To think that Slimming World is a nasty organisation?

[Ohnotanothernamechange]

I'm not sure if anyone else is aware but Pinch of Nom, the hugely popular healthy eating and 'diet friendly' cookbook, have released a statement saying that they have been told to remove all mention of SW from their books and websites. This follows on from SW threatening to sue Aldi for launching a new healthy eating range that they thought was too similar to their own (they failed at this, obviously it's much harder to bully and intimidate a large international company...).

They've also made threats towards butchers and cafes for launching SW friendly produce. It's ridiculous. What are they so scared of? Funny that Weight Watchers don't have a problem with POM, also funny that SW haven't gone after WW for alterning their plan to make it similar to SW. See above about bullying large companies.

Ive long had issues with SW and believe it to be a money grabbing cult that doesn't really promote a healthier lifestyle, and this for me just proves it. Targeting small business trying to make a living just makes them seem really petty and nasty.

Don't get me started on all the wanky termonolgy they use like 'body magic' and 'image therapy either. How people sit through the meeting and don't piss themselves laughing at all that rubbish is a mystery?

Thank you sirzy

@Notcopingwellhere ah I see, Thank you.

to pay fiver to get weighed and in front of everyone to feel embarrassed if you maintained or gained or gloat if you

I never went to a meeting as I did it online but I asked a friend who was doing SW locally and she said that they don’t do the weigh in publicly. I guess not all meetings are the same.

Having followed the plan I’m totally bemused by people saying that it promotes processed food. No it doesn’t, it’s pretty much all about cooking from scratch. Perhaps where people are getting confused is that they have a massive massive list of pretty much all food that you can buy in supermarkets and takeaways so that people who want to eat processed food can see how many syns that would be. So it’s not encouraged, it’s just given a value so you can balance against the rest of the diet. (Again, having not been to a meeting I don’t know if leaders encourage the snacks that are low-syn, but it’s certainly not apparent online). It’s quite eye-opening to see in black and white how unhealthy a croissant is compared to, say, a slice of wholemeal toast and jam. I think that helps people get it in perspective.

And I’ve never heard of “star week” or any other word for menstruation, it’s not mentioned at all as far as I can see.

@OwlinaTree I agree. I lost 2 and a half stone doing slimming world and have largely kept it off since I stopped going.

The main thing I took from it was eating a balanced diet, lots of veg (speed), have the rest of your plate made up of unprocessed natural food which you don't have to measure but eat a sensible portion of (free) and then a little bit of something higher fat if you like, such as butter to cook with or a few squares of chocolate after (syns). The plan can sound complicated but that's basically what it boils down to, sounds like a fairly healthy way to eat to me.

I found it really useful because of the free foods, so many other diets involve weighing and measuring your food, which I can't be bothered with tbh! I liked that you don't have to weigh out your pasta, as long as you're not ridiculous with it (and don't wash it down with a bottle of wine and a cover it with half a block of cheese which I may have used to do! )

I did however very rarely stay for the group discussion. The few times I did it was mainly sitting around talking about recipes, different ways of cooking etc, which I'm sure was useful for some people but I found it easier to just look online if I wanted inspiration for a new recipe.

SW have money to make on their own cookbooks and magazines, likewise with the supermarkets, Iceland who sell branded SW products probably weren't be too happy about Aldi bringing out their own equivalent. I do think it's a bit short sighted though - the PON book has probably inspired more people to join if anything. As for Aldi, having a few suitable ready meals in the fridge is a life saver when you're on SW because everything has to be cooked from scratch, you can't get a takeaway or grab a sandwich and tbh it's fucking boring and relentless and you end up using every pot in the house.

Calorie counting has the same effect and is much cheaper and easier. I do like the accountability of a group but it's not really worth £5 a week.

“the PON book has probably inspired more people to join if anything”

I doubt it if it’s anything like the Facebook group... it’s got a huge number of people doing it from home, making weird things from wraps that you’d never see in a slimming world meeting and then moaning that they don’t lose weight following slimming world...

I am doing slimming world, it got to the stage where I was exercising but not seeing a massive difference and I knew it was down to diet.

With SW I am watching what I eat (which is also good since I got my BFP). My consultant is really good, and the ladies in the class are lovely (new to the area so it is great getting to know new people too - and we always go for our sneaky chipper after class for a chat). I know I could watch what I eat if not in SW but I would not be trying as hard as I would not be getting weighed each week.

Yes there are areas of it I don't agree with (thank feck muller light yogurts are no longer "free" as that was just idiotic. you can't have as many as you like in a day and still be "healthy"), you should not have as much pasta as you want (but any recopies I use make you weigh it and it works out at 40g per portion normally which is fine).

Now hearing this I really do not agree with it. Is the name trademarked? If it is about money I am sure PON could pay royalties but to ban them from using the name is horrendous. I know they have their own cook books but to be honest the PON ones are much nicer, I got a recipe book in one of the weekly raffles and I think I would eat 3 or 4 things from it.

Well I go to sw I lost weight iv had to change the way I look at food it's done me the world of good and still losing

I found it good when I went, I lost 2 stone which was my target, for me though it was more about having to go get weighed that kept me good with food during the week. Someone had told me that if you reach your target you get free membership for life..........that's true but only if you stay within 3 pounds of that weight so basically you get free membership only when you don't need to lose weight

The free membership for target members within a 6lb range is to encourage people to stay focused because otherwise it is easy to slip into old habits. Very sensible really

It's all a crock anyway but Slimming World is my least favourite of the slimming clubs.

The whole concept of syns actively pushes people towards processed food with a definitive syn value. And they use weight as the single measure of how healthy you are and how well you're doing... ridiculous.

I looked into SW when I was pregnant to lose the weight from my first child. The general ethos of SW is actually pretty good...lots of home cooking, fruit, vegetables, lean meats, etc.

It seems there are two ways in which people follow it...as above with ensuring most of their plate contains salad/vegetables, lean meats, eggs with the odd treat thrown in and cooking from scratch.

The other group who basically live off Muller lights, pot noodles, eating a meal consisting of 4 eggs, 6 rashers of bacon, a tin of beans, a glut of tomatoes and mushrooms, or a Bolognese with a fuck ton of pasta and garlic bread made a wrap with one measly bit of wilted lettuce for 'speed', or a monstrosity I've seen of a HUGE pile of pancakes made with a bucket of sweetner, quark and god knows whatever else, drenched in Biscoff spread and 'light' cream. The latter, sadly, is the ones that tend to get the most likes on social media.

I'm very loosely following it the first way, but mostly using MFP and being mindful. I'd rather eat one or two small 'proper' pancakes than the stuff I've seen online. Or a little bit of real butter, not 5 or 6 light cheese spread triangles that I've seen people suggest. That's where it gets messed up and it tends to be these people who never lose weight or lose and regain, lose and regain, and stay at group for many years.

As for the PON thing, at the end of the day, SW are a business and a lot of their stuff is trademarked/copyright. It applies to any business. Wasn't there a TV celebrity ripping off the same clothing designs for kids from a small company recently? Same thing applies.

Whilst I agree that some of SW’s business practices seem a bit harsh, I have to disagree that SW is money grabbing and doesn’t work. I have lost nearly 3 stone over the past year with SW. Healthwise, how can the promotion of a fresh vegetable/salad, unlimited fruit and low-fat meat and fish diet be unhealthy? They don’t desert you when you achieve your weight loss, in fact, provided you stay within 6 lbs of the target (that you set yourself) and attend at least 1 meeting a month, it is completely free. You don’t have to stay to Group if you don’t want to -you can just weigh in and leave. It worked for me and a friend I go with.

@owlinatree you have it in a nutshell, keep the carbs to a third of your plate, lots of veg. chicken, fish, lean meat. Of course you can have syns. I have seen members with many stones to lose do you expect them to live on nothing but low calorie foods for months/years on end. Knowing at the end of a busy day they can have a bag of crisps or a glass of wine keeps them going. Some people started cooking from scratch for the first time.

I did SW for about 9 months. When it was my turn to lie about the syns I didn't have (rule 1 of slimming world, practice lying because food eaten when no one sees it isn't counted) I admitted I was having 2+ kilo grapes a day. She said its fine, free food=unlimited quantities!

When I put weight on despite following the plan her judgy jowls tightened and she loudly muttered

"oh dear, have we been eating when we're not hungry?"

I pointed out the ONLY reason we were all there is because we were eating when we weren't hungry.

Never went again, I sacrificed £20 I'd paid up front because I didn't want to be influenced by someone who didn't understand the concept of eat too much of anything and you'll put on weight.

I also said the banned word, said "my period is due" ffs, felt like a bloody 5 year old. MEN WERE THERE Too!! Think of the poor embarased men. What if they heard about periods!

Im never going to call my period a star week!

Im never going to call my period a star week! I have NEVER heard it called this. I have heard people say "period" in class and it was never given out about.

It is a business and the primary aim of a business in the UK is generally to maximise value for the shareholders. HTH

My friend has lost loads of weight on SW and has kept it off. More veg. Smaller portions. He cooks from scratch most nights. Goes to the gym. Still goes to weekly meetings which are a just quick lunchtime weigh in at canary wharf as he says it gives him accountability.

Haven't really read through the thread(I know, I know) but Pinch of Nom are a bunch of robbing barstewards. They developed their page on the back of Slimming World and stole the majority of their recipes from there when they were members. Now though, if someone posts a meal they have made from the cookbook the poster cannot post the recipe, instead PON post a link to their cookbook. Ironic given they have built their following up by giving away slimming world recipes and syn values.

Their page is also a total dictatorship so no sympathy from me.

ImMeantToBeWorking about star week. I think somekne else has already mentioned star week, so, unless she's gone to the same as me other groups call it star week too. Wound me up every week. Wish ours had been like yours. A couple of women called it their blob or rag week 🤢🤮

I think star week came about because they can add icons onto theier ipads to signify issues and one is a star used to signify periods so would explain an unexpected large gain or a struggle etc and from their it just developed. Our class always called them periods, it only ever seemed to be star week when people came from other groups and used it.

My DH used to weigh people and he said it was like a confessional every week.

Our consultant is Male and calls it that time of the month as we said we didn't like star week 😂

I don't get peoples beef with SW.

The Syns are there because (in my opinion) it teaches you to allow yourself a little of what you fancy and learn the limits.

Like it's fine to have a piece of chocolate one day but you probably shouldn't eat any other sugary treats that day.

Same with bread - I have learnt to limit my bread intake.

I now cook all my meals and snacks from scratch, for example yesterday I made healthier scotch eggs as a snack rather than buying the full fat versions in Tesco.

When I weigh it isn't done in front of the whole group.

I would agree that its not a very healthy diet though, all that low fat and high aspartame rubbish can't be good. But I do think it is a great starting point... and it works.

Once I have lost the weigh I need to, I am going to look at improving the quality of food I eat, more healthy fats etc.

My DP is morbidly overweight and this seems to be the only diet that is working (only 3 weeks in but lost just over a stone).

But anyway, I forgot to reply to the OP.

I am with SW on this one, I can understand how PON could be losing them money I guess. Because they do not have to sign up to SW to get access to good recipes.