The Caretaker
Silver Member
Thank you for this, It's not always easy to talk to the group leader and by the time you do you have so many questions you can't remember them so this has been a fantastically helpful read cheers.
Excellent thread, have read all 24 pages & i'm now even more excited to join SW on Thursday - will i receive a 'welcome' pack type thing lol
Just thought i'd put in one place a lot of the same points and questions that have been made recently. Feel free to add more!
STS for a few weeks does not mean the plan isn't working. Our weight fluctuates naturally anyway, so sometimes it can take a couple of weeks for the scales to show a loss. It takes 3500 calories EXTRA a week to gain 1lb of fat, so if you've been good and still sts or gained, stick with the plan as it will show sooner or later.
Can anyone tell me why this happens? I'm going through this at the moment and doing SW 100%... I'm getting do down about it, looks like I'm going to have my 2nd week of sts in a row this week. Does it happen to everyone?
Hey there are probably lots of reasons for sts. The main one is that the body is holding on to a little more water than usual. It could be because of toftm, or due to an increase in exercise. This is not due to an increase of muscle mass - though that could have an impact long term. It is due to water being required by the body for making repairs. So having a slight illness or injury can impact on water weight. Fat weight will be dropping if you are sticking to plan.
Another reason could be if you are eating too little. In SW you should eat until satisfied, while maintaining portion control. If you go overboard with portion control and reduce too much (under about 1200 kcals) you could be encouraging your body to hold onto as much as it can by reducing energy requirements. This will mean that fat does not go down as quickly so it is important to get enough to eat. (I know doesn't sound logical, but lots of research to back this up).
Extreme stress will make your body go into survival mode - I doubt that normal diet obsessing would do it though. 2 weeks is not really long enough to decide there is a problem. If you are worried would it be worth doing success express for a week to get you started downwards again?
Hey Mandy
No need to be confused or worried. I def am no angel and am where I am cos I have a sweet / junk food tooth. LOL. I have had an over indulgent, seditary lifestyle for too many years.
But I can't eat that junk now as I had my gallbladder removed about 6 months ago and am a risk of continued gallstones (which can occur even after the gallbladder is removed). Since the operation, whenever I have any type of fatty food, chocolate etc etc my digestive systems floods with bile and I have a pretty bad, almost immediate, reaction to it. So it's not that I don't want something naughty (for want of a better word) - in an ideal world I would. But sadly I really can't have that stuff any more. As a result of years of abusing my body, I have become obese and lost a gallbladder. Admittedly I am painfully embarrased that at 30 I had to have my gallbladder out (much more embarrased than I am about gaining so much weight) - and I actually still suffer some residual pain from the surgery. I really didn't want go into all that detail about why I wasn't having the syns - as you said, nobody here knows me and it was nice not to have that baggage.
So, to be completely honest, I really have zero desire to have any chocolate, crisps, sweets, cakes, biscuits because I don't need the trips to the loo! I amn't depriving myself of anything, just trying to accept the choices I do have and enjoy the food that I can eat. I haven't tried to not use my syns, it's just that as a result of the way I am supposed to eat (because of the lack of gallbladder) I haven't needed to use any syns. I decided a few weeks ago that enough was enough and I needed to cop on - stop eating the crap and loose some weight. A friend is doing SW so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone.
I think I will have to just add some syns to my meals or something in order to use up some syns.