SlimmingWorld Fat-Shaming

We all want the weight off quickly, but I am surprised people who should know better encourage this!

But i did lose the first 7 stone in 7 months which gave me gallstones. And i was told this was the cause by the medical professionals treating me for the condition

Absolutely horrendous!!!

I lost 4.5 stones so freaking SLOWLY (my body wouldn't do it faster - steroids) - think 4 years. Frustrating at the time, but grateful I never suffered the way you did, you poor thing.

That pool article is a load of rubbish - I’ve got that booklet, it’s a list of percentages of target members polled and it says, 4% of target members spend less time with overweight friends... so 96% don’t....

That’s not encouraging people to do it.

Saying gains is about making them not shameful, just factual... which they actually mention when you join - though if you’ve specifically said that you don’t want a gain mentioned they are supposed to respect that.

Weeeeelllll....I'm not on board with how they put the "spend less time with fat friends", but there is research that indicates that your eating habits are very easily influenced by the people that you're around and eating with.

So if you spend time with slow eaters, you eat more slowly. You spend time with pickers, you pick. You spend time with people who overeat, you may be more liable to overeat. Because we're social creatures, it seems like we may synch with the people around us, and that includes eating habits.

I assume that's the thinking behind this. It's not meant to imply that you drop your friends because now you're skinny, you're better than them.

When I went I think they would just mention that you had gained but did it in a supportive way and would ask if you had had a difficult week and there was no finger wagging if you admitted to have had a great weekend drinking and eating, just good advice as to how to get back on track.

If you are unhappy about it then let them know but everyone is surely in the same boat????

That Pool article reads like satire. SW is besmirching the legacy of the Salem witch trials by using the phrase 'body magic' and they are demonising food and linking it to hellfire and damnation by using the phrase 'syns' - I mean come on.

I don't go to SW anymore and I'd have plenty of my own criticisms of its methods but that article is ridiculous.

After seeing the article linked above i dont think Slimming World particularly cares about peoples happiness.

If you like the group and find it helpful overall why not challenge the leader when/if she does this? I would just say something like 'as I just mentioned to you, I'm not comfortable with having my gains called out' or similar. You might find a lot of support within the group to this stance and it might wake her up to how inappropriate it is to do this against someone's wishes.

Ultimately if she persists, she'll lose customers, which is stupid. I've never been to a group where the consultant would do this if the person wasn't happy about it.

I like that some posters here are aware that these business models are a load of crap. If they worked (and stayed working) for most people then they’d have no business.

Anyway, I’m currently reading an amazing book called Fat is a Feminist Issue. I’m
Finding it an utter revelation. I think some of you here may find it’s the book for you too:

OP i believed you anyway but even more so after reading this.

www.the-pool.com/news-views/opinion/2018/28/Lily-Peschardt-on-Slimming-World

encouraging members to "spend less time with overweight friends"

jayjay007 I agree with HelenaDove, if the consultant refuses to respect your boundaries (rather than had a moment of forgetfulness) then it feels like the T&C of your participation have changed.

GraceMarks - 1400cals? I might need that on a particularly active day but if I ate that on a sedentary day (i.e., most weekdays) then I wouldn't maintain my current weight, I'd gain.

jayjay i wouldnt be attending a class where boundaries arent respected.

I stopped going to commercial weight loss groups because I got really sick of all the pseudoscience that got spouted at them and, in some cases, the inflexibility. This was even true of an NHS-run one that I did.

Somebody would get on the scales and find out they'd put a pound on, but insist that they stuck to the plan and even done a bit of exercise. And you could guarantee someone would say "oh, you've probably just gained muscle." It was much more likely they were ovulating or just coming up to their period, but this idea that you can gain a pound of muscle in a week just by walking to the shops got spouted even by the group leader.

The NHS one was a bit better re the science but they refused to consider changing the calorie target for individual people, so everyone was on 1400 per day, regardless of whether they were tall or short, old or young, if they had several stone to lose or a few pounds. My weight loss simply stalled because I needed less than 1400 calories but they were totally rigid about it. Now I just do it myself at home and go with what works .

I stopped staying at meetings because of off the cringey clapping at peoples losses and fake commiserating with peoples gains. It all felt completely weird!

Bloodmagic thankyou for your very informative post

Perhaps theyve been reading the fat shaming threads on AIBU and have realized they can get away with it in the current climate!

Hey @jayjay007

That sounds really crappy and counterproductive.

Some groups recommend blind weigh ins where you don't know the exact number but they give you the gist of whether you're on track or not. Helps to keep from obsessing and creating disordered eating patterns.

Also, you might not know this (most people don't) but it's actually pretty dumb for women to compare their weight to the previous week. Like, REALLY dumb. Your weight naturally fluctuates throughout your cycle. You are the lowest a few days after your period starts, then it generally goes up, down, WAY up, then back down to the lowest point again. That happens every month. It's only sensible to compare your weight to the same point in your previous cycle. Usually the lowest point (just after the start of menstruation) will give the most accurate reading - once a month weigh in. But if you want to weigh in weekly then just make sure you're not comparing it to last week but to 4 weeks ago.

If you're losing weight pretty quickly or you naturally have small fluctuations this effect will be camouflaged by your overall weightloss. E.g. If you are consistently losing 0.5kg (of actual fat) a week your scales might read:
69.0, 68.8, 68.1, 68.2, 67.0

However if you naturally have more significant weight fluctuations or you're losing weight slowly compared to your fluctuations the scales might read something more like:
69.0, 69.2, 68.3, 69.4, 67.0
Even though you're making exactly the same consistent progress as the other person, it's hidden by your body's natural tides.

The problem with this is if you're weighing in weekly and you're not aware of this effect you're going to get really discouraged when you're trying so hard and yet APPARENTLY going backwards! Especially because the time when your weight is likely to be at the highest fluctuation is also likely to be right around the time when you're PMS-y, emotional, and actually need extra food anyway (scientific fact - the week before you bleed your BMR increases and you need about 600kj extra per day), so it tends to trigger a 'what's the point' binge.

Just thought that might be useful info for you, it certainly helps me. Also a longer time frame between weigh ins helps me to focus less on the individual 'mistakes' and more on the overall picture. A burger here, a bag of M&Ms there, in a week that will completely derail your progress but in a month, if you're doing the right stuff the rest of the time, it's actually not that big of a deal.

I am BloodMagic and this has been your weekly Period Public Service Announcement

Kyan this is the first time ive heard of ursodial.

Milly thats great but like i and other posters have said...........your weight fluctuates. If you are constipated or if your period is late...........my last one was 31 days ago. Im not having sex so its not pregnancy, Im 45 and gearing up for the change.

The very first time i attended a slimming class was back in 1994 I cant remember whether that was SW or WW I only attended one class ..................i distinctly remember the women who had had a slight gain ..............each of them were given a little wooden elephant by the "consultant" I never went back to that one .........or attended another slimming class until 2002. (see above)

I used to go to one years ago and, to be honest, can't remember which company it was. I do remember that everyone just used to step on the scales and the consultant said whether you'd lost weight or put it on. That was actually part of the motivation for me, the thought of going there and looking bad in front of everyone made me determined not to put any on.

I have used SW a couple of times and they never announced gains and as a private person I would have been mortified if that happened. Felt uncomfortable having losses announced tbh.

@HelenaDove I believe rapid weight loss was the cause of my gallstones too...I lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks. I didn't know then that taking ursodiol can stop gallstones forming when on a rapid weight loss diet. My gastroenterologist also said it is really bad for our health.

There is no shame in a gain happens to all of us at some point I've been a consultant twelve years we have always done I usually say had a gain, small gain, scales were mean but also say the amount sometimes