To sin or not to sin . . . . ? (Slimming World)

Member Name: Night Owl

Product:	Slimming World
Date:	28/04/01 (3566 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good healthy eating plan, which you lose weight to easily and steadily.

Disadvantages: Expensive to keep buying lots of meat, fresh vegetables and fruit all the time.

Why can’t losing weight be easier? When I was younger (which I was once - I suppose these days I just feel older than I really am, 1 2 3 aaah!!), I must confess to being one of those people, who could eat whatever they wanted and still not gain any weight (start cussing), much to the disgust of many of my friends and probably now some of you, that are reading this opinion.
I could never understand, why I would hear women complaining, about not losing any weight after being persistently on whatever happened to be the latest “miracle” diet.

My good fortune didn’t stay with me unfortunately, (large sigh of relief from my readers!) and as the years have crept by unnoticed, my waistline seems to have expanded in much the same way.

When it comes to will-power, I reckon I must have been at the back of the queue, because I just don’t seem to have any, not one ounce, none, zilch, zero, nil - it doesn’t matter how I say it, I just haven’t got any willpower!! And it doesn’t matter how good my intentions are or how determined I might be; I always seem to succumb to that little voice telling me to eat that bar of chocolate, as one won’t hurt will it? (know the voice I mean, girls!)

I finally decided that I must do something about my weight, as it doesn’t matter how much your partner says he likes you the way you are - you know within yourself, when you are not happy or comfortable with how you look anymore. (Does this sound familiar anyone?) Not that I had a vast amount of weight to lose, but enough.

So when I came across an advert for Slimming World in the local paper I decided to give it a go and join. It was £6.95 to become a member and then, at the time, was £2.95 a week, (I think it is £3.25 a week now). When you first join, they take a few details from you and then you receive a couple of books. The first keeps a record of your weight, and hopefully your weight loss, and t
he other has details of the slimming plan and what you can eat. You can also determine your “target weight” that you would like to aim towards.

At Slimming World, there are two slimming plans to choose from the Red/Original plan and/or the Green plan; used together you are able to ascertain maximum weight loss.

The principal behind losing weight at Slimming World is that, first of all, the more food that you eat, then the more weight you are supposed to lose.

I hear you shout, “it can’t be that easy”, well, the catch is, that you have to eat the right food, what Slimming World call ‘free food’. These are foods that don’t have a “sin” value.

On the Original/ Red Plan, these foods include meat, poultry, fish, vegetables and fruit, you can eat as much of these as you like and in theory you should still lose weight. So you can eat bacon (grilled, microwaved or dry fried), egg (dry fried) and tomatoes, and still lose weight! Sound good so far?

(Tip: - You are able to dry fry your egg, by heating up your non-stick frying pan so it gets hot, turn the heat down and put your egg in the pan, get a plate and place it over the top of the pan, and let it cook for a few minutes, this way your egg doesn’t get dried out as the moisture is trapped in the pan. Also the egg is quite easily removed and the pan needs little or no cleaning up! I have found this also works with bacon.)

Anyway, back to the Slimming Plan - you then need to make sure that you have three healthy extra’s a day. This is to make sure that your body has plenty of fibre, calcium, vitamins and minerals.

To make up your three extra’s a day, you must choose ONE out of the list in Section A, (in the book) which is various quantities of different milks or cheeses, and then TWO healthy extra’s out of section B which are also listed in the book. These are different combinat
ions of breakfast cereals, or biscuits and crisp breads, breads, dried, canned and cooked fruit, soups, beans, peas, lentils and pasta or vegetables.

Then finally all other foods have a “sin” value, which you are allowed between 5-15 sins a day, depending on how much weight you have to lose. 10 sins a day is about the average.

Aswell as the Original/Red diet plan there is the other plan called the Green Plan, as previously mentioned This is mainly a vegetarian or meat free diet, and is basically the same diet as mentioned above except, the foods are more varied and are vegetarian orientated. If you were following this plan, then instead of the meat being a free food, then it would have a sin-value.

For maximum weight loss, you are supposed to alternate your days between the Red and Green Plan.

The Slimming World classes are weekly, and last about an hour. Or you can be weighed and then leave, whichever you decide the price is still the same. You are weighed at the beginning of each class, and it is done quite discreetly, so the other members won’t find out what you weigh (not unless you tell them!) or how much you have lost (or not!).

Each week the amount that you have lost is added up until you reach 1/2 stone or a stone and then you are given an award. Although the award is nothing spectacular, it comes in the form of a coloured sticker, each different coloured sticker representing a weight that you have lost. Also if you have lost the most amount of weight in the class one week, then you are awarded the title of “Slimmer of the Week” and again receive a small prize and sticker with your achievement on. Although small, these awards are nice incentives that encourage you to carry on losing weight as it helps you put in perspective the amount of weight that you are gradually losing.

After being weighed-in, then you individually talk about how you have (hopefully) achieved your weigh
t loss. This is the part of the class that I personally am not so keen on, I don’t mind listening to which foods or menu’s are going to be the most beneficial to my weight loss, but the last thing I want to do, if I haven’t had a very good week in my conquest to lose weight, is talk about it to the whole class!!

On the whole I did find this diet really did work, and that I did lose weight quite steadily and easily. I would definitely recommend this diet, as it is an easy diet to follow, even if you have no willpower, like me!

Previous to this diet, I had tried the Weightwatchers 1-2-3 diet, which compared to Slimming World; I personally felt that I was punishing myself more on this diet. It works on the principal that ALL foods have a points value, so if you have used up all the points that you were allocated for the day and you are still hungry, then you are not able to have anything else, as there is no free food to nibble on, like the Slimming World diet.

The only disadvantage of the Slimming World diet that I found, was that it seemed to be quite an expensive diet to follow. I seemed to be forever buying meat, fresh vegetables and fruit, and that was just for myself, never mind the rest of my family.

I would recommend this diet, as I haven’t found another diet that works as well, and personally as with any diet, I think that to get the full benefit of losing weight, you must also exercise as well, but with having a family, I think that I get all the exercise that I need, plus I just don’t get the time!

At the moment, trying to explain away my few extra pounds, I still find myself saying “well, I’ve just had a baby”, but I think that is wearing just a little bit thin now, especially as my daughter has just turned a year old. So I think it’s back to the Slimming World classes - it worked for me once, so there is no reason why it shouldn’t work for me again. One
small problem, now that I’ve got two children, where am I going to find the time!!!

The price we have to pay in our efforts to be slim - now, to sin or not to sin...?

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