Has anyone ever used a high syn week to break out of a plateaux?

[Lilyb]

I have been stuck at roughly the same weight for a few weeks and despite changing things around and exercising more it doesn't seem to be budging :sigh: I tend to be quite anal about my diet so I know it's not what I'm eating or too many syns (I average between 55 and 69 a week) but it's really getting me down and I am fast loosing willpower to carry on.

My friend has suggested that I'm actually not eating enough or having enough syns so thinks I ought to have a higher syn week, not worry about food diary's (I keep one religiously) and just have a little bit more of the naughty things to kick start my body and also give my mind a rest from dieting for a week. I'm scared at the prospect but am willing to give it a go (just pray I don't put any on!). Has anyone else had a higher syn week to kick start things again? Did it work????

 

[Nikki<3]

I have been stuck at roughly the same weight for a few weeks and despite changing things around and exercising more it doesn't seem to be budging :sigh: I tend to be quite anal about my diet so I know it's not what I'm eating or too many syns (I average between 55 and 69 a week) but it's really getting me down and I am fast loosing willpower to carry on.

My friend has suggested that I'm actually not eating enough or having enough syns so thinks I ought to have a higher syn week, not worry about food diary's (I keep one religiously) and just have a little bit more of the naughty things to kick start my body and also give my mind a rest from dieting for a week. I'm scared at the prospect but am willing to give it a go (just pray I don't put any on!). Has anyone else had a higher syn week to kick start things again? Did it work????

Morning I was desperately stuck for a few weeks and just played around with the same 1/2 a stone and then I went out my holiday, chilled out ate a bit of what I fancied and then didn't follow plan for 4 weeks.

Went to weigh in and had gone from 9st 6 to 9 st 11.5. But then I got back on plan and lost 3.5 lbs in a week and already can see the scales going down even more this week! I defo think it works because your body will begin to get used to the low calories so step it up for a couple of days, possibly have your allowed 15 syns each day and then back on plan to kick start your metabolism.

It may not work for everyone but my outlook on it was that relaxing and gaining a couple of pounds was a small price to pay if it's going to make me get to target sooner rather than later.

I even had pizza, nachos and ben and jerries on Monday night and on Tuesday had actually lost another 1lb since Monday morning!

Good luck hun!

Xx

 

[Lilyb]

Just bouncing to get this to the top.

 

[BrightonMark]

Hi lily,

I have found in the past that after a few weeks of trying really hard and getting no where a cheeky full on day/weekend of the munchies really helps.

I think its one of two things to be honest;
a) It helps you stop being fed up, I find if I have something to look forward to, or take a chance to indulge for a day then I am more likely to be "a good boy" when I return to the diet,
b) I think it kick starts your body again, I find my metabolism adjusts really fast to differences in eating patterns, so it does help me drop a few pounds by having "a cheat day" Once in a while.

Dont be afraid on those days to put on a lb or two, it will usually lead to you losing a lb or four! Obviously cheating is bad, but once in a while it can be good for body and mind! x

 

[MrCharmed]

I wouldn't do it if I were you, I'd rather maintian than actually put on weight and I think you'll run a risk of that.

 

[~*~Louisa~*~]

If your stuck I would try success express OR ask your consultant about a fastforward week

 

[Lilyb]

Just a quick update, this worked!! Didn't go mad with syns but I didn't count either and lost a pound! I think my body had got in a rut after weeks of being so religious so obviously having a few more syns helped. Back to normal this week though apart from my wedding anniversary at the weekend

 

[ermintrude]

Yay, congrats! I tend to lose more the weeks I eat more I think my body thinks Im going to starve it the weeks I go too healthy and kinda shuts down. The weeks I eat and drink away to my hearts content seem to kick its butt a bit and it gets on with it again. Glad its worked x

 

[Clareel]

Well done Lilyb, not far off target now!

 

[-Laura-]

Just a quick update, this worked!! Didn't go mad with syns but I didn't count either and lost a pound! I think my body had got in a rut after weeks of being so religious so obviously having a few more syns helped. Back to normal this week though apart from my wedding anniversary at the weekend

I think the key is to relax - I think this is why people struggle more the closer they get to target. It's as if your body knows how much you want to lose, and plays tricks on you despite you sticking to the plan! I've often found that I can stick to plan 100%, write everything down, and have a tiny loss, maintain or even a gain, then the following week think 'sod it' and chill out a bit, and have a 2lb loss!

Kind of similar, I've also had weeks where I've been really off plan but not got stressed out, figuring 'what will be will be', and only had a small gain compared to what I deserved. In my experience, the key is just not to worry too much about it - which is so hard when you want it so badly!

 

[Lilyb]

I really think you are on to something there Laura, I have been so stressed as I've got closer to target and heaping loads of pressure on myself to get the scales to go down and I think it's had a detrimental effect on me, the stress has actually made me hang on to weight! This week I have realised that actually I am really happy with how I look now and that it doesn't matter too much what the scales say, I will just do the best that I can and hopefully the final few pounds will come off soon, it doesn't matter if it's not in the timescale that I originally wanted and it's all right to chill out on the odd week - I was getting a bit obsessed I think.

Anyway, onwards and downwards! 4 weeks till my holiday so hopefully can loose another couple of pounds before then

 

[Atomic pink]

The advice when you get stuck with weightloss is always to "mix things up a bit" and I do wonder if having a day or a weekend where your eating is more relaxed and synful is just an extreme way to achieve this. With all the best will in the world we all probably eat similar things each week even if we create different meals the constituent ingredients are likely to be the same so having a relaxed day maybe includes foods we don't eat anymore and therefore wakes up the metabolism a bit.

I have often found that the weeks I lose the most are the ones when I have had a meal off plan - like last week I had fish and chips in Skegness as a flexi meal and didn't alter syns for the rest of the week at all to compensate and lost 1 1/2 lbs (I lose very very slowly so this was significant). Its not something I intend to incorporte into the plan very often but if all else has failed having a day off plan might be worth a go.