Flexi syns recommend you plan before hand but I have had a last minute blow out and counted it as a flexi day.
This explains Flexi syns
However, there are times when those usual Syns just aren't enough. Certainly, you could eat out or go to a party and stick rigidly to your Syns, but you may find yourself feeling just a touch deprived, like a martyr. And that's when trouble can start. So what's the alternative? Flexibility!
At bodyOptimise we don't recommend that you save all your Syns up for the week, just so you can have a few drinks on a Saturday night. Depriving yourself throughout that week is like putting yourself in a tight corset. Before the Saturday night arrives, that corset could well have been flung off, and your eating plan been pushed aside for the week…then the month… then the year.
Slim people overeat occasionally and don't worry about it. They carry on with their normal routine as soon as they're able. Or they adjust what they eat beforehand. Or they compensate afterwards. Slimmers can do the same - and it works. Most slimmers are happy with the idea of cutting down beforehand or compensating afterwards. But at
bodyOptimise we don't believe in suffering! We take flexibility much further: we believe that sometimes flexibility means doubling or even trebling your Syns for the day - without paying!
The most common reason for failure I've found has been lack of flexibility. Over-rigid adherence to any slimming plan has been the ultimate cause of many a slimmer's downfall. That's when 'diet' becomes a four-letter word. That's when that weight that you swore you would never regain comes creeping back.
Be Good To Yourself
Remember the scenario I described earlier? Now imagine, when you've 'blown' it, how many extra Syns (or calories) you actually ate. You probably have no idea because you stopped counting. And you stopped counting the next day, and the next... We're now talking hundreds of extra calories (or Syns) - that's when the real weight loss damage is done, not by just allowing yourself a bit of extra leeway - say an extra 20 Syns or so - but by giving up for a week or a month or a year.
We often see people who take the fast route, the motorway to slimming success, and end up so exhausted at the end of their journey that they relapse. Those who take the scenic route still reach their destination, maybe a little later, but they've had a much more pleasant journey and are in great spirits to continue. So, be kind to the most important person you know - you.
Every now and then, ease the pressure on yourself. How much and how often? You decide. Try it out. Give yourself an extra allowance when you need it most, negotiate an upper limit with yourself - even if it's just a stressful day - and you'll also be giving yourself a real chance of success, for life. Just keep counting - and stick to your upper limit - you can count on it!
Food Optimising means that you can allow yourself a flexible Syn day once in a while, and not have to save up Syns beforehand, or deprive yourself afterwards.
e.g. You have organised to go out for a Chinese with some friends on Saturday night.
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What would I normally choose to eat?
2. How does that work best with Food Optimising
3. Have I included drinks for the evening?
After answering these questions, work out how many Syns you require for that night:
1. Chicken and Cashew nuts with rice, and prawn crackers
2. On an Extra Easy day, boiled rice is free and the lowest Syn value for the meal is 8½ Syns. If you use your Healthy Extra 'b' choice for the cashew nuts, deduct 6 Syns. Prawn Crackers are 1½ Syns for two. If you're likely to eat 12, at a rough guess, allow another 9 Syns. So far the Syn total is 11½.
3. If you drink alcohol, work out what you're likely to drink and the Syn value. Don’t put that tight corset on and underestimate what you'll want. If you’d normally drink three 142ml glasses of red wine, include an extra 15 Syns.
4. Your total is now up to 26½ Syns.
If you’re happy with this plan, agree an upper limit with yourself, enjoy your evening, and if you have an extra glass of wine, or few more prawn crackers or a pudding, keep counting. If you think you may have forgotten something, keep planning.
Food Optimise normally until you go out, remembering that your Healthy Extra 'b' choice will be used in the evening. Use your flexible Syns during the evening, and when you get home, go back to normal Food Optimising.
There is no guarantee when you next weigh yourself that you will have lost weight this particular week, though the chances are you will. However, you will be completely in control, you won't 'blow it' or give up, and you'll be ready to Food Optimise 100% after a great evening out, without feeling guilty.