So just before Christmas I signed up to slimming world

[Fuzzyliz]

Mad really, but we so need to do something. I looked on line and liked the menu plans - it gives me something to work from rather than just trying to make things up. At the moment I need all the help I can get. We had first weigh in after christmas and arrived straight from a party where we had eaten a lovely full roast meal - I had only put on 1/2 a lb!! The lady running the group was very pleased - she figured that had we not just had the party I might well have lost a little!!

I'm doing it with oldest ds who really really needs to lose weight.

I also need to exercise more - my plan is that each day I will have a short walk - maybe to the shops locally or just around the block (which is close on a mile). Then hopefully from there we will start doing more!

That is my goal this year - to start taking up the reins of life again, not just being carried along with the tide of life.

[TamieJP]

I need to do more moving too. I keep thinking about it. :lol

[Barbara]

I joined a gym a couple of months ago. I went to a location where my friend was already a member. Currently I am doing water areobics on M, W and F. The thing that amazes me is how much time it takes out of my day. Driving time and the class take an 1 1/2 hrs. I know it is helping with my flexibilty so I am trying to keep my mind off of the time it takes.

[HeyThereDelilah]

[Fuzzyliz]

Well I'd lost 1 1/2 lbs this last week! At least it is going in the right direction! It is really a very easy plan to follow which makes me think I could do it. Fruit and veg are free foods, including potatoes and other starchy veggies. Grains and pulses are free too as are meats. Then there are two healthy sections where you choose 1 item from each per day - they are the dairy choices and the other one is the breads/cereals etc. Then it is recommended that you have 'syns' each day - these are the yummy treats - or the extras to the other foods - e.g. if you want more milk than the daily allowance it works out as syns, or a chocolate bar would be a syn. You are allowed between 5 and 15 syns a day - and it is really recommended that you have them.

They say you don't get hungry following this plan - and actually I can see how easy it is to not get hungry.

Dh is also in agreement about doing it - he's not paying and going to group but he will be doing it by virtue of the way we do the cooking and the food we produce!

Oldest ds is doing it properly with me and he lost 2lbs this last week - but then I would expect a 26 year old young man to lose weight easily!

[HeyThereDelilah]

or a chocolate bar would be a syn. You are allowed between 5 and 15 syns a day - and it is really recommended that you have them.

So a chocolate bar is a "syn" and you can have 5-15 of them a day? WHERE DO I SIGN UP???

[Fuzzyliz]

They do have an online version!!

They work on the basis that if food is forbidden then that is the one food you want, and if you don't have it then eventually you will fall for the temptation and eat it, lots of it, and then feel bad and a failure so you give up altogether.

The idea is that you eat loads of the free foods (mostly fruit and veggies, also lean meats), then you have one heathly choice a day from two categories - dairy (some milk or cheese) and the bread category. That really keeps you pretty full. Then if you know that you can have a little chocolate each day, but you are really quite full, you will have less and then carry on with the diet. Yesterday dd and I shared a twix and a twirl - both two finger bars so we had a finger each. For me that came to 12 syns - and I enjoyed it without feeling bad. If I wasn't doing this I would probably have eaten the whole of both the bars and then maybe gone and got some more chocolate from somewhere. I was able to refuse the offer of choc chip cookies too, because I really felt quite full.

It does mean more cooking from scratch for me - but that is what I've been trying to do for a while, this gives me an extra impetus and there are easy plans for me to follow so I don't have to work out all I need to get and plan for the weeks food. I'm excited! I think this might actually work for me!