Well tonight I’m settling down with a Club orange to watch some Big Bang Theory with my hubby after my first week of Slimming World.  I’d love to say that it was so much work, that it took forever, that I painstakingly weighed every piece of food that crossed my lips.

That’s what a diet is, right? Hard work, weighing every bite, not being able to eat out – all those labour-intensive, difficult sacrifices, right?

Wrong!

Aside from visiting the supermarket more often, and an increased rotation in our dishes, it has not been difficult.

In the last seven days, I have attended a non SW-friendly hen party (and eaten a variety of party foods, including cocktail sausages, cocktail sausage rolls, bhajis, samosas, cheesecake and a chocolate fountain) and eaten out thrice (once was chicken in black bean sauce with steamed rice, one was chicken curry with noodles and one was roast chicken, with mash potatoes, spinach and asparagus).  I have still eaten crisps and chocolate, I haven’t reduced my portion size, in actual fact, they’ve gotten bigger, and every day bar two, my syns have been (marginally) over my allowance.

However, I think because I stuck to the plan, for the most part, and my syns were WAY less than they normally are, my body was sufficiently enough shocked that I ended up with a very encouraging 5lb loss.  I had hoped for a 2-3lb loss, but I was very surprised with a 5lb loss.

There was a girl at my group who lost 9.5lbs.  I have to confess, I’m definitely one of those “lose 1-2lbs per week, it’s healthier and more maintainable” kind of people.  I’ve suffered with gallstones as a result of a large weight-loss in a short space of time, I’ve lived through the agony of crash dieting and I am definitely an advocate of a slow loss.  In all honesty, I’d have been thrilled with a 1-2lb loss.

The lady who weighed me, seemed hugely impressed and congratulated me, I’m not sure if that’s her permanent ‘yay you’ve lost weight’ face, or, if she was genuinely happy for me, either way, it was then I realised, I’ve taken the first step, which, I didn’t think I’d be able to do while at home, ‘on holiday’ and surrounded by all of the food that we haven’t had in more than two years.

However, I’ve done it, I’ve stuck with it for a week, I’ve bought groceries for the next week (ok, well, few days really, given how fast this fruit and veg is disappearing), I’ve set a target (I want 2lbs off in the next week to hit my 7lb/half-stone award).

I’m commited, I’m excited and I, too, want to be one of these success stories that you read about on peoples blogs and in magazines, however, I think with all of my ‘false starts’, I’m resigned to never being one of those people.  I’d love to be, someone who doesn’t shop in the fat-shops, who doesn’t struggle to find things to wear, who doesn’t hide in big hoodies and who has actual clothes to wear, not just 3 pairs of trousers and a variety of graphic tees.

Speaking of Blogs, I have a couple of people that you should check out,

Sera over at Sera’s Slimspiration, she’s lost over 10read about her journey, here!

Secondly, a more recent blog I’ve happened upon, is Georgie, over at A Day in the life of a Monkiesox, read about her Slimming World journey, here!

Both of these ladies post recipes and help with the Slimming World way of life!

For those of you who are interested, here is my meal plan for Week 1 of my Slimming World journey, click the names of the meal to link you to the recipe 🙂

I confess, I didn’t stick 100% to plan, I did what I could, what with being home and visiting with friends and family.  I tried my best.  I confess that I wrote down raw ingredients on my meal plan so some of these meals I’ve guessed from memory – most of my hunger was filled by fruit and packing my meals full of vegetables, and, on one occasion during the week, I even ate an entire melon by myself!

Wednesday

Brunch – Small fry in the local cafe (I didn’t have any SW food around the house) sausage, bacon, 1 potato farl, 1/2 soda farl, 1 egg
Dinner – Slimming world Carbonara with mushy peas (HeA: parmesan cheese)
Snacks – Slimming world potato and leek soup (HeB: Nimble bread), mugshot, fruit salad, club orange biscuit
Syns: 17

Thursday

Breakfast – Bacon medallions, HeB: Nimble bread (w/flora & ketchup)
Lunch – fruit salad, I can’t remember what else, but I think it was something chicken-y
Dinner – Slimming world sticky chicken with garlic and rosemary wedges and beetroot, (HeA: parmesan cheese)
Snacks – fruit salad, strawberry muller light yoghurt, Slimming world vegetable soup, mini milk, curly wurly
Syns: 16

Friday

Brunch – Chicken curry with noodles (in a restaurant)
Dinner – Extra lean burgers, with cheddar cheese (HeA), bacon, sweet chili potatoes and asparagus
Snacks – fruit salad, Ryvita (HeB), Denny’s ham, beetroot, pombear and curly wurly
Syns: 14.5

Saturday

Breakfast – fruit salad, crunchy nut cornflakes with 250ml semi skimmed milk (HeA)
Lunch – Hen night (mini sausage rolls, mini cocktail sausages, bahjis, samosas, sweet chili potatoes, chocolate fountain, small square of cheesecake)
Dinner – Black bean chicken (from the Chinese) and steamed/boiled rice
Syns: Didn’t count :-/

Sunday

Brunch – Low-Syn Chicken noodle stirfry
Dinner – Roast chicken, small portion of mash potatoes, asparagus and spinach (from a restaurant)
Snacks – fruit salad, Ham sandwich (HeB: Nimble), Pombear, Finn McCools, mini milk, curly wurly,
Syns: 19

Monday

Breakfast– fruit salad w/chocolate philly
Lunch – Chicken kebab on syn-free chips with onions and peppers
Dinner– Slimming eats braised beef with roast potatoes, mangetout, asparagus
Snacks– fruit salad, Ham and cheese sandwich (HeA – cheddar cheese, HeB – Nimble bread), beetroot, pombear, 2x mini milks
Syns: 13.5