Extra Easy Third superfree - something to ponder

[Stefanie]

Yeah I think it's really easy to stick to 1/3 superfree at lunch and dinner but a bit more tricky at breakfast especially if you are having eggs. What I tend to do is add half a grapefruit or a small fruit salad. Now this might be adding extra calories but it stops me snacking until my next meal as I am comfortably full. Plus personally I think breakfast is the most important meal which kick starts your metabolism so the more goodness the better xx

 

[catxx]

I like the idea of soup or salad before a main but only because I like soup or salad. I don't think it would make me eat less of my main though as I LOVE my food. I love a big portion of spaghetti carbonara, of eggs chips and peas and other such dinners and I don't want to eat less of those foods

My current rule of thumb is this - If I can change peas for broccoli or carrots and it goes okay then I will do so but if i just don't want the superfree or it doesn't go, then I'm not eating it extra, for the sake of it.
So, I'm going to stick with my plain old eggs on toast and eggs, chips and peas and not eat a banana afterwards to make it a superfree meal (cos I don't think it does!!)

Absolutely! Same here lol

 

[Loralou]

I also find this interesting as breakfast for me is the easiest meal to eat suprefree foods! I eat an apple, a banana a satsuma and a muller light pretty much every day for brekkie. I do change the fruits a bit. It's lunch I find harder as I hate lettuce and there has to be fresh salad in my fridge to add it to my baked potato, or sandwich or whatever.
Dinner is easy with veggies added in.

 

[BritMumInCanada]

I have always said when giving advice about 1/3 superfree, that in my opinion I don't agree with eating a 1/3 superfree AFTER your meal. If you can't include it in your meal, then it should be eaten before, as a bowl of soup or similar.

The whole idea of a 1/3 superfree is to control your portions of the higher caloried free foods (i.e. carbs and proteins).

So it will be even worse having a plate piled high with just carbs and proteins, and then going on to eating a big bowl of fruit, because the chances are you will most definately be full after your meal and are just eating more food for the sake of it.

Re: breakfasts. I always start the day with a piece of fruit or two (mainly because I wake up ravenous at the moment, for obvious reasons , so need something quick) and then see how hungry I feel after that, as to what I then have for the main part of my breakfast. This way I have pretty much had my 1/3 superfree before having my main part of brekkie. Sometimes I may not feel like much at all after the fruit. If I know I am having cereal though I tend to slice in a banana or throw in some fresh berries as I find it keeps me fuller for longer and I don't find myself needing to snack before lunch.

 

[Lonestitcher]

I can't believe it!!! Jaylou has become a tweaker!!!! :faint2:

Welcome :welcome: to the dark side!!! :sign0151:

 

[jaylou]

ha ha ha!!!
Nope, it's not tweaking. It isn't. It can't be.

Or is it?????

 

[catxx]

Fruit or yogurt just doesn't cut it for me for breakfast. I am a porridge girl and that fills me up till lunch without any extras. I do red n green days anyway and part of the reason is I can't have 1/3 superfree with my breakfast.

On the occasional day that I do EE I still rarely have 1/3 superfree with breakie or lunch but will snack on fruit. I have got to target doing this so not going to worry over whether it is tweaking or not lol!

 

[JosieDelonge]

I do a lot of EE days but I have to say I've never had anything other than weetabix and milk for breakfast. I can't stand fruit on cereal! I've never really thought about it either...

I have fruit for snacks and add extra veg/salad in to my lunch and evening meals. I haven't had any problems so far with losses. Hmm... some things to think about...

 

[*honey]

Well, I think to be honest if what your doing is working for YOU then stick with it. ( I am a tweaker myself...there i have admitted it...lol) but its working for me and hubby. ( combined loss so far of nearly 9st in a year - i am target now, hubby still loosing) When we have had weeks where things slowed then we re evaluated.
I dont do EE, we just do green, but i do have the 1/3 rule in the back of my mind, just to make sure each meal is balanced.

I think there is a certain amount common sense that is needed, but a phrase i have come to like is 'common sense isn't very common!'
If your already having a sensible sized portions and not over doing then if you dont have 1/3 superfree then its not going to cause problems.
I think the rule comes more in to play if you are unable to plate up a sensible sized portion.
so with your fish, chip and pea meal, if you have 1 average piece of fish, 'normal' serving chips and peas then you'll be ok, but the problem starts if you have a high appetite and could quite easily eat that meal 2 or 3 times over........ in that case weight is not going to be lost. therefor filling up on superfree IS going to play a significant part in that persons weight loss.

As a tweaker though, i use my common sense and make choices. if i have a gain, then i re evaluate.
Like i dont syn cooked fruit if its just ONE piece. I eat Tescos own Low fat yogs as free (actually 2 1/2 to 3syns a pot) ( cant afford mullers) BUT i would only eat 1 a day at most as a pudding at lunch.
I stick to 10 syns a day but dont bother synning tomato sauce etc ( dont think im using 35 syns of condiments a week, which makes the 5 a day i dont use)
I make cous cous cake, but 1 cake lasts hubby and I a week, and we dont have it every week.
I have a bit more cereal than the 28g - 33g and no scan bran!

All of these things are NOT part of SW - however i am eating better and healthier now and have lost 2 1/2 stone and keeping it off. Whatever i am doing now, even with my serial tweaking IS 100% better than what i was eating during 2009 when i gained the weight in the first place.
I didnt gain the weight by eating vast quantities, i just ate foods that were high calorie foods. lots of homemade bread, dripping in butter and honey, nice homecooked meals but with added cheese, rich sauces, chocolate and home baked cakes etc. which soon adds up.

I tend to think i am following the basic principles of SW, which encourages me to make healthier choices to avoid the weight creeping back on again.
anyway theres my tuppence worth! lol

 

[kim63]

Well said Honey

 

[Pootler]

You're right - eating extra food to follow the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it is completely daft.

You only have to have two of your three meals a day follow the superfree rule though, so you don't have to have it with your breakfast.

I can tell that the 1/3 superfree rule works. I DO fill up on the superfree (coz I eat it first) and I DO eat less of the other food on my plate, and I DO lose weight. So I really don't see the point at all of eating a full meal and then eating fruit afterwards - that's totally missing the point of Extra Easy. The point is to eat the superfree with your meal so that you eat less overall. Eating it afterwards is only leading you to eat more.

Maybe not following the rule strictly works for some people. Personally I love the structure and the guideline it gives me that helps me make up a well balanced plate of food. It's teaching me how to eat. It's making food feel safe again. And it's so bl**dy simple that I wonder why the government doesn't have a big ad campaign to promote this ONE thing that everyone can do to be healthier. (Here in Holland they have ad campaigns showing fat people stuffing their faces, saying that eating a lot makes you fat. That's it. That's the message. VEEEERRRRRY helpful.)

The superfree rule is the best, most important thing SW has given me. So yeah, it does kind of irk me when other people don't follow it, because I really think it's wonderful. But each to his own I suppose. You need to tweak it so that it works and makes you lose weight, but so that you can also keep it up long term. So if your portions are normal sized and the scales are moving in the right direction then clearly the amount of superfree you're eating is working for you.

 

[peachy7]

Good thread Jaylou, I'm like you, I just like eggs on toast with nothing else but then this isn't a red, green or xtra easy meal is it, it's a hexb and free food....
so no you're not a tweaker as you have no red or green food so doesn't need 1/3rd superfree....

I totally see what you're saying about extra food just for the sake of it is quite daft, I'm sure and someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but when EE 1st came out 1/3 sf wasn't mentioned?! (maybe it was my old C not pushing it?!) but it also says it is advised not you must have... so up to the individual really I guess

 

[Cheekypasterfield]

When I'm EE, for me I try to have the 1/3 over the day. I always have fruit for my snacks when hungry and where possible I try to add veg into my meals.

I totally agree its silly to have extra food after a meal if youre full. If I'm having a meal minus the SF then ill have a smaller meal that still gives me a full feeling without being too full then have some fruit.

I find eating fruit snacks makes it easier to follow EE but I'm not sure if this way is considered right?

 

[BritMumInCanada]

SW didnt really advise the 1/3 superfree rule as much when Extra Easy first came out.

But I think they realised that not everyone can be sensible when having carbs and proteins mixed together. With original and green it wasn't so much of a problem, because you were pretty much limited with your portions anyway.

Slimming world works in a clever way, so that we don't have to count calories etc, which makes it so much easier to stick to. However at the end of the day with any weight loss regime, if you eat more than your body physically needs, then you won't lose weight and as the carbs and proteins have the higher calorie content of the free foods, they had to try and help you to control your portions of these foods without making the diet about weighing/counting calories etc.

So the 1/3 superfree rule then became a big part of Extra Easy (again it is still only advised). But I think it is a good rule to follow if you want the plan to work well for you and after all plenty of fruit and vegetables are important in anyones diet.

 

[Jennyonaplate]

I was fascinated with how the plan worked when I first started following it and must've asked a million questions - my phone bill to the syns hotline was BIG!!

I love how the plan uses such simple ways to get us eating well, and such simple psychological tricks to put you in control and see the foods in a positive way - such a different approach to losing weght.

When EE first came out there was no requirement for the superfree element (that I recall anyway), and consequently i didn't really get my head round it, or have any success. This time round it has the superfree element and it makes so much more sense. This forum really helped me to understand how it all worked, and I could see how the plan had evolved. And now i can email questions to the syns line it's saving me a fortune, because I must throw half a dozen questions at them each week!!!

 

[Stackhead]

I think that if it's working for you now then great stick to it and keep eating your eggs on toast without mushrooms. I only add mushrooms and maybe tomatoes because WW bread is sooooooo small!!

The only time it might become an issue is if you stop losing weight, then you might want to re-evaluate the whole 1/3 thing.

Personally for breakfast, I spread my breakfast out throughout the entire morning, because I can't face eating first thing. So I have an activia snackpot, then about an hour later I have an alpan light bar, then about an hour later I have some fruit....

1/3 right?

xx

 

[jaylou]

You only have to have two of your three meals a day follow the superfree rule though, so you don't have to have it with your breakfast.

Now this is something I've not heard before. Is this another one of those "common misconceptions?"

I must say it's been a good thread thus far Just wanted to add, I always eat fruit for snacks (if I do snack, which is not very often), this is following the EE advice of using superfree food in the first instance for snacks - but I don't see this as spreading my superfree throughout the day.

 

[*Emsie*]

I think they tend to say have a banana with your cereals and fruit at breakfast so thought it was still advised for breakfasts to but have myself thought that if I was having weetabix with milk and just adding a banana to it to obey the rule then it would be a tad bizarre but as I like banana/fruit with my breakfasts then its not a problem for me.
I suppose if it would stop some people just having their cereal but then later having something less healthy than a banana/fruit then it is a good suggestion.
I think it gives people the flexibility, as sw does in many ways, to do what suits them within the plan/s as again its a recommendation not an absolute rule and some of us would need to stick to it more than others.

 

[ginlin]

I'm pretty much a newbie to SW, as I am only in my third week.
My first week I followed extra easy, but have to confess to not even thinking about the 1/3 superfree element and thus didn't include it. I also ate more rice and pasta than I would have normally, I had been on WW propoints previously, and considered that maybe this was why I STS.
After reading posts on here, I realised the importance of the 1/3 superfree and included it in every meal, and also did two red days to allow me to have some cheese as an healthy extra and to stop me eating too much carbohydrate - this obviously worked for me, as I lost 1.5lbs, which is a lot in one week for me.

 

[lesley50]

I know someone who is doing EE and swears the superfree have some magical powers to cancel all the calories in everything else ! I tried explaining that its basically to fill your plate up to leave less room for higher calorie dense food but dont think she gets it .

And of course it depends on the size of your plate !!