Slimming World explained – how it works

So you may have seen in my post about new year, new ventures that I am doing Slimming World to try and get rid of 2 1/2 stone. I can’t lie and tell you I think I’ll lose all that weight as I don’t know if I can. I have no willpower, at all. Ziltch. Daily, I yo-yo between “YOU WILL DO THIS!” and “to hell with it, I’ll just be fat”. I knew nothing about Slimming World and how it worked before I went to my first meeting, I had a vague idea of Weight Watchers but all I could tell you is that Slimming World has “syns”.  So it was all new to me. So I thought I’d do “Slimming World explained” post, to show how it works, then you can decide if it’s for you before you go and sign up. If you would like to see my comparison between Slimming World and Weight Watchers Flex, then you can find that here.

Slimming World explained

Free foods

Firstly let’s talk about your free foods, you can eat as much of these as you want, literally all day, every day. They include:

• Fruit and veg – all of it is free but it must be chopped or whole, smoothies don’t count and would need to be “synned” (finding out the syn value and adding it to your daily total). Avocados don’t count though, which is a massive bummer.
• Pasta – all dried pasta, but not fresh pasta.
• Noodles – dried.
• Potatoes – any way as long as they aren’t fried or roasted in fat, mash is fine but without the butter and milk etc.
• Fish – not fried or cooked in fat.
• Eggs.
• All meat that’s lean (fat cut off) and not processed (e.g. sausages, chicken nuggets etc.).
• Dairy products like fat-free plain yogurt/greek yogurt, quark (skimmed milk soft cheese – sounds vile but people rave about it!).
• Beans, lentils and peas.

Plus you can have things such as:

• Stock,
• spices,
• herbs,
• salt & pepper,
• flavour pots,
• Frylite spray,
• vinegar,
• fat free dressings,
• sweetners such as Splenda etc.

All for free.

Free drinks.

Black coffee and tea, diet soda drinks and no added sugar squash are all free to drink. A 200ml glass of Ribena or similar is around 2 syns.

Speed foods

Some of the foods above are classed as speed foods. This means they are low calorie and will boost your weight loss. The idea is that you fill your plate with 1/3 speed food where you can.

Healthy Extras

You have 2 “Healthy Extras” per day, they need to be measured accurately. Healthy Extra A is dairy and Healthy Extra B is wheat and bread items, including cereals, soups and nuts.

Syns

This is the best bit of the plan. As a woman, you are allowed between 5-15 syns per day and men can have up to 25 (not fair!). They take into account anything you have which isn’t included in the above plans. If you exceed your allowance of milk, for example, you need to syn the extra amount you drank. It is quite easy to stay within the limits for your syns as it is quite generous. You will be able to have a little of what you fancy each day, which makes following the plan much easier. I don’t know about you, but when I’m completely deprived of my treats, I end up feeling really down and miserable.

Slimming World hacks.

Now I’m getting more used to the plan, I’ve found a few hacks that make the most of my syns or keep me feeling full.

• You can have battered fish from the chip shop if you take off the batter. It’s free if you do this!
• The majority of Muller light yogurts are free and come in loads of flavours, so you’re bound to find one you like.
• Kit Kats that are 2 fingers are only 5.5 syns so you get plenty of munch for your syn value.
• Lotus Biscoff biscuits (my fave) are only 1.5 syns each so you can have a few without going off plan.
• Combine your syns over the week, so if you have your 15 syns a day you can have 105 per week. Then you can eat a bit more one day than another and still stay within your syn allowance for the week.
• Cut the crusts off your wholemeal bread and you can get 2 slices for your Healthy Extra B as they come to a combined weight of 60g.

If you’ve read the above and think this sounds do-able then you can go to the website to find your local group, you can also sign up online so you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home.

Let me know how you’ve got on with Slimming World and your syn hacks.

*Disclaimer – I’ve not been sponsored to do this post, I wanted to just inform people who are interested in signing up how it works before they join.*

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