Slimming World Secrets

It’s the final countdown to my 10st Target

It’s all about the number 10 this week, folks: week 10 of the Slimming World year, and I bagged my 10th consecutive loss to get within 10lbs of my 10st Target.

• Average Syns per day: 5.6
• Average Speed foods per day: 8.9
• SP days: 3
• Body Magic days: 5
• Result: -1lb
• Total: -4st 4lbs

How pleasing! There’s not anything to report from group tonight as we didn’t have one – our consultant was taking part in a Sparkly Castle training session. We did have a pre-weigh group on Tuesday, but yours truly forgot that was on, so I missed out there.

4st award means more Happy Post!

I have received last week’s 4st certificate and shiny, though, along with a lovely hand-written postcard. My consultant has always gone above and beyond, and such dedication only serves to inspire me. The “Happy Post” heart stickers on the envelopes always make me smile – and she was there in May 2014 when I set my 10st Target. I want to do this for her as well as myself.

I’ve not been quite as strict as during the previous couple of weeks, when I was aiming to equal my PB with ridiculously low daily Syns combined with loads of SP days and Body Magic sessions.

But my Syns are still angelically low – an average of 5.6 per day – and that’s still mainly due to not drinking alcohol. I’ve not touched a drop since New Year’s Eve – almost two and a half months ago. I’ll probably wait until the pubs reopen now (so not before April 12). I don’t want to get back into the habit of quaffing wine at home of a weekend.

I’ve kept my Speed foods high – almost nine per day on average over the past week – and I’ve started to focus more on C and F foods.

What are C-foods and F-foods?

Slimming World members are used to having every detail about Syns, Healthy Extras and Free foods drummed into us – and rightly so. But the C and F foods (rich in Calcium and Fibre) barely get a mention. After listening to a couple of old episodes of the Slimming World Podcast, in which C and F-foods are examined in detail, I decided I’d try to up my intake.

Foods high in fibre keep us regular, while those high in calcium, promote all-round good health, along with keeping teeth and bones in fine fettle. I’ll write a proper piece in the forthcoming Features section of the website soon but, suffice to say, C-foods aren’t just Healthy Extra As (such as dairy) and F-foods aren’t just Healthy Extra Bs (such as bread).

As I said in an earlier post, I’ve been struggling with constipation of late, despite religiously consuming my HEBs – usually sliced wholemeal bread, a wholemeal roll, a qualifying breakfast cereal or a WW wrap.

So I’ve started to buy a few more Free foods to “help things along”, as it were. Not only are these F (F for Fibre, not Free) foods, they’re Speed, too.

This past few week I’ve enjoyed passion fruit and pomegranates – both fruits I’d never normally buy. I’m not sure why, as they’ve been delicious mixed with fat-free Greek Yoghurt – in itself a C-food and a P (Protein) food.

In terms of C-foods (as well as the yoghurt) I’ve enjoyed fresh rocket and watercress, which both give a wonderful peppery flavour to salads and sandwiches.

Some Slimming World superfoods

And yes, those evangelical health types who’ve been extolling the virtues of kale as a “superfood” for the past few years, have turned out to be right. Kale, as well as being a Speed food, is also a C-food AND an F-food. As are spring greens, so I’ve been buying both from my local greengrocer.

So, to conclude, I shall continue to mix things up and get more C-foods and F-foods into my diet as I count down those final 10lbs to my 10st Target.

From what I hear, the final 5lbs or so can be really tough to shift, so I intend to fill my Slimming World arsenal with every weight-loss weapon available. Are you listening, fat cells? This is war!