My slimming world experience

This morning at my slimming world class I reached a stone weight loss. It’s taken me 9 weeks to lose and I was determined more than ever to lose that half a pound this week which would get me to my target weight. This involved watching my son James tuck into fish and chips at the coast yesterday and resisting the urge to grab handfuls of the chips. I had a couple and some fish without the batter and I have to say they were delicious. Anyway it paid off and I lost a pound so I was over the moon this morning . I have to say it hasn’t been that difficult to lose, I can’t say I’ve stuck absolutely 100% to the plan, but I have without a doubt changed my eating habits. If I look back through my blog and my Instagram account it’s absolutely no surprise that the weight has crept on over the years. I have eaten fabulous food, very rarely thought about the calories and I’m lucky I only had a stone to lose. Now I’ve lost it I really want to keep it off and that’s probably going to be the hard part, not letting the old habits drift back in. 
So what has changed ? I’ve stopped snacking, if I am peckish, which isn't that often between meals, I’ll have some fruit instead of chocolate or biscuits. I generally haven’t used cream, butter and cheese in the meals I have been cooking over the last nine weeks, well perhaps a sprinkling of cheese but that’s all. I have used recipes from the slimming world website, trusty recipes from the hairy dieters cook books, which I guarantee never feel like slimming recipes. Meat is lean and low fat and often I have chosen to eat vegetarian meals. I've eaten more vegetables, lots of broccoli, sweet potato fries. I have reduced the amount of bread I eat, and pastries are a no no. I actually look forward to a breakfast of bran flakes with fresh blueberries, raspberries and a teaspoon of maple syrup. If I  have eaten out I have looked at the menu before hand and tried to find the more healthier meal on the menu, that sometimes proved difficult, but I would make up for that by making healthier choices the rest of the week. If I was entertaining at home I'd choose something roughly within the guidelines of the slimming world plan and I honestly don't think that anyone noticed. I’ve cut down on wine but I haven’t cut it out. That’s the one thing I probably wasn’t completely honest about.  You can have up to 15 syns a day, (treats I prefer to call them) and a large glass of white wine is 10, so you can imagine I may have conveniently forgotten to record my intake some days. However the weight still came off and I think it’s a great way to lose weight, slowly and surely. I never felt hungry and I never felt I was massively missing out.Well maybe at times a little as I love cake and desserts, but I liked the feeling of being slimmer better. I’d recommend slimming world without a doubt. The slimming world consultant and the group is supportive and  going along each week is definitely a good motivator. I’m loving getting into clothes that I thought would never fit me again, I’ll have a lovely choice of clothes for Christmas now, and hopefully the feeling of dropping a dress size when I buy something new.
As well as the recipes from Slimming World that are available on line, below are a few of the recipes which have helped me along the way.

Hairy Dieters Cajun Chicken

Hairy Dieters Chilli con Carne

Hairy Dieters Paprika Chicken

Lentil dahl

vegetarian chilli

salmon with lemon and parmesan crust

Hairy Dieters Turkey Burgers