Back on SW but find the groups awful! Does it get better?

[fruityb]

I used to go to SW two years ago and that consultant didn't do image therapy. She would say how much was lost or gained collectively and pick out a couple of people who had good losses and ask them one thing they thought helped. It took five minutes. She'd hand out certificates and it was all quite laid back. She told the same stories about herself week in week out however and that got frustrating - I was so tired of hearing about how she used to sneak fish and chips every week! It wasn't for the benefit of new members as there weren't any really! I rejoined recently and hated the first group so much I don't ever want to go back. Two hours of listening to "babes" "gorgeous" "shiny stickers" and her speaking to every single person in the room about losses and gains. There were 40 people there!! I can't bear all the air kissing and the mwah mwah business and the "hi girls" banter. It's too pink and fluffy and covered in glitter. Now I just weigh and go.

Should I stick it out and get swept up in it or do I just bail every week? All the happy clapping and sisterhood bollocks gets on my nerves so much. If I didn't pay to weigh I wouldn't be as good on the diet so I don't mind that, but should I really try to stick this out or just run? I'm in my thirties, "shinies" don't really excite me that much lol

At a group I used to go to there was a group of women who would always go on about how they were off for dinner at the pie and mash cafe after the session ended. They hardly ever lost weight but always claimed they'd been good all week! The consultant just used to laugh! Our current one is much tougher - through a right old strop about people blowing their week by having 'treat night' after weigh-in and getting despondent the next week when they'd not lost!

*threw not through

My DM is a big SW advocate but hasn't lost any weight and the recipes are enough to put me off. There seems to be an obsession with quark and stock cubes? Every thing my DM makes has a stock cube in it. She was also telling me about the clever grated cauliflower pizza base and a really bizarre one of cous cous mixed with scrambled eggs.

I love my group. The leader is fabulous, fun, bubbly and just a really lovely person. Gave me a big hug when I lost 3lbs last week. Other group members are really friendly too.

The food...well it's about cooking and trying new things out, taking out the fat and trying other ways of cooking stuff. I have noticed a change but it's not so different. I've upped our fruit and veg intake, reduced the snacks in the house (the Teenager is still moaning about this) and just enjoyed the food. I don't buy scan bran or the HiFi chocolate bars SW sells, if I want chocolate I have it. I sometimes save my milk allowance for an afternoon milky coffee and have a four finger KitKat (11.5 syns) and it's a nice treat but not one I do daily.

flappy id doesn't have to be like that. Just like you don't have to eat muller lights and mugshots.

I've just eaten a lovely lamb madras that was a recipe out of the SW curry book, you wouldn't have thought it was diet food.

flappy all that grated cauliflower and crushed scan bran oh its just like cake stuff is garbage.
Nice curried, pasta, veg , fruit all good.

I've been back on SW for a couple of months and so far it's going well. Last time I tried it, I did 2 different groups and they were both awful, but this new group is great. The leader is at her target and really seems to care about all her members.

As far as the group is concerned, she's always perfect, knows the syns of nearly everything and is a SW mastermind. That's what I need from a leader. I've done both WW and SW before and seen about 10 different leaders. So many leaders use the group as their own personal therapy, confessing to their slip ups during the week in a "haha, I know how you feel, we're all fatties together" type way. That doesn't motivate me. The image I see, is a successful leader who sticks by SW all the time and has made the diet work. I don't want to hear about her human side and indulgence - she has her own leader for that.

In my previous groups, I listened too much to the weird and wacky cookery tips, trying to mimic cakes and takeaways etc. Someone fed us Weetabix muffins that people were saying "ooo these are really nice" when in reality, they were fucking disgusting. I can't live off that crap. Someone even suggested you could make a swiss roll by rolling up an omelate and putting quark in the middle. WTF?! We don't seem to talk about that stuff in my new group. Instead, I've got a couple of the recent SW cookery books and stuff out of those are bloody lovely. The recipes have gone down really well with DH.

I think SW success is about ignoring the bullshit tips and finding a good leader. Try a few different groups and see what's out there.

I've been on SW for 13 weeks and love it. Lost 1 1/2 stone, want to lose another 3. Our leader is fantastic, she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of products and where they are or aren't in stock across about a 20 mile radius and 6 supermarket brands. She also does cooking from scratch, recipes, ideas to try etc. The balance is about equal between clean type ideas and processed stuff.

There's no "ooh boo I'm struggling too" from her, she used to be size 22 and now she's a size 8 and wears tight dresses - it cheers me up just to look at her! But every so often she'll let out how she had a sore throat and ate 8 muller lights in 3 hours... she understands compulsive eating, has mostly conquered it, and knows how to lose the weight and keep it off. We can NEVER get her to say "it's not fair, it should have worked, you should have lost weight but you didn't" - she's firmly convinced that if you do the right things, the diet will work.

SW is a DIET!!! I know they don't call it that because the word is out of fashion but it's a way of eating to help you lose weight. If you do it right, it works. Doing it right is sometimes more complicated than it would first appear.

They have simplified the plan as much as possible but underlying it are complicated calculations and averages and sometimes one thing falls on the Free side of the line (whole banana) and the other falls on the Syns side (mashed banana).

Anything you could potentially have vast amounts of needs to be synned. If mashed banana was free loads of people would have daily smoothies containing 10 of them which is tonnes of sugar. Whole banana is free, does anyone eat 10 a day? 3 a day is probably the maximum.

Someone upthread said they didn't want Overeaters Anonymous but that's exactly what I needed. I have tried, lost half a stone, and celebrated with food (so the weight goes straight back on) and new clothes that I could then never fit into about 10 times in the last 20 years, and I need to sit in a room full of other people who struggle with their weight and say "I'm Sticky and I am too fat and this week I tried quite hard but still ate cake and therefore I didn't lose any weight." OR - "I lost weight this week because I went for 3 runs and ate mullerlights instead of muffins".

Enough about me :) OP I'd recommend you try more groups until you find a good one, either one with a good leader or one with good people.

Sticky and Drink, what you've both posted is my current experience as well. My SW consultant is gorgeous with a great figure from following SW. She still weighs in and says she has about 1stone still to lose but has just had a baby so is being sensible about the food optimising.

I need a healthy eating plan not a diet....I know SW is a diet but it doesn't feel like one. I've lost 8lbs so far in two weeeks and weigh in again tomorrow. There are a lot of young parents in my group which is lovely.

It's not all about Muller Lights or bizarre food concoctions...I don't do those and neither do I buy their HiFi chocolate bars. I have a couple of options for a chocolate fix. A four finger KitKat is 11.5 syns and 25g choco snaps cereal is 5 syns. Either of those help me stave off eating more unhealthily.

I am making Spaghetti Carbonara tonight...the SW version which is lovely. ...the whole family loves it and it has a fraction of the calories compared with the full fat version.

I eat a lot of pasta (I always did) so my main meal usually contains it. I tend to have a sandwich at lunch time and fruit for breakfast with fat free plain yoghurt.

We've massively upped our fruit and veg intake too.

It's a great way of eating.

I'm sorry but I like to look at a consultant and think " yeah you look good". I don't want to see manky leggings and an old tunic.

Shallow but true.

Im quite enjoying group so far, even though I'm only in week 4. There is a lot of bullshit and the 'regulars' who have clearly been losing and gaining the same half a stone for years just having a moan about how good they have been and in the next breath admitting that they inhaled 2 boxes of McVities thins the previous evening, but in the main I think it's good therapy for everyone to talk about the diet with people who are in a similar boat.

I hate my group.
I got there early tonight to weigh as wanted to chip off as asthma playing up and I HATE them.
Sat right by the pay bit and walked over to them and one woman pushed in and shimmied her daughter in. She lost 4.5 pound and screamed. The woman behind me stood so close to me when I was weighing. Now the consultant stands at the exit while people are weighing. She looks at you very disapproving when you leave.

Apparently there is a line etiquette which I haven't worked out yet.

Is the line etiquette "shove in, ignore other people and alienate people you don't know"?

Well my friend made a comment about knowing her place and going to the back of the line.

thingy why don't you find another group if it's that bad?

I have to say I love my group.

I have lost since I started 9 years ago, 2 1/2 stone. Managed to keep 1 1/2 stone if it off in the intervening years, and have recently rejoined to lose that last stone again.

I know the group seems a bit contrived and there's always the cheaters and the other 'types' but frankly, you get that in any group over about 30 people. Statistically it's impossible to avoid.

It does help a lot of people and it seems that a lot of women in my group feel very supported. The consultant is fab, a normal sized person who understands the value of fresh food and excercise.

and I'm sorry but I love the stickers

thingy ...that sounds dire. Can you just keep going with the plan and come on here for help and ideas.

Hello everyone! sooo happy to belong to this community!

I have heard about Slimming world couple of weeks ago. It seems to be great! and I think I would like to try the program after giving birth to my second child Charly (11 months old).

But I have few questions. Would you be nice enough to answer me pleasssse? smile

I would like to know how it works and how I can try to do the program?
I have read that every consultant did the program before like I would like to do. Is it true?
It would be greaaaat!

Thank you so much everyone!

Curlyflooooowwwwerrr

Hello Curl,

Your best bet is to take a look at the Slimming World website which will explain it cub better than I can.

It's more or less a low fat eating plan that you can follow for life.

www.slimmingworld.co.uk

Ooh - tell me more about line etiquette. I always suspect I'm unknowingly breaking a rule.

I arrive AT 5.30 when the scales open. I join the queue as it forms (at the back - but there are obviously people who've been there for a while and sitting that haven't yet gotten up to join the queue). I suspect I'm supposed to wait for the sitters to join the queue then join at the back but st the same time, I arrive on time and there's no mention / signage of the rules so I just join.

I don't stay for meetings

Just been to class , usually weigh in and leave , mainly because in the past one of the reasons l stopped going was l hated staying but felt l had to ! I did stay today , just to see if it was any better , it seemed worse ! Seriously think the company need to re-thinks the words and phrases it uses . Spent over 10 minutes making sure folk got it with speed food , to be fair many didn't and l could see the confusion building ! Many seem to think they must eat it to magically loose weight l understood it should be part of a meal replacing other foods or used in pref to higher calorie snacks whatever . One lady who seems to be struggling is making herself eat 3 apples a day and 3 bananas which she knows are not speed but are free ? Starting another debate about free ! Thinking syns could be better named too ! I tried , l really did , did over half hour of sporadic clappy too . Just think it might be time for a shake up with how it all is named ( body magic - shift ass ! ) Do more stuff about recipes / ideas . Don't get me started on Muller lights ! I know classes work for some people and that is fab , there were some lovely people there xx

I know apples are speed , l meant the bananas ! X

Linda you made me smile. I had exactly the same experience a few years back. I just couldn't stand it. I like Slimming World and decided to do it online this time... works for me. And with the motivation of MN discussions I know I can do it.