At the end of September I hopped on the scales to be HORRIFIED, I burst into tears and hid in my room feeling ashamed of myself. I won't say how much I weigh right now because it's still a number a struggle with but I've always been 'heavy' even at a poorly size 8-10 I was 11 stone and I remember my doctor saying to me 'You're heavy for a little lady!' I didn't think I was but it stuck with me, the number I saw looking back at me that day literally haunts me.
I snapped, I text my best friend and demanded she came to Slimming world with me, she also wanted to shift some weight so I thought hooray we can be weight loss buddies and I had montages of us working out and becoming skinny babes who could rollerblade on the sea front in bikinis going through my mind but obviously thats not going to happen... yet.
We scurried into the church hall after reading about the group online and I felt like turning around and running out the door but our consultant Emma came over and gave us some forms to fill in and put us at ease. She gave us some books and a little pack that you get to read through.
These are the books you get, I've actually only opened the middle one, it's the Food Optimising book and it became my bible when shopping as there is an app available to check out 'syn' values and 'free' foods but it's really well, terrible!
You'll start off on a plan called Extra Easy and it tells you everything you can eat that are 'free foods' such as dry pasta, rice, all lean meats, most spices, herbs and stock cubes then you have 'super free food' you're meant to fill 1/3 of your plate with super free foods such as fruit and veg and there's a section that'll tell you all about syns. You're allowed 15 syns a day and they can be used on things like butter, cheese, bread, crisps, chocolate and all those things we eat daily and know we shouldn't.
You also have a daily allowance of either cereals/grains, nuts, seeds OR bread and then you chose between cheese OR milk. It all sounds a bit complicated but it's not, you can have a slice of toast or a bowl of cereal and either cheese on your food or a glass or milk/milk in your tea.
Bottom line is cut oil, fats, skin/fat off meat and sugars, that really makes you think 'well what can I eat' but believe me you can pretty much eat what you want, just substitute things. I make creamy prawn and mushroom tagliatelle, spaghetti bolognese, full english breakfasts, burgers and chips, pancakes and even cheesecake, I just make them with different ingredients.
I make my own sauces and things, it sounds like hard work but a spag bol jar of sauce can have 30 odd syns in it!! When some garlic, onion, tomato puree and chopped tomatoes is free, MUCH tastier and takes all of 10 mins, max!
(egg and soldiers // spaghetti and meatballs // my stone award // quark 1 syn cheese cake)
My day usually starts off with fruit and a muller light yogurt both free so you can have as much as you want or just fruit as fruit is super free afterall.
For lunch I'll have a mug shot (1% fat or lower ones) again a free food with some cooked chicken you get in the chilled meat aisles and usually a banana, then dinner is the best bit as I can be creative!
Below is a breakfast and dinner option!
These pancakes are amazing and syn free if you use your healthy extra of cereals you'll see me refer to these as HEX A and HEX B, healthy extra a and healthy extra b!
Slimming world pancakes -
35g of porridge oats
1 Muller light yogurt of your choice
Some sweetener to taste
Two medium eggs
You just mix the oats and the yogurt in a bowl, pop it in the fridge overnight or for a few hours then when you're ready to cook your pancakes mix in the eggs and some sweetener, spray a pan with fry lite and just dollop some in the pan to make a small pancake cook until brown and you're ready to stack!
For the melt in the middle burgers -
Extra lean mince or turkey mince (make sure it's breast mince from turkeys as the thigh mince is high in fat!)
Mixed herbs (Asda do some super cheap ones that I used)
1 Chopped onion red or white
2 Babybel light (HEX A)
Just mix the mince with the herbs and chopped onion and wrap it around one of the babybel's and slightly flatten it, pop it in a dish or on a tray and then put it in the oven until golden brown.
I serve mine with Slimming world chips and veggies or salad in a brown bun (HEX B) split in two.
Weekly you weigh and your progress is documented in your book, you're highly praised and rewarded every week it's REALLY incredibly good at boosting my moods and pushing me to lose more.
So far I've lost a stone, I havent worked out at all and that includes 2 weeks off and eating like a mad woman over my birthday, I think this is a lifestyle change not a quick fix even though you can drop weight pretty quickly in two weeks, if YOU feel bad in yourself you can change it even if you just stop cooking in oil and trim your fats and switch to diet drinks, it will work trust me.
I feel better about myself and I don't feel so much self hate, it took a lot to make me go but everyone at group is there to lose weight and the consultants are also slimming world goers so don't be ashamed or embarrassed.
I made an instagram to document my food but I'm a little slack with it however its @kyleighvsfood and my personal one is @girlsgotaface
I hope this wasn't the worlds most boring blog post and it helps at least one person, if you've got any questions please ask!
