Slimming World
Overview
On Slimming World you choose what to eat from a list of ‘free’ foods, which can be eaten in unlimited quantities and includes all fruit and vegetables, lean proteins and, strangely, Mullerlight yogurts. This list changes depending on what type of day you’re doing – there’s meat-based ‘red’ days and veggie-based ‘green’ days as well as the ‘extra easy’ plan which is a combination of the two.
Dairy and bread products are allowed, but they are strictly controlled via the ‘healthy extra’ choices, which include weighed out portions of cheese, milk and bread and ensures that you get enough dairy and fibre in your diet. Everything that isn’t included in the unlimited list is given a ‘syn’ value and you’re allowed between 5 and 15 syns a day to be used either on adding extras such as olive oil to your food or you can use them for treats.
Typical daily menu:
Breakfast: Quorn sausage and egg sandwich
Lunch: Jacket potato with a tin of baked beans and grated cheese. An apple and strawberry Muller Light.
Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognese made with passata and lots of mushrooms, carrots and celery. A Curly Wurly.
Pros
- It teaches you how to cook. It is difficult to succeed on Slimming World if you don’t cook.
- There’s a massive list of unlimited food. If you’re hungry you can freely snack on eggs, ham and veggies and even if you fancy something sweet you can eat the ubiquitous Mullerlight yogurts to your heart’s content.
- There are supportive weekly meetings. After being weighed at a Slimming World meeting, members take part in ‘IMAGE therapy’ (that stands for Individual Motivation and Group Experience) which helps to change your behaviour. You can also ask questions and talk to the other members of your group during this time which can be handy when you need support.
Cons
- Syns don’t stretch that far. You only get up to 15 syns a day and you could be in real trouble if you’re out and get caught short – even a Light Choices ham and cheese sandwich from Tesco is 16 syns in one go.
- Slimming World classes are paid for and groups can often seem like a bit of a sales pitch for the Slimming World magazine and products.
- You have to be organised to make Slimming World work for you and remember to prepare your meals.
- It can be difficult to get to grips with and there’s a lot of lingo to learn. There are red days, green days, ‘extra easy’ days and Success Express days, healthy extras (that’s hex a and hex b), free foods, superfree foods, speed foods, superspeed foods as well as Syns and it can all be quite baffling.
- At first glance you may rejoice at being able to eat as much pasta as you want, but although pasta is a ‘free’ food it’s still high in calories and you will still gain weight if you pile your plate high with it.