New to slimming world

[groundhogday79]

Hi all. I am thinking of joining slimming world on Thursday but just wanted to pick the brains of those who do it already.

First, is it easy to follow? Do I need to weigh and measure? Can I feed the family on it or will I end up doing separate evening meals?

[GasLightShining]

I find joining a group helps me focus especially as I am paying

Joining will also give you access to the website which I often use

[emwithme]

I second going to group. I cannot do it alone. I tried...and failed, and gained a lot of the weight back. I need the accountability of standing on someone else's scales each week. I also like the social side of it (I'm on the social team - the people who help with weigh/pay and the shop).

As for how long the group lasts, it's between an hour and 90 minutes.

The first half hour of the time is for the new member talk, and for existing members to go through the pay and weigh stations. The "group" bit of the session - called IMAGE Therapy - lasts for about an hour.

So if the group start time is (say) 9.30, on your first week, turn up in good time for that. The leader will run through the plan with you and any other new members (or existing members who would like a refresher). Then at 10-ish, you'll move into the horseshoe of chairs, the leader will give you any news (such as new Healthy Extras, or forthcoming offers or special deals or whatever), then they'll give out any awards that people have won (for each half stone you lose, you get a sticker and a sticky-foot certificate), then they'll go round the group discussing how people have done and what they plan to do going forward. Then, at the end, the Slimmer of the Week (the person who has lost the most weight that week, who also had a loss or maintain the week before) gets the basket of goodies - every week, you need to take a piece of fruit or similar for them to win and the raffle will be drawn. The first week, you'll weigh after this.

In subsequent weeks, as long as you turn up before 10 am you'll be weighed - you don't need to get there for 9.30 unless you want to.

[groundhogday79]

How long do the groups tend to last?

[ChessieFL]

It depends on your own motivation - I need the discipline of the weekly group plus I like the support and encouragement I get from the others.

[groundhogday79]

Thanks. Is it worth joining group? A colleague has the books I can use that will save money

[GasLightShining]

Exactly what emwithme said. It will be easy if you cook from scratch

[emwithme]

It's ridiculously easy to follow - once you get your head round it. The only thing you need to weigh and measure are your healthy extras (A for calcium, B for fibre - but there are ways around this) and your syns (treats/naughty bits/extras).

You can cook the same thing for everyone; in fact, SW is very good at that. I have tweaked all the things I cooked before to make them more SW friendly (removing oil, upping vegetable content, using leaner cuts of meat etc).