Slimming world. Is it a con/cult?

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Basically that really. I've read positive stories but also some completely bat shit crazy ones!

I have a considerable amount of weight to lose. I have recently joined the gym. But I'm reading conflicting advice about the gym and slimming world.

Is it worth it?

I wouldn't pay for the RH app as it's stuff I know already (yes I'm fat, yes I know why) but I guess you pay for the guidance and community which is the key thing that keeps people going. I've started going to a PT which is so expensive that I don't want to waste it! And she keeps me motivated.
RH just talks a LOT of sense about slimming scams and understands weight loss and nutrition. It's NOT the same as slimming world by any means.

Not lost anything this week Janet? MAYBE YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH!! MORE PASTA! MORE CHOCOLATE! THAT'LL DO IT!

Bridget, if you create a significant caloric deficit you will lose weight. The psychological and emotional stuff needs to be addressed differently but the basic science of caloric deficit can't be disproved.

I think the problem is that people have no idea how many calories are in foods and so massively overeat. My dsis reckoned her Christmas dinner came to about 1000 calories. I thought it was probably more like 2400!! I don’t think slimming world helps with this to be honest!
I’m going to start slimming world next week mainly for the weekly weigh in and peer pressure but I will be following their eating plan with a pinch of salt. I think it’s more important people educate themselves about calories and portion sizes.

Fwiw, the only way I can maintain a healthy weight is by intermittent fasting. I've done all the diets over the years and they all work but all make me miserable. I find it much easier to be hungry sometimes rather than all the time, which I am if I follow any kind of calorie counting approach. My appetite seems to be much larger than average. I've done LCHF and it didn't make any difference, I was still hungry all the time. I finally found a regime that works for me last year, lost 3 stone of baby weight and am maintaining now.

It works if you follow it, but on the whole all they make you do is what you should do anywhere - eat well and exercise. It's not really rocket science.

But it's good for people who lack self control or motivation, as you're accountable, seeing as you have to go to meetings and be weighed. It's mostly the thought of it being announced that you've gained that encourages people to stick to it.

I lost 12st a few years back completely on my own. I have a friend who lost weight with SW and still goes to the meetings despite having been at her goal weight for 6 years, as she knows she would go back to overeating if she stopped going. I mean, what the hell? That's not normal, surely?

It's too carb heavy for me. I feel faint. The other thing is that you eat until you're full. I need to calorie count as I only feel full when I stop eating or feel sick, so I consume far too many calories. Unless it's changed since I did it and they calorie count now. My Fitness Pal is really good.

*Calling food a syn and making up batshit rules about what a syn is!
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This. It is encouraging an unhealthy relationship with food that keeps members dependent on SW.

Any calorie-restricted diet will work, short-term, but only permanent changes to your relationship with food will keep the weight off. SW works against you making those permanent changes.

Richey are you a mumsnetter?

It works, I lost 8 stones. It’s changing how you eat and you have to stick to it. Attending meetings can help. I needed the ritual of going and being told I had/hadn’t lost weight. It really worked for me, but you have to have your head in it.

It seems to encourage eating unrestricted amounts of carbs which encourages massive highs and lows of blood sugar levels. You’d be better off calorie counting and cutting out junk food, sugary foods and sugary drinks.

Literally everybody knows that we need to eat less and move more. Everyone knows this. However, us fat people have a little monster in us that begs and pleads to eat the stuff we shouldn't. And lots of it. And it's constant and unrelatable. We go on diets, think we have mastered this monster, it is being quiet and we are in control. We lose a little bit of weight. Then the monster starts quietly, "just a little bit, you miss it, you are in control now so a wee taste wont hurt". Then we we have a wee tatse but that just opens the floodgates and we binge.
That's because the food we binge on is crap, we think it tastes good but it doesnt and it is lacking in nutrients so we stuff more and more in. We really think this crap food will make us feel better, but it doesn't. We end up feeling worse.
SW and other clubs do not even try to deal with this monster. They just give us ways to deny the monster it's treats for awhile. Then it just gets hungrier.

Sw is like a casino, the house always wins.

It has worked for me. I lost nearly two stone in 3 months. I had steady losses each week by following the plan and still allowing myself some treats. I'm not sure why there's so much hate surrounding SW. It clearly can and does work when followed properly and like all diets it will stop working if you stop following it. For me it's a good one to follow because it means I can eat a lot of the things I enjoy and still lose weight just by making a few simple alterations - for example using natural yogurt in cooking instead of cream and things like that.

I've had a few months off and especially over Christmas I've totally eaten anything and everything but I plan on getting back to SW and losing again.

The groups are a bit cliche - lots of applause and congratulations but if you get a good group (mine is) you'll also find a lot of support and accountability there which is key for me.

I lost quite a bit of weight doing mainly a SW diet but also applying a bit of common sense- eg eating my own body weight in pasta will make me fat even if SW call it a 'free' food. The 'consultant' at my group advises this approach and frequently refers to calorie values as well as SW categories. For me it worked because it gave me accountability and people to speak to who understood my overeating.

I don't think it's a con but it is really just a way of trying to get you to eat fewer calories by eating more low calorie veg etc so if you don't need the group accountability it's probably a waste of money. Having said that, I have been amazed at the number of people I've met at my group who seem to have very little understanding of how calorific various foods are

The problem with it is that it makes its own rules which are presented as a magic formula. If you are very overweight it seems to work well. My issue is that it doesn’t really encourage portion control and so it doesn’t work for me. Also some of the consultants are pretty dim. I had one once who kept telling everyone that if they hadn’t lost weight they hadn’t eaten enough which is nonsensical. I’ve switched to calorie counting with lose it which works better.

Weight loss in theory is simple, burn more calories than you consume. Exercise obviously helps with this but work our daily calories allowance for a loss and try to work within this, don’t deny treats if they can fit in your calorie allowance, balanced meals with right amounts of protein, carbs etc.

I tried it a few years ago and quit after a few weeks when the consultant told me to do less exercise as i hadn't lost weight that week - at that point, I realised it was bollocks!

I am a total RH team convert now - sensible calorie allowance, no nonsense advice and watching their videos on SW really make the scales fall off your eyes! I've lost 3 stone so far and exercise is encouraged

It's a complete con. It's totally designed to keep you dependent on paying for membership and buying their products.

Any diet that discourages exercise, and tells you a banana or avocado is more damaging than processed micro meals and chocolate bars is batshit.

And don't get me started on encouraging people to eat unlimited pasta...

I don’t know why people think slimming world discourages exercise, infact it encourages and ‘rewards’ it

Here's my story and I'm sure it is similar to millions of others.

Went to SW, lost a ton of weight and got to target, decided I could 'manage alone'

Gained all the weight back plus several stone more.

Went back, found the losses slower and harder, left after dropping about 2 stone.

Gained that back and more.

Went again, started going crazy and making cakes from wheatabix and the eating the whole lot because 'syn free' ffs. My sister was also going and became mentally and physically unwell because she was obsessed with how many syns things had and if she could squeeze in 'body magic' when she was ill.
Then I realised that I was 30, I didn't want to hate myself everytime I 'cheated' and ate a proper cake so left and vowed never to do it again.

I'm not going to lie, I'm still very overweight, I have gone through this cycle with WW, low carb etc etc, I tried RH but for whatever reason I just can't stick to anything, weighing and logging everyday makes me mentally unstable and obsessive so I need to fix that first. I am going to counselling and then will revisit.

All pod membership groups like SW rely on people regaining weight and coming back.

Bridget, if you create a significant caloric deficit you will lose weight. The psychological and emotional stuff needs to be addressed differently but the basic science of caloric deficit can't be disproved.

The point is that it is practically impossible to measure caloric deficit because of the many different ways your body uses calories, a lot of which are altered by different habits of consumption. It's not as simple as how many calories you consume vs. how much you exercise. Science says so.

SW doesn't discourage exercise. It just states that food optimisation is more important. Which in weight loss it is. Doesn't mean you can't and shouldn't exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. They do a designated 'body magic' (exercise) booklet in their welcome pack and you are rewarded by the more exercise you do.

Reducing Calorie Intake May Not Help You Lose Body Weight