Syn-tastic: Low syn snackbox

One of the keys to Slimming World success is maintaining a good intake of syns. Too little and your body will go into starvation mode... Too many and you undo the good work you've been doing. Losing weight depends on striking this balance... and it's sometimes easier said than done with so many temptations around us!

Some slimmers find that creating a snackbox which contains all their favourite treats and doesn't exceed their weekly syn level is the trick. So, how do you create your box?

The most successful dieters have at least 5 syns of their 15 syn daily allowance each day.  If you were to have 5 syns available for day-to-day eating to cover things like oils, cheeses, etc, you would have 10 syns available per day. So your snackbox could contain as many as 70 syns! And that's a lot of snacking!

Your box could contain any type of snack - sweet or savoury. The only rule would be that it contains no more than 70 syns for the week. This way you could dip in when and as you please to meet your body's needs.

Low syn snacks - sweet

Hartley's low calorie jelly - .5 syn
Mini milk ice lollies - .5 syn
Quality Street (per sweet) - 2 syns
Celebrations (per sweet) - 2 syns
After 8 (1 square) - 2 syns
Cadburys Heroes (per sweet) - 2.5 syns
Mini Wall's Twister lollies - 2.5 syns
Terrys Chocolate Orange - 2.5 syns per segment
Jaffa Cake - 2.5 syns
Oreo - 2.5 syns
Pink & White wafer - 2.5 syns
Snack A Jack Jumbo 3%Fat Caramel 2.5 syns

Chocolate Snack A Jacks - 3 syns
Mars bar - fun size - 4 syns
Skinny Cow ice cream lollies - 4.5 syns
Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Toffee Popcorn - 4.5syns
Toffee Crisp - 5 syns
Snack A Jack Popcorn Butter Toffee 23g 5syns
Curly Wurly - 6.5 syns
Walnut Whip - 8.5 syns



Low syn snacks - savoury
French Fries All Varieties 19g 4syns

French Fries All Varieties 22g 4½ Syns
Walkers Baked Crisps All Varieties 25g. 5 syns
Quavers All Varieties 17g 4½ syns

Walkers Light Mutipack 24g 5½ syns
Wotsits All Varieties 21g 5½ Syns
Squares Mutipack All Varieties 22g 5syns
Potato Heads All Varieties 23g 5½ Syns
Monster Munch All Varieties 25g 6syns
Salt N Shake 24g. 6½ Syns
Walkers Crisps All Varieties 25g 6½ Syns
Walkers Crisps All Varieties 34.5g 9syns
Walkers Baked Crisps 70% Less Fat All Varieties 35g 7½ syns
Doritos Dipping Chips Lightly Salted 28g 7syns
Salt N Shake 30g 8syns

Doritos Dipping Chips Lighty Salted 175g 43syns




 

Slimming World Success Stories

Look up Slimming World Success Stories on Google and you'll quickly be reminded of what kind of changes you can expect to see in your life by simply sticking with the programme.

Unlike a lot of other diet plans it feels like Slimming World is more about the long term rewards rather than short terms (losses and gains!).

Here are a few I've found this week:

Welsh mum's slimdown from 18 s 5 to 11 s 10 (a 7 st 5lb loss!)

Pensioner loses 8 stone.

Yummy Mummy loses 3 st 13lbs.

Military wife drops 8 dress sizes and 5 1/2 stone!

Weigh in - Week 5 - Success!

Thinking about my week 6 post - weighing in later on today - I realised that I forgot to post last week's results: 3.5lbs down! This brings my total weight loss in 5 weeks to 15.5lbs (3.1lbs a week). Plus, I got my 1 stone award!

Not quite sure how the scales will favour me later. I feel thinner - but my homescales aren't showing massive losses. I've been 95% good this past week, so I'm hoping for a 1lb weight loss tonight.  Not sure why - possibly just allowing myself to get hungry - but I maxed out my syns nearly every day! And then there's Saturday where I added about 5 syns extra to that count!

I just feel so bloated... which leads me to a yucky issue. So, sensitive readers please look away!  Not sure whether it's dehydration or a lack of fibre, but I'm afflicted by the Slimming World constipation issue. I'm hoping to avoid the dreaded ScanBran, but not quite sure how. Let's face it, I eat a tonne of fruit and veggies each day - surely that helps keep things, erm, moving. Yesterday I had blueberries, strawberries, bananas, carrots, broccoli, green salad with cucumber and tomato. I might start looking at new Hex Bs. Perhaps adding dried fruits to the diet might help! That or some more water-based fruit and veg (apples, lettuce, celery, etc). Plus I'm looking to up my water levels and perhaps reduce the white flour in my syns! It means bye bye biscuits, but hello weight loss!

So let's see whether I'm in the scale's favour today... And, whatever the case may be I know that once this downstairs issue is cleared up I'll probably have lost another stone! haha!

Slimming World shopping list for this week

One of the best ways I find to keep on track with Slimming World is to create a meal plan and shopping list each week. Here's my Slimming World meal plan for the week ahead:

Monday

Breakfast               Raspberries, strawberries and banana with Mullerlight Vanilla
Lunch                    Spicy sweet and sour mugshot
Dinner                   Turkey chili beef with black eyed peas and kidney beans
Snacks                  Apples and grapes,
                             carrot with spring onion dip (Total Greek yoghurt w/ spring onion)                 
Tuesday

Breakfast              Mushrooms on wholemeal toast with grilled tomato
Lunch                   Jacket potato with diced ham, pineapple and low fat grated cheddar
Dinner                  Spaghetti bolognese
Snacks                  Sugar snap peas, orange segments

Wednesday

Breakfast            Omlette with mushroom, spring onions and peppers and cheese
Lunch                 Couscous, Mediterranean vegetables and side salad
Dinner                Cottage pie with swede and carrot mash topping
Snacks                Apples and grapes

Thursday
Breakfast           Quorn sausage, mushrooms, beans, poached egg and grilled tomato
Lunch                 Jacket potato with vegetarian chilli
Dinner                Sweet and sour chicken, noodles and stirfry vegetables
Snacks                Mugshot, peaches, pineapple
Friday
Breakfast           Oat so simple sachet with grated apple and cinnamon; orange and grapefruit segments
Lunch                Barley and butternut squash hot pot
Dinner               Gammon steak, pineapple rings, sweet potato chips and peas
Snacks               Strawberries, raspberries

Saturday
Breakfast          Bacon, tomato, mushroom and egg on toast
Lunch               Baked tortilla salad basket (4.5 syns)
Dinner              Tuna Pasta Bake

Sunday
Breakfast         Eggs Benedict (3 syns)
Lunch              Ham, cheese and lettuce rollups
Dinner             Seafood Paella (2.5 syns)

Weigh in: Week 3 - Success!

Last night's weigh in went really well as I dropped a further 2.5 lbs. So my grand total in three weeks of following Slimming World is 10.5lbs. My goal for next week is 2lbs realistically, but how chuffed would I be if I managed to get my 1 stone? I'd be freakin' ecstatic.

So this week my main focus is continuing to stick with the programme... which isn't too difficult. Luckily my social life is almost exclusively activity-based which really helps!

One difficulty has cropped up. While gardening on Sunday I've damaged my pinky. I'm heading to minor injuries this afternoon to get it checked out - but I have a feeling it will mean no climbing tonight. I'm not 100 per cent sure how much I use my pinkie in climbing, so I might just have to give it a try while Sam's on the walls. I'll be there anyway, so I ought to make the most of it.

Whatever the case may be I'm sticking with my 30 minute dog walks each morning and two sessions of laser tag this week.  If I can't climb tonight I'll try and squeeze in a 30 min. swim tomorrow night to make up for it and/or take the dog on an evening walk tonight.

Weigh in - Week 1 - Success!

After Twinkie-filled nightmares on Sunday night, I approached my 6:30pm weigh in with considerable trepidation. Let's face it - I wasn't really hungry all week, didn't really feel like I was on a diet and even had a slice of lemon cake! I couldn't have lost, could I?

The scales disagreed, registering a 6 lb loss! Secretly I hoped that I'd get results like this, but I never really believed I could. I know it's early days but this is a great outcome and gets me off to an excellent start.

I'm going into this week focused and aiming for the 1/2 stone mark next Monday. That's a 1 lb loss. Any more is a bonus.

To help me on my way, I'm thinking about trying out this syn-free lemon curd recipe this week:

Syn-free lemon curd

3 tbsp powdered sweetener (I prefer Splenda)
1 lemon, juiced with its rind grated
2 large eggs
2oz extra low fat fromage frais

Whisk together your lemon juice and eggs in a medium-sized bowl..
Mix in rind and sweetener.
Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir until thickened.
Remove from heat.
Whisk in fromage frais until smooth.

Store this in the fridge in a jar to keep fresh. Since it has eggs in it, I'd recommend using within 3 days.

This also makes a great base for a cheesecake filling. When cooled, just add a whole tub of Quark and mix well. 

Start the day off right: Slimming World breakfast ideas

Are you stuck for Slimming World breakfast ideas? It's easy to fall into a same old, same old routine at the start of the day... and it's uninspiring to say the least. Sticking to a 'diet' is hard enough, but combatting boredom could be the thing which pushes you off the proverbial wagon!

So... start as you mean to go on and try some of these ideas:

A syn-free bacon sandwich

I love bacon sandwiches on a lazy Saturday morning. So I've swapped mine for a syn-free twist on it! I roast off 2 beefsteak tomatoes with frylight, balsamic vinegar and italian herbs. I serve this on a large slice of wholemeal toast (HeB) with 2 rashers of turkey bacon on the top. When I'm feeling really decadent I add grated low fat cheese (HeA) and/or a poached egg.  Yum!

Luxury banana yoghurt
Chop up some bananas and mix with Total 0% fat Greek Yoghurt. Add a dash of cinnamon.   Options: honey, flaked almonds (3.5 syns), granola (HeB)

Cheese-y scrambled eggs on toast
Scramble some eggs in the microwave. Add in a low fat cheese triangle (HeA) and serve on toast. 

Apple cinnamon porridge
1 Oats so simple original packet (HeB) with grated apples and cinnamon 

Syn-free Frittata
Morning's can be really hectio in my house. So it helps to be able to just grab something quick from the freezer and microwave it. Frittatas are perfrect for this... and you can put whatever you want in it, too! This week mine had: 8 eggs, boiled potatoes (sliced), 50 g low fat cheese, sliced mushrooms, onions, peas, cherry tomatoes and spring onions. After cooking I cut it into 6 wedges and froze them. Now all I need to do is take one out of the freezer the night before and microwave for two minutes in the morning. 


 

Day 2: Slimming World Extra Easy

Well day two is rounding to a close and while I think it's going well so far, I must admit that I started to feel a bit challenged earlier when I started getting stressed. While I have an 11-year-old son who's fairly easy going, I also have my neighbours' kids around... A LOT. Let's just say I realised how much kids grow between 7 and 11 in the space of about 5 minutes. I do adore the two boys (4 and 7) and the fulfil an odd gap in my life, I am quite happy to send them on their way at the end of the night! I think I've become a grandmother before my time.

Anyway - felt a bit stressed and did have thoughts of 'what sweet things can I fill my face with?' I've not eaten a great deal today and I've had so much fruit, so opted for a MullerLight.

And the burning question - what did I eat?

Breakfast

Mushrooms sauteed in Bertolli Light spread (1 syn)
Quorn sausage (1 syn)
wholemeal toast (my slices are just 47g, so used my 10g spare as breadcrumbs with dinner)
Tomato drizzled with balsamic and roasted
Apple

Snacks (I don't tend to eat lunch on Wednesdays)
2 x banana
8 x strawberry
1 x apple

Dinner
1/2 fillet cod, in nuggets crumbed
1/2 fillet haddock, in nuggets crumbed
1 portion Slimming World chips in frylight
Mullerlight yoghurt

Supper
Mullerlight yoghurt
Melon chunks
Spaghetti rings in tomato sauce

My only comment would be that I think I need to really aim for more vegetables. Tomorrow I'm going to try to work in a salad with dinner which should fill that gap. 

Day 1: Slimming World (aka Can you eat too much free stuff?)

Finally managed to get signed up to Slimming World last night and all is much, much clearer.  The Extra Easy system is quite straightforward and I'm hopeful that it works for me. Must admit that I have a secret fear that I've just eaten too much.  The quantities of veg and fruit post-lunch left me feeling a bit overstuffed, so I think I need to slow down a bit sooner.

Today's menu:

Breakfast
1 apple (superfree)
1 portion of Mango (superfree)
2 eggs (free)
57g wholemeal bread (HExB)

Snack
Banana

Lunch
Baked potato (free)
71g Kerry Low Low Grated (HExA plus 4 syns)
4 slices ham (free)

Snack
Bag of sugarsnap peas (superfree)

Dinner
1/2 tbsp veg oil (3 syns)
1/2 tbsp sesame oil (3 syns)
Beef (free)
Egg noodles (free)
Stirfry veg (superfree)
Mullerlight vanilla yoghurt (free)

Slimming World Chili Risotto Recipe

This chili risotto recipe takes less than 20 minutes to make - perfect for a quick dinner after work.

Ingredients:

Fry Light

1 onion, chopped
4oz mushrooms, sliced
2tsp dried paprika
3 tsp chilli powder
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
4oz chopped tomatoes
4oz frozen peas
14oz sweetcorn, drained
14oz kidney beans, drained
2tsp artificial sweetener
1/2pt stock
1 packet Batchelors Savoury Rice
Salt & pepper to taste.

Spray pan with fry light and cook onions and mushrooms for two to three minutes.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Bring to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until liquid has absorbed.
Season to taste.

Syn-free curry sauce recipe

The key to losing weight on Slimming World is your intake of superfoods. Recipes like this syn-free curry sauce are one way of keeping your diet varied and focused on these filling foods which have zero syns.

Ingredients:
Fry Light
1 Onion, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1 tsp finely grated ginger
1 tbsp hot or med curry powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes
57ml veg stock
2 tbsp sweetener
57g natural yoghurt or fromage frais

Spray frying pan with fry light and place on medium heat.
Saute onion, garlic, and ginger for 1-2 mins.
Stir in curry powder and cook for two more minutes.
Add tomatoes, sweetener and stock and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes.
Blitz mixture with hand blender and return to heat.
Remove from heat.
Stir in yoghurt or fromage frais.
Can be frozen for future use.

Couscous burger recipe

Couscous burgers or fritters  (serves 4)


These yummy burgers are easy to make and can be eaten hot or cold. They contain a fair bit of cheese, so you could have 1 serving and allow it to count as your HExA option. Using a lower fat cheese could reduce sins if you wanted to eat a bit more at one sitting.
150g couscous
200ml vegetable stock (hot)
2 eggs, well beaten
1 bunch spring onions, shredded
100g cheddar cheese, grated
Fry Light sunflower oil

Place couscous in bowl and pour over hot stock. Cover with plate and stand for 15 minutes until fluffy.

Use fork to fluff up grains. 

Stir in onions, cheese and eggs.

Shape into 8 cakes.

Spray non-stick frying pan with FryLight and put onto medium heat.

Cook burgers for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Remove and drain on kitchen towel. 
Serve with a crisp salad.

Low syn snackng that is just heavenly!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love that feeling of eating well while losing weight.

Restricting your eating or dining like you are dieting is the first step to downfall for me... every time!

There's plenty of wiggle room within Slimming World syn system for a bit of fun, too. You have between 5 and 15 syns available a day to you. So don't waste them - enjoy them!

Mikado chocolate covered pretzel sticks - .5 syn per stick
Mini meringues - .5 syn each
Soft Mints - .5 syn each
Rowntree's low sugar jelly - .5 syn (all flavours)
Sugar-free Chupa Chup lolly - 1.5 syns
Full sugar Chupa Chup lolly - 2.0 syns
Options Belgian Hot Chocolate drink - 2.0 syns
Coconut ring (biscuit) - 2.0 syns
Mini Milk - 2.0 syns
Mini Twister - 2.5 syns
Alpen Chocolate Fudge cereal bar - 3.5 syns (or 2 as Hex B)
Cadbury Chocolate Mousse - 3.5 syns
GoAhead yoghurt breaks - 3.5 syns (all flavours)
Milky Way (fun size) - 3.5 syns
Oaty bar - 3.5 syns
Cheese curls - 3.5 syns
BGTY sweet chilli cassaca snacks - 3.5 syns
Kings Velvet Crunch - 4.0 syns per bag
SlimFast Chocolate Caramel bar - 4.5 syns
Galaxy Ripple (17g) - 4.5 syns
Skinny Cow ice lolly - 4.5 syns
Blue riband bar - 5.0 syns
Walkers crisps - 5.0 syns
Solero bar - 5.0 syns
Freddo bar - 5.0 syns
Salt & Vinegar Snack-a-Jacks - 5.5 syns
Kellogg's Fibre Plus bar - 5.5 syns
Dairy Milk Little Stars bar - 5.5 syns
Maltesers (treat size) - 5.5 syns
Curly Wurly - 6 syns
McCoys crisps - 8 syns
Crunchie bar - 8.5 syns
Galaxy Bubbles - 8.5 syns
Galaxy Ripple (33g) - 9 syns
Malteasers bag (full size) - 9 syns
Twirl (from multi-pack) - 9 syns
Twirl (full size) - 11 syns

Preparing a Slimming World shopping list

Tomorrow is my first Slimming World meeting and weigh-in, so I'll be kicking off my SW adventure on Tuesday morning. My only issue today (apart from getting excited) is that I need to prepare a shopping list! I'd like to have everything in order so there isn't too much rushing about on day 1. I think preparation is key!

The Extra Easy plan will be explained to me tomorrow, but I've been having a sneak peek at some recipes today. Two have caught my eye as potential lunch and dinner for Tuesday.

Lunch:

Jacket Potato with Coronation Chicken and crispy salad


Slimming World Coronation Chicken (1 syn) - Serves 1

1 chicken breast, grilled and cooled
1 Muller Light yogurt - Apricot
2 tbsp Hellmans Extra Light Mayonnaise
Curry powder to taste
Optional extras:

71g semi-dried apricots (Hex B)
28 g sultanas (4 syns)
1 tbsp flaked almonds (4.5 syns)

Mix yoghurt with mayonnaise until creamy.
Add curry powder to taste.
Add in optional extras.
Cube chicken and stir into mix until well coated.


Dinner:

New Yorker Chicken - Serves 2

Fry light
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp syn-free bbq sauce (recipe below)
4 medallions of smoked bacon
Low fat grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 180.
Bake two chicken breasts for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven (but keep oven on!)
Spoon a tablespoon of syn-free bbq sauce over the top of each chicken breast.
Place 2 medallions of bacon on top of the chicken breast.
Sprinkle cheese over the top.
Bake for a further 10 minutes.


Zero syn BBQ sauce - Serves 4

Fry light
1 roughly chopped onion
1 tsp mild chili powder
227ml passata
3 tbsp Splenda
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp mustard powder
salt/pepper

Spray a pan with fry light and saute the onion and chili powder - over a low heat - until soft (approx. 5 minutes).

Stir in the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve hot or cold.

Can be frozen.

Weight Watchers - Vent - The end?

It took time, but I eventually received a response to my concerns over the lack of Weight Watchers leaders and support available to those following the ProPoints programme. Let's just say it wasn't really the response I'd hoped for, but I'll give them their dues: at least they responded. That's more than I can say for any of their leaders!  This whole episode has been so tense and stressful as I really started out my week feeling in the zone for getting myself slimmer. I'm just glad to have it behind me, really.

Where do we go from here? It could be quite easy to simply keep myself on the slow and steady route. After all, losing 4 kg every six weeks (as I have done) could generate a weight loss of more than 50lbs this year alone. But then again there's every chance that it could not... and that's what this decision to join a programme is all about.

So last night I started looking into Slimming World - from talking to those who have been successful and those who haven't. I've decided on a meeting that is close enough for me to walk to and from and have had a quick chat with the leader who seems professional, supportive and knowledgable of the issues facing her members.

As I close the door on Weight Watchers, I'm seeing a new opportunity to succeed open. I know that the next few weeks will be a steep learning curve as I learn new habits, develop new skills and dream up new recipes which will aid my weight loss. It's terrifying, yet exciting. 

In the meantime, I'm carrying on my mainly healthy eating (although I did succumb to custard creams earlier) and exercising. My walking has been going well - since Monday I've done 3.5 hours and am hoping to do at least another 3.5 between tomorrow and Sunday. Seven hours a week sounds perfect to me.  Tonight I'll be heading back for some more rock climbing and this weekend I'm hoping to try out Zumba, go swimming and take in some canoeing.  I've also been looking into joining a boxing club for circuit training/anger management. [NB: After a week like this one, I really need it!]