Getting Irritated.

MissUno

World Class Oddball
I am into my 3rd week of SW and am getting irritated with the rules involved now.

Like if I have some bread, it means something perfectly healthy like porridge or Shredded Wheat become syns.

I'm a vegetarian and seem to struggle with coming up with "free" things I can make, I seem to be eating the same stuff all the time...boring.

When I just saw in the syns section the SW have decided Tesco meat-free sausages now have a syn value, it just got my annoyance levels up again.

I think I'm also ticked off that at my 2nd WI on Wednesday, I had no loss on the scale. 8lbs lost in week 1 then nothing in week 2? I haven't been cheating and have kept within the allowed syns.

I've decided that if the scales aren't my friend at my next WI, I may pack this SW lark in and just stick to eating a sensible balanced diet, rather than follow an actual diet plan.

It also doesn't help that I'm on a tight budget and have spent about £100 on groceries in the last couple of weeks...just for one person (me) That's not including stuff my Mum has bought in for the both of us :eek:

So in theory it's cost approximately £150 to lose half a stone, is it even worth it?
 
Sorry you are feeling this way, I am veggie too and have found it brilliant- so much choice of what to eat, so many recipes to try. Yes at first I spent more on shopping than I used to but a) I spend less now that I'm used to the plan and know what I really need / use, and b) have saved loads on not having takeaways / snacks out of the house and on drunk nights at the pub.

A lot of the veggie sausages that are synned I can see why as when you cook them the pan is full of oil unlike the Quorn ones.

For me what's good about SW is the structure and motivation. I've been trying to lose weight since I was 15 years old following a "balanced diet" and unfortunately it just didn't work. But if you think you can lose weight like that then that's great!! But just be aware the rules of SW are how they are because it works. No ones trying to make things difficult for you- there are so many lovely free foods that you can have instead- but synned things are synned because they make you gain weight.
 
Sorry you're finding it hard. I'm not veggie but I can see maybe your options are more limited but surely quorn is a good replacement so you can do spag Bol, chilli, curry etc? You could cook in bulk and either freeze portions or have a meal for later in the week which should help with costs?

Which plan are you doing? If you're on extra easy maybe it might be worth you looking at the green plan as this will give you two hexa's a and b's.

I dont see sw as a diet plan I think it is very much about changing your food habits. That said it does involve more cooking from scratch and to start with our first two weekly shops were well over £100 with stocking up on store cupboard essentials and herbs and spices. We now are averaging £60 for 2 adults and 2 kiddies.

An 8lb loss for your first week us fab. With sts the second week as long as you're sticking to plan I'd be surprised if you didn't have a loss next wi. Make sure you drink plenty of water and I highly recommend green tea.

Give it a chance to work for you, there are no quick fixes to losing weight and keeping it off. I love sw it's the only plan that's ever worked for me and I'm enjoying my food and still have a drink. I've had the odd little gain some weeks since starting but they've been weeks when I've gone over my syns and so it's to be expected.

Well done on losing half a stone already and welcome to Minimins the support here is amazing.
 
What are the things that you used to enjoy before starting the plan? Maybe we can help you tweak recipes so you can still enjoy these things.

If you are veggie, then the Green plan is possibly your best option, as you get 2 HEx A and B that way. I also think that Green is the easiest plan to do cheaply.

What do you feel most of your food money is going on? Maybe we can suggest different options for you.

By the way - if you are expecting a loss of 8lb on a regular basis, I fear that you are lining yourself up for dissapointment. Like someone else said, there are no real quick fixes for weight loss! A this time of year there are so may programs on TV and news articles telling us that if we eat some magic soup or shake we can lose half a stone a week. If it were that simple, everyone would be slim, wouldn't they?

Maybe look at upping exercise in conjunction with the plan if you want to see faster results?
 
I'm going to give it a week or so, see if it's for me. I suppose that's why there are so many different plans and stuff out there, finding the one that's right for you.

I managed to lose a lot of weight before just eating a sensible balanced diet and doing some exercise. Problem was I didn't address the emotional side of it, so all the weights gone back on. I'm going to be getting eating counselling as of the 22nd Feb though.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect to be losing half a stone a week, every week, but to have lost nothing in week 2...that just baffled me.

My favourite foods are Chinese, Mexican and Italian, also some Greek stuff.

If any one can provide straight forward (I'm not the best cook) vegetarian foods I can still eat that would be great.

As it is all this EE days, red and green HE a's & b's etc etc is starting to feel a bit overwhelming.
 
It does take time to get to grips with the plans, but most people pick one to follow although you can mix and much, I've been on sw since september and I couldnt cope with that lol

Planning ahead for your meals is also key. If you have access to the SW website have a look at the recipes and then plan your week ahead, that way you know if you are using your hexb's for brekkie, lunch or dinner.

It probably took me 3-4 weeks to get my head round it all, but now its become second nature.

Its good you are getting help to address any underlying problems.

I dont do green so cant help too much with meal ideas but things like mugshots I think are free, the girls on my team at work who do green and EE eat those at lunchtime so they're quick and easy, jacket potatoes you can have cheese on as your hexa, and I would imagine theres lots you can do with pasta with regard to italian.

What sort of meals have you been having and are you enjoying them?
 
Just a thought and maybe someone can confirm, but isnt quorn and some meat free products syn free? If it is then certainly I think doing the green plan and having an extra HEXA and B would help you. The joy of EE for most people is that it combines both plans, but as you don't eat meat I dont really see the benefit of that plan for you?
 
Your best bet would be to stick with Green and get 2 of each of the healthy extras. I'm pretty much a veggie and struggled doing a whole week on EE when most days I wasn't eating any meat - having 3/4 healthy extras a day really helped me, especially for breakfasts! Green is really cheap to do as well - pasta, rice, beans, pulses, grains, potatoes etc are cheap to buy.

Some meat free foods are free or very low synned - Quorn mince and pieces are free, as are the plain sausages (the flavoured ones are still pretty low). The quorn nuggets are 1/2 syn each and are lovely with some steamed veg. Tesco do a meatfree chargrilled fillet which as far as I know are still free and taste lovely.

There's so many veggie friendly meals to do on SW - mexican style mixed bean chilli (I can post recipe if you want!), stir fry, veggie lasagne, quorn spag bol, quorn cottage pie, vegetable based pasta dishes. I'm pretty sure the SW website will have a vegetarian article with food ideas or if you do a search on here there will be loads of posts!

Don't give up now - 8lbs loss in 2 weeks is a really good start!
 
There are some Chinese recipes on the SW website, to coincide with Chinese New Year. I don't know how many are veggie, but you could always tweak them and add quorn meat pieces instead of Pork for e.g.

Again I think the Green plan would be better for you. That way you could have two HEXB, so you could have breakfast cereal and two slices bread from a 4oog loaf.

Stick with it, and I'm sure you'll see a loss next week. Sometimes if you have a big loss in week 1 (as you did) it evens itself in week 2 as your body is adjusting.
 
I'm a veggie and on green and tbh its the best plan really. I dont eat meat replacement products so I scoured the sw website and found some really nice recipes. My tips is to make up the full portion amount, and then freeze them and take em out when you need them, doing this you get a varied selection through the week, no excuse to slip and it saves time.

I prob will have extra easy days but in general i'm sticking with green as it gives you a little more choice :D
 
One thing you have to remember is that just because something is considered healthy, doesn't mean it's not high in calories, or satisfying. Porridge is allowed as a HEB, and is portion controlled as it would be all too easy to consume too many calories.

We also have to remember that it's the foods we used to enjoy that got us here in the first place, so we do have to change some things and give some things up!
 
Have you had a look on the SW website? There's a 7 day veggie plan on there which has loads of variety and should give you some new ideas. I don't see the point of EE for veggies, so as the others have said, I'd stick to green if I were you.

Trace xx
 
You would definatly be best of on the green plan theres plenty of recipie ideas in the recipie thread for people on all budgets. :D
 
Something can only really be 'perfectly healthy' in isolation though. Too much of even a good thing can end up bad for you. Bread, porridge, shredded wheat are all easy to eat and have quite a lot of calories really, if you have unlimited amounts you will end up taking in too many calories and will never lose weight.

Veggie sausages, as jules says, some have a lot of fat and that is why they are not free. As the whole point of SW is to limit the calorie dense stuff and fill up on less dense foods, that is what you would expect. Nobody is saying you can't eat them, that's what syns are for, just that there has to be a limit. SW aren't doing it just to annoy us, you know!!!! You don't have to make every meal syn free, just make sure they are limited overall. I read in another thread that you seem to be severely limiting your syns. This could be why you have not lost this week, you need your syns and you need to make sure your calorie intake is not too low. Plus lack of syns makes you feel deprived, and that is what makes you feel like giving up...

I agree with others that green days would be better for you as a veggie. I really see no point at all in doing the other two plans if you won't be eating meat or fish, all you are doing is depriving yourself of one or two healthy extras. I also think that you will find your food bills come right down as you find recipes you like and get into the swing of things more. Mine went up steeply the first few weeks, then started to fall and now they're much lower than my pre-SW days. I don't think you have really given SW much of a chance yet, I'm not saying it will definitely be the one for you but give it an honest go for a little longer and I think it might be. Just up your syns to the right level, get to know the plans, hunt out recipes of the kind you like and see how you get on over a month :) Don't expect miracles, this is a realistic eating plan for life, not a starvation diet. Good luck hun, talk to your food counsellor about this plan, talk to us all here, and look at it from a long-term perspective.

Remember, you can still eat anything you want, just not everything at once!
 
I got a book called "100 Green Day Recipes" from my meeting for about £3 and all the recipes are veggie pretty much. Might be worth getting hold of a copy if your meeting has them. I do green days usually, as I don't eat meat apart from fish. Don't be deterred by thinking it's somehow more complicated to get your head round: as you're veggie, you just need to think of it as being exactly the same as EE, except with an extra HEB option and an optional extra HEA every day. You also don't need to have 1/3 superfree, but it's good practice to try and have it anyway.

Meals I have regularly on green: pasta bake, chips, chickpea curry, spinach and ricotta pasta, stew, cottage pie, couscous, soup.
 
Yeah my friend has that Green recipes book and it's ace! Also the curry one is great - loads of meat free curries and others that can be easily adapted to veggie. And recipes for things like samosas and stuff.

Agree with what Tinsel, Sock money and Jenny have said- things that are considered "healthy" by most people still have to be eaten in moderation. Some of the things that we know are super good for you aren't appropiate for trying to lose weight - for example we know foods like avocados, olive oil and nuts are super good for us in terms of nutrition but they are synned because they are very calorific and will make you gain weight.

Before Slimming World I had the best intentions and I wasn't the type of person who would eat 'bad' food - I never bought chocolates, crisps or ready meals. I used to have smoothies for breakfast, dried fruit as snacks, tinned soup for lunch and veggie curries / omelettes for dinner, cooked everything from scratch and OK fair enough I had takeaways at the weekend and did have a bit of a penchant for baking and I did drink a lot of wine, cider etc.

But even then I did do plenty of exercise - three runs a week and I couldn't understand why I was gaining weight slowly and why I had put on a stone from the age of 18 to the age of 25 and I had just sort of resided myself to the fact that I must be naturally a more curvy and bigger girl. But that wasn't it.

Now I understand that a lot of the food I was eating was making me gain weight very slowly. Now I can eat more than I ever did and I actually have a lot more treats in the week but have had to cut back on a lot of the things I thought were good for me.

Now I have so much more energy, rarely have cravings for bad food so don't even miss the takeaways and cider (I think this is because my body is satisfied with what I am eating) and I'm back to the weight I was when I was 18. And I can eat things I was avoiding like pasta and potatoes. And I actually eat more little treats than I did before!

I know (hope!) that now I "know" how to eat in this new way I won't let myself go back. So that's what I mean by saying I couldn't lose weight by trying to eat a balanced diet. I did once, as a teenager, lose a lot of weight by just eating a balanced diet but I was SO strict with myself and so motivated, I just don't think I could ever have done that again with all the stresses of adult life.

You have to remember that although it might seem that SW is trying to stop you eating some of the things that you consider to be healthy but they are healthy for people who don't need to lose weight. The SW plan has been perfected over like 50 or so years and it WORKS! So that's why things are the way they are.

Sorry, I've repeated myself a little here! But yes. I definitely think you should do Green days as well!!!!
 
If you are veggie and dont eat any meat or fish, then I would just do Green days to be honest.

with Green you get 2 HEa's and 2 HEb's, instead of just the one of each you get on Extra Easy.

I presume you go to meetings? If so you should have access to the online stuff where you can find the Green free food list and the Healthy Extra's that you can have (they are a little bit different to Extra Easy).

Either way vegetarian or not, there is a huge amount of free foods available, so you really shouldnt be stuck for choice of things to make.
 
Thanks again everyone, am going to keep at it for now. I decided to have a green day today, weetabix in rice milk for breakfast, hifi bar and a black coffee later in the day. I haven't felt much like cooking (I blame the depression for tired no motivation days) But I dragged my butt into the kitchen and managed to make a pretty decent veggie bolognese type thing, used a little reduced fat cheese on it from my extra HE-A allowance. I also had some salad and fat free yogurt today. I used 4 syns on having highlights hot chocolate tonight (had two 11g servings)

I guess if I'm going to stick at SW, I'm going to learn to make more meals, I only just figured out how to make the SW chips properly (so they taste nice).

My mum is a chef, so I think when she's not working, even though she's probably sick of cooking, I'm going to have to get her to teach me how to make a few things, SW fashion.

I do hope the shopping bill comes down, I nearly had heart failure when I realised how much I'd spent in such a short space of time buying in groceries.

:) x
 
Good on ya miss uno. Let us know how you get on.

I'm sure your shopping will get cheaper, mine did once I got to know the plan a bit better.

Also another great way of saving money on your shopping is to plan your meals. I plan before I go shopping exactly what I'm going to eat for the next week, healthy extras and all (not syns though! That would be silly!) and just buy exactly what I need for those meals. Saves a fortune.
 
Yeah, there are loads of threads on here about doing SW on a budget. Just for a bit of perspective, there are people here who feed a family of 5 on what you are paying out for 1! SW can be as expensive or inexpensive as you need it to be - but it does need some effort.

By the way, glad you enjoyed your SW chips!
 
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