Slimming World v Calorie Counting *confused*

sozzell

Hello,

This is my first post so hello to everyone first of all!

Now then, after finally deciding to do something about my weight gain I decided to try the Slimming World, even though I do really think that this works and have seen the results when I tried it many years ago, I actually find that I can't follow it unless I am logging everything I eat and unfortunately there are no such tools for SW, as good as My Fitness Pal....therefore I decided to give this a go...

I really do love this site (and the app) and find everything so easy, however my confusion is this: For example, last night's dinner of rump steak, homemade wedges and salad was over 700 calories but on Slimming World ALL of this would have been free food....

Considering that my daily calorie goal is 1200 I find this to be quite ridiculous!!!
Now, I do exercise....I go to the gym around 3-4 times a week and do 40 mins cardio and 8 different strength training machines...but if that only gives me an extra 400 or so calorie allowance I feel starving all the time and sometimes too weak to do exercise.

Can someone please help! I know I probably sound really thick...but please bear with me!

Thanks in advance..

sozzell

Just wanted to add today's diary also, as an example.

Breakfast of Weetabix crunchy bran & milk, snack of low fat yogurt and lunch of beans on 2 dry wholemeal toast has taken 876 calories, leaving me with 324 for the rest of the day's snacks (usually have banana & fat free yogurt and a couple of apples) and my evening meal...this cannot be right???!!!

PLEASE HELP!!

AlixClockHeart

Depending on how tall you are, you're current weight, and how you ate before, 1200 is probably just not enough calories for you. I'm still new to this, but I'm sure someone who can explain it better will come along.

Cal28

I don't think you can mix diets. You either need to count calories or do Slimming World. On here you can eat whatever you want but on SW they may be classes as Syns.
Use it to log if you need to but if it going to confuse you and make you worry maybe you just need to make an Excel sheet or go back to pen & paper?
Whichever you choose I'm sure you'll do great x

m0ns00n

What height and weight are you just now? What did you put down as your goal (e.g. lose 1lb per week)?

Also, making your diary public will make it easier for people to provide more helpful feedback.

Skydemon53

I have no idea what your weekly weight loss goal is, but 1200 net calories is the absolute minimum. For me, my daily net goal is 1720 calories to lose 1/2 pound per week. On days I don't work out (I try to go at least 6 days a week), it's pretty hard to make my goal. Even with my workouts (I average over 600 calories a day burned), I more often than not go over my total calorie allowance, though almost always stay under my "maintain weight" calorie limit, so I don't feel to bad since I'm pretty much at my weight goal, just trying to convert a little more of the extra fat around my waist to muscle.

The bottom line is that you need to burn more calories than you eat if you want to lose weight. I never could have lost my weight without MFP and the support of the great people on here.

rileysowner

Looking at what I can see of your profile you only have 14 pounds to lose. If that is the case, your goal loss per week should probably not be any higher than 1 pound. That will give you more calories to work with. Here is a helpful guide http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

Beyond that we would need to see your food diary.

MrsBlobs

They are completely different principles. On MFP you eat to a deficit and lose weight that way (simplified), you get to eat more if you move more, but there is no real emphasis on 'what' you eat. On slimming world you drastically reduce your fat intake while still eating plenty of foods.
Don't forget that on their new 'orange' scheme (extra easy, is it?) you can't actually eat all the protein or all the carbs you want, like you could on red and green days - they are limited by ratio to your super free foods.
If you are following extra easy you have now had your calcium and fibre for the day - unless you are on a green or red day your wholemeal bread should be counted as a syn.

In all honesty I would follow one or the other. Now - I've syned up slimming world meals from their recipes and they are usually quite low calorie. Were I to follow them to their word though, on a red day eat as much lean protein as I could or on a green day as much low fat carb as I could, I would most definitely be over on calories every day.
So - on the one hand they say 'eat as much of this as you want' but when you actually follow some of their recipes and diet plans it's ALL weighed and measured. So not quite 'all you can eat'.

My suggestion would be to track your weight and exercise on here, but if you are following SW don't track your food as you are getting a conflict. You should still lose, just watch your portions....and that was one of the problems with SW, although their recipes indicate portion size their ethos of 'never go hungry, eat as much as you want' doesn't actually teach you portion control very well - or at least me. I took 'em at their word

sozzell

Hello everyone, and thanks for your replies :-)

I am 5ft 7in and currently weigh 12 stone 5lbs. I have always been heavy really, so the actual weight isn't the most important thing, but slimming down is.

I think I really like to be around 11 stone-ish.

I have just changed my settings, sorry, it must have been on default hidden to private. You can now all see what I have been eating since starting MFP properly on Monday.

sozzell

P.S. I am no longer 'following' Slimming World. I really much prefer MFP, especially with this great community (which I only discovered as a feature today!!),

erickirb

Hello,

This is my first post so hello to everyone first of all!

Now then, after finally deciding to do something about my weight gain I decided to try the Slimming World, even though I do really think that this works and have seen the results when I tried it many years ago, I actually find that I can't follow it unless I am logging everything I eat and unfortunately there are no such tools for SW, as good as My Fitness Pal....therefore I decided to give this a go...

I really do love this site (and the app) and find everything so easy, however my confusion is this: For example, last night's dinner of rump steak, homemade wedges and salad was over 700 calories but on Slimming World ALL of this would have been free food....

Considering that my daily calorie goal is 1200 I find this to be quite ridiculous!!!
Now, I do exercise....I go to the gym around 3-4 times a week and do 40 mins cardio and 8 different strength training machines...but if that only gives me an extra 400 or so calorie allowance I feel starving all the time and sometimes too weak to do exercise.

Can someone please help! I know I probably sound really thick...but please bear with me!

Thanks in advance..

Most likely your weekly loss goal is too aggressive for the amount you have to lose. With only 14 lbs to go your goal should be 0.5 lbs/week. This will give you mare calories as your deficit will be smaller. Having too large of a deficit when you don't have much to lose can lead to a loss of a large % of lean muscle.

Here is a guide for setting weekly weight loss goals:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

jo_marnes

Sorry, but if you ate steak and wedges all day every day, you aren't going to lose weight. There is no such thing as 'free food'. ALL food has calories. Slimming world directs you towards a healthier way of eating (i.e. less junk, more nutritious foods) but thats where it stops. If you really want to lose the weight then you need to accept the fact you need to change your diet.

MFP is a valuable tool because you can now see that the foods you have been consuming are a) high in cals, and b) obviously not filling you up. So you need to switch/ modify what you eat, when you eat and your portion sizes to adapt.

Beans on toast for example is not nutritious, has high sodium and high GI. You could change to homemade beans/ egg with one slice of toast. Or you can have a filling salad with lean protein. I often have avocado and tuna mayo on rice cakes. You will find that proteins will fill you up and keep you fuller for longer than high GI carbs. It's hard to take in, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it wouldn't they??

ijustwalkedin

P.S. I am no longer 'following' Slimming World. I really much prefer MFP, especially with this great community (which I only discovered as a feature today!!),

I completely agree about the community on MFP ... I've also always thought I shouldn't have to pay to lose weight and MFP is free!!!

loischapman

Welcome...happy you are figuring it all out. good luck to you!

myf1101

I have used slimming world and understood the red and green concept but when they introduced mix n match and then extra easy it got too confusing and my weight loss stalled. This is easy and you are so right about the community. I am only just discovering how good this is, and how motivational it can be.

sozzell

P.S. I am no longer 'following' Slimming World. I really much prefer MFP, especially with this great community (which I only discovered as a feature today!!),

I completely agree about the community on MFP ... I've also always thought I shouldn't have to pay to lose weight and MFP is free!!!

Couldn't agree more! The Government & NHS are always banging on about the 'obesity problem' in the UK but costs of these slimming clubs and health centres, it's not really helping!

sozzell

@ Jo_marnes - Yes, I accept that I do need to change and I really think that MFP is going to be my new best buddy! I see what you mean about SW and guess it isn't something that one can follow forever (that'll be why everyone I know that has done it fall off the wagon and go back to their bad ways at some point...) :-/

It's just the getting my head around the calorie defecit etc. now.

Ok, time for another stupid question...putting in my information in the tools section it gives me a MBR of around 1547, and my BMI is 27.1. According to to very helpful post from SHBoss1673 which someone very kindly linked ^^^ I should have a defecit or 300 calories....so that means the BMR 1547 - 300 = 1247?? Wrong? :-/

MrsBlobs

I would also add (controversially) that you will feel hungry for a bit until you adjust. Slimming world, as I said, has this 'all you can eat' ethos, ensuring you are full and satisfied but, not really giving you an idea of portion control. You will feel hungry until a) you get to grips with portion sizes and b) you learn to fill up on foods that leave you satisfied for longer on a smaller calorie load and that's something that takes time to learn.
Hunger shouldn't be a permanent state at all, but during this adjusting phase it may occur, your stomache is used to much larger amounts of food in one go. I was REALLY shocked at how calorific pasta was when I first started here, and that was a hangover from SW's 'eat as much on a green day' thing. When I first put my normal portion of pasta in I almost died of shock! Then, when I stuck to portion I was disappointed in how little it was - leading to the addition of much, MUCH veggies to my meals. Low call and filling!

seph_house

Ok, time for another stupid question...putting in my information in the tools section it gives me a MBR of around 1547, and my BMI is 27.1. According to to very helpful post from SHBoss1673 which someone very kindly linked ^^^ I should have a defecit or 300 calories....so that means the BMR 1547 - 300 = 1247?? Wrong? :-/

nearly there BMR is what you would burn if lying in bed all day. Assuming you are not doing that, even getting up an going to work where you sit at a desk all day burns cals. BMR plus that extra is called your TDEE (total daily expenditure) which is the number MFP then applys a deficit to (500/day if you ask for 1lb/week loss, 250/day if you want .5lb etc).

MFP doesn't give a TDEE tool but it does put in on the goals page based on what you entered (right hand side "From Normal Daily Activity" cal count)

erickirb

@ Jo_marnes - Yes, I accept that I do need to change and I really think that MFP is going to be my new best buddy! I see what you mean about SW and guess it isn't something that one can follow forever (that'll be why everyone I know that has done it fall off the wagon and go back to their bad ways at some point...) :-/

It's just the getting my head around the calorie defecit etc. now.

Ok, time for another stupid question...putting in my information in the tools section it gives me a MBR of around 1547, and my BMI is 27.1. According to to very helpful post from SHBoss1673 which someone very kindly linked ^^^ I should have a defecit or 300 calories....so that means the BMR 1547 - 300 = 1247?? Wrong? :-/

No the deficit should be from maintenance, not from BMR. To get your maintenance go to My Home > goals, and look at the top right calories burned from normal daily activity, that is maintenance and you should be 300 cals below that. If you set your goal to 0.5lbs/week it will put you 250 cals below that.

Most likely if you BMR is 1547 and you are sedentary your maintenance will be around 1850 cals, so you would need 1550 to have a 300 cal deficit.

sozzell

Mrsblobs - I pasta!! I really feel as if I need it, especially on gym days.....man, this is gonna be tough!!

I've also decided not to have the beans on toast for lunch, going to make some scrambled egg 2 eggs 1 white on toast (work in an office so limited on facilities!) :-)

Thanks to everyone for their replies, this is fantastic!

erickirb - Thank you so much for making that clearer for me!