For those a little new to the mark you can catch up a little on my weight loss challenge here. Briefly though, the goal is to be 12st by June 24th. That’s a loss of 19.5lbs in 5 weeks [based on current weight and timeframe.]
So the plan; as I mentioned before I’ve been doing Slimming World since January 8th and so this will form the basis of my healthy eating. As I’ve already been on this plan for almost 5 months I’m going to have to step things up a little in order to increase my weekly weight loss which has settled at an average of 1.5lbs per week in recent weeks. I want to increase this weekly weight loss to 4lbs a week [or 3.9lbs per week for those with an accurate mind!]
For those who are already tuning out and thinking to themselves, nope, not possible, can’t be done, she’ll never achieve this widely ambitious goal… let me tell you that I almost have already!
- Week 1 in Slimming World I lost 7.5lbs
- Week 2 in Slimming World I lost 4.5lbs
- Week 3 in Slimming World I lost 3.5lbs
- Week 4 in Slimming World I maintained my weight.
- Week 5 in Slimming World I lost 2.5lbs
- That’s a total loss of 18lbs in 5 weeks! [just 1.5lbs shy of my goal]!
How I’m going to supersize my weight loss
I have 4 key areas I’m going to supersize the weight loss I’ve already been achieving weekly to take me from that 1.5lb weekly average of late to the desired 4lbs weekly goal to get me to my target. And 3 key areas to keep me in check!
- Drink considerably more water and considerable less coffee and diet coke.
Currently I drink about 5 cups of coffee a day and about 2-3 glasses of diet coke. My water intake is absymil; at most 2 smallish glasses a day. My plan is to increase my water intake to at least 2L/ 8 glasses a day – the recommended amount and to reduce my coffee intake to 3 cups a day. I am going to limit myself to 1 glass of diet coke a day. I also have at least 1-2 cups of tea a day too, these I’ll leave alone.
2. Exercise
I [currently] don’t exercise AT ALL. All my weight loss so far has been without any exercise effort. There are two reasons for this; 1. I hate exercising, in all its forms [accept for sex but even my hubby has his daily limits]. 2. I know that diet is the main contributing factor to weight loss and so this is where I have focused my attention; until now.
I know exercise is important and I know it will aid my weight loss and more importantly improve my health with the added bonus of toning my ever slimming body. This ‘delayed exercising tactic’ has always been part of my master plan. I felt that if I started Slimming World and included exercising [or body magic as they call it] from the start that my body would become used to and attuned to this double whammy attack and so I wouldn’t have this extra ‘super-boost’ in my arsenal when I needed it… like now when I want to lose a lot of weight in a short space of time. Now I’ve no hard evidence to back this theory up, just my own intuition, so this may not help. I guess we’ll know in about 5 weeks time if this theory works!
3. I’m going to increase my number of SP days and meals and the amount of ‘speed’ I eat.
This will mean little to anyone not familiar with Slimming World. To briefly explain, within the Slimming World plan foods are categorised according to their benefits [within the plan] and to help you ensure you’re getting all your basic requirements. Speed foods are those [specific] fruits and vegetables that help ‘speed’ up the weight loss process. And SP is an abbreviation for speed + protein only meals. Within SP days there is a recommended amount of ‘healthy extras’ that cover fibre and calcium to keep everything on track.
I will be taking that 1/3 of your plate speed per meal requirement up to 1/2 or more per meal and going for 3-4 SP days per week. Essentially for those trying to decipher the Slimming World speak: I’m going to increase the number of carb-less meals and days I will have. This is certainly going to take meal planning and discipline to new levels.
4. I am going to limit my syns to 6 syns per day and one day of a 10 syn allowance.
Syns is another Slimming World term. It stands for synergy and is the ‘point system’ allotted to foods and meals that are not considered ‘free foods’ under the plan. Depending on your weight and gender you are allowed [up to] a certain amount of syns per day. 20 calories is roughly 1 syn. I can ‘spend’ up to 15 syns per day and i usually use these on treats and sauces.
Over the course of a week I have a total syn allowance of 105 syns. I plan to reduce this to 46 syns over the next 5 weeks. This measure alone will hopeful give me a nice little weight loss boost!
To keep me in check
- I am going to record everything i put in my mouth.
I’ve done a weekly meal plan for years. Mostly to avoid the dreaded battle between my hubby and I that used to ensue at every meal of what we’d have. Now we sit down once a week decide what we’ll have each meal and I shop only these items and make only these items. I’ll continue to do this, but be more diligent to include my snacks and drinks now too… so as to stay within my new allowances.
I’m also going to write down after every meal what I’ve eaten… because lets be real, I’m human, I may slip up once or twice. If this happens I will be inspired to do better at the next meal/ next day when committing it to paper.
2. Keep in constant contact with my Slimming World Buddy.
I have my Slimming World buddy who I text constantly about what I am eating and what I am going to eat. [ In short, she’s a really great friend who joined Slimming World and we support each other. – This is not a ‘Slimming World thing’ but something two friends are doing together… I fully recommend it to all doing Slimming World… get yourself an SW Buddy!] She gets, the good, the bad, and the ugly. We encourage each other when we need it, make a plan together when we’re having a rough day, and help each other do better when we fall off the wagon, and most importantly we celebrate all the big and little successes together.
3. Attending my weekly Slimming World Zoom Meetings.
I have the most wonderful Slimming World Consultant. She’s helped me achieve fantastic results and even [against all odds] helped get me pregnant 3 times when it was supposed to be impossible! I would follow her anywhere and now, during Lockdown, I’ve followed her to Zoom. Having that weekly check in, where you have to face the scales, her cheerful face and the support of the other SW members has ensured I have lost every week during lockdown… no small feat when you feel like the world is imploding and that you have little control over anything.
So there it is, the big plan. The steps I am going to take to replicate and hopefully marginally exceed my first 5 weeks of Slimming World in 2020!
What’s next in my weight loss challenge?
Take a really deep breath and get my head down! I will share my weekly meal plans in a blog post and do a weekly round up of how I got on and what worked and didn’t every Tuesday, which for me, is weigh day.
Today I feel empowered. I feel I can do this and I want to channel and bottle those feelings to get me through the next 5 weeks! But for now, in recorded photo I will leave you with my starting weight and hope at the very least when I next share it, it will be 4lbs lighter!
For now I’ll leave you with my starting weight…
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