Last updated on Fri, 21st Oct 2022
I’m trying out an SP day today, where I’m only allowed to eat Speed and Protein foods.
The idea is that, although it’s not a required part of the Slimming World food optimisation plan, it is meant to speed up your weight loss. And I’ve been in a bit of slump recently, and need something to re-ignite my progress.
The problem is that it’s not as easy as it would first seem to do an SP day. There are a lot of free foods out there (potatoes, pasta, and so on) that are not speed. It’s worth checking the membership book, because I was surprised at some of them.
Non speed vegetables
Every now and again people in my class talk about swapping out potatoes for sweet potatoes when making chips – so it might be easy to assume that sweet potatoes are speed – but they aren’t.
Also in the list of non-speed vegetables are:
- Parsnips
- Sweetcorn
- Peas
Non speed fruits
When it comes to fruit, there are even more examples that are free but not speed, including:
- Cherries
- Kiwi fruit
- Mango
- Pomegranate
- Bananas
- Pineapple
I need to be really careful when picking out fruit to eat, especially those pre-cut fruit pots from supermarkets that often have grapes and pineapple in them.
The SP food planning is the tricky bit. Dinners will probably be okay because I can have a steak and salad, or some chilli and roasted vegetables. However lunches pose more of a challenge to my imagination. There are only so many times I can eat salad and cold meat before my taste buds shut down. And I’m not much of a fan of soup.
If anyone has any ideas for SP meals let me know.
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Thanks to Hayley who suggested butternut and celeriac. For butternut, I have a strange disliking of its texture, so I might give that a miss – but I’ll definitely try the celeriac. I’ve had lovely celeriac soup in the past, but didn’t know it would make a good mash. Thanks for the top tips!
Does anyone know if butternut squash is free? Thanks!
Hi Marie. Butternut Squash is a speed food (and a free food). My wife loves roasted butternut, but I’m not a fan myself – I don’t really like the texture!
Hi, I like your blog 🙂 I’ve been considering getting back to SW for a while now and I think this was the push I needed/ I agree, I get super fed up of cold meat and salad, and tbh I’d rather eat something veggie for lunch as it’s cheaper! I always struggle with lunch ideas…
Hi Lucy! One of my favourite things to have for lunch is leftovers. When we cook lovely syn-free dinners, we try to do a bit extra that can be used for lunch at work the next day. Reheated spag bol, chilli or stir-fry is much more exciting than a salad!
Blueberries are now considered a speed food
Thanks for the update on this Holly!
If I want to do an SP day can I only eat sp food?
Hi Lesley. On an SP day you can only eat Speed and Protein – and no free foods (that aren’t speed). So no free yoghurts or anything. But you are allowed two HEB. And they say to have a 50:50 split of speed and protein, which might seem like a lot of meat.
just started on slimming world today need o loose 2 stone walk 4 miles a day any idea hw much a week i should be loosing will stick inside sins just want to check whole can of baked beans and 2 large jacket pots no butter is sin free? also nandos fat free yogurt that comes out of there machines any idea how many sins?
Hi Vivienne. Thanks for commenting!
The key to a good weight loss on Slimming World is probably based 90% on what you eat, and 10% on the exercise you do.With good food optimising you should lose on average about 2 lbs a week.
Baked beans and jacket potatoes are fine – they are both free food, so you can eat as much as you like of them. But remember, you should always make sure a third of your plate is speed food (fruit or vegetables). The speed helps you fill up but without contributing very many calories.
I did a quick google search about the Nandos fat free yogurt, because I didn’t know. The consensus seems to be that it’s 2 syns for a tub (approx 100g) – based on the sugar content of the yogurt.
And in case you’re interested, here’s a list of syn values for all the Nandos food: http://fatgirlskinny.net/nandos-syn-values/
Hi, there seem to be confusion between sweet potatoes and yams, and I wanted to know if yams are syn free.
I am new to slimming world