How can I undo damage done by slimming world?

[Emcont]

I've had a love/hate relationship with it over the last few years. I know it really works for some people. But it's not for me.

I don't know how I can undo associating foods with Syns and Speed vs Free?

I want to be able to have a piece of pineapple without worrying that it is Free rather than Speed!

Or eat a slice of white bread for 100 calories or whatever and not feel like my whole day is ruined!

Anyone got any advice on how you did it?

I have a huge problem with Slimming World. Why can't people simply exercise, eat less processed food, eat more clean, vegan foods and drink copious amounts of water?

Eh? That is exactly what I do - regular exercise, lots of cooking from scratch and drinking water. Where SW came in, is that it provided me with a focus to shift some weight and the recipes (using natural raw ingredients) were great and instrumental in me succeeding.

Personally I don't agree with the way SW promotes their Hi Fi bars as I think they're just sweet junk - so I choose not to eat them (nobody is forcing me too). However others clearly like them, so each to their own. Regardless of all diet regimes and advice out there, at some point we have to accept responsibility for our own eating and lifestyle choices, and many of us will need to manage our weight (especially as we get older and metabolism slows down).

I've gone from Slimming World to calorie counting on My FitnessPal because my brain told me I could eat as much free food as possible - I have learned that everything has calories, its not quite so limiting and some foods are lower in calories than I actually thought they were so I was thinking that certain things were bad for me when they actually aren't as bad as I thought. Agree with PP above who say you need to stop associating bad/good food but that if you ear well 80% of the time then 20% of the not so good things won't hurt you. Good luck

I’ve removed over 4000 sw accounts from my Instagram.

You followed four thousand dieting accounts?!

Different things work for different people - some people like a plan so they don't have to do so much of the planning themselves. You need to stick to the plan though, I am always baffled when people see diets as a short-term thing - if the way you eat normally makes you put on weight, that's still going to happen when you go back to eating like that. The OP is looking for a long-term method which is a good thing IMO.

On the SW plan, members choose to eat crap or cook healthily from scratch. A third of a meal is vegetables.
I’ve never had a muller light yogurt or a mug shot.

Slimming World is a crock and teaches people NOTHING about nutrition. It creates negative associations and anything that encourages packet foods is not healthy.

Our relationship with food is already awful by the time we go to a club for help. It starts in the classroom when the children can't have 'bad' food which reinforces our beliefs about what we shouldn't be eating.

I'm surprised that so many people are pointing the OP towards alternative diets and sites (every one of which is there to make money) when realistically they just need to stop and think.

Every one of us knows that portion size and snacking are two things that would instantly change our habits. We all know that an avocado Is better for us than a mars bar. Eating isn't about food, it's about us and how we feel about ourselves, and that's the part that needs tackling.

I've never tried SW but I have managed to undo 30 years of disordered eating by going low carb (one carb meal per day) and going cold turkey on anything with refined sugar. I eat what I want within those boundaries and never feel hungry or the need to binge (and have lost almost 3 stone since June last year). I think any structured diet like SW is only successful while you are doing it. Your way of eating should be sustainable and not turn into an obsession such as the one you seem to be having with 'syns' etc.

What's a mug shot?

@SchrodingersImmigrant

@sch

@SchrodingersImmigrant

What's a mug shot?

Glad someone else asked!

Keep picturing Hugh Grant!

@diddl 😂

Omg. Nah. Thanks @Aurorie11

Another person who did slimming world for years and only got fatter overall. Only 1% of people who diet actually keep the weight off. What slimming world taught me was to overeat and ignore my hunger signals.

I'm into intuitive eating now.

‘Agree with PP above who say you need to stop associating bad/good food but that if you ear well 80% of the time then 20% of the not so good things won't hurt you. Good luck’

So I instead of 80/20 good/bad it is 80/20 eat well/not so good?

It sounds pretty much the same.

Sounds like you want to move away from 'diets'

Have you considered or read up on plant based diets? May help seeing food more holistically as it's a way of life and proven to be healthy not just for weight control but also reducing risks of lots of health issues (and environmental/ethical issues).

@BaitandSwitch

diddl

"I think any program that calls foods 'bad'and sinful is doing damage."

Does it call foods bad & sinful?

It implies it in the terminology used and the approach to eating it advocates.

I disagree, from my own experience I found no foods were implied to be bad & sinful, just that certain foods (if you choose to eat them) will lead to weight gain if you consume too much of them. I think the SW method credits users with some intelligence to work out things for themselves and I really don't get this description of a cult mentality - certainly wasn't for me.

Like any other commercial franchise of course SW is out to make a profit, but equally when I reached target weight last year, I've been going to meetings and using its online facilities for free (so they aren't making any money out of me anymore!)
There are loads of different diets, eating regimes and diet theories out there - some will work for some people better than others, whether it's SW, WW or anything else - and I'm sure other regimes have products and services to promote and sell as well. There are plenty of authors who constantly write books (eg Michael Moseley) so everyone I'm afraid is out to make money from the diet industry. I just don't think it's fair to demonise SW in particular, but fine to say if it doesn't work for you.

@BaitandSwitch I disagree. The language used is a real turn off and some of the rules make no sense at all.

The real issue with all diets, including SW, is they encourage people to stick to rules. Rules that, for most people, are impossible to follow long-term. That’s why the diet industry is so lucrative; 99% will fail eventually so your market is always there and desperate for help. Those rules we're told to follow (whether from a diet or what your parents told you) cause damage because they create a disconnect between understanding your sensation of true hunger and acting on that sensation appropriately. They also encourage you to eat only certain types of food and not the food that your body is telling you it needs. That’s how disordered eating develops.

Understanding the psychology of dieting, the psychological and social issues around food and body image, adopting intuitive eating And accepting myself has been the only way I’ve found to undo the damage from diet culture. Rather than rules, being deliberate and intentional about eating what your body wants when it needs it is far more sustainable than any diet. However, it’s easier to sell the idea of following rules because you make short term progress (even when all the scientific evidence suggests you’ll eventually fail) whereas you may not lose any weight at all eating intuitively because the primary aim isn’t to lose weight. Instead you’re reconnectIng with your body and undoing the psychological damage caused by diet culture.

I’ve been a lot happier and more peaceful around food since I ditched diets. I’ve started losing weight as a by-product but there’s no deprivation involved. This feels far more sustainable and physically and psychologically healthy to me than any diet.

Your mistake is thinking you need to diet to lose weight. You don’t. If you really want permanent change you need to do the opposite of dieting.

Sorry, what was the AIBU part of this post exactly?

I did laugh at some posts on FB by sw members posting about how many subs are in a small bar of chocolate to the point they can have 5/6 a day. Yeah that's gonna make you lose weight, eating 5/6 snacks that are all chocolate.

@KeepingPlain

I did laugh at some posts on FB by sw members posting about how many subs are in a small bar of chocolate to the point they can have 5/6 a day. Yeah that's gonna make you lose weight, eating 5/6 snacks that are all chocolate.

I heard that a lot about SW and the other one. People go through incredible lengths to create something instead if something and in the end it's just full of crap but they worked out they can eat a lots of it. That group mentioned above confirmed it if I am honest👀

It's just odd to me that any program which would really want people to lose for their good would encourage that....

Unless of course it's a money making machine which relies on long term customers and return custom...... 😙

I've been damaged by Slimming World. Its like a bloody cult. I feel guilty if I eat an avocado or have a smoothie which is ridiculous, but I can knock back cans of Diet Coke & muller lights & feel
Like I'm being "good" even though I know that's ridiculous. I've just discovered rebel fit & he talks so much sense.

Reformed yo yo dieter here to say "overcoming overeating" by Jane Hirschmann absolutely changed my life. Dieting was making me absolutely miserable by my late twenties ( and no thinner, long term!!) This book was amazing. Its a hard read and very hard to follow the instructions, but if you stick with it and do everything she says, you can get back a healthy relationship with food. I've been pretty much the same weight since (that is neither thin nor fat) and never been on a single diet or watched my weight at all!! Heaven.

One thing that helped me was to follow people like drjoshuawolrich and thefitnesschef_ on instagram and read through their posts as they talk about how places like SW and WW can be so negative for your mental health and after a while I felt like it really did sink in

@SchrodingersImmigrant

I know right?! Can't think why they'd want to keep people fat...

@KeepingPlain absolute mystery

So the book I’m reading is called Spoon Fed: why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong. By Tim Spector. It’s really interesting and has a whole section on calories. It’s much much more biologically complex than I’d ever thought.