A Slimming World Christmas

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.

Christmas Baking

Every Friday evening my family get together at my Gran's house for dinner and a catch up, which I'll quite often go to. This week I decided to pop along, and bake some festive treats for us to enjoy as dessert.

Gestational Diabetes - One Month On

I've actually known I have gestational diabetes for a few days longer, but today marks one month since I had my first appointment and got my bloody sugar testing kit from the hospital, so I thought I'd share with you my experiences and feelings so far, and how I've been getting on with managing the condition.

Slimming World Sunday - How I'm Spending My Syns

It's been a while since I did a Slimming World Sunday post. Unfortunately, the lure of Euro /2016 has been too much for me, so I haven't had much time to sit down and actually write any blog posts recently, let alone anything Slimming World relating. Luckily I had a day to myself yesterday and had a mammoth blogging session, so they'll be plenty of content up for you for a while.

So today I'm going to be taking about Syns - probably the best part of the Slimming World plan! I'm always scouring places like Instagram looking at what people are using their Syns on. If I can find something with a low syn value that's going to keep my cravings at bay, I'm more likely to stay on track, so I always make sure I;ve got my cupboards stocked with tasty treats. Here's what I've been loving spending my syns on recently.

Slimming World Sunday - Nacho Style Feast

I was really late on the bandwagon when it came to this recipe, but those of you that follow me on Instagram will know that I've become obsessed with this dish since I tried it a few months ago. It's so tasty, just like having a naughty Mexican dish, and is really fillling.

Slimming World Sunday - Back To Basics

I am going to be completely honest with you now. I've really struggled with any kind of Slimming World plan these last few weeks. In order to maintain my weight after reaching target, I was going to have one evening off plan, and stick to it 100% for the rest of the week. Well.....so far that has not been the case! One evening, turns into a whole day, which turns into a whole weekend, you get the picture. At the moment I'm a couple of pounds outside of my target range and I'm determined to stop it there. I don't want to go back to how I was, so this week I'm making an effort to get back into target range, or as near as I possibly can.

Slimming World Sunday - My DIY Recipe File

I think one of the keys to Slimming World success is to make sure you've always got inspiration to hand when you're completely lacking in ideas and are bored of eating the same old meals week in week out. It's always good to try something new now and again to keep interest in the plan. I used to keep a stack of my Slimming World magazines in my bedroom to dip into whenever I needed some recipe ideas, but it wasn't exactly the greatest filing system in the world. It took up a lot of room, and took a lot of flicking through to find something that took my fancy. It was time my stacks of magazines went off to the recycling, so I needed a new plan to make sure I still had my inspiration to hand.

Slimming World Sunday - Speedy Spag Bol

Spag Bol is easily one of my favourite meals to make on Slimming World. It's so quick and cheap to make, and tastes delicious. I've even managed to convert my mum, who really isn't adventurous with food at all, to this recipe. It's packed full of speed foods too, to help boost weight loss.

Slimming World Sunday - Scan Bran Christmas Cake

When it comes to Christmas treats I absolutely love mince pies. Before I joined Slimming World, I would buy a 6 pack from the corner shop, and they'd be gone within a couple of days. Now though, with them being so incredibly high in syns, I've had to resist indulging as much as I used to (though I did have a mini one at an Xmas party last week!), but I think I've found a perfect Slimming World friendly alternative. Someone from my group had made the Scan Bran Christmas cake and brought it in to one of our taster nights a couple of months ago. After tasting a small square, I was struck by how much it tasted like mince pies (and perhaps even better!). I knew then that I had to make it for myself, as this was going to be what saved me from my mince pie cravings this year!

Slimming World Sunday - Surviving The Festive Period

image from weheartit.com

December can be a real struggle when you're following a weight loss plan. With all of the social events, and just generally being busier than we usually are, it can be really tempting just to write the month off entirely and overindulge at times when really we could've stayed on plan, leaving us with a big gain to tackle in the New Year. Truth is though, if we really sat down and took a look at our schedules for the month, we could probably still be on plan the majority of the time. There are some events that we all face through December though, that can be really tricky to Food Optimise through, but here are my tips for tackling those moments, to limit the overall damage that Christmas can do to our weight loss journey.

Slimming World Sunday - A Long Overdue Update

Well this is a very long time in coming! It's been over two months since there was last any mention of Slimming World on my blog. If you've been following me on Instagram though, you'll know that I've still been 100% committed to the plan, and have done pretty well in my blogging absence.

Slimming World Sunday - September 2015 Update

 Another month, another award! I'm so pleased I've been able to keep this up, and if I carry on at the rate I've been going, I should get to target for Christmas, which would be amazing. Having sat down and worked it out, that is now the aim I am focusing on. September was a good month for me in terms of weight loss, when you look at the month as a whole, but I think it highlighted to me just how important going to group is for keeping me on track.

Slimming World Sunday - New Recipe Book

I'll be honest, pretty much every time there's a new Slimming World recipe book out, I'll get really excited and have to buy it straight away, but this time I was even more excited than usual! The title alone "Best Loved Extra Easy Recipes" set my expectations high, as I was looking for it to be jam packed full of recipes I'd want to try. It seemed to be a really popular choice in group too, but luckily I was able to pick up one of the last two left this week.

Slimming World Sunday - Veggie Pasta

A couple of weeks ago, I featured one of my current favourite lunches, veggie quiche. Another veggie dish that I've really been loving recently, both for lunch and dinner, has been pasta. I've tried quite a lot of Slimming World pasta recipes in the past, but nowadays just tend to do my own thing rather than sticking to one set recipe.

Slimming World Sunday - August 2015 Update

August has been a really up and down month for me on Slimming World. I started the month all fired up and ready for a great month of weight loss, but my motivation started to dwindle a little towards the middle of the month and I started to lose my way a little. Luckily I've managed to get back on track and am now well on my way to my next award.

Slimming World Sunday - Veggie Quiche

If you read my EESP post from last week, you'll know that one of my favourite lunches recently has been quiche. It's really simple and cheap to make, plus it's really filling too. The particular recipe that I use is great if you are following the SP plan like I was - just serve it with a salad and you've got the perfect SP lunch, but is great served with other free foods for an extra easy lunch, or simply on it's own as a snack.

Slimming World Sunday - My EESP Week

I think it's safe to say I really enjoyed my sister's wedding! I lost track of the amount of syns I ate and drank that day (and for part of the day after whilst we were still at the hotel!) but everyone's allowed days like that, right?! I was absolutely dreading stepping on the scales but I did have a quick sneak peek on the Saturday evening, and I was facing a 2.5lb gain from just two days!!! I already had my plan in place to follow the SP plan for the next four and a bit days (so not quite an EESP week, but we'll go with it!) before weigh in to try and limit the damage as much as possible.

Slimming World Sunday - July 2015 Update

July has been a bit of a weird month for me Slimming World wise. I had my bridesmaids dress fitting at the end of June and although it had to be taken in ever so slightly, it was a pretty good fit. To avoid my sister having to fork out for two different alterations I've had to be careful not to loose too much weight since. It's felt really weird going into group hoping for a small weight loss rather than several pounds, but I think I've managed to strike a good balance of still losing, and making sure the dress still fits - and as you can see I've got my 1 stone award!

Slimming World Sunday - Speedy Chilli

My new Slimming World consultant is the queen of speed food, and is always reminding us that for our main meals we should have at least a third of our plate full of speed foods, where possible. For some meals this is easier than others, though some dishes can be easily adapted to include more speed foods in them. Chilli has been one of my favourite evening meals to cook ever since I started Slimming World way back in 2012. Since joining my new group, and thinking more about what I put into my meals, I've changed my recipe slightly to ensure I'm getting the speed that I need.

Slimming World Sunday - Lunch At Coffee Architects, Leamington Spa

The great thing about Slimming World is that you can fit the plan around going out and socialising. You don't have to miss out on the fun but you can still stay within your syns allowance. Some places can be trickier than others to find a Slimming World friendly meal, but most are happy to adapt a dish for you to cut down the calorie intake. One place where finding a SW friendly dish isn't a problem is a little cafe quite local to me called Coffee Architects. My consultant has raved about this place a lot, and I often see pictures on our facebook group of various members visiting and their food always looks so good. I went with a friend a few Sundays ago, but unfortunately it's only breakfast all day on Sundays, so my husband and I took another trip yesterday to sample their lunch menu.