I have been a yo-yo dieter for years, and in fact have written a review of how I managed to lose weight via exercise and calorie counting, but inevitably as soon as I reverted to my normal eating pattern, the weight piled back on....and a little bit more. A few months back, January to be precise I knew I was overweight, but overcame this, or so I thought, by choosing black and baggy clothes in order to try and cover up my problem areas, and simply put up with feeling tired and sluggish most of the time, suffering from embarrassing side effects from a bad diet such as trapped wind, and bladder problems, buying Tena lady on a regular basis...The latter I just put down to getting older (I'm 45), not realising that it could be weight related!
Slimming world!!!!! My husband told me that he'd seen a billboard outside our local church hall for a slimming world class, and suggested that we both enrol, as he
is very overweight himself.
We enrolled, and it cost £5 each to register (a one off payment) plus £4.50 which is the price per session..payable on a weekly basis. Our first session we sat and watched how the group operates. The members would come in, pay their subs, put a piece of fruit into a bowl on the table (I'll explain why later!), be weighed and then take a seat. The consultant would tell everybody in turn how much they'd lost that week, and whoever had lost the most would be hailed as "Slimmer of the week" would be given a sticker to put on their pass book and be given the contents of the fruit bowl that everybody had contributed to as their prize! Other than that the consultant would ask the members how they had got on that week, had they struggled? Where there any tricky days....such as meals out, celebrations, how did they coped, tips and recipe ideas would be exchanged within the members, some good old banter was going on, it seemed very motivational, informal and friendly.
As new members, at the end of the class the consultant came and sat with the members who had just enrolled. We were each given a handbook explaining how slimming world works, a progress chart. We filled in a simple form, and were then weighed. I was 11st 1lb, they didn't tell me I was overweight, or what I should be weighing at my height and frame, just that I could choose any target that I am happy with and aspire to achive that.
I felt that on the first session that it sounded terribly complicated, and that I'd never get to grips with it...but it all fell into place very quickly.
To begin with, they say - "Slimming World is not a diet" all you have to do is to change the way you shop and change the way you eat. The simple way to explain this is that you buy low fat versions of everything....eg skimmed milk, use artificial sweetener instead of sugar, in your drinks and in your cooking, switch to diet drinks, cut down on bread, cheese and cereal and snack on fresh fruit and veg instead of crisps and chocolate - There's a lot more to it than that, which I will attempt ot explain later...but that is a brief overview.
The eating plan is divided into three basic categories. Red days, Green days and extra easy days. Throughout the plan there are what they call "super free foods". Free foods can be eaten in unlimited quantities at any time of the day. These are all items of fruit and vegetables with a tiny amount of exceptions eg avocado.
In addition to the superfree foods there are what they call "free foods". Free foods though do depend upon whether you have chosen a red, green or extra easy day.
On a green day, pasta and potato can be eaten freely, this doesn't mean that you cannot have any meat on that day, just that you have to limit your intake. On a red day, you are able to eat unlimited amounts of lean meat or fish, but again that doesn't mean you can't have pasta or potatoes, again these need to be monitored.
On a red or a green day, you are allowed 2 servings from the section that they call "healthy extras" these are broken down in to two categories "A" and "B" choices. "A" choices are a measured amount of breakfast cereal, bread, crispbreads, and servings from the opposite day......ie on a green day, you could choose a serving of tuna, on a red day a serving of pasta. "B choices" consist of milk and cheese basically...and as a rule of thumb the lower the fat content, the larger serving you can have. For example you can have a 28g serving of cheddar, but a 42g serving of feta.
Extra easy days mean that everything is free, meat, fish, pasta, potatoes, as much as you like all day....to compensate for this though, instead of choosing two healthy extras from each category, you have one instead....it can be a bit restricting at the beginning of the day, when you pour out your cereal, then remember you can't have a sandwich for lunch as you've used up your healthy extra, but there are ways round this...have a salad for lunch...totally free and you're fine. Sorry if it sounds over complicated, but really really once you've got into the swing of it.....it's like falling off a log!
Treats......syns
At slimming world they appreciate that we all like the good things in life...alcohol, sweeties, crisps etc....and "no" they're not off limit....nothing is. Syns as they call these (short for syngergies) as they compliment the eating plan, are fabulous. It is recommended that you can enjoy between 5 and 15 per day. The handbook contains an exhaustive list of syn values for every type of food, drink or snack. For example a measure of vodka costs 2.5 syns, low calorie fizzy mixer....a superfree choice costs nothing! So a vokda and tonic has hardly dented your allowance!!!! You can have six of them if you wanted.....how good is that?
There's a wonderfully supportive website you are given access to when you join, where you can look up syn values of various things, get tips, read inspirational stories.
I really hope this review isn't over complicated..to be honest the only way really is to give it a go, as it really is easy to grasp once you've taken in all the enormous amount of info!
To sum up, I only joined at the end of jan this year, we're almost in May now, and I'm nearly at target!
I no longer have trapped wind, I wear size 12 instead of size 18...I don't need to buy Tena lady any more, I have energy, i love to walk to work, I'm never hungry and am only tired at bedtime!!!!!!!
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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.
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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
Postage & Packaging:refer to website Availability:in stock
Apr 30th, 2009
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