How much do you eat?

laura2707

Member
Hi,

It was my first week this week, did EE, followed it to the letter (weeks plan on the SW website) and lost a lb! I was quite disappointed to be honest as overall I have 5 stone to lose, so it's not like it's because I don't have lots to lose.

My consultant said it could be due to totm, which is true - it very well could be...but am worried about my portion sizes.

I know they say you could eat a whole roast chicken as a snack for example, but I really physically could eat a whole roast chicken as a snack!

Just wondered if you could tell me what sort of portion sizes you have. I know it's hard for things like rice/pasta...but like if you have say quorn sausages, mash and beans - how many sausages would you have, and would you have a whole 400g tin of beans?

My consultant is looking at my food diary and will see if there's anything on there that's wrong and let me know.

I kind of feel I need more restrictions!

Anyone been in a similar situation? Or could you please tell me about your portion sizes? Sorry to sound so desperado! I really want to make it happen now, fed up of being a size 22!
 
Hi Laura
Im not going to be much help, but im glad you have posted this, as this is something ive been thinking a bit about lately . I started slimming world in september 2007 and ive lost 6.5 stone, still got about 2 stone to go , and I do have a big appetite, but since doing extra easy my weight losses havent been too great, and im wondering if its because im eating too much. Today for breakfast , ive just had a tin of potatoes fried in fry light with bacon, 2 quorn sausages, 1 egg and half a tin of beans.
Last night for tea I had syn free chips, 2 home made beef burgers (would probably be about 1/2lb of minced beef) and some peas, but im starting to think that maybe i should eat less as my weight losses are a bit rubbish , but you ARE meant to be able to eat as freely as you like .
Will be interested to follow this post and see what everyone else thinks
xxx
 
Hi Laura

I am on my first week and feel the same about portion control.I am very greedy and would eat as much as I can and only stop when fit to explode,this is where that got me,I think as others have said eat till you are full listen to your body,if you can hear her then shut her up with biscuits and forget the diet:8855:.no seroiusly that is what I have been doing for years. I am a vegetarian and only doing 'green' I would eat 2 quorn sausage with 4/6 baby boiled potatoes half a tin of tomaoes or beans and fill your plate up with broccolli,if you can eat all that I would be suprised:)
 
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Hi guys i have done sw on and off for years. I have a very big appetite and any time i have been on plan i have ate loads and lost lots of weight.

I think the key is have a decent sized breakfast that will fill you, a decent sized lunch and dinner. Don't go hungary. I tend to have 3 good meals and just snack on fruit and yoghurts. I think it is also a good idea to try and vary what you eat and not eat the same things all the time. I find that if i have a decent amount of veg on my plate at dinner time i lose more weight too.

Good luck and stick with it, you may have a good loss next week when your body adjusts to new plan xx
 
My body needs to speak up, I can't hear it!

Tbh, I could too eat all that, and would possibly have a third sausage there too...and then a mullerlight for dessert...maybe with a sliced banana.

I read the psychology of it thingy on the SW website and it seemed to be saying that not feeling deprived you're not going to rebel and pig out because you've got you've got so much free food to eat. But my head's psychology seems to be 'well you can have it, so have loads of it, even if you're full - you can still have it, it says you can, so just keep eating'!!!
 
At the end of the day, (and I'm always banging on about this!) SW is not a 'magic' cure. It's simple - you eat less calories than what you burn and you lose weight. But SW is clever in how you can fill up on 'free' foods but they also say until you're satisfied.

If you're overeating until you're stuffed all the time and eating when you're full (as most of us do which is why we're here in the first place!) then you are not doing SW correctly and most likely won't be losing the weight (simply because you're eating too many cals).

SW is the best 'diet' I've ever done but you do still have to exercise some control. Nothing comes easy, I'm afraid!!
 
Hi, Oh how I sympathise....I stuck to plan last week and put half a pound on and that's due to TOTM. (it's not fair!!) I try not to be too greedy with food but I am a greedy person and love my food! Like others have said, although it is unlimited free food they still contain calories and the more you eat..... saying that though for my tea I would have a HUGE jacket potato and a full tin of beans. It does fill me up though and I really really try to stop when I start to feel full up. The other thing I try to do is snack of fruit and yoghurt and not the red/green free foods. It works for me but may be worth a try. SW does work so stick with it. Good luck. :)
 
i have been wondering the same thing, but if you listen to your bodys signals, try to identify if its genuine physical hunger or emotional hunger. rate it on a scale of 1 to 10! if you are hungry, eat! if you are not do something else or eating becomes an activity! good luck
 
Some good advice there, thanks everyone. And nice to hear about someone else who didn't lose 6 stone on their first week (well - not quite - but you know what I mean!)...although I too hope for you it's due to totm and we see our 6 stone weight losses next week!

StaceyUK, very true, thank you! Now you say 'satisfied', I do recall seeing it in the book, but my consultant (who I've had before) seems to be very 'you can never eat too much if you're eating the right foods', but if I'm eating my weight in potatoes every time I'm on a green day, clearly I am eating too much.

I'll weigh my food for a couple of days just to guide me as to what a normal portion should be, I'll go by the average serving size on the packet. Hopefully that should sort me out!
 
I agree with everyone's advice! Although in theory SW says you can have as much of the free foods as you like, there's still got to be a bit of self control in there, otherwise, how will you learn to listen to your body and re-educate yourself? I've been through it. I would eat the huuuugest bowl of pasta with masses of bolognese sauce and when I did Atkins for a while, I would literally eat whole chickens! :s

Nobody needs that much food to fill them up!

Sometimes you do just want a pig-out though. If you do that pig out with as much free food as you can, you'll still get that full feeling but without the bad stuff. So have 2 quorn sausages, mash about the size of your fist and then masses of broccoli, carrots, griddled peppers..whatever!

Don't let yourself get starving hungry before you eat. Make sure you eat at regular intervals - have snacks during the day so that you're not ravenous come lunch or dinner time. Then you will be less tempted to rush your food and stuff your face. Drink a glass of water before your meal, and eat slowly. A tip I picked up was to put your fork down between mouthfulls. It slows you down and allows you to feel full signals more quickly. Oh, and always leave a little something on your plate. It's psychological - you don't have to finish it all. You are in control....

I am totally waffling on with randomness now!!
 
Hi there

I did SW for 9 months and only lost 12 lbs in that time. At the time I was convinced that it was because the diet was either flawed or not right for me, but I now realise that I was just eating far too much!!! For instance on a red day I'd have a whole pack of ham in one sitting rather than a normal portion of a couple of slices! When I questioned portion sizes with my consultant I was assured that I could indeed eat as much as I liked - but as everyone else has said you do need to exercise some control too!!

If in a day you manage to eat entire packets of quorn sausages, 2-3 jackets, with beans and your HEXs, several muller lites and loads of fruit it is quite easy to take in more calories than you need!!!

All diets work on the principle of calories in versus calories out!! SW assumes that by filling up on larger volumes of lower calorie foods you are unlikely to consume more calories than you need.

Good luck with it all

Carol x
 
im now worried about portion sizes! i saw a comment saying mash potato the size of a fist, mines about three fists! then again i would only have 3 meals a day, i wouldnt keep going back for more. i hope it works this week!
 
SW Says if your hungry your doing it wrong, it says eat free food to fill you up not to the point that you feel sick (god how many times have i done that because it still looks yummy on the plate).. you kind of have to read between the lines..

I did extra easy this week for the first time and lost 4.5lb so dont give up.. i think it does have alot to do with TOTM as you can put on upto 6lb's in this time.
 
i agree, i wouldnt let 1 weeks weigh in get me down if i KNOW i have been good, as it will reflect in the next week! too many times in the past has it send me on a spiral!
 
I definately agree, wait till next week before you decide what you think about the ee plan
 
StaceyUK, very true, thank you! Now you say 'satisfied', I do recall seeing it in the book, but my consultant (who I've had before) seems to be very 'you can never eat too much if you're eating the right foods', but if I'm eating my weight in potatoes every time I'm on a green day, clearly I am eating too much.

I'll weigh my food for a couple of days just to guide me as to what a normal portion should be, I'll go by the average serving size on the packet. Hopefully that should sort me out!

You can definitely eat too much of the right foods! It all has calories!

I'm definitely learning a bit more about portion control. I made a shepherd's pie that I used to say served 4 but now it can definitely serve 6 bulked out with added veg.

I also keep an eye out for recipe serving sizes and try to follow them if poss! If it looks meagre then bulk it out with superfree veg!
 
im now worried about portion sizes! i saw a comment saying mash potato the size of a fist, mines about three fists!

Don't worry, that's what I think is an average portion. I used to think it was a teeny tiny portion! I'd have about 3times that in the past, but I didn't need that much...I just thought I did. I cut down the portion size of the more calorific stuff and upped the superfree stuff and it helped loads. I slowed down the speed I ate and found I was fuller after less food.

But sometimes you just need a massive plate of mash, and that's what's good about SW...you can do that if you really want to!! Just have loads of free foods/superfree and it balances out.
 
im newish to slimming world and struggle with portions aswell but i think as you get more used to the diet and understand it more it will come naturally, i like to snack on muller lights you reckon 2-3 is too many? x
 
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I think I eat quite big portions. I'd have things like a third of a plate of mash, 2 quorn sausages and half a tin of beans. I usually have a large portion but I also usually leave some, as I can't eat as much as I think I can. I eat until I'm comfortably full but not too stuffed, but if I'm starving before the meal I tend to overeat. A good tip might be to eat an apple and drink a glass of water before sitting down to eat. For breakfast I often have 2 weetabix with skimmed milk or 2 boiled eggs with 3 slices of ww brown danish topped with laughing cow and marmite. I can't eat loads of meat so when I have red days I tend to go hungry, so I mainly stick to green. I'm a bit worried I'll eat too much if I do extra easy very often as I can eat more meat when there's pasta or potatoes with it. I usually only snack on fruit and yogurt between meals though.
 
At the end of the day, (and I'm always banging on about this!) SW is not a 'magic' cure. It's simple - you eat less calories than what you burn and you lose weight. But SW is clever in how you can fill up on 'free' foods but they also say until you're satisfied.

If you're overeating until you're stuffed all the time and eating when you're full (as most of us do which is why we're here in the first place!) then you are not doing SW correctly and most likely won't be losing the weight (simply because you're eating too many cals).

SW is the best 'diet' I've ever done but you do still have to exercise some control. Nothing comes easy, I'm afraid!!



Excellent post, I couldn't agree more.

I'm greedy :eek: and I'd say my portions are huge this week (and will probably continue to be large! lol). But I'm not worrying too much this week as it's my first and I'm just getting used to making healthier choices and I don't want to deprive myself and reach for the phone and order a curry.

Usually I'd have an omlette and half a tin of beans for breakie. Lunch will be something like a chicken breast and rice or jacket potato and dinner will be similar to lunch or homemade curry or chilli (a bowl full). I'll also have some lettuce, onion, cabbage on the side if there's any in. I'll also snack on fruit and muller lights.

I do find if I've made chilli or curry I could happily "snack" on bowl fulls throughout the day just because it's there!
 
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