If you've been a long time reader of my blog, you'll know that I've previously followed the Slimming World plan to lose weight, and I'm now a member again as I lose my baby weight. And let's face it, Christmas is the most challenging time for anyone trying to lose weight. Today I'm going to share a little bit of advise for anyone else who is trying to follow a Slimming World Christmas.
There's all sorts of tricky occasions in the run up to Christmas, from the busy Christmas shopping trip to the office parties. A few years ago a wrote a blog post about how to survive these situations without doing too much damage to your syn count.
But what about the day itself? With a few lower fat tweaks, it can actually be possible to have a full Christmas dinner well within your syns. The turkey and vegetables are syn free, so fill your plate up on those. If you make your roast potatoes using this Oxo based recipe, then these too will be syn free - plus they taste amazing! The additional extras I tend to have with my dinner are a yorkshire pudding (a small one is 2.5 syns) and, my favourite part of the dinner, pigs in blankets, which range from 1 syn to 3, depending on the brand. A couple of Sainsbury's pigs in blankets would set you back 3 syns in total. Or, you could be really good and make your own using Slimming World sausages from Iceland and bacon with the fat removed. If you fancy adding gravy to your meal, 100ml will cost you 1.5 syns. So there you have it, a really satisfying Christmas dinner for just 7 syns!
One of my biggest downfalls during the festive period is mince pies - I love them! But with shop bought ones averaging at 12.5 syns, it's a lot to spend on one little snack. Luckily, Slimming World have their own mince tart recipe, which will set you back just 3.5 syns each instead. Another alternative, which I shared on the blog a couple of years ago, is scan bran Christmas cake, which tastes a lot like mince pies. I will set you back 11 syns, or 5.5 if you use the scan bran as your healthy extra. It's so much more satisfying than the mince tarts, you're unlikely to finish it all in one sitting.
Like quite a lot of households, our evening meal on Christmas Day is a buffet. These can be quite tricky to navigate, and laden with syns, with all of the convenient frozen party food available. Filling up on free food options means that you can enjoy a couple of cheeky mini pizzas without feeling guilty. Some syn free buffet options include:
Cold cuts of meat
Chicken drumsticks with skin removed
Cherry tomatoes
Crudities
Pickled onions
Boiled eggs
Cheddar cheese cubes if using as healthy extra
Pasta salad with syn free ingredients
Syn free chilli jackets
Fruit salad
I don't know about you, but with all of those options available, I'd be well and truly stuffed!
The most important thing though, is to remember that no matter how bad your eating habits become over the festive period, it can all be fixed by getting straight back on plan as soon as the holidays are over, so even if you return to group with a gain it's important not to beat yourself up about it. Enjoy!
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