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.

[Defenderwife]

Yanbu, if she is singing the praises od this fad diet but is clearly not doing it you have to wonder why.

I think SW, WW etc are all ridiculous anyway. Yes you can lose weight but you aren't teaching yourself how to eat properly and stop when you are full. I have seen friends (especially in the run upto weddings) lose incredible amounts of weight then pile it all back on as soon as they start eating normally again. Oh and not forgetting the plans such as lighter life and Cambridge. I wonder what the statistics are on the number of people who lose the weight AND keep it off.

[JennyOnAPlate]

The weight gain wouldn't bother me I don't think, but the lying about it would. If she claims to be sticking to the plan but is obviously gaining weight then she can't claim the diet works can she?!

My local SW is run by a very enthusiastic lady who has clearly done very well for herself out of it. Most of the class have been going for years but I would say a good 70% of them are no slimmer as a result!

[EEVEElution]

Sorry to be picky but I have to point out that Alcoholics Anonymous doesn't have 'leaders' as such, people do have service positions but they generally have to meet a certain abstinence requirement - which is very relevant to this thread!

I've never been very successful at diet clubs, I always end up fatter than when I started :s

And our SW leader was the same - either lying or the diet wasn't working.

[FannyFanakapan]

My experience of SW is different - I do feel like I have learned to control how much is on my plate and I cook more healthy food now....BUT there is a lot of weird stuff around fry light, quark and mullerlight. There's weird stuff about making cakes with chickpeas and sponges that are like omlettes, but I ignore lots of it.

People rave about some of their recipes but I have not found any that I actually like - so I just adapt the recipes I use at home. Ive had better advice from MN's SW section too.

But...I go back because it is too easy to drift back into comfort eating, if you are that person. Its easy to blame the "one chocolaate" that made you gain this week, while ignoring the gluttony and the cheats that actually cuased you to gain. One of our members does this all the time - blames the chocolate or the cookies she ate in the car while ignoring the fact that she ate out 4x last week and drank wine every evening.

Those that blow the "eat less move more" trumpet need to be mindful that people over eat for many many reasons, and that eating has a complex psychological component. If it was easy, none of us would need diets or slimming groups.

[MmeGuillotine]

I actually lost three stone doing Slimming World in my own way (ie NOT eating fuckloads of pasta etc) and kept it off for about two years until I started anti-depressants and put on ten pounds apparently overnight. I'm now living on a miserable and possibly toxic combination of Slimfast and Belvita in a desperate and seemingly futile attempt to get it all off again. Which is actually MUCH worse than Slimming World.

[WanderingTrolley1]

Yanbu.

I'd want to be inspired by my group leader and an obese person wouldn't work, for me.

[HorseyCool]

I hate Muller light btw. SW recently published an entire cook book dedicated to it! Bet everyone was exhausted after that session

[MmeGuillotine]

Was it a bit like this?

[123Jump]

I do SW.
I eat fresh, home made meals, using natural products. The only substitute I have made is the Frylite,need must etc.
However, I have also read Paul McKenna's book, which I found brilliant at teaching me not to overeat. The two combined really help me.
I dont do SW short term, or to lose 'x' pounds, or for Christmas time etc. I do it long term, as a complete life style change. I need to keep going because that is the only way I can maintain a healthy life style.
I find my group brilliant as there are 2 life time members, really inspiring. They have been going for years, as part of their routine. Thats how it should be imo.

[PansyGiraffe]

splutter at MmeGuillotine

[minifingerz]

I love the meetings. I know quite a few people who go and it's very much a community thing.

I find it very motivating the weighing and the public acknowledgement of weight loss, followed by applause. I love all that crap. It really brings out the unpleasantly competitive side of me.

Agree with the annoying obsession over packaged foods though. Every session there's discussion about some new yoghurt flavour or 'slimmers bar'. And yes - that food is truly horrible and shite. I wouldn't touch any of it. I'm quite happy with plain low fat yogurt, eggs, wholemeal bread, good quality meat and fish, and lots of fruit and veg. It's not complicated.

[DinoSnores]

"Done correctly, it shouldn't be constant hard work and monitoring 24/7."

Not necessarily. I used to work in clinical research on obesity.

Once you begin to lose weight, your hypothalamus does it best to get you back up to your highest weight, in preparation for the next famine, which of course for us today in the UK never comes. To avoid the changes in brain chemistry that affect appetite and portion control, it does take an almost constant awareness of what you are eating to maintain that low weight, which is why when people stop 'dieting', they often return to their previous eating habits and put on the weight.

Of course, a better solution is not to 'diet' but make long term sustainable changes to your diet but you still need to keep a weather eye to make sure that you are not slipping back into the old eating patterns.

[TwoTonTessie]

I enjoy the meetings more as a social activity but have also lost a fair bit of weight too. There are some members though who have attended for years and lost about a stone. I suspect they go for the encouragement and social aspect but that's fine for them. I need the weekly weigh in to keep on track. A very large leader however would not be particularly motivating for me.

[MySordidCakeSecret]

i don't understand it all really.. if it was free sure but to PAY for being told basic food concepts you already know?

There's no quick fix to weight loss, you just simply have to eat less and move more. I always recommend couch25k. sure it might not be too popular with everyone because it involved getting out there and exercising but it works and its free!

[MySordidCakeSecret]

you just simply have to eat less and move more

Disclaimer - in the majority of cases with healthy people. Obviously for some it's not so simple but that is the basic premise of losing weight it's just not as quick and easy as some people want.

[SomeWeirdPumpkin]

Once you begin to lose weight, your hypothalamus does it best to get you back up to your highest weight, in preparation for the next famine I didn't know that, the rest of your post makes sense to me too.

I have used WW combined with other methods to make life changes when it comes to food, I don't think of myself as being on a diet, I have just radically changed my approach to food. I used to be able to a LOT in one sitting, now I pretty much have to see food as fuel and find pleasure elsewhere otherwise I massively overdo it.

Now that I 'only' have a stone to go its getting tough...if you have time to answer DinoSnores do you have any advice on losing the last bit?

[notquitehuman]

I quite liked the SW plan but my local group was very cliquey. They weren't too happy when I said I didn't like muller lights. Thank god for MN. They just taste like flavoured milk water, right?

Plus people used to do weird shit like make cakes out of weetabix or coconut flour and then eat the whole thing to themselves. Not exactly good habits.

[KeyserSophie]

Just like giving up drinking is as easy as not buying wine, and giving up smoking is as easy as not lighting up, and as for those meth addicts, well, what can I say? They must love grinding their teeth into dust. Otherwise they'd just quit right now.

[DriverSurpriseMe]

I've had several friends get all evangelical over SW, posting photos of their meals, etc. and one thing that strikes me is it seems to encourage absolutely enormous portion sizes.

Don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal. No one likes to feel hungry and deprived when they're trying to lose weight. But, if you got fat through major overeating (as we all do) then part of the re-education process is learning to eat smaller portions, surely? I could never eat three eggs as a component of ANY meal (be it salad or cooked breakfast) but that seems to be the norm.

[SeekretSquirrels]

The only people I know who go to SW or WW seem to be life long members. Year after year they keep going . They never look as though they've lost weight.
Perhaps they would have put more weight on if they didn't go?

[ihavenonameonhere]

notquitehuman

I'm the same about the cakes and stuff, also I hate sweetner so instead of swapping my latte to have sweetner instead of sugar I have given it up.

Same with cake, if I want some ill eat it and syn it not try and eat some shite cake that tastes awful.

On the plus side I have just used it as a way to get my good habits going and some of their cookbooks are really good.

[CiderwithBuda]

The thing is we all know we need to eat less and move more. Sounds easy. Not so easy if you are an emotional eater who uses food as more than just fuel.

I'm doing SW too and struggle with the whole Muller Light and other franken foods thing. But you don't have to eat those foods. Basic fresh unprocessed home cooked food is best. More fruit and veg. Less sugar and fat. I know what I need to do.

But I struggle to stick to it for various reasons. So I find going to SW helpful in that I am losing although slowly - if I wasn't going I would be gaining! I wasn't sure about the group thing but apart from the applause when you have lost which is encouraging, I find it more helpful listening to why people have gained. It helps me understand that I'm not alone in using food as a comfort. It helps me with strategies to avoid that next time. Doesn't always work mind you but it def helps.

Having said all that an overweight leader who was getting bigger would not inspire me at all. The leader at my group is slim and weighs in too and she includes herself in the group chat - we know if she has gained or lost too.

I'm not great at the moving more thing. Tried couchto5k but my knees didn't like it as much as I did! So I'm trying to lose weight to start that again as I really enjoyed it and got to week 7. It is brilliant and I really noticed my shape had changed.

[SomeWeirdPumpkin]

but to PAY for being told basic food concepts you already know? Well, as embarrassing as it might be to admit, I was paying for information that I didn't know .

I used to be in the move more, eat less camp and it worked well until I couldn't run anymore, I had no idea how much food I needed to cut back and the weight piled on. I became on of those people upon whom I would pour scorn when they asked how I'd lost so much weight, and then looked disinterested when I told then that it was down to running!