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?

@NoBaggyPants yea, all self employed but they have to follow the sw ethos and do everything their team leader, area manager and Margaret Miles Bramwell tells them to

Mad isn't it...

My dsis did sw and still follows basic rules of it if you wanna call it that however she mostly lost weight doing exercise which she still does-cant say whther it works alone

@Gwenhwyfar
"I was confused why SW got such a bashing on here for a long time, until I realised why. Lot of MNers are posh and they look down on processed foods. I think it's quite s"mug for someone who obviously overeats to look down on people who like Muller yogurts, but I'm convinced that's what it is.

THIS!

I'm a bit horrified about how much ultra-processed foods are encouraged, but I've had women at group talk about how they used to drink 2 bottles of coke a day and have now switched to diet / water with squash. Stopped eating crisps, started eating fruit. If people really like processed foods at least SW helps them make better choices. It's also one of the cheapest diets I've been on, as you still have carbs, unlike a lot of other diets.

The principles are sensible - fill up on fruit and veg, lean meats, cook everything from scratch at home. It's low fat and low sugar, and personally I find only counting fats, sugar and processed foods much easier. It's been the most successful diet I've been on so far, and I can see the principles can easily carry over once I've reached target weight.

I need nudging not to stuff my face with peanuts and chocolate, and getting me into better habits of having them as a treat is a good thing. I don't use the word "syn" at home though, I use "points" because I don't like the association...

When I went to SW there was no encouragement to eat processed foods, and I believe by adding 'syn' values to things like instant noodles and muller light they are, as a wider organisation, trying to get rid of this image. It's the people doing it that are batshit though, making cakes out of truckloads of sweetener, egg and coco powder.... (not envy)

I think the very basic premise (low fat, lean meat and veg) is good, but it gets overtaken by people trying to cheat it. DPs brother lost about 4 stone doing it, but the groups are like bloody cults.

Pinch of Nom are arseholes anyway, and frequently steal other bloggers recipes so I don't feel for them to be honest.

SW are entitled to protect their copyrights though, and if not actively shown to be protecting them they can be revoked. I'm sure if you had an IP and worked hard to make it into a nationally recognised brand then you would protect it too.

I found head office sw contact form....its not the first time I felt uneasy.
One week the group was held upstairs...no care was taken to ask if anyone couldn t make it....I didn t...
I paid as usual....I find disability an issue but I think that sw should be more mindful of who they are hurting.
I have always worked as a professional with people and always treated them with respect.If they had a problem I wouldn t give them a 3 page rant about how hard I work....(3 page message on text)
I think its hurtful

Wasn't there an issue with Pinch of Nom nicking recipes off the Two Chubby Cubs?

And you sit in a circle and they discuss your weight loss/gain and everyone claps. Then as soon as you stop following SW plan all the weight goes back on

The business relies on return customers. All the terminology and labelling of food as good or bad - “syns” I think pulls people into a very dysfunctional way of thinking about eating; adding layer upon layer of complication and a degree of dependence upon SW (and other similar organisations).

I think the group dynamic can be helpful but SW and WW seem to just be about sitting in a circle going over the same old ground with the weigh in being the only “motivational” factor (at least that’s what I found in all the groups I attended). I don’t think people ever truly lose weight until they accept a total and permanent overhaul of their diet and activity levels; these clubs just keep people in a holding pattern. I’m saying that as someone who pissed around for years with SW and WW, lost weight, gained weight, got the Gold Member status while slowly ultimately putting weight on over the years. Then I found the Michael Mosley book, got a carb counter and finally lost the three stone I’d needed to shift (for years) in about 4 months. OK, that’s just what worked for me but part of it was taking the responsibility back from SW and the like, eating more fat and protein so I wasn’t permanently starving and recognising that I was happy to carry on eating like that (or Similar) once I’d lost the weight.

I should think SW are nervous because they are a big organisation who struggle to keep pace with the latest research, or at least struggle to turn their ship around, so people looking to lose weight are going elsewhere. I think people want the motivation of fairly speedy weight loss which research is showing is not a bad thing, so eating low fat high carb “products” and losing 1-2lbs a week has fallen out of fashion. As Peter Kay says in his skit about SW “2lbs a week?, I shit 2lbs a day”

Still feeling tearful
Sounds as though I am not attending sw from free will ........I haven t always adhered to the plan and weight loss slow but its surely my body, my choice.....I have appreciated help but I am obviously just a number with a target to reach on sw books not a person anymore.........it feels so wrong

Who likes to follow a low fat diet? I'd rather be a bit fat
I wouldn't, I'd rather be a normal healthy weight. If not eating greasy fatty food achieves that goal then I'm all for it.

@stopitandtidyupp I remember when I done slimming world I was losing weight but not as quickly as other members. The consultant told me I needed to eat more. Right....

I have lost 4 stone on the SW diet, however I did so by following PON, chubby cubs etc online.

I don't like the class environment and the SW website is shite.

However, the actual diet is good.

I do agree with SW though, because PON have made money directly from the SW diet and even bringing out a (shite) cookbook that doesn't mention syns makes no difference because they got their members and customers from initially mentioning SW and syns.

So yes, they are in the wrong and SW in the right.

I don't really use the PON group anymore since they dropped all mention of syns. What's the point? Its become a calorie counting exercise now.

Use instagram instead and follow the SW hashtags for inspiration.

I think a lot of it is to do with the person who runs the group. Mine is lovely and encouraging, has text me in the middle of the week about how well I'm doing after I sat and cried after a massive gain. (New medication messed with my hormones and made me bloat). There is a closed FB where there's always someone about if you're feeling bad or need to ask a question. When a new magazine comes out, consultant will actually say if she doesn't like a recipe or suggest an increase/decrease of an ingredient.

If I've had to go to a different group due to appointment etc. there are some lovely ones but there are some terrible, terrible ones.

I have mixed feeling towards SW. I know two people who have joined it. One lost two stone and has kept it off in the year since despite no longer attending but she has changed her outlook on food and cooks from scratch. Before SW she lived on processed frozen beige oven food, so SW has helped her and she'll have the occasional treat without feeling guilty. The other person I know has become utterly obsessed with it to the point that I had to unfollow her on social media because I couldn't face another photo of her dinner and endless posts about SW. She started exercising and would moan every week if she stayed the same weight and or only lost 1lb so she said she was going to stop going to the gym as it wasn't helping focusing only on the number on the scales isn't healthy. So I can see SW working for some as a long-term lifestyle change and not others. I joined online in January but cancelled it because it wasn't for me. I do need to lose weight and have considered re-joining but I'm leaning towards using MFP as that worked for me in the past and I resent paying money when I know what I should be eating I just have no willpower

If you look on Instagram, there's tons of SW members who try to "cheat" the plan. Yes they can eat a massive stack of pancakes made out of blended oats and diet lemonade but who can or wants to eat like that long after the weight has gone? I think if you're sensible with it SW can work.

As for PoN, I can understand SW wanting to protect their brand name, although I'm sure their book doesn't have any SW info in it. I had a browse when I saw it in the supermarket but was put off by a recipe needing some sort of peanut flavoured protein powder rather than just using peanut butter. I can see that keeps the calories down but I'd rather eat real peanut butter!

A good friend of mine lost 10st on SW. She was SW slimmer of the year a few years ago. She put it all back on and more.

It doesn't help here either that one of the team developers posts on social media talking about 'loosing weight'

I've never been on a diet but I don't like how food is referred to as 'syns' sounds too close to sin!

Tangentally - is slimfast still delicious? I remember DM doing a slim fast plan when I was in primary school and always pinching bits of her milkshakes.

The SW plan does work but only if you stick to it. I've lost a stone and a half and have never felt better. It's not been that hard, just cut out the crap and ate more of the good stuff. But some people don't and that's why they don't loose. I don't stay to group because that's not my thing, but no-one forces you to stay.

I also like PON, and their recipes, but can totally understand why SW have done this. Why should they loose out. They are a business after all.

I will happily continue paying my fiver a week until I get to target. It works and I wouldn't expect that service for free. I'll also supplement it with PON recipes that I can easily work out the Syns for myself. Best of both worlds.

the people i know who have lost weight on sw, go every week, for years. you dont have to pay once you reach your goal apparently.

I have an omlette fir breakfast usually. With mushrooms, peppers and a small bit of cheese.

For lunch I have a salad with meat or fish or a baked potato with tuna. Maybe beans and toast if I'm being lazy.

Dinner varies. Spag bol, homemade curry once a week, chicken and rice, chilli. Always with veg or salad.

I have the odd yogurt but usually my snacks are fruit.

One takeaway a week.

Would a PT tell me this is bad? Highly doubt that.

A good friend of mine lost 10st on SW. She was SW slimmer of the year a few years ago. She put it all back on and more.

Well she will have if she stopped following the plan that helped her lost 10 stone.

It's not difficult to understand that you have to keep it up to keep it off.

It is however really fucking hard to keep it up. Which is why lost of people fail and have to either quit or do it all over again. Same as stopping smoking, usually it's a try and try again thing.

She must have been eating a fuck ton of shite food to gain 10 stone back in a few years. Her own fault. Not slimming worlds.

Eat us much fruit, veg, lean meat etc as you want but limit these high calorie foods is fucked up?

Did I say that? No. I said their whole syns bullshit is a way to build a fucked up relationship with food. Which it would for the majority of people. It's a deliberate, psychological trick designed with the purpose of keeping the majority of customers hooked into their business model. If Slimming World just worked, it would have become obsolete within a generation.

I eat as much fruit and veg as I want, I eat quite a lot of protein in meat, eggs, beans, nuts, legumes and full fat dairy. I eat simple carbs nearly every day but do so moderately most of the time. I eat sugary treats sometimes, though I tend to stick to only the most delicious because what the hell is the point of a treat if it doesn't taste fucking amazing.

I love eating and eat for pleasure as well as fuel but I've developed a lifestyle where my real treat most days isn't food. So I never think of food in terms of it being sinful. It's either shite that I don't actually want to eat or it's something delicious that I acknowledge is something to enjoy occasionally rather than routinely. (And I make health delicious meals that I really, really love to eat and feel good about eating on every level.)

I am definitely not posh! It has nothing to do with class. I know lots of naice middle class folk who are just as wrapped up in the SW cult as anyone else.

*"I said, aren't you better off just eating an orange if you fancy something sweet? "

Maybe she didn't like oranges?*

Or a banana? apple or dried fruit

Or even if you have a fancy for something sweet, eat a normal cake or biscuit. And just one. What would be a better idea is to wean yourself off having sweet stuff. So that when you reach your goal, you just aren't that bothered about eating sweet stuff and puddings. Otherwise it's easy to just go back to your old eating habits.

I lost 3 stone on s/w years ago. Then I left and I put it back on, because I was eating shit again. Same with any diet really. You stop dieting and you put on weight, it’s hardly a s/w thing.
I’m back on s/w, have lost 2.5 stone since March. Eat loads, definitely don’t eat dust
I really don’t get the hatred for it. Maybe it’s an avocado thing