to consider Slimming World for all of us?

[Mmmcoffee]

DH is hugely overweight. He knows it, keeps saying he will do something about it, but never does. I'm a bit overweight, not hugely so, have lost a stone in the past year and I'm now a size 14. I'd sort of like to lose more but not really worried TBH. DD is 14 and in a size 12, but her school trousers are getting tight and I'm concerned her weight is just going up. Her diet is crap really, but she won't eat fruit or veg apart from a couple of things so I'm at a bit of a loss.

I was thinking that if we all join Slimming World it will be a kick up the backside for all of us, and hopefully they will be able to give DD some guidelines on better choices on what to eat. DH isn't keen, he thinks he'll be the only bloke there - and I don't think he wants 'strangers' to acknowledge that he IS overweight because then he won't be able to put of doing something about it. My mum is worried that DD will 'get a complex' and it's dangerous to put these ideas in teenagers heads because she might 'go the other way and get anorexic'. But that's why I'm thinking of doing it as a family, so nobody is singled out.

What do you all think? braces self for the AIBU crowd

Mmmcoffee it's not that they didn't work for me in the short term, they totally did- but what these clubs don't do is address the REAL issues. Which is why 90% of people end up putting the weight back on and starting over. Your own body tells you when it is hungry and when it is full, but these diet clubs confuse the signals.

To be fair SW is probably the best of the bunch if I had to pick one.

A bit irrelevant to this thread maybe, but SW also helps my IBS, probably because it makes sure I have a balanced diet with lots of wholegrains and fibre.

"Egginabap - they only work if you are committed to the change. Sw does not restrict anything. You want wine? Have it, chocolate? Have it. You just have to make sure you are not over doing it with treats. Which is the heart of any healthy eating plan"

That's what makes me wonder just how hard they try to teach commitment.

If people got the message the first time around, the world wouldn't be full of people repeatedly going back to these places because they've piled the weight back on.

I have to say I have never felt shoved onto the scales. Its hard to explain if you haven't been. My consultant is so supportive, helpful and non judgmental. As are the group. I couldn't have done it without the support.

DPrince- what you have just said is that I could have want I want, to a limit. Why the limit, if my body is hungry? I eat when I'm hungry, I eat when I want and what I want, I don't obsess about food and I'm in my ideal weight range for the first time and feeling fantastic, it wasnt my commitment to change that was the problem. Willpower isn't enough which is why diets don't work IMO.

YANBU, it sounds like you all need some education on nutrition and calorie density. Try cooking with dd (if you don't already), try some veggie meals (omelette with peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes), veggie curries, Mexican dishes etc. veggies don't. Just have to be the boring bit with the meat. Try smaller portion sizes too, lots of modern plates are huge, try serving smaller portions on smaller plates with the option of seconds if wanted.

Lots of things can be made healthier, homemade pizza, burgers made with extra lean mince.

If you have done sw you know there is plenty of free food. Food you can eat eat as much as you want of. The limited foods are the 'unhealthy foods'. Chocolate, biscuits, alcohol. How would you expect to lose weight without restricting these foods? If you are not willing to restrict any food you won't lost weight. Which maybe why these plans haven't worked for you.

HappyCamel, I wish I could do veggie meals. DD won't eat veggies. Omelette with peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes? She would pick out Every. Little. Bit. of veg. Seriously.

She will eat bananas and sweetcorn. She will eat, if pushed, an apple or a raw carrot or a bit of broccoli. Under pressure, she will eat a single bite of cabbage, carrots, green beans, lettuce. She doesn't hate these, she just doesn't want to eat more than that. Apart from these, she will not eat any veg or fruit at all.

She will drink apple juice, pineapple juice and orange juice. She will eat a bolognese or pizza with tomato sauce, as long as there are no 'chunks' of tomato.

I grate carrot into practically every casserole-type dish. I chop broccoli finely into anything I can get away with. I give her a multivitamin every day because I'm certain she's not getting enough vitamins.

Blimey, some people do survive quite healthily without their 5 a day. I wouldn't stress about it too much...just keep encouraging her or hiding it in her food as you are doing.

What are her portion sizes like? That can often be the key, especially if you and your DH have large appetites...it can be difficult to recognise a 'normal' portion of food.

Not saying this is the case, but it can be.

Yes the 'free food'. What a load of cobblers.

If you eat when you're hungry, and stop when you're full, you will lose weight/be slim. Guess what, it's what the thin people do already!!!!! And they're not all eating a typically balanced diet are they!

Gosh I can't believe I fell for all that for so many years, right I'm off to have an Easter egg [bugrin]

[bugrin] Good idea Egg!

Egg tbh I think you have a chip (excuse the pun) on your shoulder. It didn't work for you, that doesn't mean other people are being dupped. You can have as much free food as you want so you want to eat past full, do it. With the right food. I don't get your point about thin people not having a balanced diet. Plenty of thin people do. Tbh I don't really see your point.

I think it a good idea - men & family groups at my slimming world. And they do encourage exercise too vis body magic. I joined purely because I realised I needed to do something as my weight was creeping up.( want to lose between a stone & a stone 1/2) They do take under 16's but obviously don't do the you've lost x weight this week etc.

I don't really think that SW is a good idea tbh. I think any industry diet like that is not really the way to go long term tbh. And classing food as 'sins' really grates, tbh.

Getorf you always say in 2 lines what I woudl twat on about for a paragraph and a half

Goddamn you and your succintness

Horse for course I'd say. I've never been on a diet in my life but I have found that it is focusing my mind more on what I am eating & I am eating more fruit & trying new dishes.

I admit, I hate the 'syns' thing - it does my head in.

I don't think it's helpful to slag off something that DOES help so many people. I admit, I can be a bit evangelical about Slimming World and I probably annoy people with it sometimes, hehe, but it works FOR ME. That doesn't mean it will suit everyone.

Oh, and EggInABap, it's so great to see you've managed to solve the obesity crisis in just one sentence. Yes, that's what thin people do, but weight is so much more complicated than that and you know it. Reducing it to such a basic level isn't really that helpful. Some people do need more support and just because SW didn't work for you, doesn't mean it doesn't work.

You have obviously not seen my posts when I ramble on for several parapgraphs and forget the point of what I mean to say!

OP I wouldn't worry too much about the fruit and veg. I dislike most fruit to be honest (have a few oranges at christmas) although I do eat a load of green veg.

I would try and reduce processed food - if you read something like Zoe Harcombe or the Dr John Briffa No More Diets book - if you have a basic understanding of nutrition that may help all your food choices. Both espouse a way of life eating as opposed to a diet, which is based on non-processed meat, veg etc. The problem with SW and WW and all those diets is that they can encourage you (for ease) to rely on bollocks like diet yoghurts, low fat ready meals and sugar free cereal and the like, which are full of crap really.

You can have as much free food as you want so you want to eat past full, do it

That's a very bad idea imo and it could actually be one of the reasons people have to keep returning to these places to lose weight.

When you are full you are full. The more food you put in your stomach, the more your stomach gradually stretches until it takes a lot more to fill it up.

Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full, is basic common sense.

I don't mean to slag anything off actually - sorry if it comes across like that. Different things work for different people - I know though that something like SW would get on my nerves and I would just end up eating lardy cake as a 'fuck you' gesture to the whole world if I followed it.

I do however think that such regimented diets are short term only (well they are in my experience) and for long term healthy eating you have to make wholesale, permanent changes to what you eat.

I think SW is more of a lifestyle change than a diet as such though in that you don't calorie count.

WorraLiberty - the plans clearly state you can eat "free food" to satisfy your appetite.
It doesn't say you can stuff your face with it, portion control is encouraged even with the "free" stuff.

No no no no NO. You do NOT stuff yourself with free food, this is one of the most common misconceptions about SW. You eat to satisfy your hunger and then you stop. People who stuff themselves beyond full are not following the plan, full stop. It would be like someone on WeightWatchers eating twice as many points as they're allowed.

For example, my lunch now is roasted broccoli and red onion, with a few baby mushrooms and a Quorn fillet. Not a huge portion, just enough to satisfy me. If I'm still hungry after, I might have a yoghurt later on this afternoon or some fruit. Those who know how the plan works will see that my lunch is mainly what's called 'superfree' (e.g. veg).

DPrince- perhaps you should read back my posts- it DID work for me, they all did. But unless I stayed on one of these 'diets' my whole life I always put the weight back on. As many many many studies have proved that almost all people do!

DPrince I don't have a chip on my shoulder but probably will have several on my plate later! And if you want to get personal I think you haven't got a clue what you're on about, to quote 'You want to eat past full, do it' please explain this logic to me. Oh and please tell me why on a diet where no food is forbidden that there are 'syns'. How is that promoting a healthy attitude to food?

Many thin people have healthy eating habits and many don't. The thing they have in common is that they don't eat to excess. Is that clear enough for you?

I won't ever dismiss the successes of those on diets such as SW or their tremendous willpower, I know what it's like to struggle with weight and wouldn't wish it on anyone. However I'm yet to meet someone who really keeps it off long term without returning to the diets. How depressing to be on a diet for the rest of your life.

Bubble bobble, I'm sorry to say but it really is that simple. It may not be easy but that's exactly what it boils down to.

Really? So medications, life-style factors, mental problems, genetics, have absolutely no bearing? Bullshit. It may come down to calories in versus calories out, but you cannot ignore other factors.

I put weight on because I have to take steroids due to my chemo. I can still lose weight while taking them but I have had to drastically look at the amount of veg I eat, whereas before, I could get away with less. Yes, that is a calories in vs calories out thing, but I could not have made the changes I needed to without support.

You're actually really pissing me off now, so I'm stepping away from this thread.