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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To hate slimming world?

85 replies

TOADfan · 17/02/2017 17:37

My 3 best friends are on slimming world and I dont hear enough of how wonderful it is and today I went to doctors who instead of offering nutritional advice said "go to slimming world"

I dont get how anyone thinks it is healthy.

You can eat unlimited muller light yoghurts but only 225ml of milk
Unlimited pasta but no brown bread or wheat ceral (unless its an extra)
Unlimited fruit but an avacado is 16 syns!! (Yes high in fat but bloody good fat)
Not to mention smash, frylight, hi fi bars and chicken made with diet coke.

I get it works for people and yes there are good results but it does not make nutritional sense.

Am i the only one who doesnt understand it?

OP posts:

iwasstarving · 17/02/2017 17:39

I agree with you OP, which isn't to say it doesn't work, but I don't think it's for everybody either.

hearyoume · 17/02/2017 17:41

I think it's a great starting point for a lot of people. I have followed it a few times (postbirth etc) but I steer clear of Muller Lights, Pasta N Sauce etc. It is very focused on getting people cooking and to boost fruit and veg intake. Not much wrong with that imo.

Waitingonasmile · 17/02/2017 17:42

Yes there are undoubtedly less that ideal aspects of it but it is still very effective at helping people lose weight. It works and if you want to lose weight it would probably help you do so. You can choose whether to eat Muller Lights etc or not!

Pancakeflipper · 17/02/2017 17:43

My understanding of that diet is that the focus is on ensuring your daily intake is of plenty of fresh veg and fruit. Also proteins, carbs (pasta). Apparently these aren't measured. So guess they are unlimited.

Then add in the dairy and bread/cereal (which are measured). All sauces/biccies/choc etc are to be counted as 'syns' and you can have so many of them a day.

So it's not rocket science on why eating plenty of veg and fruit with chicken/fish etc is going to aid weight loss.

What diet would you like to do ? Plenty out there.

Think some GP's like this cos it is simple to follow and you can eat plenty on it. And must have a success rate if they are recommending it.

Sirzy · 17/02/2017 17:45

It can be done without touching muller light, hi fi bars or smash though.

I have lost 7 stone in total, the last 4 via SW - the general basis of it is basic healthy eating. Some people choose to find ways around things and if they work for them then fine but they certainly aren't compulsory

Dawndonnaagain · 17/02/2017 17:49

Ds and dd are both doing it at home. We don't go with yoghurts or smash, but it's got the pair of them thinking along vegetable and fruit lines rather than a packet of crisps or a maccie d when hungry. Ds has lost eleven pounds in three weeks, dd, seven.
(Hasten to add, they are both adults)

NewPapaGuinea · 17/02/2017 17:50

If you watched Super Slimmers the other night, the evidence shows that dieting full stop causes long term issues. Most people regain the weight and then more!! This is SW, WW, any calorie restrictive diet. Plus it causes a ridiculously unhealthy relationship with food.

Ohyesiam · 17/02/2017 17:50

It tends to work for people in the short term, but of it really solved the problem, everyone would have been on one diet, and we'd all be thin.

FlyingElbows · 17/02/2017 17:50

If you don't like it don't do it. It's not correct to say that it promotes unlimited things like muller light, it doesn't. Nowhere in any of the literature are those types of foodstuffs promoted as a good staple choice. They are "free" up to a certain amount (then synned) but by no means promoted as a first choice option or the foundation of a good diet.

It's a very effective programme and tbh when you see what some people eat even unlimited fruit and few muller lights is a huge improvement. What really annoys me is the people who adopt the programme and then turn themselves inside out trying to find ways to carry on eating crap.

ChunderDragon · 17/02/2017 17:50

Totally agree! Advocate sweeteners, ready meals, crappy nasty mugshots. This shit ain't food man!
They're also in the business of keeping you fat, lose the weight gain it back and then some- then back to slimming world! Vicious horrible cycle, ruining metabolism, self astern and promoting overeating and bingeing! Hardly eating all day then stuffing your face with 'treat plate' that ain't right or healthy.Hate it.

statetrooperstacey · 17/02/2017 17:51

It doesn't sound like you need nutritional advice tho? You sound pretty clued up. It does however sound like you went to ask for advice on loosing weight? Which is what he gave you.
Slimming world does work, as does weight watchers, Rosemary Conley and all the others.
The pasta is not unlimited, it is just not weighed or measured, you are meant to eat as much as you need to feel full, listen to you own body cues.
Have you just listed to your friends or have you been to a class and had it explained properly?
Slimming world encourages fresh unprocessed food. Everything else is 'rationed' though. You are not encouraged to stuff your face with muller lights and hi fi bars but they are suggested as replacements for people who need better choices.
Avocados are indeed a superfood but are still highly calorific so if weightless is your aim they are probably not the best choice. Also it don't think many people are overweight because of their avocado addiction

Girlwiththearabstrap · 17/02/2017 17:52

I can't stand the sound of it. Everyone I know who has done it has either repeatedly lost and gained weight, or seems to live on muller lights, babybels and fry light. I know the principles are about cooking from scratch and eating fruit and veg but something about it doesn't seem entirely right to me. And as for calling food a "syn"... yuck!! I don't think that's promoting a healthy relationship with food at all.

ChunderDragon · 17/02/2017 17:52

Doh got worked up there *self esteem

thisagain · 17/02/2017 17:54

I have just lost 1 stone with slimming world but totally agree with you. For some people it is obviously a good step towards healthy eating but it is a bit cultish with people hanging on to the leaders every word and eating unlimited amounts of muller lights and wondering why they aren't losing weight. Our leader tells people that they may not be losing weight because they haven't eaten enough - people who have been ill all week and are claiming to have barely eaten. Also those that say that they don't eat their milk and fibre allowance have been told that if they find their weight loss stops, then to make sure they eat/drink them but otherwise they are fine. The leader demonstrates such a lack of general nutritional knowledge and because they only talks syns and not calories, they don't acknowledge that it still boils down to calories, whether you call it syns or not. You will only lose weight if you eat less calories than you burn off. Also the pushing of the hi fi bars is not great - although I eat quite a lot of these!

ladylambkin · 17/02/2017 17:54

Slimming World encouraged me to cook meals from scratch instead of using convenience foods

ChunderDragon · 17/02/2017 17:55

Syn comment is so true! Synergy? Yeah right fuck off.

NapQueen · 17/02/2017 17:57

I was trying to explain to my SW member mother how I didnt like it. She thinks its the only way I can get slim. Ive exolained to her over and over the reason I cant slim os because I dont move enough. I eat freshly cooked meals with no extra shit. I eat fruit and veg. I eat some carbs, some healthy fats, and add no sugar to anything.

But my job means Im either asleep or sat at my desk in my tiny office. I work too far to walk / part walk-part public transport. I work so many irregular shifts that I have neither the time nor the inclination to go iut and excercise in the little time left to spend with my kids.

But apparently I need to just eat Alpen Lights, muller yoghurts and tiny cubes of cheese

Pancakeflipper · 17/02/2017 18:00

I understood 20% of losing weight is exercise related. The other 80% was due to what you eat (veg and decent protein)

ExcellentWorkThereMary · 17/02/2017 18:01

I tried it and didn't get on with it at all. It didn't work for me, I had constant tummy ache and it cost me a fortune! I was eating terribly unhealthily, which was of course my choice, but I was completely "on plan".
I've just switched to weight watchers and I'm eating better, my tummy ache is gone and I've lost more weight in ten days on WW than I did in 6 weeks on slimming world!

NapQueen · 17/02/2017 18:01

Thatll be why im a size 14 rather than an 18+ when I really ought to be a 10.

Girlwiththearabstrap · 17/02/2017 18:02

Nap Queen- I realise you aren't asking for weight loss advice so feel free to tell me to do one but if you do want to exercise and are pushed for time, tabata/hiit can be done really quickly.

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 17/02/2017 18:05

well if you know all that then what's your problem? You want to lose weight and what you're doing is not working.

katienana · 17/02/2017 18:06

I'm on slimming world today I've eaten:
2 poached eggs on brown toast
Apple
Tuna nicoise
Half a banana
Cappuccino muller light
Tea tonight is a sausage pasta bake.
Don't really see what there is to get het up about. Helped me lose my baby weight in about 4 months which I thought was impossible!

iklboo · 17/02/2017 18:07

Nowhere in Slimming World does it say or promote 'eat hardly anything all day then have a big treat plate'. Quite the opposite.

Underthemoonlight · 17/02/2017 18:08

I'm new to sw I've lost 9lb so far I think it's a good diet it encourages to cook from scratch. I certainly aware of portion control but I do think that's down to the individual and what there normal intake is. I certainly don't live on miller light yoghurts and pasta.

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