Common SW misconceptions put right.

[disabledboysmum]

Hi i am new and that was really useful - especially the EE 1/3 !!! off to make my dinner now as am starting back tonight ! with me luck !!

 

[notcomfortable]

Well said xx

 

[Aymz]

Just wanted to say that this thread is *brilliant*!!! It's really helpful to understand exactly why I should be eating enough syns and healthy extras and weighing things. I have just restarted slimming world and when I did it the first time around I weighed all of my food and lost 8lb in the first week and this time around I did not weigh and only lost 4lb. It's still a decent loss and maybe it's not all down to the weighing but still I think I should go back to the weighing!

 

[jennidc]

Good thread

A trick I use is to just add loads of veg to my normal recipes and then freeze it up so your effectively having less meat and more superfree food. The veg is also then "hidden" in the casserole/bolognaise/curry and has a nicer flavour so its not hard work or a sacrifice.

I use this method in the following dishes - which are super easy throw in a caserole dish (and go and put my feet up for 3 hours whilst it cooks cooking).

Liver + Bacon Casserole
Beef Stew
Chicken Stew
Chicken + Bacon Pasta Sauce
Diet Coke Chicken
Beef Chilli
Chicken Chilli
Split Pea/Bean and Veg Super Speed Soup
Chicken Curry
Lamb Curry
Fish Stew
Fish Curry
Quorn Chilli
Lamb HotPot
Gammon Bolognaise

In most of these dishes I just add 5+ superfree foods eg tomatoes, peppers, butter beans, chillies, carrot, peas, corn, split peas, beans, mushy peas, kidney beans, runner beans. I usually add fresh tomatoes, tinned tomatoes and passatta as I love the tomato sauce it turns into whilst cooking and chicken oxo/ worcester sauce.

You end up with a massive dish of food suitable for freezing or fridging in freezer bags. I currently have a mix of 30+ frozen meals and 5 fridged meals so it makes food time easy I just have to prepare sw chips, pasta, rice, potato or salad to go with my ready done meal.

After 4 weeks I've lost 1 stone and 2 pounds - I've got my 5th week weigh in tommorow.

 

[MancBird]

Thank you for the reminder - I really do need to think about the 1/3 superfree more...!! xxxxx

 

[dollyfiend]

Thankyou for the useful tips xxx

 

[Jodieboo]

After 4 weeks I've lost 1 stone and 2 pounds - I've got my 5th week weigh in tommorow.

Well done!! I wish I could say the same! After 8 weeks i've only managed to shift 8lb! Quite frustrating considering I have my 1/3 superfree every meal.. always snack on fruit, never go over my syns. Oh well.. slow and steady wins the race I suppose :sigh:

 

[Pommette]

Well done!! I wish I could say the same! After 8 weeks i've only managed to shift 8lb! Quite frustrating considering I have my 1/3 superfree every meal.. always snack on fruit, never go over my syns. Oh well.. slow and steady wins the race I suppose :sigh:

Consider joining us on the tortoise team! There are loads of us who stick to plan but don't usually lose more than a pound a week. You'll find us here!
Tortoise Team

 

[DreamTeamGirl]

Oh one other thing - I followed SW for a week as normal and tracked every single calorie as an experiment. I ate as normal pasta n sauces, boiled rice (and not a shot glass worth a proper amount) salads, steak, chicken, potato bakes, chilli, baked beans etc., as well as my A's B's and 15 syns and was suprised that I'd only averaged 1400 a day. I did then take advantage of this in a bad way and for 2 weeks continued going to SW, but only sort of followed the plan. I thought oh I've had my HEx's and syns but I have still got 600 calories and still be under my limit for the day so I'll have a dairy milk. This was a slippery slope that turned into me paying for SW, but doing CCing. Then I'd think oh I can eat whatever (junk) as long as I'm within the calories and it'd get to tea time and I'd have 200 calories left for tea. Luckily this only lasted 2 weeks when I thought 1. this is too much effort, 2. I don't like this, I like SW and 3. I felt like cr*p, I wasn't getting the nutrients I needed.

I think there is too much on calories, just follow the plan - steps 1, 2 and 3 and trust it works.

Sorry for the rant - just an opinion

Natt xx

OMG, I have done EXACTLY the same and wondered why it wasnt working.... idiot that I am!!!

 

[DreamTeamGirl]

This article says:

"As the bread gets heated, some of the moisture evaporates, so the slice of bread will weigh a little less after it has been toasted
. . . a slice of untoasted wheat bread has 65 kcal while a toasted slice has 64.9 kcal. That is only a slight difference. Both the untoasted and toasted slice of bread have 11.8g carbohydrate, 2.3g protein and 1g total fat."

So for our original discussion Quad Erat NOT Demonstrandum. This article seems to imply that the toast is actually less calories than the original slice of bread - which I don't quite understand although hubby (who is a chemist) says it is just burning the sugars. However, if it has the same carbs etc it has to have the same calories!!!

Grrr . . . the plot gets thicker Dribbler.

OK, I am by no means an expert, but isnt the way Kcal are calculated to do with the point at which they burn up?

SO .. if the food is already cooked (e.g. toasted) and the moisture gone it will burn up just that teeniest bit quicker meaning a very slightly lower calorie value...
I never was great at physics or chemistry tho I confess so I could be wrong...
:sigh:

 

[Pommette]

OK, I am by no means an expert, but isnt the way Kcal are calculated to do with the point at which they burn up? :sigh:

Spot on - they use a thing called a bomb calorimeter. It burns the whole food and tells you have many cals there are.

So peanuts have a huge calorie content. As does sweetcorn.
BUT as half of them **ahem** come straight out the other end whole and unused you only actually digest about 50% of the actual calories that you put in.

Clear as mud? Excellent! :8855:

 

[MartinD]

Spot on - they use a thing called a bomb calorimeter. It burns the whole food and tells you have many cals there are.

So peanuts have a huge calorie content. As does sweetcorn.
BUT as half of them **ahem** come straight out the other end whole and unused you only actually digest about 50% of the actual calories that you put in.

Clear as mud? Excellent! :8855:

Ahh not quite that simple. Yes a bomb calorimeter is used to calculate calories. However on food labels you cant use this - as you note there are indigestable bits (like cellulose carbohjydrate also known as fibre) instead standardised chemistry tests are used nd reference tables to work out the digestable element. I think we use the Atwater system for this.

 

[DreamTeamGirl]

Ahh not quite that simple. Yes a bomb calorimeter is used to calculate calories. However on food labels you cant use this - as you note there are indigestable bits (like cellulose carbohjydrate also known as fibre) instead standardised chemistry tests are used nd reference tables to work out the digestable element. I think we use the Atwater system for this.

So would the Atwater system have an explanation for the 0.1kcal lost in the change from bread to toast?

 

[MartinD]

So would the Atwater system have an explanation for the 0.1kcal lost in the change from bread to toast?

well it could be fairy dust in your toaster. or the Maillard point. Well in my McGee book on the lore of cooking (Hestons fave book btw) he discusses the Maillard point which is the browning of meat but I think applies to toast. Same with your silage for your cattle too. So at a highish heat surface water evaporates and changes happen on the surface only reducing carbohydrates which i think but am not sure is the reason for the difference.*

So when roasting meat start at a high temp, then reduce, same with toast and when making caramel.

*I think it might be acralymides, which worryingly are the cause of cancer in smoking, but when certain aminos and sugars react cause this byproduct but thats a guess

 

[alicia912]

Thanks for clearing some things up for me!

 

[loudpurplehair]

I haven't had the time to read every page of this thread, but re the 1/3 rule on ee....... Can I have my 1/3 as fruit for dessert if its not in my meal? And I mean right after and 2 pieces. Ta!

 

[jaylou]

It should ideally be as part of your meal, but can include fruit afterwards if you can't fit it in with your meal.

 

[Maddysmum]

SW myths & misconceptions

Just seen the following info on the SW website which I thought was interesting and puts to bed some of the questions which keep being asked:

1. I’ve been told that I haven’t lost weight because I haven’t eaten enough – could this be true?
If you’ve ever heard this said about Food Optimising, it’s not quite what they meant. Generally, if you’re not losing weight, by eating more Free Food (remembering that all-important 1/3 of a plate of Superfree Food at breakfast, lunch and dinner) you’ll kick your weight loss back into gear… because you’ll be filling up more on this super-satisfying food, and turning to your Syns less

2. Are couscous cake and lasagne-sheet ‘Doritos’ Free?
You might be disappointed to hear that they’re not. Because changing the use of a food can make it easier to over-eat, to protect your weight loss they become Synned.
When foods like pasta, rice and grains are used in their original form they’re low in energy density (calories), bulky, appetite-satisfying foods. Pasta, couscous and rice are usually the main ingredient in a meal packed with other Free Foods – giving it sufficient bulk to be satisfying as a meal in itself. However, when ground down, used as flour (like in couscous cake), seasoned crisps (like Doritos) or puréed (like smoothies) they’re often used as additions to a main meal… and on top of your day’s Syns. It is a very effective way of adding a lot of extra calories in a non-bulky way, and as such would then be counted as Syns.


3. Can my Scan Bran cake really be just ½ Syn per slice?
You’re are an inventive bunch when it comes to finding innovative ways to turn Scan Bran into delicious cakes, nibbles and treats! Discovering a whole cake is just 10 Syns can be too tempting, however we have spotted that a few Scan Bran cake calculations have gone a bit wrong…

• 5 Scan Bran can be counted as 1 Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice or 1 Syn per slice.
• If you’ve counted some of the Scan Bran you’ve used as a Healthy Extra, it will need counting as Syns once it’s cut up – unless you’re eating the lot!
• As well as the Scan Bran, most recipes call for cocoa, spread, milk, jam, etc. which all add up.
• If someone else has made the delicious Scan Bran delight, and you’re not sure of the Syns, ask for a copy of the recipe. They’ll be delighted that you love it so much, and you can feel confident that you’re keeping within your 15 Syns… even with a slice of cake!

4. You can’t save your Syns up for a night out at the weekend!
Yes, you can! If you really want to – and you feel really confident that by depriving yourself of Syns for some or most of the week, you’ll be able to enjoy your night out knowing that you’ve stayed within your week’s Syns – go ahead.
If missing out all week feels difficult… and especially if you’re worried about ‘blowing it’ part way through, the alternative is to stay flexible with your Syns. Your weight loss may be a tiny bit slower, although in the long term you could actually achieve a greater weight loss because you avoid those feelings of deprivation. What’s more, with flexible Syns, you could eat healthily and happily for the rest of your life and keep your weight off for good!


5. My muscles will turn to fat if I stop exercising!
No, don’t worry, they won’t! Muscles and fat are different tissues that have different functions so one can’t turn into the other. If you do stop being active then your muscles will lose the strength they developed and may even become smaller so you’re likely to lose the metabolic benefits. Long term, our aim should be to gradually develop a more active lifestyle. If you do miss the odd session at the gym, or forgo the dog walk on the occasional night, it’s important not to see this as a failure. The important thing is to find a way to overcome what it was that stopped you, and get back into the routine.


6. Is there such a thing as the slimmer’s plateau?
The simple answer is no. However, the full answer is a touch more complicated! Many members find, after Food Optimising for several weeks – even months – that they reach a sticking point. Despite great weight losses to begin with, those pounds just don’t shift! (We’ve all been there!)
Firstly, remember that it’s not unusual for weight losses to be inconsistent week to week. All sorts of factors can affect our weight from the time of day the weighing takes place, the amount of clothing worn, differences in fluid retention etc. This is why we recommend you get weighed just once a week at around the same time, and wearing similar clothes… or none at all (although we don’t suggest this in our groups!!). Seeing our weight loss over, say, a month gives us a much better guide to our progress.
Weight loss does generally slow down after the first few weeks too – where you might have experienced 5, 6, 7 or even 8lbs losses. Weight loss should generally settle to a steady rate as the body adjusts to your new way of eating and body fat is lost.
After Food Optimising for a while, it’s also easy for little habits to sneak in – to lick the lid of the kid’s creamy yogurt pot, to finish off the leftover oven chips, to be a little too generous with your Healthy Extra portions. No matter how positive we are that we’re Food Optimising 100%, sometimes sneaky Syns creep in and can play havoc with our weight loss.

 

[jaylou]

Really good. We do have a "common misconceptions" sticky, but a lot of this has become personal opinion! Good to hear the company line on things like Scan Bran cake - I've never heard it be said it becomes syns when cut up and not eaten all at the same time, makes sense to me though!

 

[tara40]

Thanks for that, found that interesting especially the "saving syns part".