Slimming world.

alltimeburrit0

Simply curious about this, I don't plan on joining it as I don't really agree with it but want to know if it really is healthy.
The foods you can eat syn free seem odd and a lot, seems to only look at particular aspects like fat and calories instead of looking at salt, sugar and protein, how much of the syn free foods can you really eat?
Is it sustainable? Seen some of the top slimmers put on loads of weight after stopping the program and trying to maintain a normal healthy diet.
Does it really teach a healthy diet if it's telling you some foods are good and some are bad if it's really a balance that is healthiest?
I find people I've seen post on Facebook about it post about putting on 6lbs + if they go off the diet for a week or less. Is this true for others?

If anyone could tell your experiences that would be great as my sister has just started the diet and I'm not totally convinced it's the healthiest for her

usmcmp

I had to look up with "syn free" was. It's a load of crap. Most people gain around 6 pounds when they go "off diet" because it usually involves higher sodium foods and the Facebook posts about the weight gain after going off are misleading.

The reason the Slimming World people gain weight after stopping the program is because they never learned how to make sustainable changes, the program doesn't teach that. Why would a program teach people how to lose weight or keep it off without their help? They stop getting money at that point.

alltimeburrit0

usmcmp wrote: »

I had to look up with "syn free" was. It's a load of crap. Most people gain around 6 pounds when they go "off diet" because it usually involves higher sodium foods and the Facebook posts about the weight gain after going off are misleading.

The reason the Slimming World people gain weight after stopping the program is because they never learned how to make sustainable changes, the program doesn't teach that. Why would a program teach people how to lose weight or keep it off without their help? They stop getting money at that point.

You've pretty much summed up my feelings about the whole slimming world program. I see many boasting about the weight loss but then I see what they're eating and it pains me as it's not healthy. Even when it comes to simple things. We have a George Forman but my sister on slimming world still uses a frying pan as there's no concentration on how you cook or what you use to cook or the unnecessary fat you can get rid off using a different method

RelCanonical

I visited the website because I was curious too, and I'm getting this weird sense of ambiguity from them. Like, is this a weight watchers-type program, or do you eat specific meals? Is it something in between where you make the meals but they give you recipes? They're also like "it's not a diet!". That always gets me. If you can't forever it, it's probably not worth it.

leahcollett1

i follow slimming world guidlines, as the syns keep me in check wit the naughty things - before i would have chocolate as long as it was within calories - sometimes hundreds of cals worth, now i turn to a healtheir choice because the syns wont allow for it.
its made my food diary on here look thousands times fmore healthier. and there is only so much "free" food you can eat, as its filling, i couldnt go and eat 4 potatoes ( jacket)

alltimeburrit0

RelCanonical wrote: »

I visited the website because I was curious too, and I'm getting this weird sense of ambiguity from them. Like, is this a weight watchers-type program, or do you eat specific meals? Is it something in between where you make the meals but they give you recipes? They're also like "it's not a diet!". That always gets me. If you can't forever it, it's probably not worth it.

It's a 'diet' where you get something like 20 'syns' a day. Foods like home made cake can actually be 'syn free' meaning you can eat as much of it as you like! Some of their 'syn free' foods are ones I would try my hardest to stay away from because they're unhealthy, but to them it's okay.

It seems to be an easy diet cause it doesn't sound like you have to change much!

RelCanonical

alltimeburrit0 wrote: »

RelCanonical wrote: »

I visited the website because I was curious too, and I'm getting this weird sense of ambiguity from them. Like, is this a weight watchers-type program, or do you eat specific meals? Is it something in between where you make the meals but they give you recipes? They're also like "it's not a diet!". That always gets me. If you can't forever it, it's probably not worth it.

It's a 'diet' where you get something like 20 'syns' a day. Foods like home made cake can actually be 'syn free' meaning you can eat as much of it as you like! Some of their 'syn free' foods are ones I would try my hardest to stay away from because they're unhealthy, but to them it's okay.

It seems to be an easy diet cause it doesn't sound like you have to change much!

Sounds like a portion control thing then? The Syn thing does make it sound more like Weight Watchers, at least if theory if not in execution. Do you have to eat the recipes that they put up, or is that more like a guideline and you can eat what you want?

leahcollett1

nope you can eat whatever yopu like from free foods list - so for instance all free food is vegetable,s fruits, potatoes, protein.
seasoning ( not sauces)
so it opens up a massive amount to make recipe wise, its motivates you to cook from scratch rather than buy processed stuff.
what you do have to make sure of, is your plate is 1/3 speed food ( vegetables/salad) so your not having a massive bowl of pasta full of calories, and you have to measure a health A which is dairy and a HEALTHY b WHICH IS YOUR FIBRE. ( BREAD OATS ETC)

On top of this you have your sysn which you are more than welcome to use on sauces and condiments for your meal but there also there to provide flexibility if you do that that sweet thing.,

my day:

breakfast = quark with fruit ( free)
lunch - home made meatballs extra lean from musclefood, with a homemade tomator chucnky veg sauce
dinner - mexican pasta bake, made from scratch using, pasta, extra lean mince, tomatos veg, fajita spice and a load more seasoning, i use healthy A 40g reduced fat cheese in this too
snack melon

all of this is free food.

i have yet to eat my healthy b
and i have yet to eat my syns

alltimeburrit0

leahcollett1 wrote: »

i follow slimming world guidlines, as the syns keep me in check wit the naughty things - before i would have chocolate as long as it was within calories - sometimes hundreds of cals worth, now i turn to a healtheir choice because the syns wont allow for it.
its made my food diary on here look thousands times fmore healthier. and there is only so much "free" food you can eat, as its filling, i couldnt go and eat 4 potatoes ( jacket)

While reducing your chocolate is a good thing, the fact that you can have sausages and bacon syn free is NOT healthy.

According to slimming world you could have 10 slices of bacon (minus fat) 10 Iceland sausages and 10 eggs and still be able to eat more as all that's syn free. That's not healthy.

alltimeburrit0

leahcollett1 wrote: »

nope you can eat whatever yopu like from free foods list - so for instance all free food is vegetable,s fruits, potatoes, protein.
seasoning ( not sauces)
so it opens up a massive amount to make recipe wise, its motivates you to cook from scratch rather than buy processed stuff.
what you do have to make sure of, is your plate is 1/3 speed food ( vegetables/salad) so your not having a massive bowl of pasta full of calories, and you have to measure a health A which is dairy and a HEALTHY b WHICH IS YOUR FIBRE. ( BREAD OATS ETC)

On top of this you have your sysn which you are more than welcome to use on sauces and condiments for your meal but there also there to provide flexibility if you do that that sweet thing.,

my day:

breakfast = quark with fruit ( free)
lunch - home made meatballs extra lean from musclefood, with a homemade tomator chucnky veg sauce
dinner - mexican pasta bake, made from scratch using, pasta, extra lean mince, tomatos veg, fajita spice and a load more seasoning, i use healthy A 40g reduced fat cheese in this too
snack melon

all of this is free food.

i have yet to eat my healthy b
and i have yet to eat my syns

Again that's not healthy, to say you can eat all of that, plus more isn't healthy, isn't incouraging a lifestyle you can continue.

GirlPanda03

I tried this a few years ago; it seemed a good possibility as there are certain foods you can eat unlimited quantities of. Unfortunately, as I have limitations on what I can actually eat due to health issues, I found myself getting really bored quickly - I was having the same things over and over, and eventually got sick of them. The M.E./CFS really gets in the way of being able to prepare and cook food, so that also limited my variety a lot. I was losing some weight but time really dragged. I'm doing much better now just eating more sensibly and plenty of protein.

Alexandra_Faller

The idea is that the free foods are filling for longer so you eat less of them. I know a lot of people who have had success with it but for me it was useless.

leahcollett1

i always manage to log what i eat and funny enough my calories whilst doing the plan are always low.

LAWoman72

For me, this would be a slippery slope, personally. But I know I'm a volume eater. Know thyself, I guess. I bulk on veggies and the like (in addition to my protein, etc. needs and obviously, as a total, within my calorie goals).

I don't like "eat unlimited food X" or "these foods are 'free'" diets. Psychologically, I absolutely will ultimately abuse it...at some point, the wheels all fall off and it's a downward spiral for me. I mean, just looking at the 10 sausages, etc. example above...if that's accurate...yeah, just no. I'd be a porker in no time. Ask me how I know.

Loug1983

I agree, I think they massively underestimate my ability to put foods away, would never work for me!

leahcollett1

sausage arent free unless there specially made sw ones, which in all honestly arent that great.. sausages are like 7 syns each if not more so i never have them

leahcollett1

i am also a fan of counting calories, but i cannot ignore the amount of success people have had on it, for some reason it works., it does limit your portion intake on free foods, because the plan states that a third of your plate should be speed food which is your salad and vegetables, this automaticaly reduced the amount of free food you put on it, and naturally consuming less calories

LAWoman72

leahcollett1 wrote: »

sausage arent free unless there specially made sw ones, which in all honestly arent that great.. sausages are like 7 syns each if not more so i never have them

Oh, I see.

I do remember encountering this principle, though, with Weight Watchers, when a huge variety of fruits were "zero Points." Some weren't...like bananas, I think? Apples, oranges, etc. were "free." It's just fruit, right? So low-cal...and so good for you...how harmful could a piece or two of fruit be...

But I mean conceivably a person could eat, say, 8 apples in a day and not add them to his/her Points. And you know...for a medium-size apple, that's an additional 640 calories in a day. Just sayin'.

And did I go ahead and literally sometimes eat 8 or thereabouts pieces of "free" fruit in a day in addition to my 28 or whatever Points? Um hells yeah I did. (embarrassed)

Let's be more reasonable, though, and say one were to only have three pieces of fruit in a day...two apples and an orange. They're "free," so go for it. But you're still talking about 240 calories...or more, if they're huge apples and/or oranges. And not for nothing, 240 calories over all the cals you've already managed to wring out and finagle (fitting two 1-Point puddings in and listing them separately because when you put them in the WW calculator online together, they'd result in 3 total Points rather than 1 Point each; little tricks like that) could certainly keep a person from losing.

Eat All You Want of X is just, to me, a recipe for disaster for a lot of people. I think many of us WILL tend to ultimately abuse it, whether we realize that's what we're doing or not.

alltimeburrit0

leahcollett1 wrote: »

i always manage to log what i eat and funny enough my calories whilst doing the plan are always low.

It seems more of the fact it's not encouraging a healthy lifestyle. It's not teaching you what you should be eating when you leave the program

alltimeburrit0

leahcollett1 wrote: »

sausage arent free unless there specially made sw ones, which in all honestly arent that great.. sausages are like 7 syns each if not more so i never have them

LAWoman72 wrote: »

leahcollett1 wrote: »

sausage arent free unless there specially made sw ones, which in all honestly arent that great.. sausages are like 7 syns each if not more so i never have them

Oh, I see.

I do remember encountering this principle, though, with Weight Watchers, when a huge variety of fruits were "zero Points." Some weren't...like bananas, I think? Apples, oranges, etc. were "free." It's just fruit, right? So low-cal...and so good for you...how harmful could a piece or two of fruit be...

But I mean conceivably a person could eat, say, 8 apples in a day and not add them to his/her Points. And you know...for a medium-size apple, that's an additional 640 calories in a day. Just sayin'.

And did I go ahead and literally sometimes eat 8 or thereabouts pieces of "free" fruit in a day in addition to my 28 or whatever Points? Um hells yeah I did. (embarrassed)

Let's be more reasonable, though, and say one were to only have three pieces of fruit in a day...two apples and an orange. They're "free," so go for it. But you're still talking about 240 calories...or more, if they're huge apples and/or oranges. And not for nothing, 240 calories over all the cals you've already managed to wring out and finagle (fitting two 1-Point puddings in and listing them separately because when you put them in the WW calculator online together, they'd result in 3 total Points rather than 1 Point each; little tricks like that) could certainly keep a person from losing.

Eat All You Want of X is just, to me, a recipe for disaster for a lot of people. I think many of us WILL tend to ultimately abuse it, whether we realize that's what we're doing or not.

The example that I gave was Iceland sausages which are listed as syn free. Everyone has different taste buds and I'm sure there's people who think these taste great and they could eat 10. But that would be at least 700 calories. Over half of the daily allowance for some!

mskimee

The Slimming World leader in a group I know tells everyone one if you cook mince beef and drain the fat off, it's considered lean mince beef. I struggle with this concept, but others take it as gospel. Some of the recipe books are great, but I found it didn't work for me. I see people eat 500 or more calories a day every day in fruit (on top of their meals which can add up to a lot to be honest) cos the fruits "free" and then be slated in meeting for adding sauces to their food cos of the extra syns and being told that's why they aren't losing the weight and to get rid of the spoonful of mayo on their salad.

ruqayyahsmum

I tried slimming world years ago back when they did red and green days

I stuck to green days, filled in the diary, was berated for not eating enough, told to eat more so that the whole days box was full and to eat 15 syns not the 5 i averaged a day.....

I gained 6lb and apparently thats was because i didnt eat enough food

I didnt go back