Need to mix it up!

amyd

Member
Hey guys...I spoke to my leader today as I've been doing SW for 4 weeks and have only lost a pound!

I've been doing it 100% apart from 3 days off plan a few weeks back - so..I said to my leader that I was eating pretty healthily before joining (picked up good habits through doing WW a few years ago) so my diet hasn't changed that much whilst doing SW. I have the same breakfast - All bran with milk (HE A&B). My dinners have changed from having a small ham butty with walkers baked and fresh orange juice carton to having mainly baked potatoes with beans and salad. My teas are pretty much what I was doing anyway but using fry light - spag bol, pasta etc. But I have tried some new recipes.

Anyway - she said that she had a lady who had lost quite a lot of weight then her weight loss came to a halt and it turned out that she had been eating the same meals quite a lot. So when she totally changed the meals she was eating she lost 6 pound in a week!

So I need some new meal ideas - mainly for breakfast and lunch as I'm already trying different things for tea - I also thought that I'd try doing some red and green days as I've been doing extra easy.

I have been looking around the forums but I really need something quick (and filling and tasty) - that's why I've started having baked potatoes every lunch.

I don't really like ommeletes and I don't like using loads of pans when I'm just cooking for myself (i.e. full english). I do work from home most the time so I'm able to cook my meals there and then, but just don't want to spend more than an hour making and eating it.

Does anyone have some meals ideas for red, green and extra easy days?

For breakfast - I'm currently having all bran with milk but really think i need to change this. But I need to keep the same level of bran in my diet :confused:

Also - is there a way I can filter the food diaries for red, green and extra easy days?

Thanks for your advice x
 
Totally agree and am doing the same thing.Hope you see some good losses soon x
 
I have a full english and apart from eggs everything goes in one roasting tin!
Slices of par boiled new pots, Quorn sausages, after 10 mins I add bacon and tomatoes.
 
Amy - really confused. You posted last week that you had not been to group in 3 weeks, having lost 2lbs in the first week, but had put on as result of 3 days off plan and were pretty convinced that SW did not work! There was loads of advice on that thread about how to kick start losses, and about the plan in general - did none of it work hun?

If you are doing extra easy then your brekkie is not on plan as it has no superfree at all. Try adding some berries (can buy frozen ones for £1 a bag in Sainsbury's) to your all bran & maybe have fat free yog instead of milk as it goes better in my opinion.

If you are just doing your normal meals but using frylight are you actually using free meats (eg extra lean mince not lean mince), and having a 1/3rd superfree? Sometimes its a good idea to get some recipes & follow to the letter rather than adapting existing meals.

The reason i'm saying this is because i also ate 'healthily' before SW, and when i wasn't losing like i wanted, it was all down to the lack of superfree.

For new ideas, def look at food diaries. Loads of inspiration in there.
 
^^ great advice
 
There are loads of threads where people list what they are eating on a day to day basis for each meal, along with the food diary section so start there.

Variety is hugely important if you are to follow SW in the long-term and yes, eating the same things all the time can cause a plateau. You need to keep challenging your body with new things, new foods, new recipes, new HEs.

The recipe section is full to bursting with 100+ pages of fantastic recipes. You can filter recipes into red, green and extra easy. Click on the "search this forum" button above then choose advanced search. Enter your search term and then in the search options it gives you the choice of searching for threads with particular prefixs - choose red, green or whatever. A lots of people don't bother using the prefixes when posting though so they won't come up and you'll need to go browsing as well.

There are loads of threads in the recipe section on lunch ideas - someone asks pretty much every week. Try doing a search for "lunch box" and "packed lunch" although if you are at home the possibilites are endless.

You don't have to use loads of pans and spend ages in the kitchen - pretty much all my meals use two pans eg pasta/rice and sauce and are finished in less than 30 minutes.
 
Just noticed post above re breakfast - do you weigh and measure your cereal and milk to the right portions? That can make a big difference.

Also post above re superfree and making sure you use the free meats is good place to start too.

It might help if you post a diary on here and then people can offer specifc advice.
 
Amy - really confused. You posted last week that you had not been to group in 3 weeks, having lost 2lbs in the first week, but had put on as result of 3 days off plan and were pretty convinced that SW did not work! There was loads of advice on that thread about how to kick start losses, and about the plan in general - did none of it work hun?

If you are doing extra easy then your brekkie is not on plan as it has no superfree at all. Try adding some berries (can buy frozen ones for £1 a bag in Sainsbury's) to your all bran & maybe have fat free yog instead of milk as it goes better in my opinion.

If you are just doing your normal meals but using frylight are you actually using free meats (eg extra lean mince not lean mince), and having a 1/3rd superfree? Sometimes its a good idea to get some recipes & follow to the letter rather than adapting existing meals.

The reason i'm saying this is because i also ate 'healthily' before SW, and when i wasn't losing like i wanted, it was all down to the lack of superfree.

For new ideas, def look at food diaries. Loads of inspiration in there.

Hi there,

Yup that's right but I only missed 2 classes but I had still been doing it 100% (apart from the 3 days away).

Yes I have been having a 3rd of my plate using superfree foods for lunch and tea and having some fruit during the day. But I suppose I could try having some fruit with my breakfast to see of if that helps. And yep I have been using extra lean meats and cutting the fat off.

Yup, I have taken on board the advice given to me in the last post. The one that applied to me the most was the fact that some people can't "save up" their sins to use for a meal out etc. I have been writing a food diary on the sheets they give you.

I definitely wouldn't say that I thought SW did not work! It's working for everyone else - but not me (at the moment!) I don't think that everyone will lose weight on SW, super skinny celebs wouldn't would they! I think SW is great and I'd love to stick with it for the long term - but only if I can lose weight on it. I have recommended it to my friends and family as I realise it does work.

You guys are rightly defensive of the plan as you're all losing weight on it. But on the last post I did feel like a few people were saying it's your fault you've not lost weight. Which I feel is unfair as I have been following it 100% (apart from 3 days). Now even with 3 days being off plan - losing only 1 lb in one week is quite disappointing, wouldn't you agree? I have done 1 week and 2 days 100% SW since my holiday and still haven't lost any.

Anyway, I'm going to give it another week. Going to try different breakfasts, dinners and teas to see if that helps.

Thanks for taking the time to post :jelous:
 
Just noticed post above re breakfast - do you weigh and measure your cereal and milk to the right portions? That can make a big difference.

Also post above re superfree and making sure you use the free meats is good place to start too.

It might help if you post a diary on here and then people can offer specifc advice.

Hi there, yep I weigh out my milk and cereal every day - never stopped weighing out my cereal from doing WW 3 years ago for some reason! Just like to know what I'm having! :jelous:
 
Variety is hugely important if you are to follow SW in the long-term and yes, eating the same things all the time can cause a plateau. You need to keep challenging your body with new things, new foods, new recipes, new HEs.

Yep - I think this may be my problem as I've had the same cereal for the last 2 years or so! I am definitely going to challenge my body to some new foods and recipes and I'll let you know how it goes. Fingers crossed! :)
 
Now even with 3 days being off plan - losing only 1 lb in one week is quite disappointing, wouldn't you agree?

Not really. It's pretty much exactly what SW say you can expect to lose in a week - 1 to 2lbs. It's a healthy weight loss particularly for someone who is already well within the healthy weight range for their height. At 5'7 and 9st 11lbs your BMI is 21.5 so actually at the lower end of healthy. You are just not going to get big losses I'm afraid. Are you sure you really need to lose weight? Perhaps you should look at toning instead?
 
amyd said:
Hi there,

Yup that's right but I only missed 2 classes but I had still been doing it 100% (apart from the 3 days away).

Yes I have been having a 3rd of my plate using superfree foods for lunch and tea and having some fruit during the day. But I suppose I could try having some fruit with my breakfast to see of if that helps. And yep I have been using extra lean meats and cutting the fat off.

Yup, I have taken on board the advice given to me in the last post. The one that applied to me the most was the fact that some people can't "save up" their sins to use for a meal out etc. I have been writing a food diary on the sheets they give you.

I definitely wouldn't say that I thought SW did not work! It's working for everyone else - but not me (at the moment!) I don't think that everyone will lose weight on SW, super skinny celebs wouldn't would they! I think SW is great and I'd love to stick with it for the long term - but only if I can lose weight on it. I have recommended it to my friends and family as I realise it does work.

You guys are rightly defensive of the plan as you're all losing weight on it. But on the last post I did feel like a few people were saying it's your fault you've not lost weight. Which I feel is unfair as I have been following it 100% (apart from 3 days). Now even with 3 days being off plan - losing only 1 lb in one week is quite disappointing, wouldn't you agree? I have done 1 week and 2 days 100% SW since my holiday and still haven't lost any.

Anyway, I'm going to give it another week. Going to try different breakfasts, dinners and teas to see if that helps.

Thanks for taking the time to post :jelous:

Genuinely not sure how you could take my post in such as bad way, but i assure you that i was only trying to help & clarify what you had taken on board from the original thread - no point in people repeating themselves and wasting your time. No one has been defensive about SW, just tried to offer you advice based on their experiences and as is usually the case, Circles is spot on- 1lb a week is exactly where you should be aiming. We all mess up SW a little bit at the beginning no matter how much we think we are sticking to it, thats why people ask questions about SF, HEX etc as they are common mistakes.
 
Hey amyd I think the easiest lunches in the world are leftovers from the night before! So when you cook dinner, cook a bit extra that you can heat up in the microwave or adapt into a lunch. E.g. pasta bake can be eaten cold on a salad (AKA pasta salad!) or if you have a few cold potatoes, you could make a quick potato salad, just add some boiled eggs, frozen peas you can throw in the pan the egg is boiling in, and mix with mayo. Leftover fried rice is great for lunch!

Another easy idea is soup! Just make a big batch on the weekend or whenever you have a couple of hours, portion into individual containers and just heat it up for lunch with a bread roll. You can make a meaty one or potato based one depending on if you want a green or red day.

Buy lots of bagged salads to save chopping, just chuck in a plate, add some form of meat (tinned mackerel in brine or tomato sauce, tinned salmon, smoked salmon, ham, boiled eggs etc are all easy choices, again with a bread roll to make it more satisfying. M&S do some lovely cooked chicken tenders that are free. They're cooked chicken breast strips in the fridge section, I love the sweet chilli one.

LOL @ superskinny celebs not losing on the SW Plan. I'd imagine Victoria Beckham would probably get fat on SW. But then if you're that skinny then you're probably eating hardly anything and eating any more would cause a gain, whether it be SW or any other plan that encourages eating rather than starving.

If you have weight to lose then SW will work, just hang in there. Like Circes said in the other post don't compare it to other plans however tempting it might be. Just trust in the plan, it works! If you don't feel comfortable with all the carbs then you could do mainly red days with a carb free dinner. You'll wake up feeling really light! I did that the night before my weigh ins lol. So something like this

B: 1oz porridge and fruit with 250ml semi skimmed milk (A & B)
S: Yogurt, fruit
L: Pitta bread filled with boiled eggs and ham with a bit of mustard. Salad with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
S: 1oz cheddar cheese (A) with some grapes or apple
D: Grilled steak with grilled portobello mushrooms and green beans, coleslaw with hellman's light (syns) you can follow this with something sweet from your syns

Red days like this definitely work fast if you're anxious to see results so maybe try it? But like you said change it up if you've been doing the same thing for a couple of weeks. I've been doing EE the past week and next week I'll be switching to red & green alternate days. It'll be interesting to see how that goes!
 
There are loads of threads where people list what they are eating on a day to day basis for each meal, along with the food diary section so start there.

Variety is hugely important if you are to follow SW in the long-term and yes, eating the same things all the time can cause a plateau. You need to keep challenging your body with new things, new foods, new recipes, new HEs.

The recipe section is full to bursting with 100+ pages of fantastic recipes. You can filter recipes into red, green and extra easy. Click on the "search this forum" button above then choose advanced search. Enter your search term and then in the search options it gives you the choice of searching for threads with particular prefixs - choose red, green or whatever. A lots of people don't bother using the prefixes when posting though so they won't come up and you'll need to go browsing as well.

There are loads of threads in the recipe section on lunch ideas - someone asks pretty much every week. Try doing a search for "lunch box" and "packed lunch" although if you are at home the possibilites are endless.

You don't have to use loads of pans and spend ages in the kitchen - pretty much all my meals use two pans eg pasta/rice and sauce and are finished in less than 30 minutes.

Not really. It's pretty much exactly what SW say you can expect to lose in a week - 1 to 2lbs. It's a healthy weight loss particularly for someone who is already well within the healthy weight range for their height. At 5'7 and 9st 11lbs your BMI is 21.5 so actually at the lower end of healthy. You are just not going to get big losses I'm afraid. Are you sure you really need to lose weight? Perhaps you should look at toning instead?

Sorry - that was a typo! It was meant to say "Now even with 3 days being off plan - losing only 1 lb in 4 weeks is quite disappointing, wouldn't you agree?I would love to be losing 1lb a week! :)
 
Genuinely not sure how you could take my post in such as bad way, but i assure you that i was only trying to help & clarify what you had taken on board from the original thread - no point in people repeating themselves and wasting your time. No one has been defensive about SW, just tried to offer you advice based on their experiences and as is usually the case, Circles is spot on- 1lb a week is exactly where you should be aiming. We all mess up SW a little bit at the beginning no matter how much we think we are sticking to it, thats why people ask questions about SF, HEX etc as they are common mistakes.

Ha? I didn't take you're post in a bad way :confused: I was just replying to each of your comments/questions.
 
Hey amyd I think the easiest lunches in the world are leftovers from the night before! So when you cook dinner, cook a bit extra that you can heat up in the microwave or adapt into a lunch. E.g. pasta bake can be eaten cold on a salad (AKA pasta salad!) or if you have a few cold potatoes, you could make a quick potato salad, just add some boiled eggs, frozen peas you can throw in the pan the egg is boiling in, and mix with mayo. Leftover fried rice is great for lunch!

Another easy idea is soup! Just make a big batch on the weekend or whenever you have a couple of hours, portion into individual containers and just heat it up for lunch with a bread roll. You can make a meaty one or potato based one depending on if you want a green or red day.

Buy lots of bagged salads to save chopping, just chuck in a plate, add some form of meat (tinned mackerel in brine or tomato sauce, tinned salmon, smoked salmon, ham, boiled eggs etc are all easy choices, again with a bread roll to make it more satisfying. M&S do some lovely cooked chicken tenders that are free. They're cooked chicken breast strips in the fridge section, I love the sweet chilli one.

LOL @ superskinny celebs not losing on the SW Plan. I'd imagine Victoria Beckham would probably get fat on SW. But then if you're that skinny then you're probably eating hardly anything and eating any more would cause a gain, whether it be SW or any other plan that encourages eating rather than starving.

If you have weight to lose then SW will work, just hang in there. Like Circes said in the other post don't compare it to other plans however tempting it might be. Just trust in the plan, it works! If you don't feel comfortable with all the carbs then you could do mainly red days with a carb free dinner. You'll wake up feeling really light! I did that the night before my weigh ins lol. So something like this

B: 1oz porridge and fruit with 250ml semi skimmed milk (A & B)
S: Yogurt, fruit
L: Pitta bread filled with boiled eggs and ham with a bit of mustard. Salad with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
S: 1oz cheddar cheese (A) with some grapes or apple
D: Grilled steak with grilled portobello mushrooms and green beans, coleslaw with hellman's light (syns) you can follow this with something sweet from your syns

Red days like this definitely work fast if you're anxious to see results so maybe try it? But like you said change it up if you've been doing the same thing for a couple of weeks. I've been doing EE the past week and next week I'll be switching to red & green alternate days. It'll be interesting to see how that goes!

Thanks for these great ideas! Yep think I definitely need to try some red days - although I'll have to get my head around what you can and can't eat on this plan :)
 
Have just noticed the above post re your bmi and current weight. I think taking this into account then your loses will be slower than others doing sw. I have about two stone to lose (and im not even in my healhty bmi!) and i cannot get away with days off plan or even going over 70 syns a week. For two weeks id gone out at the weekend and had 105 syns over the week. Those two weeks i sts. This week i had 70, no alcohol and lost two pounds!!
 
I know you want to keep the same amount of bran in your diet, so why not try having it at a different time of the day?

Here are some nice breakfasts you can try:

Morrisons Cumberland sausages (60% less fat) 1/2 syn each and baked beans. Beans are ss! Follow with a bowl of melon as your superfree food. This is a really filling choice that I normally have on the weekend when I treat myself to a more leisurely breakfast.


2 weetabix topped with blueberries, strawberries and low fat natural yogurt. I normally have this on WI day as it's quite light. Well...anything that will help those scales lol!


Put halved tomatoes, bacon (lean, all visible fat removed) and mushrooms into a baking tray and cook together. Limited washing up!

Good old fruit salad! Add any fruit you like. You can even put yogurt on top and drizzle some honey (syns) on top.

Don't forget your speed foods. They might help by speeding up your metabolism.
 
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