Cant seem to get into sw
- Thread starter Gingernut
- Start date
Frontier-Phil
Silver Member
I would say that you need to use your syns for for your treats and pig out on free foods and Hex's. I have herad you say on numerous threads that you eat bread/biccies/butties. May I suggest that you say away for the bread unless its taken as a HEX option. You also need to train your thoughts on the free foods to staple your intake to a level that you feel full. Water intake is also very important as well.
Isis
Ancient Egypt Nut!
Have to say I really loved SW when I did it a few years ago now. I lost 5 1/2 stone with it in 7 months .Looking back I now realise a combination of going off on holiday at that point and starting to get compliments about looking "fine" were the things that made me lack motivation to go back when I came home.
Mmmmm more to think about there as their programme worked for me and I never ever felt hungry. At least 3-4lbs losses every week
Mmmmm more to think about there as their programme worked for me and I never ever felt hungry. At least 3-4lbs losses every week
Frontier-Phil
Silver Member
NP !!!
Donnie46
Slow but sure....
I came to SW from WW'ers a month ago and I also had a problem adjusting to the SW diet I just couldn't stop counting points in my head and weighing food etc, but after a couple of weeks the SW diet took over and I absolutely love it now I am totally converted to SW now and I have lost weight every week, WW never enters my head now.
No, you can't have as much bread and I really missed my breakfast toast and cereals, but now I have eggs every morning (SF food) and I love them and really look forward to them now.
I think you have to make an effort to start thinking SW and not WW, once you have mastered that you will be alright I think, every diet takes a little time to get adjusted to.
Give it another week, start a daily food diary (in the diary thread) and let people advise you as they see it, and I am sure you will get into a better frame of mind about SW.
Good luck to you.
No, you can't have as much bread and I really missed my breakfast toast and cereals, but now I have eggs every morning (SF food) and I love them and really look forward to them now.
I think you have to make an effort to start thinking SW and not WW, once you have mastered that you will be alright I think, every diet takes a little time to get adjusted to.
Give it another week, start a daily food diary (in the diary thread) and let people advise you as they see it, and I am sure you will get into a better frame of mind about SW.
Good luck to you.
*angie*
loves food and cooking
This is how I approach SW
All meals, as a rule, do not include syns. You do not need to use any syns to create a healthy, balanced, filling and delicious meal (with pudding). They might have the odd one or two for a tsp of spread on the bread, or a tbsp of vlf mayo, (and I will add that this only happens occasionally, not as a rule) but other than that they are syn free.
I build my healthy A and B options into my meal plans. They do not tend to be used as snacks, but as an integral part of my meals.
If I 'need' 2 B choices in a day, I follow red or green
If I am OK with one B choice in a day (like a weekend when you may have a fry up in the morning with no bread or cereal) then I might follow EE that day.
My syns (max 15 daily) are used for treats / extras / snacks / alcohol.
does that help?
All meals, as a rule, do not include syns. You do not need to use any syns to create a healthy, balanced, filling and delicious meal (with pudding). They might have the odd one or two for a tsp of spread on the bread, or a tbsp of vlf mayo, (and I will add that this only happens occasionally, not as a rule) but other than that they are syn free.
I build my healthy A and B options into my meal plans. They do not tend to be used as snacks, but as an integral part of my meals.
If I 'need' 2 B choices in a day, I follow red or green
If I am OK with one B choice in a day (like a weekend when you may have a fry up in the morning with no bread or cereal) then I might follow EE that day.
My syns (max 15 daily) are used for treats / extras / snacks / alcohol.
does that help?
*angie*
loves food and cooking
Gingernut - this is a bit off the page, but you never know. Do you fancy a challenge?
One day (tomorrow? wednesday?) how about you have no syns AT ALL until after 6pm (or after dinner)?
Not because I think this is a good way to manage on SW long term you understand, but perhaps if you gave yourself a chance to feel full and satisfied on free food, then perhaps (just perhaps) the cravings for the snacks / biccies / crisps etc will subside. If you fancy one of these things on your challenge day before 6pm, grab some fruit, a muller light etc etc etc.
Then - plan what you will use your syns for. Have something to look forward to - for me it would be a G&slimlineT (2.5 syns), but you might want to look forward to a bicci with a cup of tea or something else entirely - but try to plan your syns, don't let them catch you unawares.
I'll disappear now.
One day (tomorrow? wednesday?) how about you have no syns AT ALL until after 6pm (or after dinner)?
Not because I think this is a good way to manage on SW long term you understand, but perhaps if you gave yourself a chance to feel full and satisfied on free food, then perhaps (just perhaps) the cravings for the snacks / biccies / crisps etc will subside. If you fancy one of these things on your challenge day before 6pm, grab some fruit, a muller light etc etc etc.
Then - plan what you will use your syns for. Have something to look forward to - for me it would be a G&slimlineT (2.5 syns), but you might want to look forward to a bicci with a cup of tea or something else entirely - but try to plan your syns, don't let them catch you unawares.
I'll disappear now.
Chuffy_29
Bring it on!
I'd like to add a note on cravings. When you eat food high in sugar (and you might not even know it's high in sugars like some crisps!) your blood sugar rises, and when that drops suddenly because the fix is finished you will crave another hit. If you eat regularly, and eat low sugar, or sweetners (these do not cause the peak/trough effect on your blood sugar) they help balance your blood sugar and cravings will subside. now i'm not advocating cutting out all sugar and going cold turkey but you need to start finding things that contain natural sugars (fruit for example) to give you a sweet fix and looking and using low GI carbs (like veges) to keep you feeling fuller longer. SW certainly encourages this because of the superfree foods. It is change and anyone who really wants to change their eating habits and have a healthier BMI needs to make better choices for the long term.
jaylou
Gold Member
Gingernut, do you have to have bread and cereal every day?
I said on a post to you yesterday that there are so many other things you CAN eat on SW that it is better to concentrate on those, rather than think about what you CAN'T eat. This is where SW will fail for you.
SW works - there are a lot of us on here who have followed SW successfully but you need to plan, vary and enjoy your food. Try not to have bread, have salad or left overs or a jacket pot for lunch. As others have suggested, have All Bran or Crunchy Bran for breakfast as you get 42g and have a banana on top, very filling!
There has been some fantastic advice over the last few days for you, I really hope this helps you.
Thinking of you!
Jaylou x
I said on a post to you yesterday that there are so many other things you CAN eat on SW that it is better to concentrate on those, rather than think about what you CAN'T eat. This is where SW will fail for you.
SW works - there are a lot of us on here who have followed SW successfully but you need to plan, vary and enjoy your food. Try not to have bread, have salad or left overs or a jacket pot for lunch. As others have suggested, have All Bran or Crunchy Bran for breakfast as you get 42g and have a banana on top, very filling!
There has been some fantastic advice over the last few days for you, I really hope this helps you.
Thinking of you!
Jaylou x
I try to keep away from bread as much as I can and use by HEb for alpen lights which are sweet and delish. I use my hea for milk and cheese and use my syns for sauces generally ie parsley sauce with my fish or ketchup with my syn free chips. I snack on fruit or yoghurts. I do prefer green days but will once in a while have a mix to max day or EE.
I found that when I was doing WW I would quite often be snacking on foods which were not good for you such as crisps and ww chocolate bars. Now doing slimming world I find that my snacking is down to a minimum as I am full at meal times.
Good luck with whatever you decide
. I use my hea for milk and cheese and use my syns for sauces generally ie parsley sauce with my fish or ketchup with my syn free chips. I snack on fruit or yoghurts. I do prefer green days but will once in a while have a mix to max day or EE. I found that when I was doing WW I would quite often be snacking on foods which were not good for you such as crisps and ww chocolate bars. Now doing slimming world I find that my snacking is down to a minimum as I am full at meal times.
Good luck with whatever you decide
I'd say don't worry about the speed in which it comes off, as long as it stays off.
I came from WW also, and I definitely lost weight faster on that..but I couldn't maintain it. I moved here from the US and the plan was slightly different and it all went to crap. So I looked around and found SW.
To fill out the cereal, as another poster mentioned, I throw in the yogurt. And use a hexb for a sandwich later on. It did take me a little while to get used to it, though, for sure. And I gained my third week back the weight I lost in my first two! So there's a learning curve, for sure. But now I feel more confident in my choices and have lost the last couple of weeks and I think I'll be okay. The thing I love about SW is the amount you get to eat. I am training for races and running makes me SO hungry, and there's no way in hell WW points would fill me up, even with the earned activity points. So now I get to eat the good stuff and not worry about it.
I came from WW also, and I definitely lost weight faster on that..but I couldn't maintain it. I moved here from the US and the plan was slightly different and it all went to crap. So I looked around and found SW.
To fill out the cereal, as another poster mentioned, I throw in the yogurt. And use a hexb for a sandwich later on. It did take me a little while to get used to it, though, for sure. And I gained my third week back the weight I lost in my first two! So there's a learning curve, for sure. But now I feel more confident in my choices and have lost the last couple of weeks and I think I'll be okay. The thing I love about SW is the amount you get to eat. I am training for races and running makes me SO hungry, and there's no way in hell WW points would fill me up, even with the earned activity points. So now I get to eat the good stuff and not worry about it.
StaceyUK
Gold Member
A lot of good advice on here. Basically you need to find what works for you. If you're feeling deprived on SW then, in my opinion, you're not following it correctly!
The key to making it work is eating food that you like that you can make SW friendly. I personally think you need to stick with red or green so that you can benefit from having both of your Healthy Extra B choices (therefore have bread and cereal rather than having one and synning the other).
Try a week of red/green rather than EE and see if you like that better.
Edited: sorry I posted this after only reading page 1 as I didn't realise there were 4 pages! So sorry if I repeated what everyone else said and didn't offer much help!
The key to making it work is eating food that you like that you can make SW friendly. I personally think you need to stick with red or green so that you can benefit from having both of your Healthy Extra B choices (therefore have bread and cereal rather than having one and synning the other).
Try a week of red/green rather than EE and see if you like that better.
Edited: sorry I posted this after only reading page 1 as I didn't realise there were 4 pages! So sorry if I repeated what everyone else said and didn't offer much help!
Last edited:
HellieCopter
Gold Member
Hi Gingernut...
You've been given some really good advice by everyone, I hope you can read it and make SW work for you.
For me, the winning thing about SW is the free food. You need to base your food every day on things that are free on whatever plan you're doing that day (red, green, extra easy).
Then, you just enhance your meals with the Healthy Extras and Syns.
You should NOT be basing your diet around the Healthy Extras and Syns. If you are, which it sounds to me like you are, then no wonder you're feeling hungry and deprived and want to give yourself more syns. But this isn't the answer.
You need to get WW totally out of your head. Stop comparing them. They aren't similar. If you really want to give SW a good, fair go, then forget whatever you did at WW and start afresh, learn the SW way of eating inside out and get stuck in there.
I did WW for a long time and lost 4 stone. I loved it at the time, but when the time came for me to lose again (after gaining a couple of stone back by following the 'wine and pizza diet') I decided the new challenge of SW was what I needed. And I love it.
Have a good go at it, and then decide whether you need to switch to a plan, like WW, that allows you to spend your points on whatever you like...that might suit you better.
Good luck.
You've been given some really good advice by everyone, I hope you can read it and make SW work for you.
For me, the winning thing about SW is the free food. You need to base your food every day on things that are free on whatever plan you're doing that day (red, green, extra easy).
Then, you just enhance your meals with the Healthy Extras and Syns.
You should NOT be basing your diet around the Healthy Extras and Syns. If you are, which it sounds to me like you are, then no wonder you're feeling hungry and deprived and want to give yourself more syns. But this isn't the answer.
You need to get WW totally out of your head. Stop comparing them. They aren't similar. If you really want to give SW a good, fair go, then forget whatever you did at WW and start afresh, learn the SW way of eating inside out and get stuck in there.
I did WW for a long time and lost 4 stone. I loved it at the time, but when the time came for me to lose again (after gaining a couple of stone back by following the 'wine and pizza diet') I decided the new challenge of SW was what I needed. And I love it.
Have a good go at it, and then decide whether you need to switch to a plan, like WW, that allows you to spend your points on whatever you like...that might suit you better.
Good luck.
