New member - could really use some SW advice

Hi everyone,

I just joined SW last night and today was my first day on the plan. I had a Green day and have stuck rigidly to the plan (I think!). I feel so satisfied after all the food I've eaten. I just wanted to check a couple of things, if anyone could help me out?

1. How is this possible? People have recommended SW to me before but, as I'm used to counting calories when I try and diet, it just seems really alien to stop worrying about that. I've had about 6 pieces of fruit, two green salads, 4 Laughing Cow light triangles, loads of courgette and a fair sized jacket potato with beans. My question is HOW can I lose weight on this much food? Am I eating too much? It just seems like I'm consuming too many calories?

2. Muller light yoghurts, anyone? From the booklet I was given, it looks like the normal fruit ones are free. There are two special edition ones - New York cheesecake and Strawberry cheesecake (the ones with the little cakey bits inside?) I bought two big multipacks of these when my colleague told me Mullerlights were free but I have a sneaking suspicion that these probably count as Syns due to the cake content - am I right and if so, how much of a Syn are they? My booklet doesn't cover them and I haven't got a password to SW Online yet to check.

Any replies gratefully received. I'm a little wobbly because this all seems far too good to be true. x

2.
 
A lot of the food you're eating is 'free' because it is bulk and fills you up, but is either fat free or very low fat.

It is amazing what you can eat and I thought exactly the same when I first started.

Good luck on your journey!
 
I agree that it does feel to good to be true!!

Circles has added the link so you'll find your mullerlight syn answers there, but have fun eating lots of nice yummy free foods, because you can!!!
 
Thank you both, for your lovely replies.

Um.. let's see. I had semi skimmed milk in my coffee (3 cups) as my Healthy Extra A and the 4 cheese triangles were my Healthy Extra B. I know that with it being a green day (apparently) I'm supposed to have 2 Healthy Extra Bs but I went shopping last night before I sat down and really got to grips with the book so didn't buy anything else to eat for a Healthy Extra B. To be honest though, I can't think of anything else to have for it - it seems like it might even be a bit of a struggle fitting it in!

Regarding Syns, I suspect the yoghurt was one. I know I'm really supposed to have about 10 a day but it just kinda seems like eating for the sake of eating, you know? What sort of things would you suggest to get my Syns up?
 
Hiya all the foods you have eaten are low in calories, low in fat but high in density (meaning they keep you full longer)

So although you are consuming a lot more food, your calorie intake will be low.

If you look at high calorie/high fat foods you will notice a syn value and usually high and most of the time they won't keep you full for long.

Hope that helps and good luck
 
I used to wonder how the diet works, but if you're in any doubt why not work out how many calories you've had. Obviously counting calories isn't necessary on sw, but it does highlight that the diet works- i usually vary between 800-1400, and occaisionally up to 2000. The point being that the diet means it's extremely unlikely to overeat, and we know it works as there's loads of target members here!
 
Sorry all, another irritating (and probably stupid) question. From what people have said on this thread, and from reading other posts, it seems like I need to make sure I get enough Syns every day in order to make sure I have some wriggle room if my weight plateaus at any point (reduce the Syns, kick start the weight loss again).

The problem is that today I've only had 1 Syn - a Mullerlight cheesecake yoghurt. I'm completely open to upping my Syn intake but have no idea how to do this, without just pigging out on chocolate. Any ideas for easy Syns that aren't too unhealthy?
 
You can use those syns on whatever you like and you don't need to worry about pigging out- whilst the syns allow for treats, they don't go that far!

They're for you to spend on whatever you enjoy!
 
blue-eyed-girl said:
Sorry all, another irritating (and probably stupid) question. From what people have said on this thread, and from reading other posts, it seems like I need to make sure I get enough Syns every day in order to make sure I have some wriggle room if my weight plateaus at any point (reduce the Syns, kick start the weight loss again).

The problem is that today I've only had 1 Syn - a Mullerlight cheesecake yoghurt. I'm completely open to upping my Syn intake but have no idea how to do this, without just pigging out on chocolate. Any ideas for easy Syns that aren't too unhealthy?

I use my sins to make my food more normal salad dressing, mustard,gravy and sauces. Also you could have extra bread or cheese and count as sins. Good luck and keep eating.
 
blue-eyed-girl said:
Sorry all, another irritating (and probably stupid) question. From what people have said on this thread, and from reading other posts, it seems like I need to make sure I get enough Syns every day in order to make sure I have some wriggle room if my weight plateaus at any point (reduce the Syns, kick start the weight loss again).

The problem is that today I've only had 1 Syn - a Mullerlight cheesecake yoghurt. I'm completely open to upping my Syn intake but have no idea how to do this, without just pigging out on chocolate. Any ideas for easy Syns that aren't too unhealthy?

Hi I use sins to make my meals more normal sauces salad dressings mustard etc. Also you could have extra cheese or bread and count as sins. You really need to keep you value up. I didn't, I lost 3.5 stones from May to October and then really plateaued. It's a brill plan stick with it. Sorry about repeat post learning to use I pad app. X
 
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I'm completely open to upping my Syn intake but have no idea how to do this, without just pigging out on chocolate.

15 syns a day is NOT pigging out on chocolate to me !!!! I eat my syns very variably. Sometimes I like to keep them all for 'treats' and other days I use them in cooking or for convenience foods (if I'm in a rush) and sometimes I don't eat that many. So use them if you want to on whatever you want to. They are there to make life 'normal' and more interesting/varied and so that there is nothing whilst doing SW that you 'can't' eat or need to feel guilty about as long as it's in moderation and on plan.

Good luck. Hope you love the plan as much as I do :)

Gail x
 
Use your syns on whatever your feeling like! I find that i lose most when i have about 10 a day. If i need some chocolate and havent used any syns, ill have a crunshie (9 1/2) but other than than, it can vary. I prefer whitener in brews so if i use that is 1 syn a cup. I like crisps so i can have a bag of french fries for 4 syns. And i like desserts after meals so i like cadbury light chocolate mousse which is 3 syns. It really depends on what you feel like. You might find you use it having more healthy as & bs! give it a few days on plan and youll start to realise what your missing and what you really fancy!

x x x
 
Weirdly I always lose more weight when I eat all 15 syns and have 2 HEA and 2 HEB. I think it's something to do with the calcium/fibre assisting weight loss and preventing your body entering 'starvation mode', so it doesn't slow down metabolism. You sound like you're still in diet mode! Chill out! Seriously often people plateau on slimming world because they're not eating enough

I'm a carb/bread'aholic, so 2 HEB is easy for me. But if you find green/red difficult with 2 HEB you could try using both on cereal so you get a decent bowl instead of 28g! Or use a normal size wholemeal loaf then 2 slices would be your 2 HEB. If I'm doing stirfry I'll use 1 HEB as a TBSP of olive oil as I think frylight is pants at stir frys (though I love it for everything else).

Syns are easy to add in. Even putting 2 TBSP tomatoe puree in bolognese etc is 1 syn and gives it awsome flavour. If you want to be super healthy you could use them on things like nuts, seeds, avocado etc. Or wine! For the antioxidants of course, ahem!!
 
You're absolutely right, Jael, I am still in diet mode - and a fat (ho ho ho) lot of good dieting has done me so far. Funny you should mention wine, as tonight I did actually use my Syns on a nice glass of red. Gorgeous. I'm just going to chill out about it and enjoy being on such a flexible plan.
 
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