Dave - Journey to lose 180lb from June 2018 (Target achieved in 52 weeks)

[Dave.]

Hi, I'm Dave, currently 27 stone and father to 2 young children. Having struggled to keep up with my eldest in the park I decided to finally take the plunge and sign up to 3 months of Slimming World with the aim to stick it out for as long as possible.

I'm only on Day 2 but I've been trying to read up a few bits and pieces and it worries me how flexible the syns are.

I'm currently assigned 35 syns a day max. I read online directly from Slimming World I could cut out syns per day and use them up on the one day. So yesterday I used 14.5, if I do this for the next 4 days and save up 100 syns I could have 10 bottles of cider?

Anyway, part of my joining up is to cut alcohol out of the diet completely and limit the other rubbish I eat and try and stick to the good foods, that part of this seems to be good and has already seen me eat more fruit in one day than I have all year! I was amazed to see I could have 2 slices of wholmeal toast, fried egg, bacon (minus the fat) and beans for lunch!

Here's to hopefully a healthier (and slimmer) future!

 

[Nanny Doreen]

Good luck Bert.

Just one thing. The book says everything in moderation. Try not to eat it all at once.

I have lost 11 stones since 1994. Did 7st on old WW plan. Had a barny left.
SW at 18st11lb. However I have been going to see for 8 yrs and have lost 4.1/2 stone in that 8 yrs. My rule is âto go to class no matter what.
I could have done better but was not too good with the Extra Easy plan when it first came out and I used that as an excuse.
I just like food.

I know you really want to lose your weight so go to class and get weighed even if you have a bad week. Remember they are all in the same boat but you may have further to go

I wish you all the best on your journey.

As to the syns for boozing, take into consideration what day you are weighed. It can hang around somewhat.

Doreen x

 

[Dave.]

Good luck Bert.

Just one thing. The book says everything in moderation. Try not to eat it all at once.

I have lost 11 stones since 1994. Did 7st on old WW plan. Had a barny left.
SW at 18st11lb. However I have been going to see for 8 yrs and have lost 4.1/2 stone in that 8 yrs. My rule is âto go to class no matter what.
I could have done better but was not too good with the Extra Easy plan when it first came out and I used that as an excuse.
I just like food.

I know you really want to lose your weight so go to class and get weighed even if you have a bad week. Remember they are all in the same boat but you may have further to go

I wish you all the best on your journey.

As to the syns for boozing, take into consideration what day you are weighed. It can hang around somewhat.

Doreen x

Thanks Doreen.

I've gone for the online slimming world with the weigh in at home every Saturday.

This weekend has gone pretty well compared to usual. I would usually have cheerios in the morning followed by 4 slices of thick white bread and butter with maybe sausages or cheese ham and pickle for lunch with a bar of chocolate and a packet of crisps. I might get hungry in the afternoon and have another packet of crisps or some snack sweets like haribo then for dinner it would be chips and burger or curry or pie and mash followed by ice cream.

This weekend...

Cheerios first day with hexa of milk. Fruit in natural yoghurt second day.
Fried egg (using the frys light), beans on wholemeal toast with no butter both days for lunch.
Chicken stir fry with 10syns sauce on Saturday. Grilled chicken in paprika with rice, peas, sweetcorn, onions and peppers second day.
Fruit and yoghurt after both days.

The only hard bit was on Sunday we went for a mile and a half walk with the kids and stopped for an ice cream as it was nice and hot, I wasn't sure of the syns and sat it out with my bottle of water instead. It would've only cost me 5 for a calippo and I ended the day having none because I was like one of those kids who saves the best til last on the plate then gets full up. I had to clear out the kitchen for workmen coming today yesterday and when I realised I could have a treat it was 9:30 and didn't really fancy eating that close to bed!

Now it's the difficult part for me. 5 days in an office. I've got leftover rice and veg from yesterday in a bowl and hard boiled 3 eggs and mashed up the white with the egg and threw away the yolk (not a fan). Fruit and yoghurt again for breakfast. Somones put a pack of mini cheddars on my desk too! I also tend to have a jakemans cough sweet 2 or 3 times a day at work, nicer smelling breath and helps clear the nose! Turns out they're 1.5 syns each. When I used to go for a walk I would also have a few in my pockets for the walk. Things like that are going to hurt!

The main goal in this isn't so much the weight loss although that would be brilliant. It's the healthy kick to go with it. I want to be able to play football in the park with my son in a couple of years time when he's old enough. I would also like to go on bike rides with both the kids. Things I remember enjoying as a kid. Currently I'm too fat to get on a bike and too unfit to properly play in the park. I mean I currently stand there and kick or throw the ball and make my daughter chase it like a dog and she loves it but it's not quite the same!

Congratulations on your progress as well, amazing job!

 

[TRISTAR]

welcome along Bert. I am also a Saturday weigher, but attend a group. Don't worry about the syns being flexible. The plan works. You will learn as you go along what works best for you and what slows you down. Some people use more syns in a day, then pull back the next. Some people work on a if you don't use them, lose them basis. I chop and change between the 2, as it keeps my losses going at a steady pace. Good luck, Claire

 

[Dave.]

I'm still seeing it in my head as a syn is a bad thing and should avoid them and have spent my first 4 days like this:

Saturday: 14.5 syns
Sunday: 0 syns
Monday: 8.5 syns
Tuesday: 2 syns

How do you all find the weight loss v syns? I have a couple of friends who attend groups who say the ones who tend to use their syns to the max every day lose more than those who use as little syns as possible?

I've just found the babybels in the hexA too, black coffee for me now so I can have a bit of cheese syn free!

 

[Dave.]

Thanks Claire. I was aiming for a don't use them you lose them but we'll see how that goes!

I've seen many places saying the max syns per day is 15 regardless of who you are yet the slimming world site has assigned me 35 a day due to my weight and gender. I've effectively saved 115 syns over the past 4 days so could have 150 syns today if I was going on the saving it up process!

The food bill has certainly rocketed with the fruit though

 

[TRISTAR]

Our food bill went up initially, but that's because we bought everything including store cupboard essentials and made the kitchen Slimming World friendly all at once. My husband also still struggles to get his head round the fact we need our syns. It doesn't help that Slimming World have called them syns. He lost 4.5 stone, and has been a target member for over a year now (got his diamond award in April). We have both (and everyone in our group) been on the 5-15 syns a day. I haven't heard of that being any different, but I don't know how things work online, or if they have changed things. I weighed almost 22 stone when I started, but had the same syn allowance as everyone else.

 

[Dave.]

The bill has mainly gone up due to fruit for me. I honestly haven't eaten fruit for probably 10 years or so other than when I work away from home and get the odd prepacked food pot. I have got through so much fruit this week compared to usual and have stocked up on all sorts of stuff including frozen as I was told that's a good way to get it. Fruit and yoghurt for breakfast every morning and also a bowl after lunch and/or dinner. I'll be cutting the and out of that though as I feel I'm eating for the sake of it having it after both meals.

I'm amazed at the difference I feel in under a week though. Energy levels, sleep and the slightly more embarrassing one which has stopped which is the excessive sweating. I would walk from my car to my desk at work and my shirt would be stuck to my back in sweat and it dripping off my head. Nothing like that now thankfully.

I've set myself a weight loss target as well which would be to achieve my 10% goal by mid-October (19 weeks). My biggest issue currently is exercise, I get next to none currently. I'm average 6000 steps a day with my fitbit. An office job doesn't help this as the only time I move is for the toilet or to get a cup of coffee. I'm trying to think of excuses to move around more but there aren't many! Today they've handed out croissants for breakfast at work and are delivering 40 pizzas from pizza hut for staff. What a day to be here.

Have you got any ways you've found to help yourself stick to or motivate yourself to keep to plan? A diary/blog or something maybe?

A sober World Cup too

 

[Dave.]

I know they say week 1 you flush out all the crap from your body and lose a lot more than any other week but I was not expecting lo lose 17.5lbs!

Much harder from here but I'm amazed at how this has worked when all I've really done is cut out the snacks and crap and replace them with fruit and yoghurt.

 

[emma_30]

That’s an amazing loss! Well done!

 

[Dave.]

Thanks!

Hopefully another loss this week. I managed to get 16k steps in playing cricket on Saturday and then took my son to watch some football on Sunday to keep me moving and stop me aching so much! 3 games of table tennis yesterday which was surprisingly hard work and then walked a mile when I got home. I've got a day working from home today and have woken up with a very stiff neck so going to see what I can do but it might be walking/jogging on the spot to try and get as close to 10k steps as possible.

Fruit and yoghurt for breakfast.
Scrambled egg and beans for lunch.
Grilled cajun chicken breast with airfryed sweet potato slices with paprika on and mixed veg for dinner.

I'll probably have some fruit and yoghurt mid afternoon. Healthy Extra A = skimmed milk so I can have 3 cups of coffee and hexB = 1 x hifi bar for speed.

 

[Dave.]

Quick question...

Healthy Extra A is about getting calcium right? If I'm eating 300ml+ natural yoghurt a day do I need to take the hexa still? I've now dropped milk out of my diet as skimmed milk in coffee is pretty pointless and that's all I have milk with at the moment so I was going to substitute it with 3 x babybel lights or 2 x babybel but surely the yoghurt is getting me all I need for this?

Cheers!

 

[Dave.]

Oh and one more question.

Does frozen fruit not count in the speed section. I often have tesco frozen mixed fruit with yoghurt for breakfast which consists of
Blackberry, Cherry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackcurrant, Redcurrant. All of these are speed except cherry but it doesn't appear as speed on the weight loss plan?

Coming up to second week weigh in and already had a few comments about weight loss which is motivational. I also got the magazine through yesterday with a few recipes I want to try out.

 

[Dave.]

4.5lbs off this week. It feels slightly disappointing after last week! I played approx 4 hours of cricket and 3 hours of table tennis hitting my 10k steps 3 days and coming close another compared to last week where I did no exercise and lost over a stone!

I guess it's motivation to try harder next week.

 

[Dave.]

Struggled this week. Went to see Ed Sheeran on Sunday and was going to get something to eat out, forgetting it was Sunday and nothing was open. Fortunately had the alpen light bar in my wifes bag so that was my dinner

She then got a last minute all day audit and I had an 8 hour meeting so we had a takeaway. Salad for lunch and dinner the next day to try and feel better about the takeaway but it didn't work. I feel bloated and like I haven't lost this week. Motivation is becoming a hard thing due to a lack of obvious changes. I feel my unrealistic expectations of weight loss quickly aren't helping!

 

[Dave.]

4lb off this week. Down 1st12lb in 3 weeks now. My 11 month old son weighs 1st13lb! Feeling better about it today after that than I was yesterday!

 

[green eyed monster]

Welcome to the site , you seem very motivated.

Best of luck on your journey

 

[Dave.]

Hardest week of work for me and least loss so far

10k steps every day, 45mins-1hr of activity every lunch, cricket at the weekend.

Loss - 2.5lbs meaning I've hit my 2 stone goal. Was hoping for more to be honest. I have started using more syns than I would usually use though so maybe that's why. I would previously be using next to none but I've started having packs of couscous for lunch @ 2-7 syns depending on the brand.

I also checked out the calorie count page someone linked and put a couple of my days of meals on there and the sugar content was massive. Mainly thanks to satsumas though!

I guess it's now time to cut down on the fruit and make my own couscous mix from home using dried couscous and fresh ingredients and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Dave.]

 

[green eyed monster]

Great stuff Bert