Is it possible to lose while only saying on plan 5 days a week?

Jeepers

New Member
I'm at the beginning of week 7 and I've been following the plan properly but having small losses. The one week where I ate a bit more (still totally on plan though) I had a bigger loss. It's starting to get me down a bit.
Yesterday, my 11 year old daughter baked, iced and decorated a cake all on her own and was devastated when I said I probably wouldn't have any. My children are more important to me than anything, so I had some and dont feel guilty at all.
It got me thinking though... I'm 40 years old and I've spent 27 years of my life yoyo dieting and if I feel too restricted I will go off the rails completely. Could I sustainably lose weight by following the plan to the letter 5 days a week but having weekends 'off'? I don't drink, so there won't be alcohol to add to the syns.
As I'm losing slowly anyway, I'm wondering if I could still get small losses while not restricting myself so much?
 
If you're already having slow and small loses i'd say having 2 days off plan would just slow you down even more.
I have a friend who did that for similar reasons you're saying and while she was ok with her decision at first she quickly got annoyed and left SW all together. The weekly weekends off plan resulted in lots of maintains and half pound gains with few losses and she got frustrated.

Fast forward 3 months and she's having to rejoin as she's put the weight she lost back on.

My best advice is, if you're serious about doing this talk to your consultant first. See what they say. They're following your journey alongside you so will be able to offer guidance.
 
Thank you. I think I will talk to my consultant about it.
I don't mind putting the hard work in if I'm getting decent results but at the moment it feels like a lot of effort for little reward x
 
How active are you?

You may find going off plan a little bit over the weekend might help. As long as you don't go completely crazy.

I went through a stage where I'd reduced my syns as I felt I wasn't losing, I almost broke down in the meeting as even though I was having only 5 syns a day I was just maintaining. My consultant suggested I increased my syns as she thought I was too active to only be having 5. I had 15 a day to prove a point to her and was positive I was going to gain. I had quite a big loss that week.

Now what I do is I tend to stick to between 10 and 15 a day, unless I know I have plans at the weekend, if that's the case I will have 5 syns a day and then not worry about what I have for my planned days off (I say not worry, I don't go mental but I am a lot more relaxed with what I allow myself)

This might not be the official slimming world advice but it works for me and slimming world is all about having a lifestyle change, to some people that means completely changing your lifestyle and saying no to all the ''bad'' foods... to me it means adapting my lifestyle, enjoying slimming world but also accepting those times when I am going to have an off plan meal or a big slice of cake and not beating myself up about it.
 
I'd like to throw my two-pence in!

I've done this for the last few weeks and my body hasn't thanked me. I've had lower energy, been moody and have had cravings for sugar.
For me, I was really happy on SW for a since 3rd Jan, but when I started a new job at the start of May, I found myself falling into old food crutch habits - using food at the end of a long week to 'reward' myself.. Old feelings of deprivation reared their head and I felt like I was losing control.

However, this time, i'm on a journey to learn about me just as much as losing weight, so I took another approach. Rather than hate myself and try to work against myself, I decided 'control' it. For me, I find it easier to stay on track during the week, through meal prep and being generally busy. So, this week i'm doing a week of SP - with no more than 10 syns, (although i've been having less) and then allowing myself to hold back 25 syns for the weekends (after weigh in). this stops me from going over 15 syns and thinking - well i've gone over it now, I might as well keep going. It forces me to take control by allowing me to eat my little extra but then stop, while feeling like i'm in control of my weight loss.

The long term view would be to try and build better processes for dealing with that stress so that I don't look for the extra syns but for now, it gives me the control and stops the 'might as well be hung for a lamb as a sheep' thinking.

As ever, you should always engage with your consultant. As above, SW has worked for me so far because it adapts to my life style. It needs to be about making healthy choices, and seeing the benefits.
 
I'd consider writing everything down that you eat for a week and if you attend group - show it to your consultant. Our bodies all work in different ways and I know that for me personally, I have the biggest losses if my breakfasts include eggs and beans (strange I know) and if I eat around 10 syns and have smaller meals but more often.

It could just be that a slightly different routine could help you and your consultant may be able to advise you on that xx
 
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