Student Slimmer going it alone

[MSL]

Hi,

I have always been familiar with Slimming World, my Mum has done it for years and always been successful. Since uni the student lifestyle has helped me to pile on the pounds and I have decided that it is time to change. I want to feel good about myself again, and I hope Slimming World can help me do that. I don't like the idea of going to meetings and being weighed in front of people, so as I know the ropes I plan to go it alone (with a little help from Mum).

I have started a blog to help me stay motivated and to share recipes, as well as connect with fellow student slimmers. Please take a look. The link is below, just copy and paste it into your browser

https://adayinthelifeofastudentslimmer.wordpress.com/

Food Diary: Day 1- 10.01.2016

BREAKFAST:
The day started with a 30g bowl of fruit n fibre (HEB) with 100ml semi-skimmed milk (HEA). This was accompanied by a cup of tea (with milk HEA) and a smoothie. I know smoothies are not allowed on slimming world, but I find them so convenient in the morning with early starts, so I just syn them.

Today’s smoothie consisted of 30g frozen pineapple, 2 strawberries, 20g frozen raspberries, 20g frozen mango and a bit of water to thin it out (6 syns).

LUNCH:
Lunch today was a ham salad which was made of lettuce, rocket, spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, radish and Aldi Wafer thin smoked ham. Not to forget the half a tablespoon of lighter than light mayonnaise (0.25).

Also, I had low fat natural yoghurt, mango, strawberries and 25g Jordan’s almond and raisin granola (5 syns).

DINNER:
Pasta with roasted vegetables and 2 baked chicken legs. The vegetables were roasted in Frylight, so syn free. However, the chicken legs still had the skin on so that must be synned (2.5 syns)

Daily total syns= 13.75 syns

 

[Murphtang]

Hi there.

Looks like you had a good first day

I'm not trying to sell you on the meetings, but if it is only the weight you are worrying about, your weight is kept completely confidential between you and the consultant. No one else knows it I was so nervous about that at first too, but no one knows your weight but you and the consultant and there is absolutely no judgement, only encouragement!

 

[MSL]

Hi,

Thanks Okay, that I didn't know. But I am a student, so money is tight enough and if I can do it alone without paying to go to meetings, then I might as well. If things don't work out, and the weight doesn't come off, then I will probably look at going to meetings. But for now, I will try it this way. There is so much support and encouragement on this website.

 

[Murphtang]

Oh definitely! I think you'll do great doing it alone, just wanted to let you know if it was just the weight thing, it's all secret!

Good luck!

 

[MSL]

Thank you!

 

[MSL]

Here goes, this is today's food diary

Breakfast:
I didn't have time for breakfast this morning as slept in late, which is pretty much the story of my life. So, I made a smoothie and I had a coffee with milk (HEA)

Smoothie: 1/2 pink grapefruit, 30g raspberries, 1 kiwi, 100ml apple and raspberry juice (7.5 syns)

Lunch:
A cheese salad. Consisting of iceberg lettuce, spinach, watercress and rocket, cucumber, plum tomatoes, celery, 25g light mature cheese (4 syns) and a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar. Thank goodness that is free, because it is perfect for giving salads a bit of life.

Also, some mango and strawberries.

Dinner:
Dinner today was a beef stir fry with beef steak, bean sprouts, aubergine, courgette, mushrooms, carrot, onion and noodles. With dark soy sauce, a table spoon of oyster sauce, ginger, fire spice, paprika and garlic. The only non syn free ingredient would be the oyster sauce (1 synish- not sure about the syn content for oyster sauce though)

Snacks:

Pink lady apple, banana, mango, low fat strawberry yoghurt (free), honeydew melon and green grapes.

Drinks:

water, tea with milk (HEA), coffee with milk (HEA) x2


Total syns: 12.5


Feel free to check out my student slimmers blog at:

https://adayinthelifeofastudentslimmer.wordpress.com/

 

[Danij89]

Hello, I am also a student and I am following slimming world. Your diary looks really good.

 

[MSL]

Hello, I am also a student and I am following slimming world. Your diary looks really good.

Thanks How do you find doing slimming world on a budget? I am finding it a bit more expensive than the usual shop because I eat so much fruit and vegetables, but Aldi is a life saver!

 

[Jhsax]

I'm a mature student, its refreshing to see a student who is cooking something that's not processed, all my friends cook only from a jar or microwave and oven meals.
Slimming world can be expensive, but they do have a student meal planner that makes a weeks worth of meals for £25 from asda (I used this as an example for a project on healthy eating for students at college lol).
I've picked my favourite cheap meals out the mag and written them into a recipe book. If you avoid the steaks and fish and go for the pasta, potato, bean and mince dishes you'll save money. Spag bol is a good example, you can make several portions for a few pounds. Baked potato is also super versatile as you can have it with beans, tuna, cheese, cottage cheese or left over spag bol for a cheap lunch.

 

[MSL]

It is really nice to hear someone say that. I have never really thought much about it, but I guess it has been the way I have always been brought up. I don't really like eating microwaved or processed foods often, although I am having pizza tomorrow haha! Yeah, I do make spaghetti bolagnaise and SW curry etc. But fruit and veg is so expensive, when you eat so much of it! Thanks for the advice and help! Are you doing Slimming World then?

 

[Murphtang]

Tip for you as a student, if there is an Aldi near you, shop there! Super cheap fruit and veg that is really nice, and they do frozen salmon portions for not very much either (which are amazingly delicious, actually). They also do really nice German ham which is 17cal a slice so totally syn free.

Also, search round and see if there is a butcher in your area (sometimes at a market, idk where you are living), because often they will let you bulk buy stuff. We buy chicken breasts by the crate (literally haha) and it's £20 for 25 chicken breasts! They are really good quality, it's just the catering packs. We also buy bulk bacon (£12 for 5kg) and beef (which we cut into steaks). So we spend about £60 every three to four months buying meat (for two of us), because we buy it all in bulk, portion it up, and chuck it in the freezer. Definitely the way to go - although I would advise having access to a car if you do this, because meat is heavy lol.

 

[MSL]

I actually shop at Aldi and their food is great! I have buy their frozen salmon (so delicious). I would love to bulk buy, but I don't have the freezer space. I share a house with 3 friends and we have a freezer draw each, so I can't bulk buy like you do. But if I had the space I definitely would!

 

[Jhsax]

Yes I'm on slimming world. I much prefer HM pizza to shop bought, its less greasy. A good tip for low syn pepperoni is to buy some ham and dip it in paprika.

I buy everything frozen, a bag of frozen carrots is handy to have as a lot of recipes call for carrots and I use 2 or 3 and the rest go off, it also saves on peeling and chopping and a bag of mixed veg is good to accompany any meal.
I don't eat enough fruit, but sometimes I buy the frozen packs of summer fruit from asda and stick some in a muller yoghurt for a snack.
I also substitute a lot, for example if a recipe asks for mangetout (£1 for a little bag) I substitute green beans (£1 for a big frozen bag), but if you haven't much space for freezer stuff I guess doing it that way would be more difficult.
I spend £80 a week on my shop for 4 people at asda, which includes the skinny peoples weekly pizza.

 

[MSL]

Okay, so today has been a horrible day! I had no sleep, up all night revising for an exam, which was mind blowingly awful, and because of that I ate a load of toblerone to make myself feel better!
Anyways...

Breakfast:

Fruit n fibre (HEB) with 100ml semi-skimmed milk (HEA) and a coffee with milk (HEA)

Also, because I had an exam this morning and I had been up ALL night cramming, I also had 2 poached eggs, 1/2 can baked beans and a banana.

2 reasons:

1. I didn't want to get hungry throughout the exam
2. I was so hungry this morning!!

Lunch:

Tomato and herb pasta mugshot, strawberries, green grapes, Aldi's versions of sweet chilli sunbites (5.5 syns).

Snack:

So, after such an awful day. I have been up all night revising, no sleep, none at all! And the exam, well don't get me started, at least there is the resit. Anyway I had 4 triangles of Toblereone, which is syn overload. That's 3.25 syns per triangle so, a grand total of 13 syns.

Already, I have gone over the syn allowance. Oh dear!

Dinner:

Left over beef stir fry and noodles from last night's dinner

Total syns: 18.5 (ooops!)

Back on track tomorrow though...

 

[Jhsax]

You haven't gone that badly over your syns. When I'm feeling guilty I like to redeem myself by eating some fruit to counterbalance my naughtiness. Or maybe do a bit of exercise, this makes me feel positive rather than guilty and I'm less likely to self sabotage (I used to do that a lot).
You can also cut down on your syns today.

 

[MSL]

You haven't gone that badly over your syns. When I'm feeling guilty I like to redeem myself by eating some fruit to counterbalance my naughtiness. Or maybe do a bit of exercise, this makes me feel positive rather than guilty and I'm less likely to self sabotage (I used to do that a lot).
You can also cut down on your syns today.

I would love to exercise it off, but I have a really bad back and I can't. So sad!! But as soon as it is better I plan to exercise, so much!

 

[MSL]

So today has been a bad day too. I have not felt well all day and the only thing I have wanted is comfort food. I skipped breakfast, so let’s start with lunch

Lunch:

Banana and a black coffee

Dinner:

2 slices of toasted brown bread (4 syns)

half a can of baked beans

2 pork and apple sausages (I am not sure on the amount of syns)



Total syns: 4 plus I hate to think how many in the sausages. Does anyone know the syn value of a pork and apple sausage?

I will get back on track. urghhh

 

[MSL]

Food Diary: Day 5- 14/01/2016

So, one last bad day before I get back on track for the rest of the week. I know I keep saying this, but Tuesday was the exam and the day of no sleep, Wednesday I was still tired so all I wanted was comfort food and today was my friends Birthday. We all watched a movie and had dominoes pizza.

I woke up late today, so no breakfast again. So let me start with lunch.

Lunch:

I had a tuna with spinach, rocket, tomato, cucumber and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Snack:

Honeydew melon, mango and pineapple.

Dinner:

So here is where the day gets bad. I went for my favourite pizza. BBQ chicken and bacon from dominoes. I had 5 slices and a slice of cheesy garlic bread. After a small slice of my friends chocolate cake.

So, so bad and I know it is only week 1 but I can turn this around. This time I mean it, I mean we all have bad weeks arrrgh I feel so terrible.

Total syns= a gazillion trillion billion and one

 

[Jhsax]

Don't feel bad, write it off as a bad day and get back on track tomorrow

 

[MSL]

Today is the day I turn it around, with 2 more days to go before weigh in day!

Breakfast:

Today I started the day with a black coffee (3 sweetener), and a smoothie. One of my favourites. It was a kiwi (29cal), 50g mango (32.5cal), 50g raspberries (28cal), 100ml apple and raspberries (54cal) and 30g pineapple (14cal) and an ice cube. So, that’s a total of (around 7 syns)

Lunch:

Lunch was half a packet of Ainsley Harriot cous cous (0.25 syns) with half a can of tuna, iceberg lettuce, with a dash of balsamic vinegar. Also, a black coffee (with 3 sweetener).

Dinner:

Dinner today was another stir fry, but chicken this time. So one Chicken breast, half a bag of bean sprouts, courgette, red pepper, aubergine, mushrooms and onion. Also, a portion of noodles. This was mixed with ginger, paprika, dark soy sauce and oyster sauce.

Snacks/drinks:

Melon, pineapple, mango, banana and apple

A black coffee (3 sweetener), also a diet coke and water etc.

So all in all today has been such a good day, which is needed after my past 3 blip days. So determined to lose 3 or 4 pounds this week.

Total syns: only 7.25 syns