Easy Extra SP Explained (updated with December 2018 changes)

The Slimming World plan is a dream for anyone like me, who loves food and more specifically loves eating food! It’s a non-restrictive healthy eating plan, not a diet. You don’t cut out any food group in the Easy Extra plan, and you get to eat chocolate, crisps, sweets, fizzy drinks and whatever else you like….just in moderation and within your syn allowance. This is an explanation of the next step in the Slimming World plan – Easy Extra SP. 

 know that there are a lot of people who do Slimming World from home, and many who need refreshing on the facts now and again, and recently I’ve had quite a few people ask me about the Easy Extra SP plan and how it works. 

I, therefore, wanted to set out what exactly doing ‘Easy Extra SP’ means, how it can help, and a few key recipe ideas which have really helped me when I’ve followed the plan. Before I do so though, it’s really important to say that the Easy Extra SP plan is not meant to be followed as your everyday Slimming World plan, instead, it’s to help give your weight loss a little kick up the bum, or speed things up for a special occasion for example. The regular Easy Extra plan works a dream, and to maintain long-term weight loss is the best thing for you. So on that note, here’s a few details…

What is Slimming World Easy Extra SP?

It’s quite straightforward really and is centred around the principle that you fill your plate only with S and P foods (speed and protein). So that means no potatoes, rice, pasta, Muller Lights, or other regular free foods that you might have at meal times. Given that there are so many S and P foods to choose from though, this doesn’t by any means limit you to munching on rabbit food and chicken! If you’re not sure which foods are S and P, they’re marked really clearly in your Slimming World book, and there are loads of lists online too. 

The second principle is that you have 10 syns per day to enjoy on Easy Extra SP (this was changed from 15 per day as of December 2018). You don’t cut those out, so continue eating your chocolate and drinking your wine, or cooking with oil and enjoying salad dressings if that’s how you chose to use your syns. You do not deprive your body of sugar, or any of the fun stuff, because if you did then the minute you switched back to the regular plan you’d put weight back on! Remember though, that you can’t just decide to eat regular free foods and syn them, as you won’t have the correct syn values and it kind of defeats the point!

One major part of the Easy Extra SP plan is that you get to enjoy 1x Healthy Extra B choices AND 2x Healthy Extra A choices. 

Hopefully, this diagram helps explain it at the very basic level!

Please note that as of Christmas 2018 the syn allowance has been reduced to 10 syns per day on Easy Extra SP and you are now allowed 2x Healthy Extra A choices. You are now allowed 1x Healthy Extra B choice, previously you were allowed two. 

When should I do Easy Extra SP? 

This isn’t one I can give you a definite answer for, as it’s completely up for you. I can say that SP works very well for speeding up your weight loss in time for a special occasion, for example, a wedding or birthday, or to give yourself a little bit of a weight loss buffer before a big event like Christmas! It’s also great if you’ve found your weight loss slowing down, as I have recently, to help kick start things again. What I find personally is that if I feel myself getting complacent, a couple of SP days can really help to focus my mind on the ‘rules’ of Slimming World, but that might just be me. 

How long should I do Easy Extra SP for?

This is again quite a personal one, it does boil down to how much you want to lose and how quickly you want to do so, but I would advise not to do it for more than a week at a time. Because Slimming World is so easy to follow, and you can eat almost everything you’d normally eat anyway, you generally don’t feel like you’re on a ‘diet’, making it easy to resist temptation. I think that being on SP does feel more restrictive, and psychologically if you’re anything like me when you think you’re on a diet all your brain tells you to do is eat crap! The longer you go without something you want the more likely you are to cave to it, and if you do that then it could lead to eating other foods outside of your syn allowance. So only do it for as long as you feel comfortable denying yourself certain foods!

Does Easy Extra SP work? 

As always I can only talk from personal experience and observation, but as a general rule, I’d say yes. It doesn’t work for everyone, some people find it to restrictive and end up snacking too much and consuming too many calories elsewhere, which can even lead them to put on weight. Some people simply don’t like it and feel that it defeats the point of a long-term lifestyle change. I’ve done it where it worked, and done it where my willpower just hasn’t been up to the challenge, but it is definitely something to try if you find your weight loss slowing down a little bit. If it works then you’ve found a way to give yourself a little boost every so often, if it doesn’t then you’ve not lost anything by trying! 

December 2018 Easy Extra SP Changes

As of December 2018, Slimming World has made a number of changes to the Slimming World plan, including a few which directly impact your Easy Extra SP days. If you joined Slimming World after this point then these changes will already be a normal part of your plan, but if you were doing the plan beforehand it’s important to be aware of the latest updates. Not everyone will choose to implement them, but it’s good to know anyway! The biggest of these is that you are now only allowed 10 syns per day on Easy Extra SP, down from 15. This is to help make the plan even more effective! 

A few Healthy Extra ‘a’ choices have changed:

• A Healthy Extra portion of whole cow’s milk has increased to 200ml.
• A Healthy Extra portion of rice or almond milk has decreased to 400ml.
• 40g Paneer cheese is now a Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice! 

Some products are no longer Healthy Extras:

• Kelloggs Special K Milk Chocolate Delight Bar
• Sweetened dairy-free milk
• Reduced fat/light soft cheese (including Philadelphia Light)
• Soft goat’s cheese

One very positive change for those following the Easy Extra SP plan is that you are now allowed 2x Healthy Extra A choices as well as 2x Healthy Extra B choices through your day.

Easy Extra SP Meals 

Here are a few of my SP meal options, but there are so many others out there so have a Google when you’re done here and see what you come up with! What’s more, most meals you eat regularly can be adapted to be SP. For example, eating bolognese with corgetti spaghetti, or simply replacing your regular pasta or potatoes with speed veg! 

Syn Free HexB Pizza – you can use this as one of your HexB options and your HexA choice and top it with plenty of S and P foods. If you use my Syn Free Pizza Sauce too then that has even more added speed! 

Slimming World Tomato and Rocket Salsa with Chicken – this is one of my favourite meals! Totally SP and totally delicious! 

Chilli & Paprika Carrot Chips – I made these when I was doing an SP week recently, and they were a lifesaver! If you fancy chips but can’t eat potatoes or even sweet potatoes because you’re on an SP plan then these are wonderful! 

Smoked Salmon and Chive Parcels – quark is a P food, so you can eat these tasty salmon parcels no problem! 

A few things to help you on your Slimming World journey…