How does it work?

[StrawberryswingShelly]

Hi
I am following the slimming world plan and I am surprised ( pleasantly so! ) at the amount of foods that are "free". I did a calorie count daily diary and if you add all the things up that are free on SW it goes over the daily recommended amount calories, so how does it work?

 

[addicted]

Hi,
Not all diets are calorie controlled, atkins type diets certainly aren't.

Not quite sure of the chemical reason why SW works, but all of the free foods unprocessed, low fat and low sugar, which is mostly likely a big part of it.

 

[Brightonrosie]

When i got nearer target last time I had to watch my portion sizes for that very reason because i stayed the same for 5 weeks. At the beginning of the journey it all evens out over the course of the week. See what your weight does at your first weigh in You may be pleasantly surprised. The above poster mentioned Atkins and even with that you would be eating less than you would normally.

 

[85poundsandcounting]

I've also looked at a calorie counter over a few days on this diet and I found the calorie count varied wildly, really, but that it averaged out at 1300 a day over 4 days.

Its true that calories in/calories out is probably the only sustainable way to lose weight, but I think the plan is very clever in not allowing us to focus on calories (calorie counting is boring). Naturally curbing portions whilst encouraging fruit/veg/lean protein and reducing unhealthy food will bring the calories down, and after being on the plan for a while, you do realise that portion control is key to it.

It does work too

 

[vickidyers]

number one tip for newbies......... DONT COUNT CALORIES!!

SW works, whether you follow red, green or EE. It is designed to be easy so you don't have to bother counting calories. If you ask your consultant, I'm sure he/she will go into the long and boring story that SW works based on foods that are filling but low in calories (hopefully they would explain it better than me!!)

I struggled with this at first being of scientific mind and I wanted to know exactly how it works - I have finally come to the conclusion now that I don't care how it works!!

Best of luck with your weight loss journey x

 

[jennyc_uk]

I've also looked at a calorie counter over a few days on this diet and I found the calorie count varied wildly, really, but that it averaged out at 1300 a day over 4 days.

Its true that calories in/calories out is probably the only sustainable way to lose weight, but I think the plan is very clever in not allowing us to focus on calories (calorie counting is boring). Naturally curbing portions whilst encouraging fruit/veg/lean protein and reducing unhealthy food will bring the calories down, and after being on the plan for a while, you do realise that portion control is key to it.

It does work too

I don't think this is necessarily true really. If you ate the average rda for a woman 2000 (well less if your losing weight) if all 2000 was used up on chocolate although you'd be starving you wouldn't lose weight because of all the sugars and saturated fats you would be consuming whereas the food on slimming world is lower in fat.

This may help answer the original question though
http://www.slimmingworld.com/health/policies-practices/food-diet-management.aspx

 

[85poundsandcounting]

No, I think if I ate 1300 calories a day of chronically unhealthy food, be it purely chocolate, KFC, white wine or crisps, I would lose weight just the same as if I was eating grilled chicken and salad. How would my body be able to distinguish between the two types of calories? I'm not willing to prove it on a personal basis you understand, but logically its true. If you're not putting enough fuel into your body (creating deficit), then your body will use the fuel you consume (chocolate, in this case) before breaking into it's stored fat. Which I think your link says, more or less.

One of the very reason that calorie counting diets are Bad Ideas for some people, is that they cut down on healthy foods in order to fit in chocolate/crisps or whatever and find themselves hungry and end up eating over their calories in compensation - not because they're eating chocolate/crisps.

 

[ermintrude]

I did a calorie count daily diary and if you add all the things up that are free on SW it goes over the daily recommended amount calories, so how does it work?

I think thats unlikrly - whats your definition of a "daily recommended amount" of calories? If you use an amount given by some VLCD diet or something, sure, but my calories vary between 1200-1800 on an average day, which is consistent with most low calorie diets I think. (I keep my food diary on MFP so it calculates it for me every day).

 

[Maddysmum]

Whats MFP? Totally intreged as to how many calories i eat (purely for interest, so couldn't do a calorie controlled diet)
x

 

[chun-ky]

MFP is a web site called my fitness pal. Its a huge calorie data base, and you can sign up for free, and enter all your foods daily and see what your totals are. I always use it to keep track of my losses, and it interests me how many calories i consume and burn xx

 

[ermintrude]

My Fitness Pal

Its great! Partly because the SW diary is so sh*t... but also because you can just type a recipe into it that you use regularly, then when you make it again all you have to do is click that recipe, instead of farting through entering every damn item again - Bingo, all ingredients, nutrients, calories etc listed! You can weigh in there too, which I do, and I think there are exercise things and messageboards and stuff in there too but I dont use any of that.

 

[Wegle]

If your calorie totals are coming out massively over the RDA (2000 for women) then you are definitely doing something wrong. This is an average day for me on green:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs & Clementine = 217 cals

Snack: Clementine and handful of grapes = 72 cals

Lunch: 3 x Ryvita with 5 Dairylea Light triangles & Banana = 312 cals

Snack: Clementine and handful of grapes = 72 cals

Dinner: Home made Vegetable chow mein (egg noodles, sugar snaps, red onion, courgette, mushrooms, bean sprouts, soy sauce) & Muller Light Yog = 400 cals

330ml skimmed milk for tea and coffee = 115 cals

That comes to a total of 1188 calories for the day and I was absolutely stuffed. Admittedly I didn't have any syns on this day (yesterday) but even if I had had the maximum allowed (15 syns) this would have brought the total to 1488.

Like I said if you are going over the RDA then you need to address where you are going wrong. Are you snacking on super free in the first instance. Are you over portioning? Are you getting enough super free into your meals. Free food is free food but it mustn't be abused.

What I would recommend to do is to chuck away the calorie counting and start going by how you feel. How hungry are you? Do I need to cook all that pasta or will slightly less be enough. I use a side plate or a bowl to eat my dinner from as most modern dinner plates are absolutely massive and there is far too much temptation to fill them up then eat all the food.

Hope this helps!

xx

 

[Maddysmum]

Very Interesting just checked mine & yday i had 1469 cals but today is looking like 1206 cals (wont have eaten any more but having tonights tea of quorn shepherds pie is less cals than ydays egg chips & bean)

 

[dreamslim]

No, I think if I ate 1300 calories a day of chronically unhealthy food, be it purely chocolate, KFC, white wine or crisps, I would lose weight just the same as if I was eating grilled chicken and salad. How would my body be able to distinguish between the two types of calories? I'm not willing to prove it on a personal basis you understand, but logically its true. If you're not putting enough fuel into your body (creating deficit), then your body will use the fuel you consume (chocolate, in this case) before breaking into it's stored fat. Which I think your link says, more or less.

One of the very reason that calorie counting diets are Bad Ideas for some people, is that they cut down on healthy foods in order to fit in chocolate/crisps or whatever and find themselves hungry and end up eating over their calories in compensation - not because they're eating chocolate/crisps.

Strictly speaking, 1300 calories of anything would lose you weight BUT there is such as thing as being fat on the inside so although you may start to lose weight you do not necessarily lower your risk of things like heart diesease.
The other side of it is that, although you're eating 1300 calories, your body is not receiving the input of food it requires (several times a day) so would actually go into starvation mode and store the fat you're eaten so the weight loss would be very short lived.

I'm always a bit of a science geek and have been very interested in HOW exactly slimming world works but have learnt to except that it just does. Lol.

 

[85poundsandcounting]

Of course, I don't disagree at all; my point was simply that it's possible to lose weight by consuming 1300 calories of - anything- a day. I never suggested for a minute that it was healthy, or good to do so or that there wouldn't be health consequences. Hopefully any person reading this would have enough mental busfare to know that a diet of 1300 calories a day made of chocolate is a terrbly bad idea.

I don't think slimming world is rocket science at all - but I do think it is an excellent plan (which is why I'm following it).

 

[Brightonrosie]

Lunch: 3 x Ryvita with 5 Dairylea Light triangles & Banana = 312 cals



xx

3 Ryvitas would never fill me up for lunch lol x x

 

[Thin in 2012 :)]

I think as a previous poster mentioned it must even itself out over the week, because some days I eat like a pig (SW Free Foods) and still lose weight at the end of the week. I guess the thing is I don't do it everyday.