Slimming world. Is it a con/cult?

[Emcont]

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 love the food cooking with fresh ingredients from scratch. Tonight its macaroni cheese with spring greens yummy tomorrow steak and chips. And I know I will loose weight what is not to love.

It is a con. Go an read information from people like the Fitness Chef on Instagram or James Smith. Slimming world has been proven to work for the short term. It's something like 90% of people gain the weight back and more within 5 years.

That doesn't make it a con, unless you think every single diet in the world is a con. Diets work if you stick to them forever. Almost nobody actually does.

Worked for me.

I go and it's working for me. I've.lost 1st 7lbs and I've been a target member for a year now. I stay to group every week because it motivates me and gives me an incentive to stay at target. I've also made friends there so I go for the social aspect as well. I don't take it too seriously though and I'll have a treat or the odd off pan day if I want to. Some of the older ladies in my group have been target members and kept the weight off for 20+ years

Sorry but I just can't get on board with a system which penalises someone for eating an avocado which is full of nutrients and healthy fats, whilst advocating as many sugar laden yogurts, diet sugar packed fizzy drinks and artificial shite as one desires.

The fact that you can't have 2 bread / cereal items in a day without being penalised but you can have 2 of those sugary bar things says it all for me.

I also witnessed somebody say they make lasagne by blending tinned mac and cheese rather than making a roux and cheese sauce from scratch because it was less syns. What the fuck is that nonsense??!

Oh and the nonsense of cooking everything in frylite too, rather than a drizzle of quality oil. It's absolutely rancid stuff.

Basically, eat less and move more

And this.

Take responsibility for what you choose to shove in your mouth and don't be lazy.

When I've put on weight I've been eats my far too much rubbish and being greedy and sitting on my bum too much.

Which is basically what I've been doing for past 2 weeks 😂

From Monday things are going to be different.........

I've eaten far too much rubbish

It's a model designed for people to fail and be repeat costumes, otherwise it wouldn't be so successful

@BaconandAvacado wish I had your will power I need help as I openly admit food is my demon.

Food is my demon too. I’ve been “good “ all day eating nutritious food which meets my needs then because I was starving at 6 had some nuts. Then a florentine. Then a truffle (chocolate not pig snuffled). I now feel sick and ashamed

Sw does work. All diets work. You just have to stay on them forever. Which doesn’t work. The link I read about staying off diet time being the most crucial is so true

@Baconandavocado Eat less and move more

www.facebook.com/WeAreRebelfit/photos/a.403187549816240/1821145571353757/?type=3&theater

“Eat Less, Exercise More" remains some of the worst health advice in human history, alongside swapping natural fats for diet foods.

Not only does it create the perfect biological scenario replicating famine, and driving weight gain as a natural defence mechanism, but it also massively damages mental health as people inevitably and repeated fail in their efforts.

They attempt to eat less, exercise more, and fail. They attempt to eat even less, and exercise even more, and fail. They attempt to eat extremely less, and exercise extremely more, and before you know it they're on a rollercoaster of starving, binging, yo-yoing and gaining, getting fatter and fatter, more and more depressed...

All thanks to this awful, outdated advice.

Advice so outdated that the World Health Organisation has put a warning label on it, recognising that it's doing more harm than good.

Perhaps what's worse than this shockingly bad advice is the number of PTs, nutritionists, doctors and other health professionals who keep dishing it out, without considering how well it's actually worked over the last 30 years.

Who's the stupid one here?

The person who struggles to "eat less, exercise more" because it goes against human instinct and biology? Or the person who struggles to recognised that this advice has FAILED on a global scale and is actually driving obesity?

There are some thick people out there.

They don't come in a certain shape or size.

But you can spot them quickly.

The moment they say "Eat Less, Exercise More".

The mantra of the moron”

None of the slimming world consultants I know are a good advert for their product

There is so much rubbish spouted about SW. if done right it works well and there is a guide to maintaining once you hit target.

There are dozens of target members at my class and I've been at target for 3 years now.

I go to class (for free) because I know I would over eat if I didn't hold my self to account regularly.

But the plan is straightforward
A portion of fibre rich food
2 portions of calcium rich foods
1/3 - 1/2 a plate of low cal veg or fruit at each meal. Too reduce the portion size of the rest of the meal and to fill you up.
Healthy lean low fat other food to satisfy your appetite
Up to 300 cals (15 Syns) of other food to teach you that high calorie dense food should be treats or flavour enhancers rather than the meal, but to ensure that nothing's forbidden

Followed right you lose weight

The maintenance plan encourages adding in a little carbs until you find your balance point

I came on to say look at RebelFit on Facebook but others have beaten me to it.

I love his attitude as he understands that being overweight (super morbidly obese even) is not just about calories in versus calories burned.

I would say, OP, step up the exercise and learn about diet and nutrition. It isn’t a quick fix or easy journey but diet clubs exist to keep you returning again and again. This is crazy. If they were successful you would lose weight and then not have to go back but time and time again (even on this thread) you hear stories of people losing loads of weight then putting it all back on again plus some and then having to return.

People regain weight because they go back to their old habits . That's the same with any sort of 'diet'. There is no diet plan in the world that works by helping you lose weight and keep it off afterwards when you go back to your old habits that made you gain weight in the first place.

People regain weight because they stop the eating plan. I don't think that is something unique to sw tbh.

I know someone who used to be a consultant and has had to have therapy to undo some of the mental damage SW did to them. They lost a significant amount of weight but have put it all back on since leaving. The tactics they are taught to use to recruit and keep members and consultants are questionable in my opinion.

SW can create unhealthy habits and mindsets and is ultimately there to take your money week after week.

To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume. Find a way of keeping fit that you enjoy, that makes you feel good.

As a bigger lady I can’t tell you how much ditching short term diets and lifting weights/doing circuits has changed my outlook and relationship with myself, food, health (physical be mental) and exercise.

It’s different for everyone I know, but I’d approach any diets that promise quick results with caution. For me it’s about feeling good, a positive mindset and healthy relationship with exercise and food.

Go for sustainable not a quick fix.

There are some questionable points about slimming world. However, compared to the shit people eat and put on weight with surely slimming world is a good starting point? I started with slimming world and moved on to clean eating. Well clean about 40 percent of the time. It's working though.

Richie, is that you? 😀

SW is incredibly restrictive - I last followed it about 8 years ago and I still have some weird ideas about ‘good’ food. Pasta n Sauce = good, go for it, have the whole pack! Chicken salad, oh no, there’s 3 syns in the crouton/avocado.

RH fitness is literally about creating a calorie deficit - making absolutely sure you have more calories out than in. Takes some effort, but works because science.

If you are looking at Team RH look on Facebook, not at their website.

People regain weight because they go back to their old habits

This (and lots of comments similar to it) show how poorly understood it all is. Dieting is scientifically proven to cause overeating and weight gain in the long run. So no, it's not "going back to your old habits" that makes you put weight on. It's the fact you dieted in the first place. It's the diet's fault, not your failure.

The first reason that the weight went on before you'd ever tried any diet, ever, will have been complex - stress, depression, struggling to deal with emotions etc etc... Any diet will overwhelmingly more likely than not make your weight problems worse in the long run, not better.

Read more widely on it and don't be brainwashed. Try Rebelfit and the Fitness Chef online, and the book How to have your cake and your skinny jeans, to name a few.

I've done it twice, lost both times, put it all back on and more both times....it encourages you to overeat imo....

Despite my username, it works for me target member for 5 years.

It is not a con. The reason the failure rate is high is that people that attend (I am one) already struggle to eat healthily. If 90% fail, 10% of people with food issues succeed. That is a lot of people.

I eat normal food, nothing odd here and am on slimming world.

Thinking back to our food taster before Christmas all the offerings were normal but maybe a lower calorie version of a Christmas treat - ie I made mince meat rolls with filo pastry which tasted like mince pies but were a lot less calories - fitting with the calories in calories out theory.