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In the past I have always found our grocery bill went up when I was aiming to lose weight. If you follow some of the plans in the numerous dieting books in circulation you end up eating all kinds of fancy, faddy and often expensive foods.
This is what I like about Slimming World. It is easy to do it without spending a fortune as you just eat ordinary food available from any supermarket. It is also very easy to exchange high calorie or high fat foods for healthier alternatives, so here are a few suggestions for Slimming World swaps that won’t bust the budget.
Budget friendly Slimming World swaps
Drinks
I think this is an easy one: swap to sugar free squash or fizzy drinks as these are completely free. I am not usually one for fizzy soda type drinks at all, but I have rediscovered a love of bitter lemon. So refreshing with lots of ice, plus a litre of supermarket own brand only costs 40-50p.
I have also substituted bitter lemon for my usual glass of white wine, although I will occasionally have a gin and slimline tonic. 4 syns as opposed to 9 or 10. Gin is obviously not that cheap, but we got ours for about a tenner in Lidl and it will last for ages and ages. It certainly works out cheaper than wine at two bottles a week!
Even better (healthier and pretty much free), drink water from your tap. I keep a glass next to me all day.
Save your dairy allowance for something else and try herbal teas instead of the usual tea or coffee with milk. I am enjoying chamomile at the moment. Tesco* sell a chamomile infusion which is syn free and very nice at £1.19 for 40 tea bags.
Crisps
Oh, I know I shouldn’t eat crisps at all when I am trying to lose weight. However, I also know that I am a snacker, so I like to be prepared for evenings when I am watching something good on TV and fancy something munchy.
One thing I found immediately was that reduced fat crisps were still often higher in calories than some of the bog standard varieties – and often more expensive. French Fries are a particularly good Slimming World swap for a snack, I think. I buy Lidl’s Snaktastic Crunchy Fries. They work out at around 3.5 syns a bag (69 calories). I can’t remember how much the multipacks are but there are 10 packs in a bag and I am pretty sure they cost less than £2.
Fried food
Obviously, fried food is a no-no on Slimming World, but I haven’t missed it at all. This is partly because I am lucky enough to have an air fryer*, which is brilliant for syn free chips and roast potatoes. I don’t use it enough really as it is pretty versatile and you can cook all sorts of food in it. I was fortunate enough to be given mine for review, but you can buy similar ones on Amazon*
Chocolate
Oh Lord, I do love a bit of chocolate! Having said that, it has been easier than I expected to cut right back whilst doing Slimming World. I have also found that when I do have some, I enjoy it even more.
Best not to keep the good stuff in the house whilst I am dieting though, as I just can’t resist it for long. Instead, I have been buying small cereal bars containing chocolate chips or with a little bit of chocolate on the outside – anything around the 130 calorie mark. Something like the Tesco* salted caramel munch bars above, which are 5% fat and 133 calories. The fact that they are individually wrapped works for me. If I decided I could have, say, 3 or 4 rich tea biscuits instead I would never stop once the packet was open….
Most people crave something sweet at some point in the day, and I am certainly no different. I keep something like this in my handbag for an emergency craving when I am out and about.
Desserts
Talking of sweet cravings, sometimes it’s nice to have a dessert from time to time. Rather than buying the type of thing I would normally go for – like trifles or chocolate mousse – I have opted for low fat alternatives. I find puddings marketed as low fat tend to be far more expensive. Why should that be? Yes, the supermarkets will do their level best to make money out of every opportunity!
I do sometimes buy Asda’s low fat chocolate mousses (only around 3.5 syns), but they aren’t that great. I prefer a pot of creme caramel. It doesn’t matter which supermarket you go for, they all tend to be very similar in terms of Syns (about 5 – 6.5 syns). They are cheap too!
I also enjoy Asda’s very low fat lactose free Greek yogurt with loads of chopped up fruit on top, which is pretty much free.
Don’t feel deprived
You really can eat loads on Slimming World! With some sensible Slimming World swaps you don’t have to feel deprived and can eat a healthy, low fat diet with a few treats chucked in to help keep you motivated.
Incidentally, after a week in France I somehow still managed to lose half a pound! It must have been all the walking we did, but the Slimming World way must have permeated my brain and helped me choose sensibly in between the croissants and brie…
I have been doing slimming world online for 6 weeks and have lost 16 pounds, I have got a long way to go. I follow a plant based diet so this plan suits me well I no longer use oil for sauteing and find stock or water does just as well my favourite meal at the moment is lasagne soup which is free unless I put vegan cheese on top and it only takes 5 minutes in the instant pot but can always use HE A if I want. Sadly I don’t like sugar free drinks as I haven’t found one that doesn’t have a funny after taste but I love sparkling water, fat free houmous is a go too snack I use a lot. I do most of my cooking from scratch and sometimes I find it a faff to workout the syn value of meals that have a few syn ingredients in but have to get into the habit of writing it all in a little note book for future reference. By the way, I am worrying about excess skin when I have done with this as I have about 6 more stone to lose and I am 63 , do you think yoga would help ?
Wow, you are doing well! Any exercise that tones you will help as you go. It might be worth looking at a regular gym workout though as that is best for toning in my experience. Yoga does improve strength and flexibility too, but a power yoga class will get the best results. I don’t enjoy that as I like yoga to be relaxing, but I have been a regular gym bunny in the past and found it so good for improving my muscle tone
Thank you, I have tried the gym in the past but didn’t enjoy the experience and felt very self conscious, also trying to do this frugally, back not good either, perhaps more walking but I would certainly like to try yoga as my life is very stressful and I thought it might help my back too. I will be a beginner so I’ll give it a go, I shall wait for my husband to go out, blindfold the dogs and pull the curtains, put on a you tube tutorial and tie myself in knots.
Go gently, especially with a bad back. If you search yoga on my site I have a sequence for back issues that is very gentle
Aldi do a good selection of baked Snackrite snacks. I particularly like their Sweet Chili Lentil curls (spicy!) and Salt & Vinegar Pea Snacks – a pack of 6 for about 72p and not a red traffic light in sight! Just right when you need a replacement for crisps.