Mullerlight yogurts and mugshots should come with a health warning

[Co1onelblimp]

I started doing .SW at home with the help of lots of online resources. I've never contemplated going to a class, as years ago I went to a WW one and couldn't bear it.

I hear a SW class is even more cringy
Anyhow, 'syning' (what an awful word) things like houmous and avocado, and demonising olive oil , while pushing shite like mullerlighs and mugshots seems to be the order of the day. (Friend lasted six weeks but has now left)

Looking at the ingredients of both yesterday while shopping, i couldn't help thinking they looked like they were made in a laboratory,- lots of awful additives and chemicals.

AIBU to think Sw shouldn't be allowed to promote these 'foods' when they are anything but healthy.
Also, does anyone know if Mullerlight sponsor Slimming World?

I've found so many people abuse SW, when the actual theory behind it is pretty good. I would be put off if I just listened to friends or colleagues instead of actually reading about it properly.

I won't lie. In my SW group, they do talk about mullerlights and mug shots, but it isn't about promoting it above fresh or healthy foods, it's about using them as alternatives (if restricted by lifestyle or circumstance) to high fat convenience foods, or foods like cream / ice cream.

The most important and most promoted part of the plan is speed food, (most types of fresh fruit and veg). In the literature and the groups, this is pushed above all else. In fact, you are advised to put these on your plate first to ensure that at least A THIRD of your meal contains speed food. I struggle with my weight partly because I tend to ignore this advice. Some people in my group think it's okay to fill up their plate with pasta and then have a teeny little bit of speed food on the side. I might be one of those people. But the idea is to REPLACE a chunk of that pasta with speed food.

Funnily enough, I'm pretty okay with restricting nuts, butters and oils. Any article telling you how good for you certain nuts and avocados are will also tell you to limit your daily intake of these foods because of the high fat content.

SW offers options, I guess because it recognises that at some point you want chocolate and grapes just won't cut it. So it might give you an alternative (have a Curly Wurly for 5 syns instead of a Picnic for 11 syns). That doesn't translate to 'Curly Wurlys are good for you on Slimming World!'.

It's interesting that quite a lot of the evidence cited on this thread against SW is coming from people pushing their own weight loss/ diet agenda.

I meant weight loss programs.

Oh, and about the SW group sessions being 'cringey'...

Yes, they are. Very

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not exactly a model Slimming World-er. I'm sure they differ from group to group but I get sick of the constant applauding (even for the people who have GAINED weight) and having to offer recipe suggestions to the new people (do what I did and look at the website!) and the women who ditched Weight Watchers like a year ago but still ask how many 'points' there are in a KitKat.

And if I hear ONE MORE THING about Diet Coke Chicken or how Slimming World chips are better than the fries from McDonald's, I'm gonna storm out, kicking over the table of hi-fi bars.

Ha ha Wet There is a group in the church hall literally a few steps from where I live. I can see the leader go in to set up from my front room..
She is overweight ( significantly) I don't mean a couple of stone!

How anyone could take what she says seriously I don't know. She obviously has no idea about nutrition.

People pay for the meeting for support, i lost 1.5stone on weightwatchers then worked for them for 2 years, when i became a leader i put weight on as i couldnt/didnt want to attend a meeting as a member as id been running them all week.

The whole point of these diets is to make people realise they can lose weight and still treat themselves occasionally.

Its important to remember any diet will work as long as you stick to it and to the people who are saying muller lights and mug shots are bad, they may well be but compared to a diet of mcdonalds,takeaway and chocolate its not really that bad!
its also convenience food for if you are in a rush and havent had time to plan but dont want to fail your diet, it makes it more manageable for people who usually fail on diets.

I did SW many times, many moons ago..there were a lot of mug shots, muller lights, packets of pasta and sauce etc..what finished it for me was hearing Rosemary Conley (who I am no fan of) say that a baked potato and beans was a meal, and that we had to be realistic about that fact..and realising that on SW, If on a green day, that was simply "free food"...no realisation of the actual calories involved. Now I exercise and do intermittent fasting, so I have to know how many calories are in something..and I'm the better for it. 5 1/2 stone down, and maintained, with the odd fluctuation, long term. Case in point - on SW Asdas chickpea Dahl (tinned) used to be a free food, but was horrendously high in fat and calories etc..whilst, as said, a lovely, natural avocado was synned. I know which I would rather have..and now I do, frequently, with no problems.

i highly doubt leaders would get money from promoting mugshots and mullerlights If you can lose weight and eat them though i dont see the problem.

Just don't eat muller lights?

Low carbers suggest dark chocolate as a treat, but you are not obliged to eat it if you don't want to.

Jesus, sheeple.

I wouldn't buy into slimming world on the premise of their invented word 'syn'. Not even cringe covers it.

I think it must depend on the group quite a lot. Some leaders are great I'm sure and really push the lean meat massive salads diet that it should be. A lot dont. A lot are lazy and push hi fi bars muller lights and mug shots.

I can't take any diet seriously that makes 'sweets' out of yoghurt and jelly and tells you you can eat the whole tub for 0.5 syns.

It really lacks portion control and I think that's the main reason why a lot of people pile all the weight back on.

I don't think teaching people to eat as much as they like because it's "free" is wise. Look at Instagram some of the posts are madness.

The size of people's breakfasts especially astounds me but it's ok because it's free.

Fish and chips is free because you sprayed potatoes with fry light and you peeled the batter off a fish from the chippy (even though it's been deep fried in oil)

It's bizarre and a bit cult like in that if you don't 100% love it you're seen as the enemy it's crazy

I looked at a lot of u tubers when I was trying to get to grips with the plan.
I just couldn't believe the sort of stuff they were eating. pizza made with smash potato as a base was one that sticks out. wtf is that all about.
Also weetabix cakes and the fucking obsession with quark.
I looked at a lot of SW hauls as well. Lots of people buying packets of ham and chicken, and just snacking on them whenever they were peckish. One lady ate a packet of ham a day, because her leader said it was free.
To sayI was gobsmacked was an understatement[shocked]

Slimming world works if you stick to the rules. You are suppose to 'fill your plate' and eat until you are satisfied not till you are completely stuffed. I personally would be way too full up if I ate 4 muller light yogurts.

You have to use some common sense with it.

The principles teach you to cook for scratch and limit treats (syns) which is a good thing.

I have done it and I ate really healthily when doing it. For me personally I don't lose weight though as I am not use to eating that much. I don't gain any weight though.

I think it works for people with really poor eating habits and who are bigger.

I am veggie so never had muller lights on it.

SW do push Muller Lights and Mugshots! Ive done it! My DM still does it and her weight yo yos up and down constantly and they are still doing it now, her fridge is always full of Muller Lights and the cupboard always full of Mugshots.

I don't understand why some people get so defensive when SW is criticised. There is this weird cult around it. If it works for you then fine, but it's still a money making con and it doesn't encourage healthy eating or portion control. Any diet that tells you that you can gorge yourself on Muller Lights because they are free, but can't eat a pot of Greek yoghurt of an avocado because they are full of fag is a load of bollocks.

It's better to eat healthy foods and don't overdo the sugar. Keep to recommended calories (majority healthy ideally) and exercise.

My fitness pal is a good option for keeping in control of calories as well as being able to see what nutrients are on your food and the percentage of carbs, fats and proteins you are getting.

I don't log my exercise as I don't feel the need to eat 'earned' calories. Best keep the two things separate in my view.

SW sweet potato curry is nice though! (Iceland)

Things like SW and WW are ok for losing weight initially or for motivation but they not a sustainable way of life. I am dubious about anything labelled low fat as often the fat is replaced with something equally bad like sugar or salt. It's all a money making racket really with WW pushing their own products or SW promoting others. It's not rocket science just eat less and move more.

Runny I think the defensiveness comes from the misinformation some people have of sw...and perhaps that's down to the individual leader. My sw book doesn't push muller lights or mugshots...and neither does my leader. The focus has been whole foods...even my leader knows that a plate full of veg, lean meat and a small bit of carb is going to be more filling than 4 muller lights.
I'm no sw evangelist, but the constant comments about being able to eat endless bowls of pasta/rice and that you can't eat avocados, or you are REQUIRED to eat Muller's, mugshots or frozen meals are simply ridiculous, and shows that people either weren't following it correctly (eating platefuls of pasta, or choking down tonnes of gross yoghurt or mugshots, decided it was horrible and gave up), or they've never done it and don't know what they're talking about!

My first slimming world meeting i was told that quark mixed with narmite was a lovely pasta sauce.

That was all i needed to.know

I have Philadelphia and marmite on toast - that is nice. Not sure on quark and marmite for Pasta though.

Actually when I was pregnant I had a jacket potato with a massive squirt of marmite on the side.

I mentioned up thread a leader who would eat an entire tub of quark with fruit as a dessert. And because that was free she'd then eat/ drink her 15 syns. No surprise she didn't lose weight.

The packet of ham as a snack was promoted by our leaders. Sometimes they'd say ham and tomato. Or just a bowl of pasta. That was a snack too.

People exercising wasn't encouraged. The inference if you hadn't lost was that the exercise was to blame! We also got told to eat all our syns every day. Plus ALL our free food. It was just too much food!

Yes weetabix cakes (or scan bran ones which were truly inedible), Dr pepper/ fanta chicken, fakeaways (which people served in polystyrene takeaway boxes!)... and those poxy quiches made of cottage cheese which tasted like vomit. Yuck.

In fairness some of the recipes aren't bad. I use a few of curry ones, Turkey burger, chicken tray bake. But an awful lot of it is bad unless you have a leader who promotes cooking from scratch.

First time i did Slimming World their way and lost ten stone in 18 months.

Second time i did it my way (while attending an SW class. ) i only had 4 stone to lose the second time. When i attempted to do it their way the second time it wouldnt work .....i either stayed the same or gained .........so i cut out their sugary low syn recomendations and lost weight albeit slowly. It took 3 and a half years to lose that 4 stone but it stays off.

Ive cracked their little game........the reason people gain is not because they go back to eating normally as such. Its because they add a bit more food in that may have more sugar and fat WHEN THEY ARE ALREADY INGESTING A FAIR AMOUNT OF SUGAR FROM THE LOW / SYN NO SYN RECOMMENDATIONS ergo repeat SW custom.

I eat full fat Greek yoghurt but i eat less of it. the Sainsburys own version is 5g of sugar per 100g whereas their low fat version is 13g of sugar per 100g. Muller Lights are yak. Ive even seen one that is After Eight mint flavour. Ive had the odd choc ice in the heatwave though. To stop me from overdoing it i am currently wearing a night dress that i have run under the cold tap and i have the window open.

i have weetabix with berries for breakfast I prefer the organic one but our bloody Tesco stores will only stock that version in the out of town store.

Dont fancy weetabix cakes though Velvet.

The ten stone loss was from 2002 to 2004. The 4 stone loss was from 2013 to 2016.

So i kept most of it off but did regain 4 stone slowly from 2006 to 2013 which then took me over 3 years to lose.
It was bloody hard to sit in a class where super fast weight loss is encouraged though.