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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Is slimming world really shit?

73 replies

Emsonline · 17/01/2019 15:59

I read so many posts about it being cult like, a con, money making business etc. My biggest issue with it is referring to food as a sin (syn). Way to introduce food guilt! (I have been 3 times before and failed each time and have been left with food issues)

Your opinion on it?

OP posts:

CantWaitToRetire · 17/01/2019 16:53

It doesn't suit everyone. First time I tried it I hated it, but the group leader was rubbish. This time I'm enjoying it. Good leader, nice people in group and I've lost 2.5 stone so far.

kiabella · 17/01/2019 16:58

Fucking awful. I could go on but I'll leave it there.

Drink more water, move more, eat less processed food. Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. Don't restrict any of the food groups, even the "synfull" foods.

kiabella · 17/01/2019 16:59

This...

starryeyed19 · 17/01/2019 17:02

A note on the syns thing - I hated it too but then found out it stands for synergy not something wrong etc

Loopytiles · 17/01/2019 17:03

“most of your plate should be speed and protein”

CatWhisker · 17/01/2019 17:04

Not read the other replies, but I like the diet. It works for me and I eat much more healthily when on it. I can no longer be doing with the meetings and shelling out a fiver a week on them, so I'm doing it on my own, but i think the meetings are good to help with motivation and support, so how I'll do on my own i don't know.

Chocolatecoffeeaddict · 17/01/2019 17:05

It works for me. I am steadily losing weight on it. It doesn't have to be carb heavy. Yes, potatoes, rice and pasta are free foods but it doesn't mean you load up on them. One third of every meal should be replaced by speed foods, e.g. some fruits and vegetables.
I've found whenever I've had too much pasta in one week my weight is slower, but in comparison to the usual crap I used to eat I can still maintain a loss eating carbs.

x2boys · 17/01/2019 17:05

I have been doing it since September but don't go i I to the meetings anymore it's working for me and I'm eating far more fruit and veg and much less bread in not hungry horses for courses it suits me but it won't suit everyone ,I'm th stone down so far.

x2boys · 17/01/2019 17:07

Three *

Knittink · 17/01/2019 17:08

'Synergy' my arse.
proof it was sins

secondarymincepie · 17/01/2019 17:08

I went to Slimming World for three months and lost nearly a stone - bit I didn't actually follow the plan.
I couldn't get on with the rules so calorie counted instead and just used SW for the weigh-ins, having a weekly 'deadline' to meet held me accountable and helped massively.
I have friends who have done it properly and love it, have lost weight and kept it off. But I also know people who have followed the plan, lost weight, and then had massive regains. Ultimately, Slimming World is one of the many tools available to help weight loss and different things work for different people.

ElfridaEtAl · 17/01/2019 17:09

Agree with OP and PPs about the language used. Body magic, just say exercise, speed food - fruit and veg, and the cherry on top "STAR WEEK"
I see what people mean by syns not meaning "sins" but why not use a different word entirely. It still sounds the same and not everyone who's on or been on SW will know the difference, I certainly didn't when I tried it and felt awful if I had any syns, because I felt like it was something bad. It doesn't promote a healthy relationship with food IMO.

PinkAvocado · 17/01/2019 17:10

I like it. If I could get stick to thin by eating less and moving more I’d have done it by now but emotionally I need the support of a group and someone to weigh me. The diet helps me to portion correctly and lots of our group are successful. Seeing other’s successes motivates me!

CatWhisker · 17/01/2019 17:10

I don't worry about the syn thing sounding like sins. I'm not religious and if i was i don't think I'd actually believe it was sinful to eat cake. You are allowed 15 syns a day anyway which is not bad going as I'm sure 15 sins a day would be frowned on if you were religious.

Knittink · 17/01/2019 17:11

It doesn't have to be carb heavy. Yes, potatoes, rice and pasta are free foods but it doesn't mean you load up on them.

Well if you're having to make your own rules about what you can eat lots of, what's the point of being on Slimming World in the first place?

GinDoll · 17/01/2019 17:12

I didnt like SW but then I have no portion control and prefer not to cook. Not great attributes for SW success. That said I go go to WW, secretly I calorie count rather than use the WW points because with the recent point changes I think it's more like SW.... But anyway I go because it gives me an incentive to eat properly and keep at it. It's also a nice way to make friends in the same boat and feel a bit more motivated. I do not buy the shit food they sell, because its overpriced junk, I don't enter raffles or buy cookbooks etc. I keep it as cheap as possible and enjoy the motivation.

I will say though I did change groups because my previous leader seemed uninspired, she wasn't following the plan at all herself and seemed to have no motivation SO I would totally belive its a difficult job!

minieggmunchers · 17/01/2019 17:13

Yes. It encourages overindulgence. The syn system allows small portions of 'things you love' but makes you crave them more. The recipes are full of artificial sweeteners (personally the aspartame gives me the shakes) and the classes are patronising.
The only way to lose weight it to exercise more than you eat. You can eat what you want but you have to put in the hours to burn it off. Try outdoor walking- the hillier the better. I lost 6 stone!

Magenta82 · 17/01/2019 17:19

@starryeyed19
They may be called "syns" now, but they were originally sins. You were "sinning" by eating them.
When they realised that this was incredibly messed up and putting people off they changed the spelling and made up a load of crap about "synergy" (WTF does that even mean?!) to cover themselves.

rebelfit.co.uk/blog/2017/proof-that-syns-used-to-be-called-sins

BusySnipingOnCallOfDuty · 17/01/2019 17:21

It can work, but after one meeting I saw through so much.

"So that's the level of intellect you're dealing with. Pasta hasn't changed its landscape. A noodle hasn't changed it's nutrients. A piece of chicken can't suddenly double in syns or become speedy etc "

This. Having looked into it for a few years, I realised I needed to try it myself but they change syn values, they change things depending on which brands pay them to push their products, and as a result there are a lot of confused people out there all trying to support each other and fighting over what the rules actually are.

ohnonotyetplease · 17/01/2019 17:24

If you can keep it in balance in your head but use the companionship and accountability to your advantage, I believe it could work for anyone. I have been overweight all of my adult life and it worked for me, despite loads of issues around food from childhood and experiences of abuse. I simply don't subscribe mentally to the almost religious fervour some have for it. I also don't go with everything they suggest, like the carbs thing and the low fat alternative products etc.
Anything works if you stick to it and develop more of a life outside of food. I lost 4 stone and need to lose more after my baby is born. Which I now have confidence that I can do, which I never had before.

Guineapiglet345 · 17/01/2019 17:25

I just could not bring myself to talk about food as syns or speed or whatever, it just made me feel like a cult member.

Just use the MyFitnessPal app and save yourself the £20 a month!

lolaflores · 17/01/2019 17:26

I have watched a friend ping pong up Nd down the scales. She loses lots as she us very good o diets but a set back sets her way back and then she goes back to square 1. She swears never again even though it's been successful before.she is really disheartened but insists exercise doesn't help...Not sure where she got that from. At this poi t she is looming at her relationship with food.
My sister had the same experience. Has permanently lost 4 stone without SW. Is eating well and exercising. The weigh ins broke her heart.
I'm it co vinced by it

ManicUnicorn · 17/01/2019 17:30

Any diet that tells you to 'syn' and avocado but that you can gorge yourself on Muller Lights and Mug Shots is a pile of shit. Ive been eating the Fibre One low calories sweet snacks for ages, but had noticed they were hard to come by recently. Then I discovered that Slimming World had decided that they are now 'free' which meant that their gullible memeber are snapping them all up. Ridiculous.

The recipes are foul. The salt and pepper chicken made with smash is especially awful, as is are the sausage rolls made wjth mashed up low calories sausages and brown bread.

Don't get me started on then wanky terminology either, 'syn'', 'body magic' and 'image therapy'. The last one really pisses me off actually because Slimming World consultants have psychology degrees don't they?...

Goingonandonandon · 17/01/2019 17:33

I'm reading about it now and I won't join the groups, but I have adopted some of the suggestions and I have lost a few pounds. I have tried low carb three times and it makes me so, so constipated, so that's not for me.

I am not drinking any alcohol at the moment, so lower intake of calories anyway. I have what is suggested above, 1/3 plate non-carb veg, 1/3 lean protein and 1/3 carbs. I weight portions of pasta, rice and other carbs so I don't have too much, and I have either one slice of bread or one bowl of cereals a day and one glass of milk, either in coffee, or cereals. That's it. I've lost 4 pounds in two weeks. So I'd say, you can weed out what you think is not for you, and keep what you think is the right thing.

Missingstreetlife · 17/01/2019 17:34

All diets make you fat because your body actually needs some fat and tries to replenish when you have been restricting, and it makes you obsessed with food, hence yoyo dieting. You can safely give up sugar, eat more veg etc. And exercise.

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