Following the SW diet permanently

Hels50

Banned
I often wonder ... though I've so far never managed to put it into practice ... what would happen to my weight if I followed SW permanently? Would I keep on losing weight until I waste away? Or would my weight find its own natural level and stay there? The reason I ask is because I believe that once SW becomes a habit, I could live like this permanently. Has anyone here reached that point?
 
I am not all that familiar with how SW works but it is a good question and I am sure someone will be along shortly who will be able to answer it.
 
I think the general concensus is that it will obviously slow down, like most diets do, your weight will maybe sts or only 1/2lbs loses as you reach your target. Once you reach target, you will adapt the diet by introducing more healthy extras into your diet to encourage your weight to stablise. I think when you are target youre able to be lax with syns also and you just maintain a weight 3lbs either side of your goal weight. I could be wrong, but thats what Ive picked up along the way lol.
 
Once you reach target, you will adapt the diet by introducing more healthy extras into your diet to encourage your weight to stablise. I think when you are target youre able to be lax with syns also and you just maintain a weight 3lbs either side of your goal weight.

This brings into focus the whole question of setting a target. Apart from height/weight charts (which for me at 5ft 2.5ins give quite a wide variation of acceptable weights of between 8st and 10st) what is the factor that decides target weight for most followers of SW? I know that I feel best at around 9st but as it's really no hardship to follow SW, if I was to continue following it when I get to 9st, without increasing any healthy extras or syns, would I maintain at that weight or would I go below it?
 
Yep, I agree with gbeewar, when you get to target you get more healthy extras and more syns which eventually stops your body losing weight. Eating this way then becomes a part of life and because it's more relaxed, it's an eating plan that can be sustained. That is ideally the perfect way to eat. Can't wait to get there!
 
My weight, as many of you know and have been bored with me telling the story, already has stopped dropping after 8 months of doing slimming world. I have 11 lbs to go to be in 24.something for BMI. I have had to cut my portions down to lose this last bit of weight but I know I can maintain weight by doing what I was doing before portion control. So for me I will not need to introduce more healthy eaxtras immediately but I know I will let myself have treat nights once in a while. I feel it is important to continue following the plan roughly for the rest of my days if I do not want to regain the weight I have lost x
 
To maintain my weight I follow EE with 1 or 2 A choices and 1 or 2 B choices or Red / Green with one extra B choice.

I try to stick to 15 syns a day, as ultimately, if I started to allow myself free reign with the syns, that's where my weight would creep back on, and the concept of healthy eating would de-rail. I do however allow myself some treats (a takeaway fortnightly for example, meals out etc), and often will follow a night out with a more sensible day the next day.

The +3 or -3 helps me to stay in a range. For example, I can look towards Christmas and try to be at the bottom of my range, knowing that I can relax over the holiday period and still be target :D If I need to go to the bottom of the range, I always know that a week (or three) of red/green will get me there.

I am very happy to continue to eat like this, and stay my current weight, shape and size. I have been at target for over a year, but it is only now that I am starting to chuck out my bigger clothes. I have proved to myself I can maintain - it wasn't easy at first, but it becomes a habit soon enough. One thing though - I still attend class - that's another habit that just has to stay if I want to stay at target.
 
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I have wondered this as well. If I kept to the SW plan forever, way past target, without increasing my HEs to maintain, would I continue to lose weight?

I think not. I think the body would keep losing over time, but as you get lighter, your body requires less calories to maintain itself day-to-day, and so eventually I think the weight loss would tail off and eventually stop. That is, of course, unless you start eating smaller portions, less snacks or whatever, in which case you'd perhaps lose again. The weight it would stop at would be hugely different for everyone!

You might think it's easy to eat the SW way...and I totally agree. It is! However, such is life that things will always crop up that hinder our ability to stay on the plan. Holidays, weddings, happy times and sad times. I'd say there isn't one of us here who hasn't had a little blip at some point, be it for a day or two, or couple of months. We all go off plan occasionally...but the successful slimmers go off plan differently. They still pig out, but often in a more measured, sensible way (compared to how they used to pig out pre-SW!). And the really successful slimmers get over their blip by getting right back on with the original plan...sometimes even looking forward to getting back to eating the 'SW way'! That's certainly happened to me after a fortnight's holiday. I couldn't wait to start eating healthily again and start losing again.
 
It is my dear hope that I will follow SW for life to first lose, then maintain my weight. I use EE. I understand you are encouraged to increased Healthy Extras rather than syns to maintain, as others have mentioned.

At class today by coincidence we were talking about maintenance, everyone seemed to feel you had to keep attending to ensure you maintain. Is so easy to slide back into poor eating habits if you don't keep a focus on it and the motivation going.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I certainly agree that it's very easy to put the weight back on again. I got down to 9st 7lbs just before Christmas and I'm over 10st again now and could easily go up a bit more if I don't nip it in the bud now. I don't know what's the matter with me, I really enjoy eating the SW way, yet I still get the desire to 'break out' and stop watching what I eat. I just want to get down to 9st 10lbs then I can start going back to the classes without having to pay. But then, if I do that it begs the question, why will I need to go back to the classes at all? If I can manage to lose a few pounds without going then why can't I do it on my own, with the support of these boards?
 
hmmm ... perhaps you don't need to go back at all, however attending class just makes maintaining easier. It gives you support and creates a network of people you can contact if you need to, so why not?

Class becomes both a safety net if you stray, and a motivation not to stray.
 
hmmm ... perhaps you don't need to go back at all, however attending class just makes maintaining easier. It gives you support and creates a network of people you can contact if you need to, so why not?

Class becomes both a safety net if you stray, and a motivation not to stray.

Thanks Angie, I think you're right there! I think I'll go it myself over the next week or so, using the online food diary (as long as the password I found online works!), then go to the class again until I get to my previous target (9st 7lbs) or even 3lbs below it, then reassess whether I want to get down to 9st, which would give me a BMI of 23. At the moment I'm hovering around a BMI of 25 and although I don't feel terrible, I know I've felt better at a stone less than I am now.
 
I think everyones answers have been really useful...I thought id add something funny I discovered when I first started SW.

Before I set a target on my graph, it just kept going down. I scrolled across to see how far it would to...and I got as far as I would weigh 3 stone by 2015! :8855::8855: So I guess the graph thinks you'll just keep going til you waste away lol!
 
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