To be a bit dubious of the whole slimming world thing.....

[LEMmingaround]

Ok so i am on a diet - i feel like the dog is in danger of being eaten if he sits down too long!

I am looking at the slimming world website - but i'm really irritated by all the BRANDS! Nearly all their recipes from the "cook from scratch" diet has a tin of Baxters something or other, Jordans cereal etc - why can't they just say - a tin of soup, a generic breakfast cerial - they even specified nestle products..........

Im not going to get on iwht them am i?

i think i want a program to follow, or something to guage my weightloss by but i don't want to be told what to eat. Does anyone know of any NHS related information?

The live well website has lots of info and is done by the NHS:
www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthy-eating/Pages/Healthyeating.aspx

I've just had another look and it gives a 12 week program with charts etc to fill out to keep track of what you are eating and how much you are losing, etc. looks quite good and there's a recipe finder for meal ideas too.

Callinadina is so right. I don't like SW for the reasons she listed, but also just because some thing has low points, doesn't make it nutritionally good for you. My friend used to eat a cereal bar every morning for breakfast as it was low on points, or whatever they use to count. I looked at the ingredients and it was loaded with crap. It doesn't teach you about nutrition and the ready meals they and ww sell are just as rank.

OP maybe try clean eating, it's not faddy and is non restrictive whilst being very good for you.

Those Hi Fi bars used to make me blow up like a balloon. Ditto Slim Fast and Almond milk it seems they have something called carrageen in them which is some kind of moss!
It causes bloating , gas and cramps in some sensitive people.

Another lady had the same experience with HF bars. Now I am reducing my weight gradually on my own. The thought of those slimming clubs and the clapping keeps me on the right path!

I tried slimming world and although short term I lost weight I found I was so focused on everything being low fat I didn't realise just how much sugar I was eating. I'm now using myfitnesspal which I love as it measures not only the calories but all the nutritional values. I thought I'd hate all the weighing and measuring but i'm getting a kick out of seeing what i'm actually consuming every day. Also I've added lots of friends on it which is keeping me motivated as I can see how well they're doing themselves.

allofaflumble - my DP bought some almond milk tonight - i made a face at him, i am going to tke great delight in telling him it is shite! :) What do you mean, clapping? like a round of appluase??? get away!

afromom - thankyou so much, that is exactly what i am looking for :)

I got on really well with SW. I lost 3.5 stones at around 1-2lb a week (after the initial larger losses of around 3-5lb) and have maintained the same weight for just over a year.

It really is flexible; I didn't buy any hi fi bars and cooked all meals from scratch. The eating until full then stopping helped me as on days when I wad hungrier I could have a slightly larger meal and not have to count calories.

So thumbs up from me! (Even though I doubted it would work before joining)

MrChow, slimming world doesn't make any ready meals. I don't think it makes any food at all apart from cereal bars and some kind of crispbread. Neither of which are essential to the plan.

I agree that cereal bars are not very good for you, but again, if someone just eats a cereal bar for breakfast, they are not following the plan. They would have to eat some fruit or veg as part of their breakfast, and at some point over the day they must eat some food from the dairy/calcium list to make it nutritionally balanced. Eating a cereal bar is certainly less bad for me than the three bars of chocolate a day I'd eat before I found out about the bars.

Both WW and SW are nutritionally balanced. That is why they are recommended by the NHS and why the NHS pays for patients to attend the classes. The studies the NHS have done show both SW and WW are more successful at getting people to lose weight and keep it off than calorie counting with NHS support.

That said, I wouldn't choose WW because it wouldn't suit me, and I don't like ready meals. I wouldn't choose calorie counting because the psychological element of restriction would lead to me over eating. Other people would suit those methods because it is horses for courses.

There is no doubt some diet out there that is the best in the world nutritionally, but a lot of losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight is a person's relationship with food. So different approaches work for different people.

That is a briliant site actually - i am doing to download their 12 week challenge and do it with DP. It says my healthy weight between 7.5 and 9 stone - If i went to that weight i'd slip between the drain! I am going to aim at 10/11 stone - but not it 12 weeks, that would be too quick. If i id 2Ib a week (which is what i have lost this week doing it by myself) that will be 24Ilb not quite two stone, hmm, might take a while then :)

I'm actually feeling quite tearful now :( im 6 stone over weight i feel a bit hopeless if im honest, and scared shitless

(whispers)

I'm 4 and a half stone overweight and that's having lost 3 stone in the last few months...

Don't think about it, it's too much, all you need to think about is losing the first pound, set yourself little goals, either weight or just diet related and concentrate on reaching them.

It's good to work out an end point, but, that's not what you need to concentrate on really or it's a bit overwhelming, shifting the scales down at all is a step in the right direction.

So just pick what you're doing and concentrate on doing that and set yourself small realistic achievable goals.

Yes lots of clapping for applause. Re the almond milk, your husband may be fine with it and it tastes quite nice. Just think I was allergic to something in it.

Just to try and let people know the reality of sw, as typical day for me would be

Breakfast: yogurt (not usually a Muller light!) and fruit or a mushroom omelette

Lunch: baked potato (just the one!) With cheese and salad, or smoked salmon salad, or home made vegetable soup

Dinner: home made spag bol or chilli and rice or stir fry

Snacks do include alpen light cereal bars or ryvita minis, but its just as likely to be fruit or hummus and carrots/cucumber.

From what I have experienced it looks sustainable, unlike constantly counting calories. I don't think its overly high in sugar, and there's not much branded food.

Does it work? Well, its working for me. Well, my average loss is just over 2lb per week. As for clapping - I don't go to class so I don't experience that! But get a huge amount of support online from others following the same plan.

6 stone is entirely doable. It seems like a mountain, but it will come off in the same way it went in - 1lb at a time - as long as you find something that works for you. I know people on a variety of plans - 5:2, paleo, hairy bikers etc - there I'll be something out there that will work for you. Sw works for me.

Sometimes you need the clapping. My SW class is ace - friendly and fun, never twee, and genuinely supportive.

LEM-come and have a look at the thread in chat 'for people who are trying to eat better.' It's really worth a read and very helpful x

I did Slimming World and lost two stone. The bottom line is it works and allows you to eat lots too, if you so desire. The downside is that there's a lot of chemical crap in the diet (low fat products full of sweeteners etc).

If you want to eat 'good' food (olive oil, avocados, nuts etc) then you have to either reduce portion size significantly, or do some kind of low-carb diet to mitigate.

In the end I decided to bite the bullet and take up exercise and eat what I want. So I try and do Bikram yoga three times a week and trained and ran a half marathon last year. It means I can eat chocolate and drink wine every day and not get fat.

Freckled. I like that idea :) have just cycled 12 miles pretty much uphill not bad for a big bird :)

The majority of people I know who've done SW/WW/Lighter Life etc shed weight pretty quickly but when they reach their goal (or fall off track) they go back to eating normally for them and on the weight goes. My mum's in her 70s and her weight has yo-yo'd for decades with these diets. So many people on my Facebook are doing paleo/low carb/5:2 ATM, there always seems to be some fad about.

Maybe I'm just cynical though or have a lot of friends & fam with zero willpower!

Good luck anyway.

Freckled, I think perhaps my experience of it is skewed by reading the threads on here about sweeteners and mental health. I went into SW having already decided I wasn't going to eat anything with artificial sweeteners in. So I have just followed the plan by home cooking and don't have any of the yoghurts, hot chocolates etc.

If anyone wants some tips on clean eating, feel free to pm me. I've written a blog on it, as I started recording my experience so have it all to hand for others. Lots of friends have used the basic advice I've given and got on really well. I'm not plugging my blog at all btw, it makes me no money or advertising I'm just happy to share tips! and can happily paste stuff over

SW probably keep making money by keeping people fat and unhappy so they keep coming back. What sort of 'weight loss' advice is eating Laughing Cow, Supernoodles and Mullerlights, Nestle branded anything and Baxter's soup? How much sugar's in that rubbish?

5:2 diet has been a wonder for me.
Lost 1.5 stone since oct and am now a healthy size 10/12 (i'm 5'6")
i'm on a fasting day today - having tuna and cannelini bean salad for lunch (skipped brekkie) and having homemade turkey cumin burgers, con on the cob and homemade tomato salsa for dinner. >500 kcals. The rest of the week i eat totally normally. By that i mean whaever i feel like, but in my case that still means a lot of slow cooker meat / veg stews etc served with green veg for dinners, homeade bread (we have a machine) sandwiches for lunch, porrige breakfasts and the odd cake / choc. i eat full fat foods - so snack on full fat ygs, oatcakes and peanut butter etc. i had fish and chips on the beach on sunday and wine on saturday night with an m&s indian takeaway.
i am much more in tune with real hunger, and aside from 2 days a week i dont have to buy special foods.

I also bake using Harry Eastwoods excellent book which uses some grated veg in cakes (honestly they are gorgeous - even nicer than their buttery cousins) - they are still naughty, but not as naughty!

this is my Apricot and almond tart...amazing tasting, it has spelt flour, grated butternut squash, sugar and ground almonds in.