There are 3 plans on Slimming World, Green, Red and Extra Easy. A few years back I used to here about Red and Green days and many people still follow these plans (dependant on what you mostly eat) but Slimming World now promote the Extra Easy plan as the main plan and the starting point.
So, a quick overview of the the Extra Easy plan.
Free Food
The majority of your food will be made up from Superfree food and free food.
Superfree food - fruit and veg
Free food - potatoes, dried pasta/rice, all lean meat and fish, eggs, beans and pulses and fat free yogurt and quark.
Your food must be cooked using the low calorie 'Fry light' spray (or equivalent) and any visible fat cut off meat before cooking.
(sourced from glazydays.co.uk)
What they ask is that each meal should include 2/3 of free food and 1/3 of super free food.
So for example you could have Meat, Potatoes and veg. That is very obvious 1/3's when you put them on the plate. But you can also have it mixed through, for example, Chicken pasta. 1/3 pasta, 1/3 chicken and 1/3 peppers and onions. All mixed together, but still 1/3 superfree.
Healthy Extras
Over and above the Free foods, you are to have two Healthy Extras. The point of Healthy Extras is to make sure that your body is getting the nutrients it needs.
You have;
1 Healthy Extra A - Calcium (milk and cheese)
1 Healthy Extra B - Fibre (cereals and breads)
Unlike the free foods where you can have as big/small a portion as you like, Healthy Extras MUST be weighed and measured according to the books measurements.
So for example I usually use my Healthy Extras as;
A - milk
B - 2 slices of brown bread
Syns
Anything other than your free foods or Healthy extras are called Syns and these are what is counted. This could include things like alcohol, sweets, crisps, butter, extra bread etc. You are allowed 5-15 syns a day but they recommend around 10 a day.
Your syns can be used individually, ie, a packet of crisps, or it could be with a free food, ie, adding butter on top of your Baked Potato. At the back of the Slimming World book it gives you hundreds of examples of foods and how many syns they are, but roughly, 20 calories = 1 syn.
You should not deny yourself of syns and should not feel that if you have no syns that your weight loss will be better, because in the long run it will not. The Slimming World plan is worked out so you have a combination of everything.
And that is pretty much it.
There is not a lot to it, and I found one of the hardest things for me, was getting my head round the fact that I could eat SO much. I am used to living on free soups and starving on diets, so a diet where I can have burger and chips, was alien to me!!
Any questions, just ask :)
