To think what Slimming World are advertising cannot possibly be truthful?!

[iloveeverykindofcat]

My dear friend has struggled with her weight since we were in school, and despite being an intelligent woman, has wasted an awful lot of money, time and energy in fad diets/pills/shakes/teas/etc promising miracle results. Yesterday she told me she's started Slimming World, and is really excited about this diet because it lets you eat unlimited amounts of food and promises you will lose weight regardless. I thought she meant lettuce and cucumber but as the conversation progressed she told me you can have unlimited potato, pasta, rice etc some days and unlimited meat others. I didn't want to argue about it but when I got home I Googled and yep, that really is the promise, from a major, supposedly reputable diet franchise. Am I missing something here? That just seems.....not possible. And if not possible, it's false advertising, which is illegal. Am I missing something?

I lost just over a stone in one month at slimming world, that includes a treat meal once a week too (takeaway) and I didn't even exercise

I think it needs to be done sensibly and be about a permanent change to your eating habits as opposed to crash dieting, however, SW does work as long as you stick to the principle behind it. My dh started on SW July 2016 and has now lost 11 stone. He does sometimes have treats/meals out etc but 99% of the time he follows SW and he's keeping the weight off and still losing weight as well (obviously much slower weight loss than at the beginning).

It's not because of nonsense like speed foods and syns, it's simply because they are cutting calories.

Precisely. Shock horror! Who knew that eating less and nutrient rich food would result in weightloss! I almost think I should set up a company selling something like this. Oh wait...

Anyone can lose weight-its keeping it off that is the hardest part

Slimming world is very good at making you recognise where you're going wrong. With the syns it's really makes you think....'do I need the whole toblerone?' Well at 9 syns a triangle the answer is a resounding NO!

Calorie counting on my fitness plan seems to make more sense to me which is my current method of dropping a few lbs, a friend of mine got told she didn't lose weight that week at slimming world as she mustn't of eaten enough! She wasn't counting calories so who knows the amount she'd had.

Having said that everyone's different some things work for some and not others, my DP and I both did Atkins he lost two stone I lost two pounds. Atkins works for some like SW works for some.

She left the group after two months as she'd not lost as much as she'd hoped.

I'm sure your friend is a big girl and can try slimming world out and see if it works for her!

I lost a stone and a half at SW and found it quite useful, but I did have to count calories too as otherwise I didn't lose. I have found I have to really limit my carbohydrates to lose weight at all, so having them as free (even if only 1/4 of the plate) wasn't really working. Over time I found the 'fake' foods and obsession with low fat a bit irritating as it took up loads of meeting time with people extolling the virtues of Scan bran desserts or hi if bars. I would rather eat more nuts and less pasta and definitely don't want to 'syn' (also I find moral descriptions of food, misspelt or not, troubling) an avocado, so now I calorie count via MFP and don't 'do' SW anymore, since I had to calorie count anyway.

I did find it helpful for making me eat more veggies though, and I'm not an especially stupid person really so I'm not sure why nothing had forced that realisation on me before, but I think the unlimited speed food did help me get used to snacking on fruit and much more vegetables, so now I would go to them as a snack first and eat more of them at meals, which, as others have said, fills you up and leaves less room for more calorific and less nutritious stuff.

The other reason I stopped was because of having a family and wanting to cook all the same stuff - I didn't want to cook very low fat (e.g. no olive oil) for my DC. I am following the (currrent!) wisdom that low fat can lead to more sugars and that 'good' fats are excellent in moderation so I wanted to include those in meals. I'd rather eat a smaller portion of the same meal with more vegetables than cook a separate SW one or feel I was putting my child on an SW diet. I do realise you could combine these successfully though if you wanted to.