Anyone kindly fancy telling me there experience of sliming world ?

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

Thinking of signing up

It's worked for me. It clarified which foods were causing me trouble, I'd say.

So nuts and bread seem to have been my downfall in the past. That's the big difference. I'm eating slightly more carbs and cheese, but much less junk, nuts/seeds and bread.

It really highlights where calorie dense foods hide, and encourages you to plan your meals around everything else.

And the various sizes of women at the class- many of them are target members. They go every week despite not losing weight because that's how we keep it off.

Like any diet, it works as long as you stick to it. They do offer help and a plan for when you get to your goal weight, but it's only good if you stick to it.

I liked it as I didn't have to weigh anything and could eat as much as I like of certain things. I lost about 3 stone in it, kept it off for a few years but have slipped into old habits and put it back on.

I did go to the groups as I found it really helped, but it did remind me of Little Britain Fat Fighter

Honestly I've done it in the past and hated it.

My mum has done it on and off for well over 20 years and her weight has gone up and down and consumed her consistently over this time. Her mind is always on how "badly" she has done and this seemed normal to me so when I was in my early 20s I signed up for the first time.

Over time I joined up and left and joined up again 3 times at 3 different groups and I found that it just didn't work for me. I would lose at an absolute maximum half a pound a week when I was miserable and a tally quite hungry a lot of the time. I can't tell you how much I hated the groups too, so false and embarrassing if I'm honest.

I've since found that it was just way too many carbs allowed on the plan for my body to cope with. Carbs are NOT bad but I have a hormonal condition and insulin resistance and so need to treat my body like its diabetic to lose any weight.

Everyone I know who has done it is constantly consumed by thoughts of syns and binge eating at weekends because they can't get through the week, and always always put the weight back on before joining up again!

I did a year of SW almost a decade ago; I lost 3.5 stone and I’ve kept it off since (also had two babies during that time but got back to target after each and stayed there). I think it worked because I ultimately changed the way I think about food. I cook from scratch and naturally look for low calorie options when I’m out. I have occasional treats and Christmas is a blow out, but I no longer use food as a reward or comfort. I now exercise regularly too. Joining was one of the best things I eve did - I’m at the top of the bmi healthy band, but it’s enough for me! I also found a really good/nice/normal consultant, I think that helped a lot.

@picklemewalnuts

It's worked for me. It clarified which foods were causing me trouble, I'd say.

So nuts and bread seem to have been my downfall in the past. That's the big difference. I'm eating slightly more carbs and cheese, but much less junk, nuts/seeds and bread.

It really highlights where calorie dense foods hide, and encourages you to plan your meals around everything else.

See, that's the thing! Nuts and seeds and things like avocado, which they attach high syns to are not bad for you! 1 avocado has more syns than 10 crappy Muller lights full of shit.

@WeeFae I know that!

But if I eat avocado I run out of calories for the day. If I eat a mullerlight I don't.

I did the 'whole/clean' eating thing for a few years- prioritised healthy fats, whole grains and so on. Sadly I put on weight. They don't 'satisfy' me like they are supposed to- not enough to stop me eating other things as well.

So I save avocado for holidays and Christmas. And I take the hit, weight wise, then work to get it off again.

A single avocado makes you gain weight? Or a handful of nuts? These are nutrient-packed, what your body needs. There is very little your body needs from a muller light. This si what I mean by SW being toxic and ruined my relationship with food which has taken a lot of work (ongoing) to overcome.

It's easy to eat a lot of nuts and hence a lot of calories, so you need to count them.

You could of course eat a diet that allows you 1000 calories of nuts a day and little else, but you'd probably be hungry.

Different diet plans work for different people. SW is probably most attractive to people who are used to eating a lot and are worried about being hungry. Less so to the type of people who can naturally eat 5 brazil nuts without finishing the rest of the bag.

That's just exactly it Barbara. I have to count nuts and avocados carefully. Slimming world helps with that.

Seeds are better. I can add a tablespoon of seeds to a salad in a much more manageable way. Nuts? I'd eat the bagful.

I did it. I think it gives you an unhealthy attitude- I lost a lot and gained it back. Also I weighed people and the number of times I’ve heard ‘I’m back, starting again’

On slimming world I'm eating more fruit, dairy and therefore calcium than ever before.
I'd previously avoided them for sugar and fat. They weren't my favourite form of calories.

They don't tell you to have diet pop instead of water, and muller light instead of avocado.

The diet pop is instead of alcohol- beer/cider etc.
The Hi-Fi Bars are instead of snickers.
The muller light is just a yogurt, handy when you want something quick to fill a corner, and haven't boiled any eggs!

@Creakycroaky - that is how it is good, cooking from scratch- but for me all the tweaks and making sweets from weetabix is unhealthy

@LovelyYellowLabrador

Tab thanks, do you still follow it now? I guess it gets easier once you get your head round it all plus you memories your fav thjngs rather than having to goggle all the time

I’m currently not going, covid and some other personal stuff as well got in my way a bit, but I do broadly follow it... though tbh if you like to cook from scratch with unprocessed ingredients there’s very little to remember.

“Because there’s so much focus on syns, calculations, lists of food, groups of food etc. You spend a lot of time thinking about what you will have, won’t have, can’t have.”

I find the exact opposite tbh, with things like calorie counting or WW if I went for coffee and someone offered me a biscuit I had to either refuse it or spend the rest of the day working out what I was now going to have for dinner, with slimming world it means I’m skipping a biscuit or similar later not having to redo my meal plans.

@Nishkin totally agree, and I don’t think the tweaks are sustainable long term, I think they’re probably intended to help wean you out of bad eating habits. If you love cake you just have to ultimately eat far less cake to maintain a healthy weight, but I guess weetabix cake can be a healthier place holder while you get your head in the right place to cut down (although I can’t actually say that I ever made it, it looked revolting!)

Slimming world definitely made me vastly expand the amount of fruit and veg I ate (or was willing to try), and helped me identify mindless eating and over-eating.

I don’t think a programme that allows to eat hundreds of processed muller light but essentially asks you to starve if you eat half an avocado is the way to go. I would do fast 800 or team rh fitness. Much cheaper and no syns. I always found the taking something as a prize was weird and as my cupboards are always bare I found very stressful. It’s expensive and I didn’t want to take a ‘gift’ every week.

I don’t think a programme that allows to eat hundreds of processed muller light but essentially asks you to starve if you eat half an avocado is the way to go

SW doesn't do that. To eat half an avocado, you'd effectively need to give up a small packet of crisps or something like a kit kat. You can still have all your normal meals and include the avocado in those if you wanted to.

I don't know why people bang on so much about the Muller Lights. Some people chose to eat them, I never did. I don't like fat free dairy like that so would generally have a small amount of proper Greek yogurt or Longley Farm full fat cottage cheese instead and it still works. Because it's not a magic spell where you have to eat 'hundreds of Muller lights' for it to work, you just have to be in calorie deficit.

DO NOT DO IT!!! I've never had a problem with food. I put on 2 stone after breaking my leg. Been 9 stone all my adult life (for context I was 36 when breaking my leg and post having kids) . I had gone up to 11 stone.

Got back down to 10.5 with slimming world - let's fast forward another 2 years and I"m now 12 stone 7 with a stomach.

I think it's a con. Totally unsustainable and ruins your relationship with food.

I'm now trying to lose weight 'normally - -lots of walking, lots of water, just slowing cutting back. Everyone I know who's lost weight with SW has piled it back on and more.

I lost 3 stone going to SW then put it all back on when I left.
I ended up leaving because if I couldn't make a class because I was working I would get messages from the group leader with crying faces and over the top concern and she kept putting passive aggressive comments on Facebook about members.
It all got too much and I ended up feeling pressured and sort of claustrophobic. I started dreading getting a text in case it was her!

I think the reason for me putting it back on was that I needed the accountability of being weighed by someone else. I felt like I could start sneaking an extra biscuit because no one would know or eating a tube of pringles because it wouldn't matter I'd be better tomorrow which of course was a slippery slope.
I needed the fear of getting weighed.

I lost 3 stone on it but it all went back on. Felt the groups were patronising and cliquey. Often pressure to loose a lot of weight quickly from the instructor.
Lots of the people there had been for years and have yoyo-d all that time. Follow a few instructors on Instagram and they have gained again and are critical of the plan on their personal accounts whilst singing it's praises on their work one. I'd avoid. If your NHS are running a weight loss programme I'd try that instead as they are more sensible and often free.

@LovelyYellowLabrador

‘Is bmr basal metabolic rate ? How do I find this out ?’

It is. Google BMR calculator and you’ll input your height, weight, sex and activity level.

You’ll get 3 different calorie amounts. How many you would need to eat to gain weight, maintain your weight and how many to lose weight. Basically you take your maintenance calories and cut 500 calories daily. This creates the calorie deficit and you will lose weight.

Be sure to adjust your calories as your weight goes down. Walking will make you feel really good. 10,000 steps per day is great but anything above 5000 is classed as not sedentary.

Enjoy!

I think any diet you do you end up thinking about food constantly. You’re actively making choices you wouldn’t normally, and let’s face it, having something to make you think a bit harder to make the right choice….that’s good, isn’t it?

I had a heart attack in 2019 and that summer, through eating differently and Mediterranean diet I lost 2 1/2 stone. The lockdown and my husband nearly losing his job came along so I used them as an excuse to bring back all the old bad habits. I knew categorically they were bad choices - lots of wine, takeaways whenever, biscuits and puddings…thing is I LIKE THAT STUFF TOO MUCH. I don’t moderate. I think fuck it, it tastes good, relaxes me…whatever. Me, knowing what weight did to me. So I’ve joined Slimming World. I’ve lost on it before, I can do it again but….any diet will ‘fail’ if you go back to the unhealthy eating!

I can’t be trusted with just doing it myself. The structure and weekly weigh ins keep me more focused, stop me fudging things to myself.

Depends how your brain works op

sallyanne67

‘You should check out soulandcourage_weightloss on Instagram, they explain why it might not work for your and how toxic it can be. All based on science they are fab’ ☺️

Definitely. That account was very inspiring to me.

The problem with any diet is will you fall back into old habits after.

We did SW, well it was OH but I did it as well. Basically it's low fat high fibre. Lots of fresh fruit and veg with lean meat/fish. You'll get a lot of talk from people about their bars and other niggles. No one asks you to eat snack bars or muller lights. If you want to eat avocados it's fine you just need to remember they're fairly high in fats and calories, more fool you though as they're also disgusting.

OH has kept his weight of as he basically changed to eating low fat meals with lots of veg.