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Original poster

To think that Slimming World is a nasty organisation?

365 replies

Ohnotanothernamechange · 21/07/2019 11:31

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?

OP posts:
NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace · 21/07/2019 18:44

I will never give my hard earned money to any slimming organisation.

Maybe you don't need to Blush But perhaps spare a thought for those of us who do.

Nottheduchess · 21/07/2019 18:47

Thanks Bikerunski.

Sugarformyhoney · 21/07/2019 18:55

I know two skimming world ‘leaders’. Both are overweight and trying to ‘get back to target with you’. It’s such bullshit.
I hate the fact some foods are ‘free’ and some are ‘syns’. Ridiculous organisation.

Loverofoldfilms · 21/07/2019 18:55

It's a P and trade mark issue (rather than copyright) - still you decide who you go after and how. Their lawyers or inhouse legal team seem to take quite a harsh approach...

Loverofoldfilms · 21/07/2019 18:56

IP law, I meant to say (oh dear)

Mumberjack · 21/07/2019 18:59

My good friend has recently lost a lot of weight with SW but has quickly realised that there’s nothing in their plan to help people maintain. And basically the leader didn’t know how to support her in how the diet fit with her increasing exercise levels including training for races. She’s now with a fitness based training programme that reflects how she wants to eat long term.
She felt real guilt in moving away from SW as she’d lost the weight with their plan, but it’s clear it doesn’t work when I hear of so many people who are with it for years or who ‘boomerang’ back to it numerous times.

KurriKurri · 21/07/2019 18:59

To be fair and I don't have any probelm with people criticising SW - it can be cultish) it isn't unlimited pasta as many people have said. yes some foods count as 'free foods' no syn value - pasta, rice, potatoes, fruit and lots of others count as free, but it is on the assumption that you eat like a sensible person. Whenever I've been to SW it has always been made clear that if you eat twenty bowls of pasta a day or ten pounds of apples etc you won't lose weight (may even gain) but a normal meal sized portion of pasta is free.

How effective and supportive you find it depends enormously on your group leader and the other members of your group, I've been lucky and had friendly encouraging leader and friendly fellow members. i've known other people who have had a miserable experience and no one talked to them. Like many diets it works for some people but isn;t a good fit for otherss. Like all diets you can't do it then go back to the way you ate which made you put on weight in the first place. Obviously that isn't going to work because you put on weight when you take in more calories than you use, and the burn more than you eat to lose weight rule applies to all diets, doesn;t matter whether they call themselves SW and syns, WW, or whatever - they all work on the same principle.
With SW (and similar group organizations) I woudl say it's not the diet - anyone can find a diet that will work if you stick to it - it is the discipline of breaking it down into weeks and setting weekly targets, so you know you will be weighed each week and aim to lose, rather than cheat on yourself which is more likely if you do it alone.

Soconfusedandlost · 21/07/2019 18:59

Not a slimming world member but friends with a lady who is a consultant so asked her directly about it.

She explained that the reason they dealt with pinch of nom and aldi and asda slimzone and others is that by saying they are slimming world friendly or listing syn values (which is an abbreviation of synergistic so I learnt something), the person who buys/eats these goods can then blame slimming world if the information is false. So I could bake a lovely cake and say it only has 2 syns per slice (most people are allowed 15), people eat my lovely cake and still get fat cos I've done the maths wrong and it's actually 20 per slice. They then lick off because I've used SW to advertise.

My friend has said that she still uses pinch of nom for recipes and tells her group about them but advises them to work it out for themselves. Eg if the recipe says use lots of sweetener instead of sugar then it's still not good for you really is it?

Hassled · 21/07/2019 19:02

I've long suspected it was wank - a former colleague went to SW for the entire duration of the 5 years I worked with her, and talked about it A LOT. She was just as overweight when I left as she had been when I started. Whatever she was or wasn't doing, it made not one iota of difference, except presumably to SW's profits.

Pinkarsedfly · 21/07/2019 19:06

Why does something have to be ‘a pile of wank’ or ‘a ridiculous organisation’ just because it doesn’t suit you?

It’s helping me massively, I’m eating very well and have no Mugshots or Muller Shites anywhere near my house.

What happened to live and let live? Confused

Nottheduchess · 21/07/2019 19:06

hassled you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

Frogsandsheep · 21/07/2019 19:25

Not true about the exercise.
It was true for me!!

Gwenhwyfar · 21/07/2019 19:28

"a former colleague went to SW for the entire duration of the 5 years I worked with her, and talked about it A LOT. She was just as overweight when I left as she had been when I started. Whatever she was or wasn't doin"

Was she actually following the plan though? How many of us have started diets and then fallen off the wagon? It's not necessarily the diet's fault is it?

AndBreatheJustBreathe · 21/07/2019 19:28

Pinch of Nom is awesome. I’ve been using that for meals and running and I’ve lost a stone.

TryingAndFailing39 · 21/07/2019 19:29

I was told that of course exercise was good for me (body magic) and I got my gold certificate in the time I was there, but she rather aggressively maintained it wouldn’t aid my weight loss and that only food optimising would do that! I was running 25 k a week and burning off a significant amount of calories!

AndBreatheJustBreathe · 21/07/2019 19:31

To be fair though I genuinely thought pinch of nom was genuinely affiliated with slimming world so maybe they have a point. It’s quite presumptuous to just assume you can hitch your wagon to another organisation.

Dawnofthebread · 21/07/2019 19:37

That's how I see it @pinkarsedfly it works well for some people and I don't really understand why people get angry about it.

I see the negatives too, a bad leader can effect the experience and I am not a cheerleader for them. I don't even go anymore, but I have seen a lot of successes for people with it.

I also think there is a level of personal responsibility when you join these groups. Just because a certain yoghurt was free you should be able to work out eating 10 a day is not going to work. I think a lot of the recent changes are to stop people trying to find loop holes. People complain about muller lights like they are part of the plan, when plain yoghurt is also free. I felt like you could make what you wanted of the plan, from 100% cook from scratch fresh food to more convenience options, most likely a mixture of the two.

Tobebythesea · 21/07/2019 19:40

The people I know who do SW are still overweight years later.

How can it promote mug shots and muller lights as healthy?

Pinkarsedfly · 21/07/2019 19:43

Well, exactly, @dawnofthebread.

I’ve just had a Sunday dinner of roast potatoes, peas, green beans, broccoli and carrots, with two veggie sausages because I don’t eat meat, and some veggie gravy.

How can that be bad for me?

Shootingstar1115 · 21/07/2019 19:43

I went to slimming world, I lost weight, pretty quickly actually but I feel like slimming world doesn’t change your habits in the long run. Every person I know that has done slimming world and lost a large amount of weight has put it back on again. I maintaning weight is hard whatever diet you do but I just feel like people slip off the band wagon too easily. I was still eating huge meals with slimming world. I felt like it wasn’t teaching me about portion sizes.

yes they are all about making money.

I’ve been using an app on my phone. I think it’s called nutra check? I just log everything I eat and it has most UK foods on it and it means I can have bits of what I fancy as long as it’s moderation. It also encourages me to weigh out foods and think about portion sizes.

Pinkarsedfly · 21/07/2019 19:46

It doesn’t promote Muller lights as healthy!

Twenty years ago it did. I went to lose the baby weight I gained after having my first child. I ate A LOT of crap.

These days, it doesn’t. I don’t eat crap. I eat veg, fruit, plain carbs, measured amounts of bread, cereal and dairy and a few treats.

Not rocket science, but unfortunately I’m not lucky enough to be able to do that without some accountability, so I pay £4.95 a week to queue up and be weighed, and that focuses me.

What’s so bad about that?

GoodbyeRosie · 21/07/2019 19:48

I'm hearing people giving credit to SW as they now eat more fruit and veg, cook from scratch and eat smaller portions.

Well, guess what ..you did that on your own, it had nothing to do with SW.

If you ran a slimming club where all you did was weigh people every week, then had a 30 minute chat about recipes and how it was going generally, you would still see significant weight loss from people.

All SW and WW do is keep your motivation going when YOU have decided to lose weight.

Their business model is bizarre as well, as it depends on them failing. If they didnt have repeat customers then they would go bust.

justasking111 · 21/07/2019 19:53

I was not so impressed with the PON ladies they have been dieting for years losing 1/2 lb a week on average. I thought SW had changed their minds about muller lites and unlimited pasta though. A lot of it is good and commonsense, sticking to cooking from scratch lots of veg. salads, protein, which works for any diet.

Pinkarsedfly · 21/07/2019 19:56

I bought the PON book. I wasn’t impressed and haven’t cooked any of the recipes.

The day I stuff a strawberry with Quark is the day I give up.

TryingAndFailing39 · 21/07/2019 20:05

The day I stuff a strawberry with Quark is the day I give up.

That made me laugh out loud!