To think that slimming world doesn't work?

[Waifwafer]

Many of my friends (including myself) have joined Slimming World over the years. There is a trend - they all lost quite a substantial amount of weight over a relatively short period of time. Kept it off for no more than six months, then ended up putting it all back on... Sometimes more.

Looking at the plan, it doesn't look like a sustainable, long term lifestyle and it doesn't even seem like a healthy way to lose weight. Viewing treats as "syns" seems dangerous. Encouraging in group for members to eat unlimited pasta is ludicrous. It's essentially a calorie deficit just like every other method of losing weight, but encourages members to view food in a negative way.

Also, the whole experience is based on the number on the scales, which may fluctuate week-on-week and not actually be anything to do with fat loss.

AIBU to think that Slimming World is all a big con and doesn't work on a long term basis?

I did the eating more, moving less and taking measurements for years. I also did the eating whole foods. I did hypnotherapy. I did LCHF.
They didn't help me lose a significant amount of weight. They didn't magically help me sustain any weight loss.

For some people, the structure of Slimming World works. There are ladies at my group who have been target members for years. They are my inspiration. They are my best chance at staying a healthier weight.

It isn't a magic bullet. There is no magic bullet. It isn't a con trick, either. Just one among many approaches, that will work well for some and not for others.

I think people like to complain about SW and WW and the others because it gives them an excuse not ot do anything.

People set out with the mindset that they will fail or if they do lose weigh it'll go back on. If you need to diet, unless you have an underlying medical condition, you're eating more than you need. A diet will help you lose that excess weight but when you stop the diet you'll put it on again unless you have made lifestyle changes. If you don't want to make those changes accept the weight. OH did SW after putting on a lot of weight when he was ill (meant I did it as well as he cooks mostly), meals were fine, just normal meals. Now his weight is down again we stlll eat 'healthy' meals, no issue. No snack bars or weird concoctions of shakes etc.
Lots of women attended the SW he went to (mostly women) with the goal of fitting into a dress for a special occasion openly saying that once it was over they'd be eating as usual. I'm sure other diet regimes are the same, lose weight then afterwards back to normal.
People shouldn't be surprised that diets are long term, not being on the diet is what made them gain weight.

I do not think taking measurements is any different to getting on the scales, is it? It is still an obsession if you do it too much.

SW works for rule-followers, like my mum. While she’s in it. But the problem is when she’s always “on” or “off” a diet. It’s feast or famine, all or nothing. And that’s why folk go back to SW (and similar) while not actually incorporating some of the sensible eating principles it actually recommends.
My mum still doesn’t cook much from scratch, but likes using the app to check syns on supermarket foods. The other day she said “Yeah I think my problem before was BOGOF deals & bags of five pastries/cookies”. Once she’s off SW she might start buying these again...

As another poster said, it’s obvious to most (but not all) that limiting cake, chips & sweets will help with weight loss. But you may not realise that portion control with the likes of nuts & bread, high fat dairy make a big difference, too...

@Sausagedogsarethebest

I did SW a few years ago. Lost nearly 3 stone and felt great. Stopped doing SW and it all went back on again, and a little bit more. As others have said, it only works if you keep on it forever.

Surely this is the same of any diet or lifestyle change? "I started running and got really fit, as soon as I stopped running I started being less fit. Therefore running doesn't help you get fit"

@tricksyt

My friend has been doing it on and off for years, and she posts photos on Instagram of her meals, that often consist of a big pile of pasta, with low fat cheese and low fat sausages.

She loses 3 stone and then puts it all back on within 6 months.

Shes not doing it correctly then is she, as 1 third of the plate should be vegetables.

Haven't RTFT but I joined Slimming World, lost 1.5 stone. I ended up leaving the group and tried doing it from home (because I hated group, always felt like I was the odd one out). Ended up getting annoyed with SW because I felt like all I could cook while following it was English food and "fakeaways" (I prefer to cook traditional Chinese dishes). It also irritated me that muller lights were 1/2 syn but a better quality yogurt was 2 syns for a similar amount when the calorie content was similar. As a result I ended up putting back on the weight and then some(I was heavier than when I started!).

I'm not the only one this has happened to, I know of at least 3 people who left Slimming world and ended up piling it back on and then some. SW is nothing more than a scam and I regret signing up to it.

Lose weight however you want but I personally dislike people who have no idea of current SlimmingWorld plan criticising it for things it doesn’t say. It 100% doesn’t say diet pop is healthier than avocado. They very much encourage you using some syns in meals on things like avocado or nuts.
Yes you can lose weight on your own but people lose better with support - friend, PT, group like SlimmingWorld.
Like I say works for me. January 2019 I joined obese size 18/20 by Easter I was a 14 and June I was a healthy bmi. 3 years on i’m wearing a size 10 dress today.
I post on Instagram and don’t post weird stuff or massive portions. Just normal healthy eating. I’ve had overnight oats for breakfast (yoghurt not muller light!, 40g oats and fruit) I’ll have a salmon salad for lunch and Piri Piri chicken tonight with peppers and onions. Plus I can have a bit of chocolate if I fancy tonight. 10,000 steps. For me I feel well eating this way and it’s sustainable.

Over 2/3 of ladies my age are overweight. It’s not easy to lose weight on your own.
Target members are completely free, they are very happy for you to go weekly or occasionally up to you and you you get all membership perks like app.

Yes plan is minimum 1/3 plate each meal vegetables. You see people saying they are doing SlimmingWorld but don’t do this - Facebook and Instagram you see this a lot.
Got new pack today and it’s there in big letters.
It also doesn’t say stuff yourself on massive portions!

I had gastric sleeve surgery 3 months ago I've tried almost every diet but got into the yo yo diet mentality. I had CBT to prepare me for WLS , my calorie deficit is huge and some weeks I don't lose then I will lose 8lbs the week after then nothing. The weighing every week definitely isn't accurate for fat loss. Slimming world teaches nothing about portion control and the syns thing contributes to disordered eating, diet culture has made us all fatter!!!

@Waifwafer

For those that are saying this thread is missing the point and that anyone will put weight back on if you deviate from the plan:

The point I'm trying to make is that SW doesn't seem like a sustainable lifestyle choice, thus being almost impossible to stick to long term. Viewing foods as "syns", congratulating members who ha lost the most weight that week (even if it's actually 5lb in water weight or from a tummy bug rather than actual fat loss) and promoting low calorie but synthetically enhanced foods over calorie-dense nutritious food all points to this:

Short term, rapid weight loss, possibly a bad relationship with certain food groups and teaching members to celebrate the number on the scales, which might actually mean nothing.

Eating less, moving more and taking measurements seems much more sustainable long term... And it's free!

That’s your understanding of it though, but some of that is very inaccurate.

The promoting synthetically enhanced foods for instance, just doesn’t happen - Diet Coke isn’t ever particularly mentioned unless someone new questions whether they can drink it or if they should switch to water and the answer is always, you don’t have to count it because it’s got practically no calories in it, but obviously water is better for you, but it’s up to you what you drink.

Low fat yoghurt is just yoghurt! Only plain ones are in the free food lists, not flavoured ones...

What it does promote is lots of lean proteins, the more complex carbs, fruit and veg and controlling fats, sugar and things like alcohol...

You’re encouraged when you join and every week when you go, to look at your habits and why you do them, so you can make longterm changes, to use other members as your support system and to keep doing all that once you’re where you want to be and keep going for free - do some people still treat it like a quick fix? Yes of course, people don’t really like change IME.

It wont be the right way of losing weight for everyone - but eating less and moving more is very very simplistic and doesn’t take into account at all how people become overweight. I actually eat far more doing slimming world than I did before but it’s real food because my tendency is to skip meals, not eat until I’m very hungry and grab something small but very unhealthy, when I’ve tried calorie counting or WW I’ll happily be starving most of the time and use all my calories or points on very very unwise things.

Things like slimmer of the week are a bit... meh, but at least it’s trying to focus on a positive, I’ve been to weightloss places that made you stand up by yourself if you’d gained the most that week while they gave you a blooming lecture if I gain at slimming world it’s just a case of, ok... what’s your plan and target for this week?

I haven't RTFT but the end of the day, SW is a business and to make money it needs to attract new customers – but more importantly it needs to retain existing ones. So, its plan works in the short-term – users often lose lots of weight in the first few months. But long-term it isn't sustainable and the weight creeps back on – ensuring SW has a lovely pool of repeat customers who sign up again and again in the hope of it working this time. SW isn't alone in this, WW is the same. It's quite ironic the diet industry is probably the only one that relies on failure to stay in profit!

Of course it doesn’t work, it wouldn’t be as profitable if it did.

SW is a step towards healthier eating for some people but that is on the basis you have a healthy attitude to food in the first place. I know someone who is with SW and while they are losing weight it doesn’t address their psychological issues with food (namely comfort eating and comfort drinking).

I think SW is one of the healthier lifestyles out there

They don't say eat as much pasta as you like

They say fill a third of your plate with low density food like salad and veg then add the rest of your meal - eat till you are comfortably full

Any sensible person is going to realise that muller lights and hi fi bars are not nutritious filling or beneficial foods
But is it not about finding a balance ?
Do we not all want a wee treat now and then

I did it once - successfully -but couldn't stand the happy clapping brigade and having to take home a carrier bag full of crap from everyone's cupboard

I did like the accountability of the scales though , which there was an alternative

Slimming world works and it's very maintainable as long as you keep up with the third of your plate as vegetables (speed food).

It's a low fat plan and anything high fat is synned. People complaining about avocados melt me. If you want to eat avocados go find a high fat diet that works for you. It's like going on keto and moaning you can't eat carbs.

It's really easy to follow and stick to and I hate the bad rep it gets!

It’s essentially an MLM.

I'm no afraid there is much truth in this view of SW as a MLM business.

Local leaders are not treated very well, can often not even break even unless or maybe until they have a team of leaders

@Startrooper

These big name weight loss companies are only successful because they rely on members to fail - lose some weight, stop going to meeting and following the plans - and then come back again when you’ve got fed up of your subsequent weight gain / have a special event coming up and so on.

Pretty much all weight loss plans fail to thoroughly cover the why’s of overeating and poor food choices. The initial buzz of weight loss wears off for many and they can’t/won’t maintain the plans, and these days it’s well known that carbs convert to sugar so why they still encourage regular consumption of pasta, rice, bread, potatoes etc as well as selling those sickly sweet substitute own-brand chocolate/cereal bars and crisps etc in their meetings is beyond me. All these carbs and sweet foods should be very occasional and certainly not consumed daily for long-term weight loss.

Cut the carbs and all processed foods, up your protein significantly, drink 2L water along with lots of vegetables and no more than 1-2 fruit daily, take up regular exercise, and address your psychological reasons for poor food choices or excessive intake and you are likely to have more success and more money in your pocket too.

Yes! This!!

I found this info after I joined Second Nature. Brilliant and insightful. Looks more towards the psychology of why we eat what we eat and how habits, sleep, water intake can have a huge impact. I've done SW and WW and whilst I kept the weight off for a long time, since hitting menopause the weight has piled on. For me, it's definitely the overload of carbs I've eaten...which SW encourage you to have too much of.

@BIWI I love LCBootcamp, my favourite bit is where we have to sacrifice our first born to join or when we have to self flagellate if we do not lose any weight

These big name weight loss companies are only successful because they rely on members to fail - lose some weight, stop going to meeting and following the plans - and then come back again when you’ve got fed up of your subsequent weight gain / have a special event coming up and so on.

You can't blame them for your failure though. It's not someone else's fault if you go back to cakes, chocolate, pizza and wine.

[quote ZiggZagg]@BIWI I love LCBootcamp, my favourite bit is where we have to sacrifice our first born to join or when we have to self flagellate if we do not lose any weight[/quote]
Self flagellation even if you do lose weight @ZiggZagg. It's the only way.

@BIWI

SW and WW etc try to teach people about healthy eating and balance.
Diets 'Fail' because people view them as diets not permanent changes to the way the eat and live.

Follow a plan and you will loose weight - stop and it piles back on.
It's not rocket science.

@Sanada

Haven't RTFT but I joined Slimming World, lost 1.5 stone. I ended up leaving the group and tried doing it from home (because I hated group, always felt like I was the odd one out). Ended up getting annoyed with SW because I felt like all I could cook while following it was English food and "fakeaways" (I prefer to cook traditional Chinese dishes). It also irritated me that muller lights were 1/2 syn but a better quality yogurt was 2 syns for a similar amount when the calorie content was similar. As a result I ended up putting back on the weight and then some(I was heavier than when I started!).

I'm not the only one this has happened to, I know of at least 3 people who left Slimming world and ended up piling it back on and then some. SW is nothing more than a scam and I regret signing up to it.

So when you followed the SW plan you lost 1.5 stone (well done, that's great) and when you didn't follow the SW plan you gained weight.

It's fine to make the choice not to follow it any more as you did, but that doesn't make it a scam. It worked for you. The reason it isn't working for you now is because you are not following it!