as it's been mentioned a few times now I thought I would make a quick post explaining how Slimming World works as Bentos are perfect for the plan I'm on and maybe some other people will benefit too :) Before I start let me say that I have tried many diets in my time, most notably besides Slimming World, probably Weight Watchers, where I found I was always hungry and I hated that I was limited to how much fruit I could have in a day due to the "points" system. I myself am a UK size 12 (I think thats a US 8 - 10?) and am about 15lbs or so above my ideal weight as per BMI but I am healthy and a long distance runner, so alot of my weight I attribute to my massive short but large strong legs. I always loose weight well with this plan and relatively quickly too! And considering I don't have that much to loose, I think that says a lot about the plan :) Here's how it works: You can either have a "Red" or a "Green" day. I will start with a Red day: You can have as much as you want (I mean AS MUCH AS YOU WANT!! Don't make yourself sick, but eat until you are satisfied!) -lean meat (including bacon with the fat removed, extra lean sausages etc) - Fruit (including Bananas. Some fruits are better for weight loss than others :) Berries for example help speed up loss!) - Vegetables - there are a few limitations but nothing worth noting, honestly - As many eggs as you want - cooked how you want! including fried as long as you use "fry light" which is a "spray on" cooking oil - as many fat free yoghurts as you want - most natably Mueller Lights. (no jokes here... I was eating 1/2 litre of fat free yoghurt with sweetner a day at one point!!!) In addition to all the above you also get the following: Healthy A choices - these are your "Carb" choices on a red day. e.g. A portion of pasta or two slices of brown bread, or a jacket/baked potato :) You get 2 of these choices Healthy B choices - these are the dairy choices. E.g. 350ml semi skimmed milk or a portion of cheese And THEN you also get between 5-15 syns a day! I often use mine for e.g. extra bread or to add butter to my meals or oil to my cooking etc. But you can use it for candy :) A mars bar for example is 14 syns! Thats a RED day which is considered a "Protein" day. There are also "Green" days which are "Carb" days. These work as follows: - As much fruit and veg as you want of any sort! - As much pasta and rice as you want as well as potatoes and beans (Including baked beans in tomato sauce!) - as many eggs as you want as above - as many fat free yoghurts as above too Then you get the same Healthy A and Healthy B choices as above too as well as the "Syns" allowance. Just to complicate matters you can also do "Extra Easy". There you get to have all the free stuff from red and green (so all the meat and all the pasta you want) BUT you only get 1 Healthy A choice and 1 Healthy B choice. Same syns as normally :) I hope I have made this as simple as possible... :P When I stick to the plan I loose about 3-4 lbs / week. A minimum of 2 lbs a week and it really does teach you to look at food very differently. It cuts out a lot of the overprocessed foods from your diet and I am NEVER ever hungry when I'm on this diet! It works! :) There are loads of meetings for this diet all over the world and for those that dont have one nearby there is also the online support system. www.slimmingworld.com there is also this forum which is great for questions and support :) www.minimins.com Anyway, hope I havent confused people too much... just thought I would share :) As I always do "Extra Easy" days its perfect for Bentos as my carb is the rice and then protein and veggies are "free" on the diet anyway! :) good luck to those who check it out! :)