First week

Ok so im assumning that those who are reading this are more than likely in their first week or few weeks of the slimming world plan. If not i hope that this may convince you to make the jump and just got it :). I am writing all of this information in highnsight as i didnt think of starting this blog until tonight. However i still remember my first week very clearly.

As i mentioned on my first post the night of i joined slimming world i spent my whole night reading through all the information in the booklet i was given. With all this new information i woke up on friday morning with alot of enthusiasm. For my first week i wasnt really sure what i was doing so i played it safe. I had a salad with lettuce, cucumber, red onion, ham and some salt and pepper. I basically had this every day for a week. As i was still having the regular cravings for snacking i also carried with me a bag of carrots and a 2lt bottle of water. Believe me this did not go down well. Nearly 2 months later and i am still being called carrot boy. So maybe i looked ridiculious carrying round a bag of chopped carrots but it didnt matter because it helped me conquer my cravyings for the first week.

One of the worst parts of my first week was the drinking session i attended. You may ask why would i go to a party that i wouldnt be able to drink at. A party that their would be alot of fast food and drink consumed. Looking back i have to say it was one of the worst ideas i have ever had :P I wanted to be their and enjoy the night with my friends but at the same time it was hard to sit there and be the sober one. Usually i am the one who downs 10 pints and spends the rest of the night pretending im superman and talking in an american accent. This time i nearly killed the party just by being the sober one! Wait! i have a picture!


Anywho. What i am trying to say is your first week is obviously going to be very difficult. Going from eating a 200g bar of chocolate most nights to no choc is a big transition to make. As much as you try not to let it affect your mood it does get to you. Late on in the first week i also discovered syns and started to enjoy them. The book states that you should have between 5 and 15 syns a day. Personally i dont waste my syns on things like butter. Instead i save all mine for chocolate. As soon as i discovered that curly wurlys were only 6.5 syns i made sure to have one a day and boy did i enjoy it :).

Other low syn treats that i recommend are Matchmakers at 1 syn per stick. Freddos at 5 syns, Kit Kat 5 syns (2 stick) and milky way at 6. If you want a full size bar of choc and are willing to give up all your syns in that day for it i would recommend a mars bar. Its 14 syns for the 63g bar and its so sweet so you can nibble on it and still get a great taste. I didn't have a full size bar until my 6th week but when i had it i chose a Mars Bar and it took me 3 hours to eat it all :)

Also in your first week don't be afraid to experiment. There are many recipes out there to help ease the transition. In my first week i discovered slimming world chips and burgers. Burgers can be made healthy by buying extra lean mince defrosting it throwing in an egg and forming into a burger shape. The egg helps to bind the meat and also adds a nice flavour.

I also made the Smash Pizza in my first week. This is using Smash instant potato as the base and putting all the regular pizza ingredients ontop. The recipe for smash pizza is a little more complicated so im gonna save that for another post.

The final thing that happened in my first week is the all important weight in. After eating healthy for a week and resisting most of my urges i was hoping for a bit loss. To see otherwise would have demotivated me so much. Walking up to the scales on you second week is probably the most nerve racking experience. Thankfully when i jumped on the scales in the first week i had a nice loss of 6.5 pounds which was a massive pick me up. Don't worry if you did not lose this on your first week. It doesn't mean that the slimming world plan is not going to work for you. There are a number of reasons why you may not lose as much. First off, your not following the plan to its potential. Secondly, you may not as much weight to lose. Thirdly, some medications and conditions can apparently slow weight loss. Forthly, alot of water is lost from your muscles in your first week. If you do not have much muscle this could affect your loss. <-----Dont quote me on that last bit as im not sure about the details :P All I no is water, muscle make weight go away :)

To clerify the difference in losses we can look at how much my family and friends have lost in their first week. My friend lost 5 my Mum Lost 3 1/2 and my Sister lost 3. So dont worry if your not losing massive amounts it will all come off eventually :)

Well thats my first week covered from what i can remember. Im not going to go through and mention every week and what happened in it as i honestly cant remember. The past few months have just formed together into a fat burning blur. I will be doing alot of posts in the comming weeks and months about How to eat out Healthy!, How to get the Most Choc for your Syns, Common misconceptions, slimming world updates, alot of recipes and hopefully some links to some slimming sites.

I hope you all enjoyed your first weeks and i wish you all success. If you have any questions or queries about slimming world or syn values i will try and do my best to help.

Shopping List.

There are a few things that you simply must have in your house if you are going to embark on the slimming world plan.

Frylight

First and foremost is some sort of low calorie cooking spray. There are many of these product our there although im unfamiliar with their names. The only one which i no the name of is frylight which i own. If they are less than 2 calories per spray they are considered free to use on the slimming world plan. I somewhat take advantage of this when i am cooking chips as i use upward of 50 sprays :P I have yet to ask my consultant if this is ok but as i rarely have chips im just gonna play the ignorance is bliss game :P

Marmite

Next up on the shopping list is marmite. Obviously for a lot of people this is a take it or leave it product. At the same time i feel i have to mention it as it is such a versatile cooking item. You can have it on toast mix it in with potato for some extra flavor, you can even turn in into a gravy to put over roast potatoes.

Herbs and Spices

Another very important thing to start stocking your house with is herbs and spices. Personally i was never one for using herbs to taste my meals as they always tasted just right with a slab of butter. On the slimming world plan you will find that some foods just need that extra kick as they no longer have fat in them to flavour them. If we look at burgers for example. You can make them up with extra lean mince and they are just as tasty if not better than the normal fat version. Sometimes though they can be a little dry or lacking some kick so i would mix in peri peri or some mixed spice just to give it that extra something.

The same can be said for chicken or chips. If im doing chips and chicken in the oven i will open the oven up half way through and throw a few handfuls of chilli powder and crushed peppercorns over them. Once they are done the flavours have mixed into them so well that your going back for seconds.

Hand Blender/Blender

I really wish someone would have told me how good soup at the start so im tell you. Im not a big fan of having chunks in my food while im eating. I no its just a piece of tomato or onion but it still ruins the meal for me. So after i make a pot of soup i will stick in my trusty hand blender and blitz the whole thing til it smooth. A brilliant recipe which i found was to use a few stock cubes, 2 leeks, 2 onions, few large potatoes and a kettle full of water. Mix them all together, let it cook for an hour and then blitz it into a perfect soup :) If you are a fan of spicy soup i advice crushing up a handful of black peppercorns and throwing them in. NOM NOM NOM.

Another thing that is just essential is a few bottles of sugarfree drinks. If you are a recovering coke addict like myself you will be aware at how hard it is to kick the habit. When i joined slimming world the biggest transition i had to make was to stop drinking coke. When i discovered that coke zero had basically no calories and was just as tasty as real coke i was delighted. This is the same for all other diet/zero drinks just make sure to check the nutritional info on the back.

Butter

While you are out shopping it is advisable to try to find lower calorie/fat versions of the things you are already eating. I myself went from golden cow to flora light and honestly i cant tell the difference. Dont quote me on this but if i remember correctly flora light has less than 1/4 of the calories and fat that regular butter has.

This doesn't just apply to butter tho. If you have anything in your fridge that you think is too high in fat just try and find a better one. 90 percent of the time there is an alternate out there!

The next post i will talk about my first week and sweeties :)

The basics

Superfree and Free Foods

Well i should probobly start off by explained what the general rules of slimming world are. The rules that you have to follow if you expect to have big weight loss. As im doing the extra easy plan its the only plan i can advice you on. All new members are told to go on the extra easy plan as far as i know. The red and green come in down the line when you are trying to shift those last few pounds.

The idea of the extra easy plan is that you have many pages of superfree, free and syned foods. You can eat as much free and superfree foods as you like as long as you stop eating when you are full. Syned foods on the other hand are bad for you and will hinder weight loss. For every meal on extra easy 1/3rd of your plate should be full superfree foods, and 2/3rds free foods. Superfree are foods like free vegetables (Not potato). Free foods are things like potatoes, chicken, egg, extra lean mince or steaks etc.

An example meal would be 1/3rd carrots (Superfree) and 2/3rd Chicken and Potato (Free). This meal is 100% on plan. You could exchange you carrot for any superfree the same goes for your chicken and potato they can be swapped out for any free foods you like.

Healthy Extras

A healthy extra is an item which would normally be syned. The difference between these items and syns is that you body needs a certain amount to make it work. Healthy option A are items like milk and cheese, dairy products in short. Healthy option B is things like cereal, cereal bars, wholemeal bread crisp breads etc. The extended list can be found in your books.

Some people will have trouble using their healthy extras everyday but the trick is to be creative. A meal which i have regularly is 1 slice of wholemeal bread turned into french toast. While it is on the pan i let 28g of spicy cheese melt into it. In this meal you have used your healthy option A (Cheese) and healthy option B (Wholemeal Bread).

Each day you should aim to have both of your healthy extras. Some people think of them as a chore to have to fit in. I personally see them as a relief as otherwise i wouldnt be able to have cheese without syning it.

Tea and Coffee drinkers beware! You are only allowed 250ml of semi-skimmed milk as you healthy option A so if your like your tea and coffee make sure you keep track of your milk intake. My consultant suggest that at the start of the day measure out 250ml of milk and put it in a bottle in the fridge. Everytime you need milk use from this bottle, when its empty you arnt allowed anymore milk!

As i mentioned before you are only allowed 1 of healthy option A and B so if you need you milk for coffee your not allowed to have your cheese that day. While we are on the topic of tea and coffee i advice getting artificial sugar. If you were to use regular sugar in your coffee/tea you could end up using you syns for the entire week very quickly. Especially if your life my mum on 10 cups a day.

Syns

Syns are the best part of the slimming world plan. Alot of diet plans will not allow you to have chocolate. This means that as time passes you will just crave it for and more. The slimming world plan allows you to have sweeties in the form of syns. Every product which is bad for you will have a syn value. If it isnt in your book you will be able to find it out on the slimming world website. Syns are not only for chocolate and sweets but for things like butter and bread.

Slimming World Introduction

I thought it would be an interesting idea to record my progress in slimming world. I think that it would help keep me motivated and hopefully help other people down the line when they decide to take the plunge. Im not all that knowledgeable at the minute but im working on it. Will be giving everything from basic information to full recipes over the next several months. I would like to make this blog a sort of safe haven for all those who need support and advice and will try to respond to all comments.

First and formost lets get some infromation on me :) I am 19, male, and have been Fat for as long as i have had a computer :P Ironically im still sitting here now blogging about my fatness. I have tried many crash diets over the years and if im honest nothing seemed to work fast enough. Im sure many of you out their are in the same boat "If it doesnt work fast then its not worth doing".

I finally decided enough was enough and was going to try some food replacement shakes but my sister didnt think it was a good idea. My sister mentioned a friend had been to slimming world and had great success. After a few weeks of mulling it over i convinced both my mum and my sister to join up with me. My personal advice is to try and get at least 1 person to attend meetings with you. If this is not possible i would at least try and find someone that wont mind you rambling on about it as support is just as important as the diet itself.

Anyway we went to our first meeting on the thursday night. Sat through the initiation which was baffling to say the least. All this information about foods that you can have/cant have/and can have some of.

Next up was the scales and let me tell you that was a long walk. Its unbelievable how much you worry about seeing those numbers. You see yourself everyday and see that you are getting bigger but the very thought of your body being squeezed into such as small little glass window is daunting.

I came out with a nice little 15.3 Stone, a full stone more than i thought i weighed :S While i was there i also got measured up. Needless to say at 5ft10 i had a BMI that was off the scales topping out at a 31. In one chart i looked at the BMI only went up to 29, as you might image that was a bit worrying. Also with a waist size of 42 inches i was at greater risk of developing all these lovely illnesses i hadn't even heard of.

So anyway we sat through the meetings listening to all the updates and things that our consultant had to say. Then came time for the all important weight loss report. The idea in this is that we start from left to right and ask each person what they lost. I swear if not for the 5 minutes to people calling out what they had lost i don't think i would have stuck with it.

Some people in our meetings had losses of 4 pounds and higher. This was a big change from what i had read. Most guides say you can only lose 2 pounds a week healthy.

Armed with the knowledge that weight loss of 2 pounds was not the hardest thing in the world i hit the books hard to find out more. In the first night i must have read through every piece of info in my little welcome booklet. Including the piece about becoming a consultant but we will get to that later.

Next post will detail you first few days on slimming world :)