.

But the scales showed STS.

So I have gone back to the drawing board of following Slimming World but limiting the amount of fruit I eat to 2 portions a day, 1 yogurt at most, and watching my portion sizes as meal times. I know I shouldn't but I've been counting the calories I've been eating too!

What I wanted to ask is do you all really just eat tons and tons and lose weight or is portion control necesary to the plan working??

I feel like I'm not embracing Slimming World completely by acting this way but I also understand that calories have to be a factor at some point.

Thanks for any replies, I'm just feeling a bit lost at the moment :cry:
 
I've only been doing this for 5 weeks (this is my 6th) and my findings so far are; eat what you're hungry not when you want. If i was too eat just when I wanted to I'd be consuming loads of calories so I only eat when I'm hungry. And then I choose healthy free foods. I stop eating once I feel I have had a sufficient amount. I could eat till I was fit to burst but I think that would defeat the purpose.

So in essence, yes, you need to have a certain amount of portion control. You can't expect to eat and eat and lose weight!

Correct me if I am wrong anyone!

(p:s: don't limit your fruit intake; it's good for you and free. Limit something else)
 
yes i agree only eat when hungry, and fruit is good except bananas and grapes as not super free and if you were eating loads of mullers just cus they are fat free still have sugar so try to limit them or have 1 poured over a bowl of fruit
 
The bottom line is yes, you do. I've done SW in the past and failed because I took them saying unlimited pasta, potatoes, beans etc literally and probably ate more than I was previously. Since then, the rules about snacking on superfree as a first choice and also the 3rd superfree on EE have been introduced which should naturally limit your portions. They are also more vocal on the eating til you're satisfied idea which should mean that, for instance you don't end up eating 4 mullers in one sitting. I guess you just need to be a bit sensible about it, which is tough as a lack of ability to control portions could be why a lot of us are here in the first place!
 
Since when were bananas and grapes not superfree?
Have a look in you pack and try snacking on some speed fruits instead like melons and strawberries!
 
bananas and grapes r superfree just checked in my book ! obviously u have to be sensible about how much u eat, eat til satisfied not stuffed thats how we all got here in the first place. have a look at the other diaries on here to get some idea of what they r eating good luck :)
 
sadly for many of us who have had a lifetime of dieting we have lost the ability to recognise a) when we are full and b) when we are hungry. Really concentrate on what you are eating if possible and eat slowly so your brain has time to catch up with your stomach's full messages. If you have eaten a substantial meal and you think you are still hungry ask yourself whether the hunger is in your tummy or in your mouth and throat. Sometimes we have got so used to having food readily available we almost want something in our mouths constantly. For those times have cuppa or better still some water you may be pleasnatly surprised that you manged without more food. if this happens to you late at night then go to bed !! If you wake in the middle of the night tummy rumbling then you know you were hungry after all xx
 
Yes you definately should be aware of how much you are eating. SW is based on free foods. But there does have to be a limit, which is why the 1/3 superfree is recommended and snacking on superfree first before reaching for something else.

Ideally if you are sticking to the 1/3 superfree at meal times, your portions should automatically be controlled with minimal effort, providing you are not serving onto a dinner tray instead of a plate. That is not to say you can't have seconds if you are still hungry. But like some have mentioned though, it can be hard to recognise the signs that you are satisfied. We have all had the problem at some point otherwise we wouldnt all be here trying to lose weight and it certainly isnt something that happens over night.

This thread I posted a week ago covers some good facts and is really useful.

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world/194470-10-ways-feel-full-not-fat.html
 
Hiya i'm only 4 weeks in myself but from what i can gather,
superfree is superfree for a reason (clue is in the title!) its low in calories but fills you up, it is SUPER :)
Free is not as good as super free because it should be limited, eating just pasta n sauce or mugshots won't give you the same nutritional value as an apple for example. Plus you wouldn't eat 4 steaks and a handful of peas just because they are free.
Its about portion control in the sense of balancing your meat vs veg vs dairy vs fibre so that you have all the food groups yet in healthy amounts that encourage weight loss. Apologies if this seems garbled its just how i understand it.
To clarify superfree go for it, eat as much as you want(still within reason though not a skip full!). Free eat regulary but not constantly and don't abuse, HEX weigh and control, syns allow and don't deprive yourself of. Skinny people unless they are magic or have incredible metabolism or are unwell do this without thinking everyday (i pressume).
Just my opinion on things though its still early days for me too :) xxx
 
Before SW I was always eating. I actually think a lot of it was out of habit. But I liked the sound of SW so much for this exact reason - as long as a food is free I can eat it all day long if I want to.

BUT... after a few days on the plan I found that the meals I'm eating fill me up quite a bit and I don't feel like snacking all day like I did before anyway.

I do love the fact that if I'm hungry in the evening I can have a plate of free chips or whatever, but I wouldn't have a HUGE pile of them.

I also tend to cut back on things the day before WI and have really sensible portions and loads of superfree :)
 
Thanks for all your replies girls, I guess from reading the boards I was thinking that everyone was eating loads and it was just me, but now I realise that it's OK to cut down whilst still doing Slimming World. These past 2 days I've been drinking more water which has been filling me up and therefore eating less food! Fingers crossed for weigh in next Wednesday!

Last week I did a red week so didn't do the third superfree although I did have salad/ veg with every meal. I'm not one of those lucky people who can eat loads and loads, I tend to have to feel hungry in order to lose weight and can put on weight very easily too (I have to be aware of calories everyday or else I gain!!)

I think the thing that was confusing me was that when people say they haven't lost a lot of the advice is to eat more, that's why I wasn't sure of how the plan worked lol!!

Thanks again xx
 
Just wanted to say that I understand totally where you are coming from, I was the same when I started, I ate loads..fruit, mullerlights, sugar free jelly..etc..etc.. but after being on the plan for some time I've found my appetite has really reduced and I am naturally eating sensible amounts now (even though I techincally wasn't eating anything bad in those first few weeks)..stick with it, you WILL get there xx
 
Just wanted to say that I understand totally where you are coming from, I was the same when I started, I ate loads..fruit, mullerlights, sugar free jelly..etc..etc.. but after being on the plan for some time I've found my appetite has really reduced and I am naturally eating sensible amounts now (even though I techincally wasn't eating anything bad in those first few weeks)..stick with it, you WILL get there xx


I noticed that too; my appetite has lessened! I don't feel as hungry at all. Sometimes it's just boredom but I now recognise that!
 
That's the result of food optimising. Over time our appetites do tend to decrease :) It mentions it in the FAQs.

Slickers - Bananas and grapes ARE superfree.
Fruit and veg that's Free on red + Free on green = superfree
 
Fruit and veg that's Free on red + Free on green = superfree
Not quite accurate because vegetables like potatoes sweet potatoes parsnips peas sweetcorn broad beans etc are NOT superfree but free on green. these are just free food and don't count towards your third superfree. I think you may have meant it to read if they are free on both plans then they are superfree x
 
Portion control is the key with free foods but I struggle with it. I've got a huge appetite at the best of times and will feel starving at the sight of gorgeous looking food. Some people find portion control easy, like my friend, but mainly because she sees food as functional. I just love food, full stop! So I try and fill up on superfree stuff as much possible. I've started to limit my intake of bananas, grapes and muller yogurts only because I think my body was just holding on to them and it was slowing my weightless down. Everyone is different though, so u may need to experiment a little.
 
There should be no reason to feel hungry on SW, there are loads of free foods to snack on.
Yes bananas and grapes are superfree, BUT, when you think that a large banana has 120cals, and who eats just a few grapes (which are basically sugar and water) and that mullerlights are 100 or so cals it is SO easy to take in far more calories than you need to lose weight. And no I don't count calories any more, but that's what weightloss is, calories in versus calories out.
 
Yes, I agree you do have to exercise portion control to succeed with this diet. As Judimac points out, the calories in Mullers and bananas and grapes makes it easy to overdo it. I've found through trial and error that I couldn't eat Mullers (except as an occasional treat) as they aren't filling enough for the amount of calories they represent. The same with Mugshots as they aren't filling and are quite high in calories.

You have to eat sensibly on SW - just because a food is free doesn't mean it won't have calories! And although SW doesn't rely on calorie counting the only way to lose weight on any diet is to consume less calories than you expend.

Consequently I eat only when I'm hungry - proper growly stomach hunger not when I'm just peckish (head hunger). And I try to keep snacking to a minimum.
 
There should be no reason to feel hungry on SW, there are loads of free foods to snack on.
Yes bananas and grapes are superfree, BUT, when you think that a large banana has 120cals, and who eats just a few grapes (which are basically sugar and water) and that mullerlights are 100 or so cals it is SO easy to take in far more calories than you need to lose weight. And no I don't count calories any more, but that's what weightloss is, calories in versus calories out.
Lovely to have you back with your wonderful words of wisdom. i tried to rep you but wouldn't allow it So here is a pat on the back and a hug instead x
 
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