Extra Easy Thinking of quitting

[GabrielOlivia]

So I'm considering quitting slimming world after only 3 weeks (online). My first week I lost 5lb. Second 4lb. Third, nothing.

I AM sticking to plan - 1/3 speed at least with every meal plus often more fruit as a snack. I weigh my healthy extras and syns vigilantly.

There are a few things that bother me about this plan and I can't shake the feeling it's not going to work. For example, how is OK to eat a mugshot as a snack? They're around 230 calories...so if I ate two, why can't I just have a chocolate bar instead, for the same cals? Slimming world does say it all comes down to cals in versus cals out.

Also, if your clever with your syns you can have a chocolate bar every day. So yesterday for example I had a bad day and didn't eat as healthy as I'd like but I DID stay on plan.....I had a choc bar for 12.5 syns. And a mug shot. That's over 500 cals in snacks.

I know I shouldn't be calorie counting but it's a hard habit to break, and when I stepped on the scales and saw no loss my faith is seriously fading.

I'm wondering if I should just count cals instead. I lost 4 stone pre pregnant that way but I thought that seeing as I now have 9 month old twins to care for, subscribing to a plan would be easier. It takes time counting and logging and planning every bite!!

I don't know. I'm in two minds. What do people advise I do??

I have 3-4 stone to lose.

 

[lickthelid]

And therin lies the root of many a query on here.

It's easy to say "the plan works trust it" because ultimately that's true for many many people. However it's not that simple.

All diets work to kcal deficit but they all achieve it in different ways. Slimming world builds in limiters such as the 1/3 speed foods with each meal that naturally reduces the amount of plate left for other foods. Secondly the focus is on a good balance of protein and carb with enough fat to keep us satisfied. Over time this will reduce the need to snack as your system gets used to "better foods". Less blood sugar spikes means less picking. There are some wild cards like mug shots and to some degree things like muller lights. Mugshots are gross (personal opinion granted) but they are quite dense in terms of food. You add liquid but they retain a kind of glutinous texture so can be quite filling. The same goes for yoghurts like muller lights. I think anyone sensible recognises what you have done. You cant eat endless amounts of these seemingly "free" foods an expect to lose weight. The same has to be said for simple carbs like potatoes and white pasta/rice. The slimming world caveat is to eat until you are satisfied. Something, as dieters, we sometimes struggle to recognise. We aim for FULL. There is a post on the main page about free foods and whether they are truly free or not. I tend to err towards not really simply based on the fact that I am a very greedy person and would eat a whole chicken given the chance.
You hit the nail on the head when you said about being clever with your syns. If you fiddle the plan you can make it work for you but fiddle too much and it distorts it to the point that it may stop working. This is why things like tweaks are discouraged.

The fact you had 500kcal in snacks is ironically irrelevant in that you stayed within your limits. The only real impact will be that in terms of volume of food 500kcal will go much further with healthy food and so fill you up more. If your daily kcal limit to lose weight is 1500kcal it's doesn't matter how you use that 1500kcal in reality just that you stay within it. If you eat -500kcal of chocolate everyday you would lose weig but you would be so hungry you would then crack and eat more pushing you over your limit for the day. Not to mention all the other negative side effects.

There is a post called SW FAQ that I wrote which may explain better so take a look.

Slimming world isn't for everyone. It's works for most but not everyone gets on with it. Otherwise no other diet plan would exist.

Keep us posted good luck with whatever you decide to do

Sam

 

[lickthelid]

And 9lbs in three weeks is a really good loss. I know that a sts can be disappointing but in reality it can happen for a hundred and one reasons and what you ate is only one! Water, hormones, heat, time of day, what you wear (if anything as you must weigh in at home) toilet habits, volume of meal the night before all of these can have a negative affect on the scales.

 

[lentil2]

I hope you decided to continue? Its clearly working for you!

As said above, 9lb in 3 weeks is a great loss and often after large losses, a maintain happens, almost as if your body needs time to catch up.

On the syns front, its not just about calories but also about satiety. So yes, you could have a bar of chocolate for the same calories as a Mugshot but the chances are the mugshot would fill you up a little better than a bar of chocolate would, not to mention the sugar hit (and later, the dip) you would get from the chocolate bar.