Saltdog's Magic Shrinking Formula

[Saltdog]

For those of you who are more keen of eye, you may notice that I've altered my diet start date and the details on my signature.

I have an App on my iPhone to track my weight and was looking through my history. Basically, I started my diet back in December and was the same weight as I am right now. I put on a load over Christmas which skewed all my figures. I decided then to draw a line in the sand and start afresh on the 3rd January. That's when I set my mini-goals as well. For some reason though, I'd put my December start WI figure as my starting point even though my start date for these goals was the 3rd January (Have I lost anyone yet? Bear with me). Anyhoo, the good news is that if I put my 3rd January weight in for my 3rd January start, my Valentines day goal is very much still on target!! Very pleased about that!! It's given me an extra sense of motivation to have a good result this week!

 

[blackwidow]

just popping in for a read, saw your mention of sausages - lots of people in my class rate the WW cumberland - only 3.5syns for the whole pack of 8, so 1/2syn each roughly.

well done on your 1lb and good luck getting to your Valentines target xxx

 

[Saltdog]

just popping in for a read, saw your mention of sausages - lots of people in my class rate the WW cumberland - only 3.5syns for the whole pack of 8, so 1/2syn each roughly.

well done on your 1lb and good luck getting to your Valentines target xxx

Thanks for popping by Blackwidow. The sausages were a silly idea to be completely honest. I have a 4 year old at home and he loves sausages. I always like to try and eat the same as him so I bought myself some butcher's beef sausages to eat while he was having his big chunky Richmonds. I stupidly just assumed the beef ones would be much better Syn wise. For all I know they might have been. There was no nutritional information on the bag I got them in. The Syn value I went on was for the basic thin beef sausages on the SW website. I can easily live without sausages but if I do go for them again I may well have a look for the WW ones. I did try the Quorn ones but they really didn't do it for me.

Thanks for the good luck wishes too! Always appreciated. X

 

[piX128]

woohoo..well done on the loss, especially after you were worried you might not get one big grin x

 

[Saltdog]

It's nearly the weekend so I need to start planning how I'm going to best avoid ruining it like I have done the last couple. Firstly, no plans for a take away this weekend. All meals will be on plan. There may be an issue for my alcohol intake though. We have some friends coming up from south for the weekend and there may be some drinking involved. I'm thinking I'll be reasonably ok if I stick to JD with diet coke. I know that each shot is still 3 Syns (I think) so I'll have to try to avoid consuming the entire bottle (90 Syns!!) if I can help it. If I was a strong-willed person I would abstain from drinking completely but I'm being a realist when I say if my friends are encouraging me to partake, I'm not likely to say no for very long! At least if I'm prepared for that eventuality I can still exercise some semblance of control over the situation.

Right, an update on my food from yesterday:

Breakfast
Toast and flora light (Hex B and 2 Syns)
Banana
Mullerlight

Lunch
Open omelette with ham, cheese and jalepenos (Hex A)

Dinner
SW fish and chips

Total Syns for the day: 2

 

[Arctic-BNG]

Try singles in long glasses ie loads of diet coke. Or maybe have a virgin one every other one? No-one will know from the colour of the drink.

 

[blackwidow]

thats what i do! when i go out i have an alcoholic drink then swap to diet coke inbetween. I keep it in the same glass when im out because people pressure me into drinking (which i hate!!) I borrowed the idea from my friend who clubbed for 6 months before anyone realised she wasnt drinking because she was pregnant!

 

[Saltdog]

I like the idea that I can come on the forum and get good advice how to incorporate drinking in to my diet! Lol. Thanks folks. Great advice. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

I also have another option which I'm considering. I'm thinking of moving my WI from a Tuesday to a Friday. Since I'm an at-home weigher it wouldn't really make any difference other than the fact that I'll have a bit longer to work off any weekend Syns. Saying that, I weighed myself this morning and I am down 2.5lbs from Tuesday. If I'm sensible over the weekend I could potentially lose more by Tuesday. Writing it down here has made me think of it a bit more and I think I'm going to leave it at Tuesday. After all, Tuesday works with my Valentine's day challenge. At least I have a benchmark to tell me how much damage I do over the weekend though. That's got to be useful although I'm sure some of you will call it scale hopping! Lol.

Ok, meals for yesterday:

Breakfast
Toast with flora light (Hex B and 2 Syns)
Mullerlight
Banana

Lunch
Jacket Potato with cheese, onion and tuna mayo (Hex A and 3 Syns)

Dinner
Philly Potato Bake (5 Syns but worth every one!)
Peas

Total Syns for the day: 10

There were two things I was really pleased to find out yesterday. the first was that there are only 2 Syns per 25g for any kind of Philly Light. That means only 16 Syns for an entire 200g tub. The philly recipes online are amazing and it's great that I should still be able to have the majority of them.

The second thing I was really pleased to find out was that Groundskeeper Willie from the Simpsons is from the same town as me!! Lol.

 

[blackwidow]

you know you can have 71g philadelphia light as a HA? and on green you can have the same of the flavoured philly lights as a healthy extra.. though i get confused because somewhere they swap to HB's rather than HA's..

 

[piX128]

Im looking forward to seeing lots of yummy philly light recipes appearing on your diary now Kev

well done on the loss too ...motivation indeed to not do too much damage at the weekend lol

xx

 

[EmmyR1984]

well done on the loss hope you get an even better one on wi day x

 

[Saltdog]

you know you can have 71g philadelphia light as a HA? and on green you can have the same of the flavoured philly lights as a healthy extra.. though i get confused because somewhere they swap to HB's rather than HA's..

I only ever really do EE as the food choices really suit my tastes. I didn't have any Hex A left yesterday hence the Syns but it's not a huge amount so I'm not fussed. Still within my daily allowance.

There are definitely parts of SW which are confusing me too. I'm finding it difficult to understand why some foods start off free and end up with Syns if you cook them or something!! I try not to dwell on it too much though. Just take the diet for what it is. What I'm doing appears to be working so I'm not going to try and overanalyse anything.

 

[Saltdog]

Im looking forward to seeing lots of yummy philly light recipes appearing on your diary now Kev

well done on the loss too ...motivation indeed to not do too much damage at the weekend lol

xx

Thanks for the kind words piX. I don't really rate philly as a spread but it makes a very versatile ingredient.

Last night, the recipe was for Sausage and Bacon Potato Bake. I just cut out the sausages and had more bacon instead. Here's what I did:

(Serves 4)
Ingredients (Syns are total - not per person)

• 600g Potatoes - Peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 Onion
• 8 Rashers Lean Bacon with all fat removed
• 200g Black Pepper and Spring Onion Philidelphia Light (16 Syns)
• 120ml Chicken Stock
• 25g Reduced Fat Cheddar (4 Syns)

Method

• Boil potatoes for 6-7 minutes until softened
• Add chicken stock and philly to small saucepan and heat over a gentle heat till philly is melted
• Meanwhile, fry bacon and onion together in a few sprays of Fry Light
• When all cooked, spread half of onion and bacon mix over the bottom of an oven proof dish
• Then layer half of the potato slices
• Pour half the sauce over the potatoes evenly
• Repeat as above
• Top with grated cheddar
• Cook in 190 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until cheese topping is golden brown.

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did. Very easy to make and very tasty.

 

[Saltdog]

well done on the loss hope you get an even better one on wi day x

Thanks Em, that's much appreciated. X

 

[Arctic-BNG]

There are definitely parts of SW which are confusing me too. I'm finding it difficult to understand why some foods start off free and end up with Syns if you cook them or something!! I try not to dwell on it too much though. Just take the diet for what it is. What I'm doing appears to be working so I'm not going to try and overanalyse anything.

This came up in group last night.

Most of the time it's to do with how you use the food. If it's used as natural as possible then they are free. If you cook them or change them in any way they have to be syn'd.

The example is fruit. Fine and very free when it's raw as intended to be eaten. As soon as you cook it, it changes via the process of cooking, I think it's to do with the balance of sugar/ fibre/carbs etc. Making it easier to eat and therefore easier to over eat it?

Does that make sense?

This is why fruit juice has to be syn'd, no fibre in it and higher in sugars. Similar is you can eat apples but can't juice them.

If someone else can put it in simpler terms then feel free!

 

[BopKatie]

This came up in group last night.

Most of the time it's to do with how you use the food. If it's used as natural as possible then they are free. If you cook them or change them in any way they have to be syn'd.

The example is fruit. Fine and very free when it's raw as intended to be eaten. As soon as you cook it, it changes via the process of cooking, I think it's to do with the balance of sugar/ fibre/carbs etc. Making it easier to eat and therefore easier to over eat it?

Does that make sense?

This is why fruit juice has to be syn'd, no fibre in it and higher in sugars. Similar is you can eat apples but can't juice them.

If someone else can put it in simpler terms then feel free!

That is pretty much it, it can also be that even though they are free say if you juiced up 4/5 apples to make one glass of juice, it's a lot easier to drink one glass of juice than eat 4/5 apples... Kinda wasted calories? Hope that makes sense....
Katie x

 

[piX128]

That is pretty much it, it can also be that even though they are free say if you juiced up 4/5 apples to make one glass of juice, it's a lot easier to drink one glass of juice than eat 4/5 apples... Kinda wasted calories? Hope that makes sense....
Katie x

yes I can see that when you put it that way ..its not necessarily that they end up with more calories in them by cooking/blending etc but its far easier to eat lots more of them that way than if you were having to munch your way through them fresh! Its the same as the muller lights - yes they are free but if you were eating a dozen a day its still 1200 calories !

 

[piX128]

thanks for the recipe KEv, even better without the sausages as I dont like them. Will definitely be giving it a go in the week

I hope you're managing to get through the weekend ok ! x

 

[Saltdog]

The weekend is finally over and the damage it's done is yet to be revealed at WI tomorrow morning. Meals have been ok over the weekend I think although there was the odd naughty ingredient in a couple of dishes. I think the main thing which may have harmed me is the crisps and dips etc!! Too hard to resist!! I'd be so much thinner if I wasn't such a sociable kinda guy!! Lol.

Alcohol wasn't as bad as I expected so that's one bonus. I'm completely 100% so far today so fingers crossed pumping myself full of water and green tea will flush a lot of the bad stuff out of my system with any luck. I'll be having a fairly intense workout tonight as well so that might help. Either way, I know I was 2.5lbs down on Friday so tomorrow's result should be interesting to say the least. It was a bad time to have a bad weekend since my mini-goal is only a week tomorrow. Tomorrow's WI will definitely decide if it's going to be possible to lose that first stone by valentine's day!! Fingers crossed! :cross:

 

[Saltdog]

Hi folks,

WI day yet again! I was very nervous stepping on the scales this morning. I think it's due to the fact that I set my mini-goal to lose a stone by valentine's day. It gives me far more motivation than just aiming for a date and weight loss by June as my ultimate goal is on SW. I'll need to make sure I keep making these mini-goals to strive towards.

Anyhoo, WI today wasn't as bad as expected. As regular readers of my thread are no doubt aware, I lost 2.5lbs between last Tuesday and Friday. After a bit of a sociable weekend, I've only gained 0.5lbs! That still gives me a 2lb weight loss over the week which I'm really pleased with.

My weight loss over the last week has really given me the confidence and drive to make the last 4lbs to my first stone by next Tuesday. If I'd had a good weekend I'd have made 4lbs this week I reckon. Also, I've upped the intensity of my exercise so it can only go to improve my results. Here's hoping anyway!!