in thinking that a slimming group leader who is supposedly following the programme but appears to be gaining weight

[minifingerz]

... undermines the confidence of the group regardless of how good a leader she may be in other ways?

Our slimming group leader has put on several stone over the past few years. She wasn't slim to start with and is now probably obese. She still talks enthusiastically about how she follows the plan and all the tips and strategies she uses to eat more healthily. But she's still getting bigger....

I would have thought it was a policy for group leaders to be losing or maintaining if they profess to be following the programme, otherwise it's damages to confidence of members that the programme is effective and sustainable.

Or am I being unfair? She's very good in every other way.

[flyrobynfly43]

I'd probably go to a tough love slimming club. I tend to be more motivated if people are slightly mean!

That wouldn't work with me. I would more than likely go home and scoff everything in sight.

[notquitehuman]

I'd probably go to a tough love slimming club. I tend to be more motivated if people are slightly mean!

I just remembered the dumbest SW 'recipe' ever. Smash instant mash potatoes were a free food, and for a while people were shaping them into pizza bases. Gross. Luckily my leader did clamp down on that one.

[flyrobynfly43]

"In one 'slimming club', the person who had lost the least weight had to wear a pigs head."

Ole Dave would be jealous.

What with all the weird wanking over muller lites and pigs head stuff going on, it sounds right up his street

[G1veMeStrength]

Mini Fingers I think that could take off.

Lets face it facebook is full of people paying shit loads to go to Boot Camp and do press ups in the rain at 6am, or paying shit loads to go to a Wolf Run and run through mud because its apparently so awesome. I can see you easily getting them to shell out for FAT TWATS or something along those lines.

[HelenaDove]

I lost ten stone while working a night job 13 years ago. Slowly gained 4 stone back when i became a carer for DH in 2006 and surviving on £40 a week.

I have lost that 4 stone regain over the past two years I just felt mentally and emotionally ready.
Although i do the SW plan ive tweaked it because a lot of so called low syn stuff is high in sugar. I find if i keep my sugar intake as low as possible it works for me

[HelenaDove]

I lost ten stone while working a night job 13 years ago. Slowly gained 4 stone back when i became a carer for DH in 2006 and surviving on £40 a week.

I have lost that 4 stone regain over the past two years I just felt mentally and emotionally ready.
Although i do the SW plan ive tweaked it because a lot of so called low syn stuff is high in sugar. I find if i keep my sugar intake as low as possible it works for me

[TheCatsMother99]

YANBU.

I don't expect my SW leader to be a stick insect (mine isn't and it doesn't bother me), but I would expect them not pile it on and on over the years with no weight loss at all.

I'm a bit at some of these stories like the one with the pigs head of shame. My SW leader is great, she's really motivational and never ever shames anyone if they've put on weight that week, she'll just ask them how they are and if there is anything the did differently that week. Then the group shares ways they get around certain cravings (if that's the cause of the weight gain, for example). We don't have muller lights shoved down our throats (sorry for the mental image!!!) or any of that crap but we do swap recipes that are usually healthier versions of normal recipes.

I definitely understand why people keep going even if they've got to their target weight, you honestly do make friends and it can be interesting to learn new recipes other people have tried and tested.

[wizzywig]

Hated going to groups. Ive tried sw and ww and ive found i dont fit in as i dont like muller frickin' lites, frylight and i dont drink. Im an online member now. Much more fun in my own little slimming group. Antisocial bod that i am

[Wheretheresawill1]

My ex slimming world award winning leader is very shouty; runs a blog which is mainly pictures of herself where people say 'u look stunning hun'; apparently she doesn't do negativity ie if you question anything she says you are negative... Makes weird concoctions of stuff that just isn't real food; it really is nauseating how narcissistic she is. But hey you know she won't like me being negative
I also found her to be a really critical slimming world leader. Apparently there are no excuses only choices. Yet I know people struggled with health, medication; personal traumas; death; disabled children. That's when I left the group- it was very superficial

[Pixel]

I went to SW years ago and lost a couple of stone (I went with my mum as my sister was getting married and we didn't want to let the side down). I've put some back on but not all (about 10 lb) and I did briefly consider going back but just couldn't stand the thought. We had a leader very like the one in the OP (name began with S if that rings a bell), she would merrily tell us every week that she had 'lost 3 pounds' but since she always remained on the fat side of chubby we all knew it was a barefaced lie. We soon learned never to tell her anything of a medical nature 'in confidence' because she would always 'accidentally' broadcast it to the whole room. There was a very cliquey group of her favourites who had all been going there for years (but were strangely the fattest in the room). Then there was the clapping...argh, just too grim. I'd rather stay fat.

But no, to answer the original question, the fact that she was very overweight did undermine our confidence in the whole thing and make us a bit resentful when she doled out her wonderful advice, so YANBU.

[Alexjoy]

It's obviously not working for her.

If it was a different product would you use it I. E. Hair products and she had shit hair.

[Siwi]

Consultant?

What is the training to become a 'consultant'?

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

I like SW. A lot of it depends on the group and the consultant, but for the most part the plan is based on eating real food, not shite. I've just had salmon, mash and spinach for tea and am going to have some raspberries and mango in a bit and then a Milky Bar

A lot of the bars/meals etc are there because people don't have time or CBA to make proper meals - it's not really changing attitudes to food, though, is it?

[tobysmum77]

I did ww online after dd2, I reached goal in 2 months, then lost another stone in maintenance and have since put on about 3lbs and have been stable for about a year.

So ime it does work, and I'm not a gold member. My issue was I couldn't stop losing, I was heading for too thin rapidly. But then I've never really had a serious weight problem so that's probably the difference.

[minifingerz]

He just comes from a family of failed dieters and he has no patience for it.

He's never commented on my weight even once in the 22 years we've been together.

Actually it was me who cornered him with a tape measure last week and got him to measure his waist, then dug out the NHS guidance on abdominal circumference. Once he'd accepted that his waist wasn't actually 4 inches below his belly button and that he was - officially - too big around the middle, he made a decision to lose weight too.

We've both got a bit of a fixation on Marjorie Dawes type slimming advice ??

[minifingerz]

"Mini, that does not sound loving or supportive."

Oh but he's immaculately well behaved with me.

[SomeWeirdPumpkin]

Either way, it's not a massively helpful attitude...

[SomeWeirdPumpkin]

...or is this because he is overweight and this is the sort of class that he feels he needs?

[Siwi]

Mini, that sounds like a reason to lose however many stones he weighs forthwith.

:(

[Siwi]

Mini, that does not sound loving or supportive.

The 'slimming club' that did that was not ww or sw. But it is clearly a big market of desperate people.

Maybe it makes some people feel good?

Revolting.

[minifingerz]

"In one 'slimming club', the person who had lost the least weight had to wear a pigs head."

I don't know if I can explain just how much that idea would appeal to DH.

He's longing to set up a cruel slimming club.

Instead of support it would involve regular shaming. And being made to do star jumps for the duration of the class if it turns out you've put weight on. And wearing a camera which videos everything you put in your mouth between sessions. All your secret eating would then be broadcast to the group on FB.

There must be masochists people out there who would find this approach effective.

[Littlecaf]

I've just lost 13lb on SW, post baby. It's not a quick fix, a pound a week is fine and fairly healthy. All it does is focus you on what you are eating and re-educates you regarding portion control, fat, carbs, sugar and eating a balance diet. Some people, me included, need for fork out a fiver a week for a little indoctrination to motivate us to lose it.

I did go to one group years ago (trying to loose my 'uni snake bite & black stone') where the leader was very large - at my currently one she's a little 'bubbly' but not obese.

Concentrate on your own life and not others and you'll lose it no problem.

[queenoftheworld93]

My slimming world leader is obese, but fully admits that she doesn't stick to the plan.

[BuggersMuddle]

YAMBU - I recall being 'shamed' for not losing weight as a young woman at WW by very overweight women. I was less than half a stone overweight and frankly they should have probably told me to go home and move more. It was a clique of yoyo dieters IME. Oh and the crappy food they peddled - tiny portions of non-food.

I've had personal trainers. Injury aside I expect a generic PT (not sport specific coach) to be fit. If they are also coaching clients for fat loss, I expect them to look the part and be fit unless they have a good reason not to. IMO these people are supposed to be role models. It's absolutely not the same as docs, nurses etc. where lifestyle advice is a small part of a much wider role.

[Dowser]

I lost over two stone with SW about 15 years ago and kept most of it off.

I did learn a lot more about healthy eating and certainly didn't eat muller lites, or those plastic meals.

I can't believe we have got to page 5 and no one has mentioned sugar free jellies. The thought of them makes me gag!!!

Lots of fresh food cooked from scratch....and don't eat toomuch of it seems to work for me.