To think slimming world is a mugs game?

[TheWorldIsMine]

Been doing sw for around 3 months. Yes I lost weight which is great but after a few weeks you start to realise how unsustainable the whole thing is. Constant pushing of "fat free" yogurts - full of god knows what sugars and crap to make up the taste? A breakfast of two sugar caked cereal bars which wouldn't fill a toddler up?
At one class a girl was asked what she saves her syns for. She replied "chocolate and alcohol" which was applauded - sorry but it what world is it seen as a good thing to substitute proper good with chocolate and alcohol???

Then there is the constant "ooo how many syns does each of these biscuits have in them? Ooo I could eat three Nice biscuits but only two ginger biscuits ... decisions!

I once took a fat Fred yogurt into work and a colleague looked sxpetrenrly concerned and told me I'd bought the wrong yogurts. I said "it's fat free" to which she replied "yeah but you're supposed to get muller lights ... " what a load of 'endorsed' bollocks!!!

It comes to something when a nutritious homemade fruit smoothie is classed as 20+ syns yet a chocolate cereal bar is encouraged as "healthy extra".

I can't understand the massive following they have! You may lose weight in the short term but I've never known anyone keep it off for more than a year unless they sack it off and switch to eating healthy instead.

I've known people to lose successfully on SW and kept it off - but they are the kind of people to succeed on any diet because they have the right mindset. I also know people who have succeeded for a time but stacked the weight back on or never really lost much to begin with but they have more difficult issues with food.

I've never tried it because I love food and if I didn't have something to control my portion sizes and choice of food, I'd never lose weight. Unlimited carbs?! No good for someone like me. I have lost weight and kept it off by counting calories and exercising.

I have been doing sw for about 6 months. Lost over 2st. Not felt deprived. Not had crappy muller lights, or used that spray water/oil once.

I do eat a lot more veg. A bit more fruit. A fuck ton of salad. I use the cereal bars for convenience or have museli. I have a healthy relationship with gin and slim. And a takeaway once a week.

I also don't stay to meetings. Just get weighed weekly.

It's a balanced low fat low sugar diet avoiding processed foods. Yes you can have as much white pasta and rice as you want BUT what you would normally put on your plate should be replaced by 1/3 of a plate of fruit, vegetables or salad. The idea is to replace some of the food you would normally eat with more filling lower calorie foods. If you are capable of stopping eating when you are full you should be reducing your calorie intake.

I like it and I think if it is done properly it is a sustainable way to eat long term. Nothing is banned, all the food groups are there and it's family friendly.

If you don't like it don't do it.

That and things like snacks of coffee and cake while out shopping, in addition to full meals, can explain why people become overweight. A costa coffee and cake can easily be 600 calories, more if you have a large drink, or have syrup in it.

This is it. It's the added extras that are a lot of people's downfall when it comes to losing or controlling weight, and some people just don't count them when they're working out what they eat. A fancy seasonal Starbucks latte with all the trimmings is a shocking number of empty calories.

I have a friend who's doing SW, and it's been wonderful for her - it's completely revolutionised her way of eating. She eats piles and piles at every meal, but it's all fresh and home cooked, which she never used to do.

I know another lady who's been going for about 15 years - she claims it's marvellous, but come on, how can it be if it's taking her 15 years to NOT lose any weight? You have to make it work for you by learning to maximise the healthy eating potential, falling back on the shit sugary options just won't cut it long term.

They are more successful for those who have had a specific weight gain. For those (myself included) who yo-yo the £5 a week diets are all the same, different rules but the same food sold in a different way. The low fat/ high fat arguments are not going to help if you emotionally eat as hunger levels are irrelevant.

Yes yabu. Sw works, the things that annoy you are all extras that no one has to have. I defo wouldn't suggest the hi fi bars for brekkie? There are lots and lots of cereals we can have instead of the bars. OTOH though if that's what it takes to get someone on track and their usual brekkie used to be 5 Mars bars then that's good for them and will still work. Olive oil can also be your healthy extra so if YOU want to have that then make that decision. If YOU want to use your syns on a smoothie then go ahead. You will be super healthy after all. Doesn't matter what works for the others. Some people want a drink or some chocolate it's all good in moderation. What would they have if they weren't on sw, most likely a lot lot more. Live and let live I say.

"spooky butter substitutes"

I've never done it but my friend has and thus I learned it in great detail and what pissed me off was the false advertising/lack of science. It says you can eat any amount of certain foods and still lose weight. Literally any amount. No. Not possible. Not of any food, let alone a whole range of them. Oh god I hate scientific illiteracy. It gets me right het up.

YANBU. Anybody I know who has done any of the 'slimming clubs', be it Weight Watchers, Slimming World, whatever, has had to go back every couple of years because they lose it and put it back on again.

And IMO the theory behind most of it is all wrong. What's the point trying to go 'low sugar' when you're encouraged to eat 'low fat' products which are usually bulked up with sugar and other carbs, and huge amounts of pasta which is ridiculously high in carbs which turn to sugar anyway. More and more experts are coming round to the fact that fat isn't the problem, so low fat isn't the way to go long term. Which is probably a big part of the reason why people end up being life long members of slimming clubs.

It does force me into cooking from scratch rather than buying the fake foods. It also limits my favourite foods that i do tend to gain weight with such as cheese, oils, cake/biscuits so it suits me very well. I find i dont gain weight after losing on it as its not too far off my natural diet unlike low carb which i immediately gain weight on...

My Mum done slimming world when she got her "middle age spread" as she called it and it worked for her. Mum wouldn't eat chemical yoghurt or fake oil spray, it always would of been a fresh cooked meal. I think the big thing for Mum was she liked the group weigh in it made here determined to lose each week- she's always been competitive.

I've never attended any diet club, and even if I did I certainly wouldn't be eating low fat chemical products. I assume you eating them isn't something you have to do, it's a choice

I think it's like any diet, for it to work you need to be in the right mind set.
Saving syns so you can eat biscuits/chocolate and eating chemical yogurt, fake oil spray and mountians of pasta isn't healthy but some people are just after a quick fix without putting too much effort in

Just wanted to point out you don't get unlimited white rice. Or pasta. The portion control comes from the proportions on your plate. Whatever brown rice or wholemeal pasta you eat, you need to have loads of veg and some protein too. You can't eat a whole plate of just pasta!

I cook from scratch and no chemically yogurts or spooky butter here. I've lost 2.5st and OH has lost 3.5st.

Now we just need to not return to the Costa and a cake lifestyle...

YABU but I understand the frustration.

I've been overweight my entire life and tried every diet going. I'm an expert on not losing weight.

When I did Slimming World I actually found it really restrictive. I love to cook but I found having to use foods off a list to make sure they were "free" was a pain in the bum. One teaspoon of mayo was like 3 syns..

I also found I binge ate carbs like mad because I could eat as much pasta and rice and potato as I wanted. I'd have a roast dinner and at least half my plate was potato

Anyway, I didn't lose anything so to curb my carb overloading I started doing weight watchers instead and it's SO much better. The focus is on cutting down sugar and saturated fats, and to up the amount of protein you eat.

It works fabulously well and not a shit yogurt or cereal bar in sight :)

I agree with you in principle, however...
I've been doing SW for 2 months. Only had 1.5 stone to lose after having 2 babies in 2 years. I lost in fairly easily on the plan. Never touched a muller light, fry light or whatever it's called. Never had a mountain of spaghetti either! I ate plenty of lean meat, veg, fruit, fish etc and used my syns for things like olive oil for cooking, avocado etc. Worked for me.

YABU. If people want to be lazy and take all the short cuts and eat all the fat free yogurts and snack bars and aren't losing weight it doesn't take a genius to figure out they need to adjust. Is this just angry post because you're struggling?

I've done SW and I do think it encourages healthy eating. I never touched the snack bars. But I used the recipes from their books. I still used olive oil instead of low calorie spray but only a tiny amount. I avoided making anything with quark and don't get me started on the baked goods using Splenda but on the whole it's a massive amount of cooking with fresh, healthy ingredients. I do think it helps with portion control. Especially the healthy A/B.

It was explained to me that unlimited pasta/rice/potatoes only applies when eating a meal. And 1/3 of every meal should also be speed food. So for example when I fancied curry, I made pilau rice with a shed load of veg in. With a lot of meals I was bulking out my typical rice/potatoes/pasta portions with veg so only having half as much as I used to have. Also in their recipe books you don't see any recipes where the use of these ingredients are excessive. And I would snack on fruit.

I think the thing is that commercialised diets tend to attract people who want losing weight to be a mysterious silver bullet. All the faffing around assigning "points" values to different foods and having charts and syns and unlimited v banned foods enables people to think they can trick their bodies into losing weight.

I'm sure it's a perfectly good healthy eating guideline or plan for anybody willing to accept that that's what they need in order to lose weight and using it as such.

Well, it worked for me!

I think it has the tools to get you going on the path to healthy eating and weight loss but its not perfect. What marketed, membership weight loss group is though?

Unlimited portion sizes of certain 'free foods' and considering fat free items laden with sugar as 'free food' is not great. You shouldn't be able to eat as much potato and spaghetti as you like in a evening meal as they suggest you can. It doesn't work. Also, demonising olive oil, full fat butter (better than low fat margarine!), peanut butter, dark chocolate etc is a bit off. All have their own health benefits when worked into a balanced diet. I know you can add them into your daily 'syn' count but most people see them as fatty and just steer clear of them instead. You end up creating a fear around the wrong foods.

Some people need a points system to help them succeed though and there's nothing wrong with that if structure and rules gets them to their goals. It's what happens when they stop counting because they've reached their goal that's the problem. It's not sustainable in that sense for some.

I do like how it encourages you to eat more basic, unprocessed foods as your main source of energy throughout the day, e.g. vegetables and lean meats. I also like how it says you can essentially have a treat every day if you've eaten well otherwise. That is balanced in my opinion. 90% fresh and wholesome and 10% treat. Couple that with some exercise and you're onto a winner! This is how I lost weight years ago and have kept it off since. No need to count syns or points daily - just be mindful of creating balance.

The companies wouldn't be successful if they helped people to change to healthy eating habits for life.

There was a programme on telly about them a few years ago where they admitted that.

You're not supposed to eat pasta, rice, potatoes etc without eating at least an equal amount of vegetables or salad (following the 'a third of your plate to be vegetables or salad' rule and assuming that the meal contains a decent protein portion too).

It works because people eat roughly the same volume of food each day, on average, so if as much as possible of that food has a low calorie density, fewer calories are consumed.

The reason why people don't keep the weight off is not because there is something wrong with the plan, but because when people get to their goal weight, they think 'I'm slim now, I can eat what I like' and go back to the bad habits that caused them to gain weight in the first place.

I don't think keeping people hooked is the aim of Slimming World. With over half the country overweight, there is no shortage of potential members. They offer free membership for life to anyone who stays within a few pounds of their goal weight and at the group I attended, there were loads of such members, who went to keep on track, and also for the social aspect.

I think it depends how you use it
I'm currently doing SW and am losing weight albeit slowly, I have also lost weight in the past using MFP and also hypnotherapy
I don't use much in the way of processed foods and don't eat pasta or bread as am gluten intolerant - my weaknesses are cheese chocolate and alcohol
Main differences for me is that I'm being more inventive when cooking to avoid too much butter, cream, milk and fancy sauces
I don't use plastic substitutes just olive oil in a spray bottle
Tonight we are on home made chicken pepper and mushroom risotto - with a side of mangetout, broccoli and cauliflower

Haven't rtft but what barbara said!

I have never done slimming world but lost a decent amount of weight by following Similair principles . Home made , "proper" food . Nothing processed , low sugar etc once i hit my target relaxed a bit and still have the odd take way meal out . Nice meal in a sat night and wine etc . Balanced out by excersize and the weight has stayed off . Easy to maintain as was a lifestyle change rather than fad diet

Comments like "it needs to be muller light " your colleague made just really show why people struggle with weight loss I think , just uneducated on what is actual in food , I don't mean that nastily I was the same , thinking I'd made a healthy low fat choice and there would be 30g of sugar in something . Stupid fad diets do nothing to educate people but I do think slimming world has the right idea

I think you should try a different group, if you think you can have unlimited rice and pasta and there's no portion control then your consultant isn't explaining the plan properly. If you're having 1/3 speed foods with every meal that will control your portions.

I agree with Barbara.

The SW plan obviously doesn't suit everyone and there are things I don't agree with on the plan (mash your banana and you have to 'syn' it??) but I'm currently doing SW without touching any of the crap-filled promoted yoghurts, Hifi bars (the list of ingredients really is as long as your arm) or packets of noodles/pasta, etc.

SW do try to encourage you to change your old ways of eating, cook from fresh, eat healthily and reduce your portions by filling 1/3rd of your plate with 'free' veg. And they expect you to use your common sense.

Unlimited food and processed crap is part of the plan, but you don't have to eat it just because you can. You don't have to take chocolate or alcohol for syns (I hate the word syns!) or eat their processed cereal bars, there are plenty of other, much healthier, options to choose from.

I don't follow the plan 100%, I have too many syns wine and chocolate but as long as I do it 80/20 I lose weight. The groups can be good fun, I love to hear the excuses, this week's gem; "I gained 1lb because I didn't drink enough water".

Yabu. SW does suggest lots of healthy foods, and you don't have to eat fat free yogurt if you don't want to. Syns are there so that you can have some "treats" but not go overboard. It is not sustainable to be on a diet where you can never have anything bad.

Having lost almost 10 stone following SW over the last 2 years (with only the occasional HiFi bar and Mullerlight)...no...I don't think it is a mugs game. I eat tons of veg, salad and lean meat now. Bran flakes or porridge for breakfast. Nobody forces you to eat crap processed stuff.