Did anyone struggle to lose in their 1st few weeks with slimming world?

Hi Clairelee. Like most systems Slimming World is designed to fit into the lifestyles of the largest market. Am sure people who follow the diet can clarify any points and will give you loads of help if you give them say an example food/exercise day. However I read the blurb bought some books and it didn't gel with me so I tried something else. I would allow a couple of weeks at most for a diet. Time to re read the info. Write a food diary and match what the diet says vs what the tape and scale measure. After that I try something else.
As we have very little info to go on and am just guessing one thing to be aware of is your metabolic rate. This is basically your bodies fat burning system. It is possible for it to be low or what we call 'stalled' for some people and can hinder weight loss. Eating too little ( esp. too few carbs ) or a sedentary lifestyle can be common causes. In slightly more chubby people like me activities like weights are recommended as they can be done sat down, need little time and instead of burning calories directly like aerobics, running etc it focuses on raising metabolism. This means your overall ability to burn fat increases. You can tell as you sweat more. It can be worth checking with your doctor as well as they can offer advice and check things like adrenals and thyroid etc. Which can also factor. Anyway good luck with whatever you try and please post an example day so our Slimming World crowd can help.

I was eating a very, very low amount continuously hardly ever going over 1000 cals, no carbs no dairy and now I'm eating on SW. I have been warned that I will probably show very little loss for the first week or two as my body actually starts working again rather than panicking and storing everything I eat. It's my first weigh in tomorrow and I'm not holding out for much but!!!!!! I have eaten more this past week than I have in ages, I feel much better for it and I feel able to try to start a bit of exercise now. It's an interesting road but I'm willing to give it a go because other than full starve like Lighterlife nothing else has ever worked but I think it will take a few weeks to see what's happening so I've signed up for the 6 weeks.

I'm assuming you started SW really recently? How many weeks have you been on the plan?

I don't lose much every week, and I've always been the same. I think sometimes it's disheartening to see there people come in with 6lb+ losses, especially int heir first week, but we've always been told that it could be because they changed their eating habits so drastically (not in all cases I know, but for some that is the case)

It also depends on how much you feel you need to lose. For someone with 2 stone to lose, it can take a while to lose it (1/2lbs a week) but others who want to lose say 4 stone or more, can come in with higher losses.

The only thing I'd suggest is if you've tried it for 2 weeks, give it another 4. And like Paul said, look at the inches, not just the scales. So many people have what SW call 'Non Scale Victories' (NSV) where they've lost inches rather than pounds, and that smaller dress/pair of jeans actually fit alot nicer than a couple of weeks ago.

It's all about YOU and not other people, try not to compare their losses to yours, because everyone's body is completely different, and it can be the worst thing to compare yourself to someone else.

Thanks guys I have done it in past and always put on so give up after a week. I have a stone to lose and it's my 1st week and I have lost nothing again! But I am used to more starvation diets and low carbs so maybe it will just take a few weeks to see results????

If you've been doing the diets where you don't eat as much, I'd imagine you might be finding yourself eating more than your used to? If so, I'd guess that's why you aren't technically losing anything yet. Your body will still be getting used to more food being eaten that needs to be processed, so it may take a couple of weeks for it to startprocessing it all properly.

The good thing with SW is that they don't encourage you to eat smaller meals, it's all about eating the right kind of foods.

If you aren't sure about what you're eating on the plan, why don't you create a Food Diary thread and we can help point you in the right direction with your meals etc? Or pester just us with any questions you've got

Keep at it for a few more weeks, and hopefully you will see some positive results

Thanks I am doing a food diary and totally understand it, I did however go over my Syns yesterday so I have had far less today is this allowed? I really want it to work as I love being able to eat and not starve!!!

Yes. I work my Syns across the week. 15 a day makes 105 across the week, so if I go have 20 Monday, I'll try to have 10 the following day. Or you can 'save' some Syns for something you've got planned. Like I'm trying to save some of mine for the weekend so I can enjoy a few drinks. But I make sure I have at least some of them every day

I get the impression that Slimming World doesn't encourage saving syns, but if it works for you, then you should do it!

My consultant is always telling people that they can 'save' syns if they need to. The website mentions it too. They call them 'Flexible Syns'.

The idea is that if you know you are going out for a meal one night, say a curry, and you want to be able to enjoy the evening, but still try to stick within the plan, then you can decide that you are going to use say 30 syns on that evening. 30 syns would easily allow you to have (for example) Chicken Dhansak (10.5 syns) with boiled rice, 2 poppadoms (4 syns each), mango chutney is 2 syns per tbsp, and raita is only 1 syns per tbsp, and that would still allow you to have a vodka & diet coke or two just make sure you set a limit, and stick to that limit.
Doing that would still allow you to use 10 syns each day comfortably, without going over your weekly limit, but also making sure that you don't feel deprived for the rest of the week.

It's all about making the plan work for you, and making sure you don't feel deprived of anything that you want to have/do.