Slimming World Secrets

Drinking again after three months without alcohol

Slimming World’s latest layered learning “sesh” about the alcohol tipping point and a return to socialising could not have come at a better time for me. I’ve completed three months without a drink – and now I’m looking forward to raising a glass or two this weekend.

• Average Syns per day: 5.7
• Average Speed foods per day: 8.7
• SP days: 3
• Body Magic days: 5
• Result: -½lb
• Total loss: -4st 5½lbs

It’s been another decent Slimming World week in which I kept my Syns low and Speed foods high. Only -½lb off, but it’s still another PB and leaves me 8½lbs from my 5st Target.

The most important thing right now is not undoing all the hard work I’ve put in over the past three months as I look to welcome back my old pals beer and wine into my friendship circle.

No alcohol for three months!

So, I’ve now completed three months dry. I always intended to do Dry January. That went so well that I had a bash at Dry February, too. And, mainly to support my friend Izzy, who was going for three months dry, I thought I’d tag Sober March on to that as well.

After all, we’ve not been allowed to socialise since Christmas Day and all the pubs have been shut, so this has been the perfect time to have a booze break free of temptation.

Not drinking has been a revelation. I’ve slept better, my mental health has improved (pretty important during a time when I’m not allowed to see anyone bar Amazon drivers) and I’ve lost weight. In the first three months of this year, I’ve lost 1st 4lbs, which averages out at almost 1½lbs a week. Not too shabby, though I do say so myself!

There’s no way I could have done this had I been drinking at weekends. Alcohol contains LOTS of Syns. Even just one pint of low-strength beer is nine Syns. And when you’re aiming for a maximum daily intake of between five and 15, that shows you that alcohol is no friend of slimmers.

So, having decided that I don’t want to stop drinking permanently – simply because some of the happiest moments in my life are shared with friends and family over a beer down the pub – how do I approach the future? Well, I have a three-pronged plan.

My plan to reintroduce the booze

First, I shall do what I did throughout 2020 (Christmas week aside!) when I lost loads of weight while having a few drinks at weekends. That’s by writing down all my Syns, including those for alcohol.

There are loads of apps for recording your alcohol intake, but I just use the notepad on my phone to jot down every beer, glass of wine and cheeky shot. All these Syns are added to my SynsTracker spreadsheet the following day.

Secondly, I adopt the Flexible Syns approach. This isn’t for everyone as it involves a LOT of discipline on non-drinking days, but it works for me.

Basically, I go way over my Syns on one day a week, usually Saturday. Let’s say I go to a football match in the afternoon. That invariably leads to a couple of pints before the game, maybe one at half-time and two or three after the final whistle.

If I have six pints of beer, I can mitigate that a fair bit by choosing 9-Syn beers (3.5% to 4.2% ABV) rather than 13-Syn ones (4.8% plus). Just doing that means I’m taking in 54 Syns rather than 78, a big difference.

Fifty-four Syns is still way over the five to 15 I’m allowed but, using the FlexiSyns approach, it works because I’m allowed to average the Syns over seven days.

Have your cake and eat it with Flexible Syns

Let’s say my aim is to average ten Syns a day. That’s a total of 70 Syns over the week. I’ve had 54 of those with my beers in the example above, so I’ve still got 16 left.

I can easily survive on Free and Speed foods (and no alcohol) on the other six days of the week, maybe using the odd Syn here and there. So it’s no problem for me.

But if you’re the kind of person who can’t have a night on the beer without going for a kebab and chips after – and then you need cake, crisps and chocolate to survive the other six days, Flexible Syns is not for you.

The third weapon in my armoury is more about mindful drinking – just pacing myself and not allowing myself to drink too much. If my mindfulness slips, I eventually stop writing down the Syns in my phone and I adopt a “Aaaaaah, f*ck it!” attitude. In Slimming World circles, there’s a name for this: the tipping point.

The tipping point was mentioned in fantastic article in the equally fantastic Slimming World Magazine back in about 2016 or 2017. But I’ve rarely heard it mentioned since, until tonight’s Zoom group – what absolutely perfect timing.

Week two of our layered learning covered the tipping point and, before that, the importance of having plans in place for when we begin socialising again.

The return to restaurants

The first part of this involved another delve into the Be Delighted book, which features an Indian banquet – pages 24 and 25 for those who want to have a peep.

So, then we totted up the Syns of a typical Indian restaurant meal, with a creamy curry, cheese naan bread, plenty of poppadoms and, naturally, a few pints of Kingfisher or Cobra lager. Our little sample meal came to 130 Syns.

So, as with the previous week, we looked at ways to get the Syns down by choosing healthier options. All marvellous advice, but not so great when you consider that all the restaurants are still closed, and will be until at least May 17. Some restaurants will be open on April 12, but only for outdoors service. I don’t know (m)any Indians that serve outside.

Another good tip for sidestepping the Syns when eating out is to look at the language used on the menus, our consultant told us. Words and phrases such as “smothered”, “melt” and “deep fried” will not serve you well. Go for “grilled”, “griddled” and “steamed” instead.

What is the alcohol tipping point?

And so on to the tipping point, or the “Sod it, I might as well carry on, have some crisps and more drink point”, according to our consultant.

This, she says, can lead to an 1,500 extra calories in drinks consumed (from that point – not including those leading up to it) not to mention the 3,000 in takeaways – and the 2,000 from a McDonald’s breakfast to soak up the booze the next morning.

Urgh. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? I don’t bother with takeaways anymore, and I’ve never been a McDonald’s fan – I’d rather do a Syn-free Slimming World full English breakfast. But I certainly recognise that point of stopping writing down my Syns on my phone and, if at a friend’s house, Hoovering up all the party food that I’d steadfastly refused to touch “because Syns” until that moment!

“Think!” says our consultant. “It makes the next four or five days an uphill struggle. Do that for three or four weeks, you think Slimming World’s not working and you’re jacking it in. It’s not Slimming World not working – it’s the sneaky Syns sneaking in.”

Slimming World only works if you work at it

More tough love there. I like it. As I said last week, if you don’t stick to the plan, it doesn’t work. Except it does work – you just need to stick to it. If you can’t, you need to ask yourself whether Slimming World is for you – or whether now is the right time for you.

So, for me on Saturday night, it’s all about mindfulness, and keeping an eye out for that tipping point. I’ll take a packed wholemeal bread roll full of gorgeous Syn-free goodies to eat when I get the munchies, and I’ll try to be mindful of what I’m drinking. Then, when the tipping point inevitably arrives (remember I’ve not had a drink for three months – I’ll be a right lightweight!) I’m ready for it.

My greatest concern is the cold. It’s gonna be chilly tomorrow night and we’re not allowed to socialise indoors. I can’t even hug my pals for the body heat. Bring on the summer!