Our Best Guide To The Red & Green Day Slimming World Plan

If your looking into starting the Slimming World diet plan, or you are signing up after a couple of years, then you might have heard or even tried the Slimming World red and green diet plan. 

This type of red and green plan method from SW was discontinued a few years back and instead, they replaced it with a new extra easy plan. The red and green books from SW focused on eating high fibre content on green days then no carbs on red days. 

Till now, many old slimming world dieters still use the red and green day books plan due to successful weight loss, so we will dive into more detail about the old method below and also cover the new extra easy plan to see what might suit you best on your SW journey. 

How Does The Slimming World Red & Green Days Work? 

The old school red and green diet plan from slimming world was simple to follow by using alternating red and green days each week. 

On both days you can eat fruits and veg as much as you want, which should be low calories and high fibre, some examples of good fruit and veg to eat on both days are - 

• Fruits; pineapple, berries, apples, pears, peaches, melons and frozen fruit.
• Veggies; pumpkins, beets, mushrooms, asparagus, cherry tomatoes and leafy greens. 

Below we will cover how green days and red days differ on this plan as although they follow the same basis, lean meats are more restricted on one day while meat with dinner is encouraged on the other day, but with restricted carbs. 

Green Days 

Green days on this red and green plan encourage you to eat a lot of fibre, this could mean bran with milk, fruit for breakfast, jacket potato and wholemeal pasta. These days can have meat with dinner but at a maximum level. Legumes can also be eaten on this day.

Red Days

Red days are all about the protein and less of the carbs, this could mean cheese for lunch with eggs and lean meats, a high allowance for milk and low-calorie fruit & veg can be enjoyed. The weight loss plan works by restricting carbs on this day and instead of making you have small meals up to five times a day which are higher in protein.

Example Red & Green Day Meal Plan From SW 

Since the current plan from SW does not use the old styles plans with red and green days, it can be hard to find recipe books that still follow the diet, so we have made an example plan of what green and red days would normally consist of below. 

Monday Green 

• Breakfast - Oats with fruit and plant milk.
• Lunch - Sweet potato with dips and chicken breast.
• Dinner - Wholemeal penne pasta with veggies.
• Snacks - Fruit & veg or Greek yoghurt.

Tuesday Red

• Breakfast - Scrambled eggs with herbs and fruit yesterday.
• Lunch - Chicken breast with grilled veggies.
• Dinner - Egg with asparagus and minced lean beef.
• Snacks - Cheese with fruit.

As you can see, both plans are similar except the red day focuses more on your protein intake rather than your carb intake. While the green day is packed full of healthy fibre meals.

How Does The New Plan From SW Work?

Now the green and red day plan from Slimming World has been scrapped, they have a new plan which is made up of four parts; free foods, Healthy Extra A's, Healthy Extra B's and syns. 

Free Foods 

These foods are what makes up most of your diet and are split into free foods and speed foods, you can eat as much of these foods as you want without restriction. Most of these foods are naturally low in calories and very filling but you should always remember to still eat in moderation. 

Some free foods include; lean meats, veg, fruit, pasta, rice and lentils. 

Here is our complete list of Slimming World Free Foods!

There are also speed foods, which are classed as free foods to be but tend to have higher nutrition levels, these should make up around a 1/3 of your plate. A few speed foods to mention are; carrots, celery, courgette, melon, apples, berries and more.

Healthy Extra A

The Healthy Extra A allowance is your portion of dairy that you are allowed each day, this consists of 2x portions and should be weighed, so this means any grated cheese for sauce, milk for coffee or milk in cereal all needs to be counted. 

If you go over the allowance it will then be counted as syns.

Healthy Extra B

This is your Healthy Extra B one portion of fibre each day and could be oats, cereal or a fibre bar as a snack, it should be controlled and weighed however as it would need to be counted as syns if not.

Syns

Everything that is not free food will have a syn value, this allows you to eat your treats such as chocolate and drink your booze in moderation, but they have to fit in your daily syn allowance. 

You have to stick to this syn allowance each day no matter what to see weight loss results and your syn allowance will vary according to your weight which could be between 15-35 syns a day allowed.

Tips For Dieting With SW

Slimming World makes both of their diet plans simple to follow, and once you sign up, you get all the information you need about syn values and meal plans with recipes inspiration.

However, a change in diet is not always easy to stick to at first, so we've listed our top tips below to keep you on track.

• Stay hydrated - Drinking lots of water will stop you from misleading hunger cues and aid in your weight loss.
• Get a portion plate - Portion plates are excellent for people who tend to pile up their plate without knowing, these technically weigh your ingredients for you.
• Use good SW recipes - Don't prepare the same boring meals every night, instead have a look online for some different SW meals to try and make, this will keep you interested and stops you from getting fed up with your diet!
• Join support - There are so many forums, Instagram's and groups online to join that will motivate you to stay on track with your diet.
• Exercise - We know that this is not the favourite activity for most, but it will aid your weight loss journey, you should be working out for an hour at least 3 times a week on the SW plan to see the top results.
• Batch cook - Batch cooking is a great way to make sure you always have a healthy meal in your fridge and stops the temptation of you ordering a takeaway after a long day at work.
• Weigh your healthy extras - Don't get lazy and stop weighing your healthy extras, doing so can put your off track.
• Keep a food diary - Having a food diary is a great way to keep track of everything you eat and drink, as well as your syns, trying to remember how many syns you've had in your head does not always work and lead to you overeating, stalling your weight loss!

Last Words

Overall, the red and green days plan from slimming world was and still is a great diet to follow for weight loss, however, we would always recommend following the newer plan from SW as it has newer updated syn values for foods and a newer improved method to approach weight loss. 

Always make sure you follow our tips above to stay on track with your SW diet and track your healthy extras/ syns accordingly so as you can get the best weight loss results. 

Have a look at our list of popular Slimming World Quiche Recipes here!

If you're still curious, you can always check out our article on How Slimming World works here!

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