Welcome to Newbies 2013 - Say Hello here!!!

[missy1978]

Hey everyone - I just joined Slimming World online because of my shift pattern, I didn't think I could get to the local group. I have to say I have NO CLUE what I am doing. There's no support online on the slimming world website which is how I found this wonderful site by googling for help with SW.

I'm a veggie and I've tried adding my food into my food diary for today and it's worked out I've eaten 68 sins and none of the free stuff or healthy options. I'm thinking I'm going to struggle working things out without portion sizes and calories and the like. I have a 7 day cooling off period - do you all think I am probably better off just throwing in the towel and returning to a normal calorie controlled diet?

There are lots of veggies on here who would be happy to help - I'm one and I know I would be If it would help have a look at my food diary just so you get the idea of using healthy extras and that kind of thing. In fact have a look in the food diary section generally and you will find lots of veggies loving SW, mainly doing green days but some doing EE and even red! Just shout if you need help with anything x

 

[Lady Macbeth]

Thanks Missy - that would be so helpful. It's 10.30am here and I still haven't eaten because I can't work out what to have for breakfast. Am starving. I want toast but I have to have coffee and can't spare the healthy extras, I don't think. I can't go without coffee and I hate breakfast cereals.

 

[ryan21]

Hi all new to forum and just wanted to say hello and if anybody has and tips i would love to hear from you.:help2:

Started monday 19th august
Weight 20st 5lb:sigh:
Want to get to 15st
Im 30yrs old and struggled with weight since i was 14:argh:

my main troubles is I love a beer of a weekend dont like sweet food im a savoury person mmmm:busted:

take care all

ryan

 

[soapyliz]

Hi all new to forum and just wanted to say hello and if anybody has and tips i would love to hear from you.:help2:

Started monday 19th august
Weight 20st 5lb:sigh:
Want to get to 15st
Im 30yrs old and struggled with weight since i was 14:argh:

my main troubles is I love a beer of a weekend dont like sweet food im a savoury person mmmm:busted:

take care all

ryan

Hi Ryan. A huge welcome to you. You've come to the right place for support and help. We're all in the same boat here, wanting to lose some weight, so someone will always have the answer to your questions. My advice to you at the moment is to stay positive and don't get 'down' if you maintain or gain a little on occasions. It happens from time to time. Just stick with it and you'll get there. I've been on Slimming World since March and have been losing weight very slowly, a lb here and a lb there, but I never despair. If it's coming off I'm happy with that, however little. You'll see my start weight and present weight on my profile.
"A dripping tap still fills the bucket. It's just takes a bit longer". That's my Mantra.

Good luck.

soapy x

 

[mydiet1987]

Hi everyone, I just joined Slimming World online. I have never used a system like it before so it's taking a bit of getting used to but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

I'm 25 and between January and April of this year I lost 2 stone. My weight loss was going very well until I was involved in an accident (a van hit me while I was riding my motorbike home from work). I sustained a fractured ankle and some soft tissue injuries, as well as nerve damage. I have been housebound since the accident and due to the extent of my injuries I have only recently started walking properly.

Since the accident I have regained the 2 stone I had lost. In the past I have always been able to just cut back, exercise and lose weight easily but since the accident I seem to have lost my motivation and have been unable to exercise to the extent that I am used to. I have been told by my physio that it will be 6 months before I will be able to run again, I used to run at least an hour a day, so I am taking up swimming as a way to rehabilitate my leg and replace the running I used to do (as well as other exercise).

I chose Slimming World because I have read so many success stories online and I need help to get out of the rut I have been forced into since my accident. The system seems easy to understand and I am getting used to it now. I just joined online last night so today is my first proper day of my new routine. So far so good.

Looking forward to chatting with you all and hopefully contributing a lot to the forum.

 

[ryan21]

Thank you soapy thats really encouraging i know its hard but like you say basically determination pays off thank you xx

 

[missy1978]

Thanks Missy - that would be so helpful. It's 10.30am here and I still haven't eaten because I can't work out what to have for breakfast. Am starving. I want toast but I have to have coffee and can't spare the healthy extras, I don't think. I can't go without coffee and I hate breakfast cereals.

Oh bless you, you should never be hungry on SW, there is so much you can eat! If you do green days then you can have two healthy extras a and b. So you could have coffee with milk in and toast as well! Pop into the diary and we can chat more x

There are a couple of sticky threads that explain the plan for those new to SW so have a look at those too and hopefully it'll make things clearer.

 

[gazter]

Thanks,

Used to be fairly fit cos I played competitive rugby (was about 14st.) at the time so probably fitted into the fat and fit catergory. Started putting on weight (hitting 17st) and found the rugby too challanging, I was literally dragging myself around the pitch and wasn't enjoying it any more. I will try the couch to 5k as I really would like to play competative sport again one day (maybe something a bit more sedate now tho!)

Thanks for your help

Aye, you look like a lass who knows how to handle odd shaped balls, correctly...

 

[Lady Macbeth]

Oh bless you, you should never be hungry on SW, there is so much you can eat! If you do green days then you can have two healthy extras a and b. So you could have coffee with milk in and toast as well! Pop into the diary and we can chat more x

There are a couple of sticky threads that explain the plan for those new to SW so have a look at those too and hopefully it'll make things clearer.

Thanks Missy - I skipped breakfast and had 3 cups of coffee instead because I couldn't work out what to eat. The coffee is a sin because I have it with milk. But- then I had a can of veggie soup with 2 slices of bread for lunch which turned out to be 19 sins when I put it in my food diary!! Ho hum! Not doing so well - yesterday I had 68 sins!

 

[missy1978]

Thanks Missy - I skipped breakfast and had 3 cups of coffee instead because I couldn't work out what to eat. The coffee is a sin because I have it with milk. But- then I had a can of veggie soup with 2 slices of bread for lunch which turned out to be 19 sins when I put it in my food diary!! Ho hum! Not doing so well - yesterday I had 68 sins!

The coffee can be a healthy extra if you have milk as one of your A choices so you don't need to syn the milk, depending on the amount. The bread could be a healthy extra B too (again depending on how much you had and what sort of bread) so then the only syns would be the soup (which doesn't have a free food allowance unless it's homemade sadly!). There is a section on the website that tells you what all the healthy extras are, worth having a read of that I reckon! x

 

[gazter]

Thanks Missy - that would be so helpful. It's 10.30am here and I still haven't eaten because I can't work out what to have for breakfast. Am starving. I want toast but I have to have coffee and can't spare the healthy extras, I don't think. I can't go without coffee and I hate breakfast cereals.

The diet can feel a bit confusing to begin with, but it all fits into place. There are two different kinds of Healthy Extras, A and Bs, one is largely dairy and the other is cereal/bread types. You have an amount from each, one A and one B. It's not a choice of milk with your coffee or toast.

For example, for your healthy extra B, you can have 60grams of wholemeal bread (remember, wholemeal, brown and granary are all very different types of bread), and your healthy extra A could be 350ml of skimmed milk.

That's a lot of milk. Should be more than enough for a generous bowl of cereal and enough for quite a few cups of tea and coffee through the day.

When you have exhausted your healthy As and Bs, you still have your fifteen syns.

If you arent a fan of skimmed milk you'll have to reign back a little if using semi skimmed. I used to drink semi skimmed, i found after having skimmed for a couple of days i no longer noticed the difference.

 

[gazter]

Hi all new to forum and just wanted to say hello and if anybody has and tips i would love to hear from you.:help2:

Started monday 19th august
Weight 20st 5lb:sigh:
Want to get to 15st
Im 30yrs old and struggled with weight since i was 14:argh:

my main troubles is I love a beer of a weekend dont like sweet food im a savoury person mmmm:busted:

take care all

ryan

You can do it Ryan. I weighed 21st 9 in march this year, and yesterday i officially hit the fifteen stones....

Some things that have helped me, and some observations which I hope can help...
i) If you have a lot to lose and a piggy lifestyle ( we wouldnt get this size if we didnt), your body responds incredibly well to the lifestyle change. It has so got used to you consuming 4,000+ calories a day, the change to SW means the body drops incredible amounts of fat without realising that you are no longer eating a sofa size kebab and four pints of lager on a regular basis.
ii) if you fall on and off the wagon, have regular mishaps, find times when you just go completely mad you will, if you are largely following the plan, you will still lose weight just slowly.
iii) If you completely commit to Slimming World and follow it to the latter the weight will drop off you in no time at all with regular losses of 3 to 4lbs week in and week out.
iv) The biggest problems that people seem to have is, well 'life'. Things just get in the way.

 

[Lady Macbeth]

Thanks Missy and Gazter. I only ever drink skimmed milk and I've had 4 cups of coffee today but that was instead of breakfast mostly. My can of soup was 13 sins and I had 2 slices of wholemeal bread which were each 3 sins. I think I probably need to buy a starter pack off ebay to help me work out what I can eat but I can eat as much fruit, veggies and salad as I want - mostly everything else seems to be a sin and that's what I need to watch out for. I made a beany/lentil chilli last night and had that with a jacket potato and my total sins added up to 68!!! I'm definitely doing it wrong!

 

[gazter]

Thanks Missy - I skipped breakfast and had 3 cups of coffee instead because I couldn't work out what to eat. The coffee is a sin because I have it with milk. But- then I had a can of veggie soup with 2 slices of bread for lunch which turned out to be 19 sins when I put it in my food diary!! Ho hum! Not doing so well - yesterday I had 68 sins!

If you are a fan of vegetable soup. A handy hint.. Vegetable soup is *so* easy to make, and it can be tweaked into a super speed soup with a bit of thought.

The biggest problem with soups is the time it takes for them to be ready. Get yourself a nice little slow cooker ( Buy Slow cookers and ovens at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Kitchen and laundry.)

Put all your ingredients into the cooker before you go to bed, voila, in the morning you have a lovely soup to put in a container and take to work. Just as nice is to actually only turn the cooker on when you leave to go to work (on low) when you come home in the evening the soup will be lovely and cooked and the whole house will have the most amazing smell.

Home made soup - syn free and delicious. Tinned soup - full of fillers and thickeners that quickly eat into those syns.

 

[ryan21]

Thank you gazter you have really made me happy reading your amazing achievement a massive CONGRATULATIONS to you thank you soo much. you are so right about the main thing that gets in our way (LIFE) and thats the main problem. I work 8 hours a day plus 12 hours o/t each week and well.... i just cant wait to get that first beer in me but i suppose cut out the hours and maybe change my lifestyle a litte it will help. Thank you once again you dont realise how much you have helped me :wow:

 

[Lady Macbeth]

Gazter, great idea - I have a slow cooker and I could do that. So it's chopped veggies in stock or water on low all night? All veggies are acceptable apart from peas and broad beans right? I could make a vegetable stew for tea and not be using any more sins too. It just leaves breakfast which is a problem area for me - I hate cereals. I guess I should just eat fruit. I just worry that I'll get light headed just eating fruit and veg all the time - I have been known to faint when my blood pressure drops and it's always somewhere embarrassing!

Congratulations on your weight loss - that's awesome.

 

[gazter]

Gazter, great idea - I have a slow cooker and I could do that. So it's chopped veggies in stock or water on low all night? All veggies are acceptable apart from peas and broad beans right? I could make a vegetable stew for tea and not be using any more sins too. It just leaves breakfast which is a problem area for me - I hate cereals. I guess I should just eat fruit. I just worry that I'll get light headed just eating fruit and veg all the time - I have been known to faint when my blood pressure drops and it's always somewhere embarrassing!

Congratulations on your weight loss - that's awesome.

Yes for the soup. You dont need to stick to superfree food. If you like peas, beans, potatoes etc shove them in as well. The only rule you have to always remember is that a third of your meal has to be superfree. So, you make sure your superfree in the soup is at least a third of the total.

It is sooo easy. You can turn it into a beef stew, a goulash, a sausage casserole etc etc. You might have to experiment with medium and low on the slow cooker, but you should be good. You can try sweet potatoes, cabbages, leaks tons of onions.

Just dont have it on high for too long, as it boils out the lovely taste.

 

[missy1978]

Gazter, great idea - I have a slow cooker and I could do that. So it's chopped veggies in stock or water on low all night? All veggies are acceptable apart from peas and broad beans right? I could make a vegetable stew for tea and not be using any more sins too. It just leaves breakfast which is a problem area for me - I hate cereals. I guess I should just eat fruit. I just worry that I'll get light headed just eating fruit and veg all the time - I have been known to faint when my blood pressure drops and it's always somewhere embarrassing!

Congratulations on your weight loss - that's awesome.

Gazter's right and far better at explaining things than me!

As veggies we need to make sure that we're getting a balanced diet and it's easy to miss out on protein. Adding lentils or mixed beans to a soup or stew, chickpeas to a homemade curry or using quorn mince to make a chilli or a spag bol is both healthy and SW friendly! Beans and quorn are also a free food on green and extra easy plans so you don't need to count syns for them. You don't just need to stick to superfree foods (fruit and veg). I had a quorn chicken and veg stir fry with noodles for my tea tonight and the only syns were for the tbsp of sweet chilli sauce I cooked it with.

For breakfasts - plain yogurt is a free food so you could have that with fruit with a tsp of honey for 1 syn? Or use a healthy extra for some toast? Or if you are in a hurry you can have two Alpen Light cereal bars as a healthy extra. Hope that helps x

 

[soapyliz]

Hello everyone, I started slimming world at the end of March and I go to a group every Thursday. I have recently discovered this website and think it's brilliant so decided to register

I have lost 16 pounds so far (slow loser) and hope to lose another stone and half and see how I feel at that weight. I am currently 11 stone 12. I love Slimming World as I can have all of my usual foods with a little bit of adapting x

Hi Angwass. I started in March and am a slow loser too. But I'm happy with that, and with the weight I've lost so far. 6 more pounds should be enough for me, I think. I'll be good at 10st 2lbs. And much healthier than I've felt for a long time.

soapy x

 

[Halflinghannah]

Hey I'm. New to all this started just over 2 weeks ago n im just starting to get to grips with it! Will be making some soups for myself n start cooking properly when pay day arrives! But just done the basics during the day n cutting the crap stuff out and started get running (app on iPhone) iv lost 2 pounds this week! Hopefully I can keep it of over the weekend iv started at 10 stone 6.6 so down to 10stone 4.6! Hoping to get to 9stone roughly just be nice to be a comfy size 10 again. any aduve on places to get recipes? I'm doing it all from home too! Sorry if I rambled lol x