Do you have to have your syns??

[Tia1976]

Hello everyone,
I have joined SW online and have lost approx 1 stone since January. I have a question about syns. Do you have to have them to lose weight?
The book I have outlines the Sw diet, and after explaining about free foods and healthy extras, says "if you still have room" and then talks about syns. This (to me) implies you dont have to have them.
I remember being at the SW meetings a few years ago and one of the class members not having her syns for a few days that week. When she went to weigh-in, she found did did not lose. When out consultant checked her food diary, she said it was because she did not have her syns on all her days.
Clearly, if it means I will lose weight quicker, then I will use less. I find they come in handy for crisps and low syn snacks.
I have checked the SW website and it doesn't really confirm it either way.
Can anyone help? I am sure this has been asked before.
It's like WW - if you dont eat all your points, it has been known that members have not lost - so is SW the same?
Thanks very much

 

[princesss01]

No, you don't have to, I don't always. Just nice to have them for treats, sauces, gravy, butter etc. Completely different from WW, you end up not eating that much with the points due to making wrong choices such as chocolate etc and your body goes in to starvation mode so it slows down your weight loss. There is so much FREE FOOD on SW that you never need to go hungry and it helps keep your metabolism going, the more superfree/free food you eat the better your loss, believe me I'm living proof!! The people I find that don't lose that much either don't eat enough or have too many syns by not counting/weighing properly.

 

[Wendyuk]

The syns are there so you don't feel deprived and go off plan. So if you're ok without them and not feeling deprived then I don't see it would be a problem. I'm happy with the free food and usually only use my syns on alcohol so if I didn't drink I'd probably not use that many in a week.

 

[BritMumInCanada]

I think it depends on how much you have to lose.

If you have only a little bit to lose, you may be successful not using any syns.

However if you have quite a bit to lose, depriving yourself of syns early on, could mean eventually you may start to feel like you are missing out on stuff and are more than likely to fall off the wagon. Also if you have no syns from the start, when you do get down to those last few pounds, you will have nothing to cut back on to try and boost your weightloss.

With that in mind, I believe it is recommended that you do at the least have 5 syns a day, up to a maximum of 15.

 

[Becca Wecca]

I try and use mine on sauces or gravy in cooking, and have the odd treat here and there because i'm normally too full up to eat anymore!

 

[cocktailprincess]

Hi Mate

The 'FAQ's section of bodyOptimise answers a lot of questions- it may be worth a search around this section.

Remember, you don't 'have' to do anything on SW- but if you choose to follow the plan 100% then it recommends you have 5-15 a day

This is on the website:

Q: How do I know how many Syns to have?

A: For steady weight loss most people enjoy around 5 to 15 Syns a day, though this varies with height, weight and lifestyle. Members with more than 1 or 2 stones to lose, more physically active members and men tend to lose weight safely and well on more than 10 Syns as a basic daily allowance.

 

[cocktailprincess]

oh, and well done on your fantastic loss so far

xxxx

 

[Taz]

It really does depend on how much you have to lose. If you have more than 2 stone to lose you will hit a plateau at some point. If you aren't having your Syns (at least 10/day or 70/week) then you will have nothing to cut back on and wont be able to start losing again.

I use my Syns weekly, have more on the weekends and less during the week

 

[Circes]

I see what you're saying but this is a bit of a generalisation as not people with less than 2 stone to lose can and do hit plateaus. And not everyone with more to lose will necessarily hit a plateau. Personally I lost 7 stone without sts for more than one week, working to between 5 and 10 syns a day, and never reduced the number of syns I had.

 

[Taz]

Everyone is different. The more you have to lose the more you need to have. Not everyone will plateau but many people do

 

[pamiepie]

My C advised that they are there so you don't feel deprived, and you do not have to have them, if you aren't fitting them in your daily plan. I personally take in so many cals day to day on plan that if i wanted to cut back at some point i could easily reduce my HUGE portion sizes (that said i love my syns and couldnt live without them!!)

 

[Mrs V]

I was a great believer in the point that if you didnt need the syns, you shouldnt have to, until I looked into what Taz had said. I now have steady weight losses and have around 10-15 syns a day. I have them for crisps, sauces and the occasional curly wurly and curry.
Yes, it does depend on the individual and yes, the syns are there to be used if you feel the need to have something extra without depriving yourself. If you feel that you really dont need the syns, then dont have them Hun.

 

[pamiepie]

I guess if you dont have your syns there is a chance you will just stuff your face with more free food to compensate!! that's the only reason I could think of why eating more (i.e having yr syns) would help you to lose weight faster

 

[jaylou]

I always had my syns and I did need to cut right back on them as I approached target. I went from 10-15 a day to 5 during the last few weeks.
My thoughts, if you don't have your syns and need to cut down as some point, should you reach a plateau, then what will you reduce? HEX's are a no-no and reducing portion sizes is unthinkable (to me!) so reducing syns is the way to go.

Syns are part of the plan.

 

[kissme]

I now tend to have a weekly syn allowance rather than a daily one tbh as it fits in easier with my life but i make sure i have atleast 5 a day.

 

[Arcadia]

15 slowed my weight loss, 10 is perfect for me. Its very important to me to have syns because once weight loss stalls (and at some point along the line its a possibility), then reducing syns again speeds the loss back up. If you are not having syns then it leaves nowhere to go when weight loss slows!

 

[jaylou]

Here's a thought

You need to reduce your calorific intake by 3500 cals to lose a pound.
15 syns equals 300 calories so if you reduce or stop having syns altogether it's going to take at least ten days of not having them to lose an extra pound.

I really don't think having 5 extra syns (100 cals) would slow your weight loss down too dramatically!

 

[Xassy]

I always had my syns and I did need to cut right back on them as I approached target. I went from 10-15 a day to 5 during the last few weeks.

If you don't mind me asking, once you reached target, were you able to increase your syns again?

 

[jaylou]

SW don't recomment increasing syns when at target, they say to have extra HEX's. I went back up to 15 a day though once I got back to target and still tend to stick to this.

 

[Xassy]

SW don't recomment increasing syns when at target, they say to have extra HEX's. I went back up to 15 a day though once I got back to target and still tend to stick to this.

That's what I meant, I wanted to know if you went back to 15 a day, or had to be stuck on 5 syns. I'd hate that, I love my syns!