Well, I am feeling alot better now. I have been to Tenerife with Shane and now need some inspiration...
Well, I am feeling alot better now. I have been to Tenerife with Shane and now need some inspiration to write again. Any suggestions?
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:372
Members who trust:372
Ever felt bloated and fat? Want to go on a diet, but every time you do after a couple of weeks you want to eat a chocolate bar and then another and soon find you have left your diet well in the past? Then I may have a solution for you. It is Slimming World. Yes, you may laugh, but it does work. I decided that I needed to loose weight when I found I was wearing size 18 clothes. Shane my hubby joined at the same time but he was very sceptical. We had just been to South American and the pictures of us showed us to be huge. So BANG we needed to do something about it and my friend was Food Optimising and loosing weight, so I thought I would give it a go. I dragged Shane along under protest!
Firstly, Slimming World looks to food optimising, rather than a rigid diet. 'Food Optimising offers no false hopes or weird theories. Food Optimising is based on sound, healthy-eating principles.'
We go to a local group on a Monday evening from 5.30pm till 7pm. There are many classes round the country at various times in the day, so there is a class for everyone. To find out where you nearest class is go to www.slimmingworld.com and you need to type in your post-code and the details of your local groups will be displayed. Then make your choice.
The joining fee is currently £10 from the 3rd November 2007, but from time to time there are deals where the joining fee is halved or waived altogether. The class fees are currently £4.50 a week or if you are a senior citizen then the fee is £4.25 or you can pay for five weeks and get a free week or pay for ten weeks and get two weeks free. I tend to buy the ten weeks balk buy.
Once you are a member you are entitled to the following benefits: ·Access to the members area on the website (www.slimmingworld.com) ·Four weeks holiday (where you do not pay) ·Support from your group (which is often fun and you pick up lots of tips) ·Support from your adviser/consultant (our adviser is very friendly and you can call her during the week if you need extra help).
The very first class you are greeted but your adviser who will then spoken to about how to follow Slimming World works and about
the idea of Food Optimising. You have to fill in a small form about yourself. The leader will then answer any questions you may have. Then you pay your fee and then you are weighed and you weight will be recorded in your book, which you are given when Food Optimising is discussed and on your personal record, which the consultant keeps, so as to make sure your book is up to date if you forget it. You will also be asked to stay for class (if you want which runs for about an hour), to learn what it is all about and how other people are getting on and then at the end is the slimmer of the week and the raffle, we will come to these later. At the beginning of the session you are introduced to the group and others may offer advice, as well as the consultant, on specific area that they may have had problems with. Classes follow the same format each week, although every session is different. You will be weighed and your weight will be recorded in your book and record sheet, during the first half hour of the class and then for the latter hour the consultant reads out everybody's names and how much weight they have lost the week and altogether. Your actual weight is never disclosed, just what you have lost or gained. Thank goodness! You will be given a round of applause or a cheer for your accomplishment or for support if things haven't gone as well as hoped. Then you will be asked a few simple questions about what sort a week you have had and how you think you have got on or if you know where you went 'wrong'. You will then be asked how much you wish to loose for next weeks class and this will be recorded or if you have any concerns this will also be noted. At the end of the group talk, then Slimmer of the Week is announced. This is the person who has lost the most amount of weight that week and has lost weight the week before. The prize is a bag of fruit, which is donated by members every week on signing in to the group. You are asked to bring one piece once you have become a member by your leader. Finally, a group raffle is drawn. The tickets are 50p per slip or 10p a ticket. You can win 'Free Food or Healthy Options' (which I will explain later on in this review
*Handbook*
This is given to you on joining and gives allows you to study the Food Optimising programme, giving both advice and information. It also gives you the particulars, which you may need to now about your leader e.g. vital telephone numbers. It is important to bring this book to every meeting, as you weight will be recorded at every session.
The contents of the handbook are roughly as follows: ·A welcome to Slimming World - it gives you an introduction to and about the programme and what you can attain from the programme. ·Your slimming success starts here - which details the options available to you within Food Optimising and it will help you to decide whether green days or original days suit you better (I only use Green Days, Shane prefers Original but has great weigh loss on Green, however this does not apply to everybody). ·Free food; make it work for you - Recipes that demonstrate what is available for eating on green and red days. The section has a sample breakfast, lunch and dinner. (A book can be brought to give you more details about these though). ·The green choice - Here you will find all the information necessary to assist your planning a green day menu. ·The original choice - Here you will find all the information necessary to assist your planning an original day menu. ·All about syns - a minimal list of some foods that have a syn value dependant on whether you use green and original days in planning the chosen food day. ·Slimming world extras - contains exercise advice, weight range charts and risk assessment tables and of course your own weight record.
*Food Optimising*
Food Optimising allows you to choose the food you want to eat but makes you aware of what you are eating and how much you are eating. This means making the most of the foods you can eat. No food is banned; you are allowed to eat anything you want, even wine, spirits, chocolates or even that cinnamon Danish from Thorntons!
The Slimming World diet (I use diet in the looses sense of the word as it is really a healthy eating programme), which is split into these sections: ·Green Days ·Original (Red) Days
In each of the options above you are given a selection food from the following sections: ·Free Food (eat as much as you like) ·A Healthy Options (you can choose 2) ·B Healthy Options (you can choose 2) ·Syns (you can have 15 a day) (yes, this allows you to eat non-healthy food such a sugar in your coffee or tea!)
When you choose an original day or a green day, this will establish the kinds of foods you can eat as much as you like or if it falls into the 'Healthy Options or Syns (explained later). So, if you like pasta, potatoes and rice you will favour green days, if you like meats, you will prefer original days. However you can mix and match meals but I won't confuse you with this concept now as it does take a little time to get around the concept of Food Optimising.
This does not mean that you have to exclude meat on a green day; it just makes the meat a Healthy B choice option and, sadly for meat lovers, you will have to weigh it, to the give amount, to keep you within your allowance. Shane chooses a green day on a Sunday so he can have a roast dinner with lost of potatoes. Yummy, I am getting hungry just think about a roast dinner.
*Green Days*
On a green day you can choose from the following foods: Free foods, have no restriction or its an open buffet! ·Beans ·Cheese (some) Quark, very low fatcottage cheese, very low fat natural fromage frais ·Eggs ·Fruit (fresh) ·Lentils ·Potatoes ·Pasta ·Peas ·Quorn ·Rice ·Vegetables To name but a few food groups.
A Healthy Option (a choice of two) ·Cheese (different amounts and types) ·Milk (various types)
B Healthy Option (a choice of two) ·Bread ·Cheese ·Cereals and crisp breads ·Dried and canned fruits ·Measured meats and fish ·Nuts and seeds The Healthy Option choices are measured and controlled but free foods can be eaten freely without any worry.
*Original Day*
On an Original day you can choose from the following foods: Free foods, have no restriction or its an open buffet!!
·Cheese (Quark, very low fat cottage cheese, very low fat fromage frais) ·Eggs ·Fish ·Fruits (fresh) ·Meat ·Poultry ·Vegetables (except potatoes and parsnips)
A Healthy Option (a choice of two) ·Cheese (measured amounts and types) ·Milk
B Healthy Option (a choice of two) ·Beans ·Bread ·Cereals ·Crisp breads ·Dried and canned fruits ·Lentils ·Peas ·Pasta ·Soups ·Some vegetables (including potatoes and parsnips)
A and B Healthy Options are weighed and restricted but free foods, as the name suggests, can be eaten freely or with 'no holds barred'.
These options are explained in more detail in the handbook, which you are presented with on joining.
*SYNS*
The foods, which do not appear in the free food section all, have a syn values. This means they have been given values that are counted in syns, to meet your daily allowance. In the handbook that you are provided with on joining, there is a section that lists the syn values for a lot of foods.
You are allowed 15 syns a day as mentioned above. An example of syn usages could be:
Glass of wine: 5 syns Two tea spoons of sugar: 2 syns Two grilled fish fingers (2.5 syns each) 5 syns Total syns: 12 syns consumed in one day
Synning food can get a little complicated depending on whether you are having a Green day or Original day. It is important to consult your handbook for the values of these foods. A Directory of Food can be purchased for £6.95, which tells you the value of most foods. You can also get a directory for shopping at Asda, Sainsburys or Tesco for £4.95 each, which tells you the syn values of foods stocked in these shops. These books are handy to have.
*Success Awards*
For every half a stone you loose you will be rewarded with a sticker award and in some cases a certificate. Shane currently has seven awards, but my friend Charlotte has seventeen awards because she has lost 8 ½ stone
The ½ stone award is red, the stone award is blue, 1 ½ stone award is yellow, 2 stone award is green, 2 ½ stone award is orange, 3 stone award is pink and the 3 ½ stone award is white. I could go on but I think I will bore you!
* Club Ten*
Your club 10 is awarded when you have lost 10% of you first weight at Slimming World. Your leader calculates it when you join the group. It is another award that is a pink sticker with a 10 on it. It is stuck on your handbook along with your success awards.
All in all I have been a member for a couple of years and have lost 1 ½ stone and Shane has lost 3 ½ stone. We both enjoy going. I have put on weight during my time having been on steroids, and undergoing major surgery and an IVF programme. I have made lots of friends and am now trusted enough by my leader, to run the food and bookstall. Both Shane and I have found the programme easy to follow. I am always on Green days being a vegetarian. Shane mostly follows original days, but we are often able to eat similar meals. Today we have been on a green day. Supper tonight was pasta with a homemade tomato, onion and garlic sauce. I had nuts as a topping whilst Shane had grated cheese. We had loads to eat and are not hungry.
Now the plan is a second nature to us. We have been away and eaten on plan, the only thing we tend to find when eating out is that there is a lack of wholemeal bread, so if we want bread we have to syn it. All in all I would recommend Slimming World to every one whatever your dietary need may be. It caters for diabetics and coelics, but you consultant will be able to help you with planning meals with these conditions. I am lactose intolerant and am able to use rice milk in place of cow's milk. No problem there.
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has enabled hundreds of thousands of members to reach their target weight. No foods are banned there is no calorie counting and there are hundreds of 'free foods' which can be eaten in unlimited amounts. So how can it possibly work? Slimming World defines its highly successful weight-loss technique as 'food optimising' encouraging you towards a healthier style of eating for life rather than simply for short-term weight loss. But if you ever thought this would be difficult or time-consuming think again. In the same time it takes to heat a pre-prepared meal Slimming World Fast Food shows you how to prepare quick delicious meals for yourself and your family. It is packed with advice and contains no less than 120 fast and effective recipes designed to set your tastebuds tingling. Every one of these recipes takes less than 30 minutes to create and food values are calculated for you so you can easily make Slimming World food a part of your daily life.
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and absolutely mouthwatering! The Slimming World approach to food optimising means that you never have to deny yourself or miss out - you can indulge your wildest curry fantasies and cook quick and easy exotic meals every day of the week. "Slimming World's Curry Feast" takes in dishes from across India Thailand and Malaysia with dishes both sweet and spicy fresh and fragrant and delicious and decadent. With soups and starters such as Thai green curry soup and Onion bhajis you can recreate all those restaurant favourites at home. Main-course curries feature such classics as slow-cooked lamb rogan josh red-hot beef madras and mild creamy chicken korma. There are plenty of fish and seafood options too like aromatic Goan prawn curry or Kerala-style fish steamed in banana leaves. Or for a lighter option try refreshing lemongrass and prawn salad or chicken tikka with red onion. For vegetarians lentils rice and pulses make fantastic dishes including tarka dhal chana masala spiced beetroot with coconut and Mumbai aloo (cumin-scented potatoes).And an Indian banquet wouldn't be complete without accompaniments such as lime pickle and coconut pickle. Whether you want a simple one-dish supper at home or a feast for family friends this exciting selection of authentic tasty recipes makes for the perfect meal.
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Presents recipes for curries that are healthy, low in fat and mouthwatering. This book ... more
takes in dishes from across India, Thailand and Malaysia, with dishes both sweet and spicy. The recipes include those for: soups and starters; main-course curries; fish and seafood options; and for vegetarians with lentils, rice and pulses.
Oct 30th, 2007
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