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AIBU?

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Original poster

SW is just a weird fucking cult

395 replies

Dayzedandconfuzed · 28/12/2018 15:42

I've literally had enough of people talking about Slimming World (or Slimmers' World shudder).

It's bullshit.

It has the odd decent recipe but generally advocates for really unhealthy food habits and weird restrictions and replacements.

My main issues with it are -

Emphasis on classifying foods as 'free' or 'speed' and don't even get me STARTED on syns.

It makes members act like fucking zombies who talk in halfspeak jargon. HexBEasySp what the actual fucking fuck?

To make anything you need to use FryLight which is a heinous invention. Rapeseed or olive oil spray is 2 cal per spray and is an actual raw ingredient, not some industrial airport lubricant with added flavourings.

The amount of shit you're encouraged to add to your diet. Diet fanta and coke are staple ingredients in loads of main meals which are touted as family friendly, as are spends and other sweeteners.

It is a fucking RIP OFF. £20+ to join, £5 per week and fines if you miss a sesh. I went to a meeting twice a few years back and the group leader still adds me in group chats when attendance gets low cos he's clearly missing the $$$ now that nobody is buying his fucking HiFi bars.

I just don't see that this works. I don't know anyone who has consistently kept weight off with it - most people tend to become either yo yo dieters or shadow ED sufferers.

Why is this still a popular industry that people keep funding even though we logically know it doesn't work?

OP posts:
ednclouda · 28/12/2018 18:09

its not rocket science eat less move more FOUR words

BooHasAPressieForYou · 28/12/2018 18:10

It's all a load of old bollocks, SW, WW, Karla Itsines, Thinking Slimmer.
The only sure fire way of losing weight is portion size control, regular exercise and eating with the food wheel method we learned at school for free.
I'm glad that DDs lovely food tech teacher instilled in the kids that diets are rubbish, eat less, move your body and don't pig out on sweets and processed shite and that's it.

Potteringon80 · 28/12/2018 18:12

I’m 50/50 on the fence here.

I lost 5 stone with SW and it changed my life. I was never a follower of the whole muller light/pasta brigade, but I learned how to make great family meals from scratch.

I kept it off for 7 1/2 years. However due to depression and medication, I need to lose weight again.

I am doing it myself this time, but in the favour of slimming groups, the following helped me:
Recipe ideas - that are easy but nutritious

Group support - some groups are better than others, but having someone to talk to is especially helpful for emotional eaters

Accountability- as above really. Especially at the start of the journey

I hated the clappy clappy-ness of it, but what I learned will stay with me for ever. Not everyone is serious when they go along, but for some I genuinely believe that it’s an excuse to get out of the house and socialise.

Sorry that I can entirely agree with you.

dontneedthedrama · 28/12/2018 18:13

What @ednclouda said
I think why people make millions from diets is we can't be arsed to loose weight slowly. Eating sensibly with a bit of moderate exercise is the way forward but you won't loose stones in days it's a long term commitment.

orangecushion · 28/12/2018 18:16

I have asked I have asked (in writing) WW and SW to provide me with statistics for long term , sustained weight loss due to following their programmes.

Neither organisation is willing to do so..

End of. SW """" consultants""""" are really thick egotists.

TheHauntedFishtank · 28/12/2018 18:16

I have some acquaintances doing SW and they basically seem to snack on meatballs and boiled eggs. Most of the meals look revolting as well - chicken breast with passata, melted cheese and chopped ham on top looking like it’s been regurgitated is not a pizza.

newestbridearound · 28/12/2018 18:18

Another who hated slimming world. My consultant was very unfriendly and although she’d lost tons on the plan in the past whilst I was attending she announced she was joining a group herself again as she’d regained 4 stone! I hated the group therapy part of the session and never learnt any recipes or actual information about food which is what I had hoped. We were also encouraged (hounded) to buy merchandise and the raffle every week.

I remember someone I used to work with telling me that she went to a weight loss group once- neither WW or SW, don’t know what it was- where if you gained weight they stamped your hand with a pig in front of everyone Confused Shock really hope she was joking!

Allthewaves · 28/12/2018 18:19

You can be all weird with it but tbh the take home message to me was eat half or third of fruit or veg with each meal, limit snack by syn them. Made me way less paranoid about food and ate less junk but I don't subscribe to weird cakes etc

NoIAmSpartacus · 28/12/2018 18:19

It's completely changed my life. I went from a size 20 to a size 10 and lost 5 stone. I spent years unhappy with my weight and it was the first plan that I managed to stick at for more than a few weeks.

However, what I am essentially doing is cooking from scratch, packing in lots of veg to my meals and just eating three healthy meals a day. But before Slimming World I wasn't doing that.

I don't eat 5 muller yoghurts a day or have 2 sugar packed cereal bars for breakfast or any of that toss. I'm sick of seeing people on Instagram having about 3 servings of pasta in one meal because it's a " free food ".

You'll lose weight if you have common sense and don't buy in to all the sugar filled crap. I don't sit drinking endless cans of Diet Coke or Pepsi or eat Super Noodles because they're " free ".

Allthewaves · 28/12/2018 18:21

I only left because the group bit was so off putting - it went in for freaking ages (I tried different ones). Prefer ww in that respect - 30min chat and out.

NoIAmSpartacus · 28/12/2018 18:22

I also refuse to pay £5 a week to be weighed. I do it from home with a second hand book.

Rosieposy4 · 28/12/2018 18:22

For the groupie above who reckons fry light is natural

SW is just a weird fucking cult
orangecushion · 28/12/2018 18:24

hate syn used a verb. Hate the silly woman who runs classes in the North West, the me me me one..........own up you know her don't you????

GimmeBread · 28/12/2018 18:30

It made me hideously ill after being on it for 2 weeks - 4 weeks of severe diarrhoea. Obviously I stopped going and my leader phoned me to ask what was up. Explained the situation and told her that I'd lost 10lb in the space of a couple of weeks. She congratulated me and couldn't "wait for me to come back so I could get my silver 7!" Fuck off Gail but I thought I was dying, you know? 😳

Momo18 · 28/12/2018 18:32

I used to go and without sounding rude it's a diet aimed at the morbidly obese, not those with a stone or two to lose. When I first joined I was very big, your told to fill up and eat as much free food as you like, which imo isn't good advice. It works on larger people but once you only need to lose a stone or two it doesn't cut it. I mean you can make a roulade out of strawberries, eggs and quark that adds up to 500 calories and as it's free food eat the full thing. Yea you could argue healthy portion sizes but nobody goes to a weightloss group because they're good at portion control. Then there's slimmer of the week, which is highly unfair. Of course someone 20+ stone is going to lose more weight then someone who's 11 stone, yet the 11 stone client rarely wins despite working their arse of just as much.

ManicUnicorn · 28/12/2018 18:33

Do they still call the meeting 'image therapy'? Like the consultants are trained counsellors or something? So wanky, pretentious and misleading.

Schmoobarb · 28/12/2018 18:35

Of course someone 20+ stone is going to lose more weight then someone who's 11 stone, yet the 11 stone client rarely wins despite working their arse of just as much.

And if there’s a bloke in the group fucking forget it because he’ll win every week!

randomchap · 28/12/2018 18:39

My late wife lost over 10 stones on it. Kept it off for over 3 years until the accident. It works well if you stick to it. Have 1/3 of your plate veg/salad, 1/3 lean meat and 1/3 carbs. Cook from scratch, eat until you're full.

10PollyPockets · 28/12/2018 18:40

I think they are trying to move away from the artificial fake food, Muller lights and those cup noodle things aren't free anymore. I do slimming world and I've never eaten a Muller light or cooked diet coke or fanta chicken. Pasta is free but it's not unlimited, to follow the plan properly you need 1/3 a plate of veg or fruit. I think the results you get will depend on what you put in, if you are eating 5 yoghurts or pasta every meal you won't loose weight. I do like going to group, I do find I have a more "on track" week if I stay but I've noticed a lot of members in my group are older and seem to go more for the social vibe than to diet

Oldraver · 28/12/2018 18:41

I find it quite shocking that in these days of supposedly enlightened knowledge about the damage that sugar can do that SW advocate unlimited fruit

My Mum is Diabetic and had a huge stand-off with her no it all SW woman who insisted my Mum could eat unlimited fruit, depiste my Mun explaining that is not what her Diabetic Consultant advocates....No SW though she knew best

GodrestyemerrySchadenfreud · 28/12/2018 18:42

And if there’s a bloke in the group fucking forget it because he’ll win every week!

So bloody true!

They only have to have a poo and there's stone gone!

Emsonline · 28/12/2018 18:42

I gave up when I saw women weighing their clothes before they went!!

Mash a banana and its synned, deep throat it and it's free? Fuck off, Carol.

LoafEater · 28/12/2018 18:44

I lost a bit the first time I went and then got bored. Went back 2 years later and the exact same people were there and were as fat as they were the last time I saw them.

The buffet thing turned my stomach - people practically running towards the table to pile up plates with quark quiches and manky looking "cakes". I would never eat food made in a strangers kitchen.

I finally called it a day when the consultant told me off for eating an avocado.

Potteringon80 · 28/12/2018 18:44

@rosieposy4 I’ve been through the whole thread and I cannot see one post that suggests that frylight is natural.

Apologies if I’ve missed it. I would be concerned if anyone actually thought that.

Ps. It’s not nice to call people ‘groupies’ when they are trying to explain what worked for them. Especially when I do not see anyone disagreeing with the main point of the thread. Extremely dismissive.

GodrestyemerrySchadenfreud · 28/12/2018 18:45

My Mum is Diabetic and had a huge stand-off with her no it all SW woman who insisted my Mum could eat unlimited fruit, depiste my Mun explaining that is not what her Diabetic Consultant advocates....No SW though she knew best

Quite right!

What is six years of medical school and twenty years practise compared to a fat wife with a leaflet?