Tighten Your Belt with SW?Tighten Your Belt with SW.

maman

Glad to hear your DD is coping @Coxy11. I'm hoping to get to see Mrs Harris goes to Paris too. It had good reviews in the weekend press. 

Hope the treatment is successful for your tooth @Jellybaby. 

What a shame you can't get on with SW @SingleSue, as your weightloss has been excellent. SW is calorie counted in a way as all the vegetables and fruit, as well as being healthy, are a much lower calorie option than other foods. As @Vegastare proved with her bread yesterday, it's about 20 cals per syn. The things that are high syn tend to be the sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, crisps and alcohol type things that we all know should be treats not everyday staples.  What I love about it is that the quantity of food isn't limited so I'm never hungry and I know the balanced meals are healthy. Not really sure why you aren't having a variety of meals. Fortunately, I have the time and energy to make my own ready meals to give flexibility but WW ready meals are fairly low syn (typically about 5 syns or less for sweet and sour, curry, Bolognese, cottage pie etc) and much better value than the SW ones if that helps. Many are on offer in Asda at the moment. Not liking vegetables must be a problem but my first consultant ate no vegetables at all but had a punnet of strawberries before all her meals. 🤔 Good luck with whatever you choose going forward but do stick at it. 😊

That was quite a journey to deliver some cheese @joedenise. I'm sure your DD appreciated it though. A present from France? 🤔

Glad to hear you're feeling better @ruby_eskimo. I've had my Covid booster and flu jabs today. I did think carefully about having both together but decided to get it over with. Talking it through with the nurse, she seemed to think the reactions are down to new vaccines to cover both the original and omicron variants rather than having two jabs at once. Who knows? 🤔 I've taken some paracetamol as a precaution and If I have to lie low for the next couple of days then so be it. I might feel too unwell to go to WI on Thursday! 🤣

Today's EE plan-
B- HEB porridge, HEA1 milk, banana (F), berries (S)
L- veggie omelette (P, S), ham (P), beetroot and cornichons (S)
D- cottage pie (P, F, S with HEA2 cheese topping), cauli, broccoli, cabbage (S)
Syns- 0

bubbs

Evening all

Today i had egg mayo on 2 ryvita, half hexb, beet, pickles, raddish and cherry toms.
Skinny crunch half hexb, banana and fresh fig.

Cottage pie, cauli, broc, carrots and  beans 4 syns gravy

maman

Snap! We had the same dinner tonight @bubbs except my cottage pie had an orange top because I uses sweet potato. 😁

bubbs

maman said:

Snap! We had the same dinner tonight @bubbs except my cottage pie had an orange top because I uses sweet potato. 😁

We had this because it is quick to make! DH was finishing the painting before we go away,  so just grabbed the mince out the freezer 😂

SingleSue

maman said:

Glad to hear your DD is coping @Coxy11. I'm hoping to get to see Mrs Harris goes to Paris too. It had good reviews in the weekend press. 

Hope the treatment is successful for your tooth @Jellybaby. 

What a shame you can't get on with SW @SingleSue, as your weightloss has been excellent. SW is calorie counted in a way as all the vegetables and fruit, as well as being healthy, are a much lower calorie option than other foods. As @Vegastare proved with her bread yesterday, it's about 20 cals per syn. The things that are high syn tend to be the sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, crisps and alcohol type things that we all know should be treats not everyday staples.  What I love about it is that the quantity of food isn't limited so I'm never hungry and I know the balanced meals are healthy. Not really sure why you aren't having a variety of meals. Fortunately, I have the time and energy to make my own ready meals to give flexibility but WW ready meals are fairly low syn (typically about 5 syns or less for sweet and sour, curry, Bolognese, cottage pie etc) and much better value than the SW ones if that helps. Many are on offer in Asda at the moment. Not liking vegetables must be a problem but my first consultant ate no vegetables at all but had a punnet of strawberries before all her meals. 🤔 Good luck with whatever you choose going forward but do stick at it. 😊

That was quite a journey to deliver some cheese @joedenise. I'm sure your DD appreciated it though. A present from France? 🤔

Glad to hear you're feeling better @ruby_eskimo. I've had my Covid booster and flu jabs today. I did think carefully about having both together but decided to get it over with. Talking it through with the nurse, she seemed to think the reactions are down to new vaccines to cover both the original and omicron variants rather than having two jabs at once. Who knows? 🤔 I've taken some paracetamol as a precaution and If I have to lie low for the next couple of days then so be it. I might feel too unwell to go to WI on Thursday! 🤣

Today's EE plan-
B- HEB porridge, HEA1 milk, banana (F), berries (S)
L- veggie omelette (P, S), ham (P), beetroot and cornichons (S)
D- cottage pie (P, F, S with HEA2 cheese topping), cauli, broccoli, cabbage (S)
Syns- 0

The lack of variety is pretty much because I can't prepare and cook lots of the things that would fit into the plan and I can't afford the ready meals either, so I have to stick to the few things I know I can do and which can be done in a microwave or toaster and requires no chopping or peeling and that my body can tolerate (unfortunately pasta, rice and potatoes are not best buddies with my body if I have more than a little). I work weird hours and outside of that, mum demands my attention a lot which makes it very difficult to juggle.

I'm also finding it very expensive, my usual shopping was yellow sticker items and that is pot luck what you can get and getting that to fit into the plan is not easy. Some of the things I have always viewed as treats/once in a blue moon because they are expensive, are now staples (Baby bel, massive quantities of fruit to use as speed foods and to fill me up). 

One of my bigger issues though is syns, or more particularly, the actual word when said verbally. I've tried calling them points or treats instead of syns but my head just can't get around it and just checking the app reminds me and so it makes me feel guilty/bad about eating anything that contains syns. It makes me anxious and unhappy and feeling out of control and that triggers something in me that takes me back to being 12 years old (I said 30 years in my earlier post, it's actually 40 years!) and refusing to eat, something that has not occurred on any of my calorie counted or WW eating plans.

Re naughty foods, believe it or not, they were not part of my usual day to day diet before. Youngest son always moaned about the lack of 'nice' things when he came back from university and a box of chocolates given to me for Christmas still sits unopened in its plastic wrapper (alongside the bottles of wine also given to me, I rarely drink). What SW has done though is get me to have meals on a regular basis, not quite there with breakfast yet but I am now having a regular lunch and evening meal, even if it is a bit limited in choice and I'm sure all the fruit is doing me good too. 

I've been good at maintaining my weight over the last decade, unfortunately, maintaining at the top end of the scale rather than the low end but still not increasing it and going to SW has at least given me the kick up the bum I needed to get going but I do think going forward at the end of the 12 week referral, I will go to calorie counting but also taking into account some of the lessons/tactics of the SW plan....just without the negative connotations of syns.

Coxy11

Morning all,

@SingleSue I can totally understand your viewpoint re. the S word. It stands for Synergy meaning things that make our body tick - if we couldn't have the occasional treat it would be counterproductive to our weight loss and we'd be more likely to over-indulge. I think for most of us (if not all) the relationship we have with food is deep rooted. I was a 'chubby' child compared to my older sister and friends. When I look back at photos now, I was not chubby at all but I can remember an uncle picking me up and groaning (in jest) and things like that just stick don't they? I've always thought of things like chocolate as rewards and it's really hard to get out of that mindset. The book in the SW pack 'Discover Your Freedom' talks about rewriting the script in our heads and is well worth a read if you haven't already. Please do stick around even if you revert to calorie counting as the support on here is fabulous xx

The 'Mexican chicken' leftovers I took to work yesterday were actually chicken mascarpone leftovers, so a couple of syns there. Also the pot had cracked in the freezer and I didn't realise until it started to defrost in my bag!! I am WFH today - late night last night means I have a headache, so will take some tablets shortly. The film was good @maman - some nice uplifting and funny moments and Lesley Manville is a great actor.

Food today will be:
B - melon, blueberries, banana - some S
L - poached egg, 1 x wm bread - P, 1/2 HEB
D - SW carbonara - HEA (parmesan)
HEA - milk
1/2 HEB - hi fi bar
Syns - possibly a rum n pepsi max - 3

DH and I are painting the woodwork in our bedroom tonight - 2nd coat as he did the first coat last night. We then need to move some furniture into the garage and upstairs as the wood flooring is being fitted next week. DH is away from tomorrow morning to Monday night, so I am literally living/working in the lounge with just my desk, a small sofa and the TV - just like when I first moved out of home 30 years ago! Just keep thinking it'll all be done soon.....

Have a good day all
Coxy

joedenise

Morning all, another grey day and very windy  but forecast to brighten up a bit later and then some rain this afternoon.

I made a big batch of ragu yesterday in the pressure cooker.  Have portioned it up and have got 10 portions in total.  4 x 2 portion bags have gone into the freezer and the other 2 portions will be dinner tonight!

@SingleSue what @Coxy11 has said above is right.  Do carry on posting on here for the support if you do decide to go to calorie counting.  We have others who post sometimes who do a combination of SW principles but actually calorie count.

More painting @Coxy11!  Do you have lots to do or are you nearly finished with all the decorating (at least until it needs doing again!)?

Today's plan:

B - mushroom omelette - P; S
L - ham salad sandwich  - HEB; P; S; 0.5
D - spag bol - P; S; F; part HEA

HEA - milk/bit of parmasan
HEB - bread

Have a good day everyone.

ruby_eskimo

Morning all.  Do you want to come and decorate my house @Coxy11 😂😂  We need to paint all our woodwork but we're waiting till we get the internal doors replaced (which I think is happening next week 🤔)

Busy day at work again so just popping in with meal plan for today: yogurt and blueberries for breakfast, poached eggs and avocado on toast for lunch and lasagne with broccoli for dinner.

Hope you all have a good day!

SingleSue

Coxy11 said:

Morning all,

@SingleSue I can totally understand your viewpoint re. the S word. It stands for Synergy meaning things that make our body tick - if we couldn't have the occasional treat it would be counterproductive to our weight loss and we'd be more likely to over-indulge. I think for most of us (if not all) the relationship we have with food is deep rooted. I was a 'chubby' child compared to my older sister and friends. When I look back at photos now, I was not chubby at all but I can remember an uncle picking me up and groaning (in jest) and things like that just stick don't they? I've always thought of things like chocolate as rewards and it's really hard to get out of that mindset. The book in the SW pack 'Discover Your Freedom' talks about rewriting the script in our heads and is well worth a read if you haven't already. Please do stick around even if you revert to calorie counting as the support on here is fabulous xx

The 'Mexican chicken' leftovers I took to work yesterday were actually chicken mascarpone leftovers, so a couple of syns there. Also the pot had cracked in the freezer and I didn't realise until it started to defrost in my bag!! I am WFH today - late night last night means I have a headache, so will take some tablets shortly. The film was good @maman - some nice uplifting and funny moments and Lesley Manville is a great actor.

Food today will be:
B - melon, blueberries, banana - some S
L - poached egg, 1 x wm bread - P, 1/2 HEB
D - SW carbonara - HEA (parmesan)
HEA - milk
1/2 HEB - hi fi bar
Syns - possibly a rum n pepsi max - 3

DH and I are painting the woodwork in our bedroom tonight - 2nd coat as he did the first coat last night. We then need to move some furniture into the garage and upstairs as the wood flooring is being fitted next week. DH is away from tomorrow morning to Monday night, so I am literally living/working in the lounge with just my desk, a small sofa and the TV - just like when I first moved out of home 30 years ago! Just keep thinking it'll all be done soon.....

Have a good day all
Coxy

I was the complete opposite as a child, I was a dancer (ballet) and trained 5 hours a day and subsequently, was exceptionally toned and not an ounce of fat on me. My issues started when I badly injured my spine and had to give up ballet just when I was on the cusp of it becoming my career, a bitter sweet moment was a news programme detailing my progress and hailing me as the next big ballerina, the same day my parents had pulled me out of the dance school due to costs and my injury.

I lost my way for a bit after that and horrors of horrors, went up to a size 12 (oh how I dream of that size now) and embarked on my first calorie counted diet. That got me down to less than a size 8 (on measurements now, a size 0), discovered the gym and life was good again.

Where it all went wrong was the treatment for endometriosis, it didn't matter how much I counted the calories or how many hours down the gym I did, I just piled on the weight.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Weigh in this morning, I would like 3lbs to get the stone but I'll be happy with any loss really.

joedenise

Forgot it was Wednesday so have just been to weigh myself and am still lb above top end of target.  Hopefully I can shift that this week and go back to group next week.  If not then I'll go the week after.