SW is just a weird fucking cult

[Dayzedandconfuzed]

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?

Deffo a social vibe at ours. A group of them would be nodding sagely through the hour talk and then we'd see them at the bakers cafe afterwards eating scones.

Cottage cheese quiches..... Ooh the constipation

In my experience;

1. The leader has a huge photo of herself at the front - before and after - and appears to be amazed by how much “this slimming world member” lost by following the diet. Then reveals it’s actually her, as if anyone thought this was otherwise. The woman leading the group looks nearly exactly the size of the ‘before’ picture and yet everyone claps her after she spouts this utter bollocks. I have seen this three times so far at different groups in three different towns (used to have low confidence/poor judgement, clearly).

1. Half of the members don’t get out much and see the group as some sort of social group; they have clearly been going for years and enjoy the drama of losing a pound or two occasionally.

1. There is a fucking awful raffle to squeeze a few quid more from the members. The prizes include those horrible bar things and packets of shit pasta sauce meals that are ‘free’ (last time I went, this may have changed). The first prize at one of these godawful events (that I witnessed) was a basket of fat-from-fresh fruit. The leader asked for the basket back so that she could use it at future meetings.

*far!

I have ms and can't sustain an exercise regime. Since I stopped being able to walk beyond our front garden to the pavement safely and had to put myself in a mobility scooter, I have become a balloon.

If I try to consume fewer calories than I expend in movement, I would barely eat and then I faint whenever I try to stand or do anything. So, eat less move more doesn't work for me.

I was considering Slimming World as that's the 'choice' in my neck of the woods.

Thank you all. We can't really spare the cash and you've made sure I don't waste it.

I tried to explain to my sister that living on muller light yoghurts and Diet Coke is a terrible idea! But apparently it's all good because they are "free", muller yoghurts are soooo full of sugar!

I would have thought that a simple potion plate would work just as well as SW at a fraction of the price. And no don't make tiny mountains in each section

www.amazon.co.uk/Porcelain-Slimming-Measures-Microwave-Dishwasher/dp/B01J5CR7AO/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?psc=1&keywords=slimming+portion+plate&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1546023124&sr=8-1-spons

Its worked for me. I don't eat unlimited muller lights (actually hate the things) and I'm no fan of Diet Coke chicken or gammon. But I have learned new recipes which I cook from scratch with no crap in them.

I don't pay to get weighed but it was there for my accountability when I needed that kick up the arse as I knew with MFP that I wouldn't put somethings in which I should have.

I find it funny when SW decide something is no longer free foods. The outcry and the sad daily mail faces always cheers me up.

Oh and my consultant is Male who doesn't stick to how it should be run unless his manager is there. He's really helped some members in ways other consultants would dismiss.

I agree with some of what you're saying, op, though I did lose 1st 9lbs on it and was a bit evangelical about it for a while. I was worried that they didn't seem to approve of exercise and I discovered that eating muller light yogurts was what was really upsetting my system. Painful bloating. I suspect this is due to an inability to digest mannitol (or some other artificial sweeteners) In the end I got a bit fed up of the leader telling us all her woes at every meeting, although I did meet some lovely people at the group who'd lost several stones and had seemingly kept it off for years. Btw, if it were as easy as "eat less, move more", why do so many people who try this find it very, very hard to lose weight?

People who think it’s mueller lights and Diet Coke really did miss the point of s w !!😂.
Done sensibly it’s healthy eating and home cooking , and yes I know it’s not rocket science but there’s a lot of us out there that need the support

I know a few slimming world advocates and it seems to work for them. One is at goal weight and has been for about four months now. The other has lost 3 stone so far.

Losing weight and sustaining a healthy lifestyle relies on self-discipline.

If you need others to enforce that discipline within yourself then it can never be a long term change in habits.

Another, not the other. Bloody swype. I miss the old system, you'd have ten buttons and click them properly. Not this tapping and swiping malarkey. Grumble, grumble...

It's a healthy eating plan and cooking from scratch instead of buying and eating processed shit. You dont need a plan to just stop eating shit and learning to cook properly without deep frying or using premade jars of shit laden sauce.

I lost the bulk of my weight with it and kept it off. I stopped going because it gave me an eating disorder and my leader could not have given less of a shit.

It was a bit creepy how everyone absolutely arse licked the leader, I’m not a brown noser so tended to just sit at the back and not say much. It did work though, although I used my syns to make meals normal and don’t drink fizzy anyway

I really cannot believe how dismissive some of you are.

Believe it or not, people sometimes need to get some help to learn about nutrition and it’s not just because we just deep fry or use jars of shit laden sauce.

I went to grammar school in the 80’s and our education about nutrition was absent. We were taught how to make cakes and pastry.

I agee with you options about the bad side of SW/WW but conversely I think you are massively underestimating how much these groups also teach people about how to eat well.

And yes, when you are learning, discipline is a major factor. Just because you have been overweight or obese does not mean that it is the situation for life.

Opinions not options.

I say this as someone who is about to rejoin SW as I’m newly pregnant but desperately need the accountability of a weekly weigh in!

I’ve always found the message that you can eat massive portions as long as a third is from a certain list to be completely bonkers. I need encouragement to make better portion choices, not pile my plate high.

I have a friend who has been on SW for 7 years and is evangelical about being able to eat as much as you like. She’s put on about 3 stone in that time but still keeps going.

Godrestye - Tofu. Yes. That is also a strong contender! It's a tough call. I think if I had a gun to my head and a choice to be made between Quark and Tofu...no, I'd take the gun!

Hooray! I’ve found my people, I’ve been saying this for years! The tag line of my local sw consultant “ look, you can eat pizza, chips and burgers” really!!! Why not just eat fucking healthily........

Detest it. I joined twice, to support my mum. Both times the leaders had a bmi of about 40 and I found that totally demotivating.
The language of "fill up on speed food" "eat loads of speed food" or, maybe just eat till satisfied? Why the need to gorge on anything?
I hate the greed of it all, some of them doing anything they can to make a copy of something unhealthy, putting sweeteners and bloody quark, cauliflower in things just so they can pretend it's a takeaway or whatever.
Ive always thought I border on an eating disorder and slimming world is very triggering for me with the "eat loads" crap.

Also mine had a Christmas meal, I obviously didn't attend, but the main clique did. You should have seen the menu! Nothing slimming world friendly, so why organise a meal at slimming world for the group if it doesn't follow the amazing plan?

I joined last year and lasted 3wks... im not paying someone a fiver a week to tell me im still fatter than i want to be 😂😂 i gave up and while ive kinda yoyoed with my weight my eating habits have generally improved except at time of the month when it goes out the window for carbs

I looked at joining but the price put me off, I also thought it was difficult enough to understand. I found loads of SW recipes online and just loosely followed it at home, mostly for evening meals, which I really enjoyed. I lost 16lbs without going to a meeting or following it too strictly but it was a ballache cooking the meals every night because it took ages, although TBF usually meant my DH and me got lunch out of it for the next day too.

Once I'm over this morning sickness I'll go back to making some of the dinners because we really did enjoy them but I couldn't be arsed with it all the time. Some of the SW members accounts on Instagram are crazy obsessive, I followed some a little while for recipes.

Two years ago I lost 2 stone in 6 months, so it did work, but it worked because I was eating proper meals and cutting out the junk, same as any diet basically.

I got 12 sessions on the NHS, but I stopped going because of the cost and also the happy crappy meetings drove me insane, sitting there for an hour of “image therapy” which was basically the consultant telling the group how much each person had lost.