Hooked on Red (original) days

[macmammy]

HiAll,

Just a musing really. Originally, back 6 years ago I had really good success on sw - this was the days before Extra Easy.

After having my second child and joining again at the beginning of this year, I gave Extra Easy a go. It felt wrong having associated SW with Green/Original. Anyway it did not seem to be very successful for me in comparison, i.e. half a pound a week if i was lucky!

I got dismayed with the whole plan and basically had about 5 weeks off when i managed to GAIN 6.5 pounds. I decided that from that moment on i was going back 'old school' and doing red and green, so this is what i did and i returned to class. Since then things have been much quicker and i have certainly felt much more in control and that the plan made more 'sense'.

When i first when back 'old school' I was alternating Green and Original and this was working ok. I prefer Red days though as I love fish and seafood!

So for the last two weeks I have been exclusively following Red day and I suppose I am kind of questioning if this is sustainable in the longer term. It seems to suit me better but wondering if next week i should mix it up a bit just to keep the variation going.

Does anyone else exclusively follow the red plan? How do you find it?

Thanks for reading this ramble but I would be really interested to see if anyone else is in a similar mindset to me!

(also i get the impression that sw might not encourage exclusively original plan and they seem to promote EE much more, which i kind of understand) .

X

 

[MadameLaMinx]

I do green now because I am veggie and its just more filling, but before I was veggie and I was heading to target I did ALL red, and did so for about 8 months of my weight loss. I had consistently good losses on red. When we were doing the "go round the group and discuss your week" thing, I would always get the BDI from my consultant if I mentioned I was doing red days - they are pre-programmed to encourage EE as the plan to follow, and I can understand that especially for people who are new, seeing someone having consistently solid losses week in week out on a variation of the plan when they are trying to learn the plan they were given is not so helpful.

I am going to a couple of special events over the next month or so and intend to do a couple of red weeks in the run up to the events. It helps me feel less bloatyfish.

 

[stivesliz]

I love all the plans on SW BUT - before EE I would tend to be original most of the time as I love meat, especially bacon lol. I think EE is a great plan, although I am not sure it suits everyone........my daughter, for example, is at uni and the carbs on EE and green just do not suit her so she always follows original and tends to use her HEB's for olive oil and an extra hi fi bar.
I m back doing EE most of the time, but I always have at least two original days a week, as I also love cheese. I think SW tends to promote EE more now, as it's as its name suggests and is probably the easiest plan to follow.

Ask your consultant what she thinks - I have a friend that's been at target for about 2 years and she follows original a lot of the time xx

 

[gemma1985]

Can't see a huge problem with that, if it works for you then stick to it, I followed green days for about 2 years and it did me now harm whatsoever and managed to maintain, I am old skool and trying to incorporate more EE days but like yourself am programmed for the red/green days so find it bizarre that I mix the two now and not convinced it's doing much for me in terms of weight loss either and I prefer to have more HE's... I just do my day to suit what I want to eat.

 

[SophiaF]

Hiya they do say dont do exclusively red days as its very high in protein and there are certain health risks associated with that. Bacon is very salty and red meat and offal, if eaten in excess, along with high salt can cause kidney/heart problems. You can go into ketosis (which is something diabetics can suffer from if they dont get enough carbs) which gives you smelly breath (and is the basis of atkins diet)

The reason red days are so good is they are low carb, which makes for speedier weightloss.

EE and green days are fine to do exclusively but thats why they warn against exclusively doing red days.

x

 

[3106Catherine]

I've done red days since Sept 2010. I don't think it's that low in carbs compared to Atkins and other low/non carb diets. I love it. TBH I eat very little red meat though, mostly chicken and fish in our house. I couldn't do green I just have to look at pasta to gain weight!

 

[3106Catherine]

Oh and sorry back to OP my typical day is

Brekkie - Linda McCartney rosemary and red onion sausages and eggs on wholemeal hexb with ketchup

Lunch - usually salad with chicken and bacon, prawns or egg and extra light mayo

Dinner - chicken wrapped in bacon, ww chicken tikka masala 6 syns, fish all with roasted veg or salad

Snacks tend to be fruit and also I have 4 ryvita (hexb) with 4 light cheese triangles (hexa) as snacks.

Obviously theres lots of other things too like omlette, bolognaise just I dont have pasta etc, steak and salad

 

[macmammy]

Thanks Ladies, I agree with you all, its about finding whatever works best for you and not worrying so much about if its 'right' (I am terrible for this!) I have been away on a hen night this weekend and am back on it 100% and to eb honest i am feeling relieved to be back in control of some sort! will probably have gained like! xx

 

[*EB*]

I used to do a lot of Red days and always had a couple of days or times when i would switch to EE or Green to mix it up a bit. I do like carbs and found restricting them i was sort of craving them after 10 days of Red plan!

I used to overcarb though and then it would become a disasterous EE day (when i didnt quite have the third of superfree!)

I am now pregnant and about to restart SW, so will be 'made' (sorry encouraged) to follow EE - so hoping it gets me out of my current naughty habits!

x

 

[rjg123]

years ago there was only the red original plan, they then introduced the green plan for veggie and those who struggled with red as they didnt particularly enjoy eating much meat.

the red plan is still very healthy anx provides plenty of portions, via the HEB choices and also all of the fruit which is pure carbs. damage to kidneys etc is only found when people only eat protein, not the free fruit, veg, ff dairy too!

i always lose better on red, they are easier during summer though. Im committing to mostly red days frkm now on until my wedding 9 wks next sat. i think reducing my refined carbs will help reduce the bloat!! i started with it last weds after wi.

 

[gemma1985]

I agree with this ^ when people say the red plan is high on protein you have to think you are having your HEb and fruit and vegetables so really it's not that high in protein I would just suggest if you were sticking mostly to red days to just watch the amount of red meat you are eating. I love red days they are so good for 'snacking days' and I feel so much healthier doing them opposed to green where I can feel bloated from the pasta/rice etc... I'm planning on sticking mostly to red days leading up to my holiday as I too have better loses. My favourite at the moment being quiches and tinned mackrel in tomato sauce, with beetroot and cottage cheese - sounds disgusting but it's actually lovely and all the mackrel helps my hair and nails grow really fast!

 

[Emmamb]

I do mainly red days-it's not bad for you,there's so many diets/eating plans that are tailored around low carb/high protein. If you can cut back on carbs then great,most carbs are overly processed and cause bloatedness etc anyway