Has anyone successfully kept the weight off long term?

[Liz79]

5 years ago I joined sw, loved it, lost nearly 4.5st in about 18 months. I wasn't at target and was trying to get there but not losing because I wasn't following the plan, my head wasn't in it. Did maintain for a while, by accident. Then had monstrous constant binging. Couldn't eat enough crap. Think I probably need a psychiatrist. Put it all back on - to the lb. Since January I've lost the first 1.5st 😀, doing sw again.

Now I keep seeing things online that sw and ww are full of people who have rejoined, having lost weight and put it all back on (which is true). It's part of their business plan. They rely on repeat customers. They're not really teaching you anything about nutrition. This seems to come from fans of team rh and my fitness pal. However the NHS refers people, Inc pregnant women, to sw. So it must be ok right?

What do people think and who has done sw/ww and kept it off?

Yep, about 12 years ago ww, probably anywhere between 9/10 stone since, I still eat ww meals tho 😳 not all the time, few evenings a week. still weight my self regular and watch what I eat when I’m creeping up, still log on fitness pal when I’m trying to get to the lower end of target. It never goes away, I’m not naturally slim :(

But I haven’t rejoined

This isn't me, because I haven't got as far as sustained successful weight loss haha

But, I think its a mixed bag. There's definitely less target members than normal members, but many target members I know have stayed at their target for a while. A friend from an old group had maintained a 7st weight loss for 8 years, and has recently lowered her target by a stone.
At the core slimming world although for profit is a healthy eating (ish) plan - fruit and veg, cooking from scratch, moderated potential trigger foods (A+B+syns) whilst being easy to follow.

I have maintained target for nearly 2 years (with a baby in between) it's a plan you can eat on and actually portion sizes for me have decreased. It happen s naturally. I have accepted that I will forever have to work at my weight and for me the not much counting and actual food suit well.

The thing to remember is nothing is banned and so you can have the healthier fats and avocados in your syns for example. You'd calorie count these anyway and wouldn't eat in abundance. I never understood peoples ishoos with this!

My friend lost 10st and is still maintaining that 7 years down the line.

I'm 363 days into target. It's been a complete overhaul for me.

I've been at my target for eleven years, and wouldn't know any other way to eat or cook now.
I have wondered what percentage of new members reach their personal target, and how many stay there.

I've been at target weight for over 2 years now. I get weighed at Group at least every 8 weeks in order to keep my membership live and have access to the app etc.
I generally eat SW friendly during the week and then have some treats at the weekend / non SW meals

Been at my revised target for 18 months -but was at my previous target for 2 years
So around 3 & half years SW target member

I’ve never done ww or sw, but I have done mfp. Thing with mfp is you have to find/invent recipes, get really aware of fat/protein/carb balances (to try and stay reasonably full up on inevitably smaller helpings). I guess the clubs providing recipes makes it easier, and some people like the group weigh in (sounds like my idea of personal hell!).

As you know, if you start eating crap instead after any plan, you put it all back on! It’s getting a meal plan for life that you actually manage to stick to that’s really really hard...

I suppose if you have a group of overweight people who have developed their eating habits over many years there is always going to be the potential for reverting back after a short period of club membership. I lost 3 stones last year and have sadly put 1 stone back on since Christmas. I am planning to rejoin SW but find the idea of permanently following their plan depressing. And even though the group I went to was friendly the thought of sitting there listening to all that obsessing about food is offputting. If I could find any other way of losing weight and keeping it off I would do it.

They rely on the repeat business. The 'diet industry' is with billions!!

Do some research on a reputable website like imperial college centre for obesity research.

Yes of course it's possible to lose it. I never had any problem dieting to about the 3.5 stone mark BUT is SUSTAINING those eating habits that are almost impossible for the vast majority of people.

If you look at the research the issue is how overweight you are at the start. If your BMI is under 35 your chances are better. Once you get to 35 the research shows that 1:323 women will successfully diet to a healthy weight. (BMI is not the be all - but useful in this discussion). Of those '1's 78% will put it all back on within 5 yrs. Once BMI is over 40 then it's 1:758 with the same regain. So yes - there are people who manage to sustain it but they are very rare indeed.

Hence the revolving door making WW/SW etc very rich.

Worth billions !

It is really disheartening when people say that it is near impossible to keep weight off. Whats the point then of anyone trying to lose weight?? It cant possibly be true that people who lose weight and stick to maintenance amount of calories put the weight back on again. The problem is that most people go on a diet, lose weight and then go back to what they were eating in the first place and put it all back on. That is the case with most diets, not just WW and SW. I would like to see the statistics for people following team RH fitness or Rebelfit or myfitnesspal. You have to do all of them constantly for the rest of your life. If you do rebelfit but then stop doing the massive amounts of exercise you need to do on it, or have an injury you will put on weight. If you decide you know enough about portion size to not bother putting everything into My Fitness Pal and your portion sizes creep up, you will put on weight. OP I would say you have to go into any weight loss programme with a positive attitude and commitment, and choose something you can see yourself doing long term/forever, because you will be doing it forever! I

I would also say, don't read stuff online. It doesn't help. All SW is is a healthy eating programme with stupid names. Decide to do it and commit to it with a positive attitude or try something else and commit to it with a positive attitude. There are a lot of GF online, and there are a lot of people who troll for other weight loss groups as a business strategy.

I lost 6 stones, twice. First time 9 years after first child, then became pregnant again, regained all of the weight and more. About 6 years ago, started again in earnest, not with slimming world but by myself. Very low carbohydrate, calorie counted (about 1200
a day and a great deal of exercise, including a marathon). Lost all of the excess weight again in about 10 months but it was really hard work, not for the faint hearted. The more you lose the harder it becomes.
I’ve pretty much kept if off ever since. I low carb diet Monday to Friday evening then eat what I fancy at the weekend. Not mad, obviously, if you eat double fish and chips, a pizza for lunch and 2 tubs of Ben and Jerry’s, it’s going to appear on your arse pretty quickly 😁
But regular food, cooked breakfast, bread with lunch, lasagne and wine for dinner etc.,
I keep the exercise up at weekends too.

noodlenosefraggle

No, it isn’t impossible at all. I’ve kept it off for years now. But it is very hard work, especially if you’re middle aged (I’m 55). You have to be completely determined, committed and prepared to change the way you eat and exercise forevermore.
The big mistake most people make is thinking.they can come to an “end” of their diet and start to eat “normally” again. No, their idea of what normally is is what made them fat in the first place. You have to change your way of eating forever. But it is perfectly possible to eat well, keep slim sand enjoy your food.
For goodness’ sake, steer clear of anything that suggests liquid (usually expensive) meal replacements. Do you fancy living on them forever? Because your metabolism will slow right down and that’s what you’ll need to do. Awful things. And they taste 🤮

The reason I posted the stats is because they are FACT. Yes of course they are depressing but nonetheless true. Based on a cohort of 140k people and evaluated by the country's leading obesity research unit ! Not some guess-O-meter from The Sun.
Obesity is a life threatening, life shortening condition. If you are lucky enough to have the stoic willpower to go from obese to healthy longterm then , fantastic. It doesn't change the fact that of 1k people with BMI of 35 or more only 3 will get back to a healthy weight and less than 1 will sustain it . Sad yes, depressing yes.. realism - yes.
The NHS knows this. That's why they offer help. It's not everyone's choice it's just an option.

2 years plus so far, but struggling the last few weeks. Need to kick my own butt and rein it in. The trick is to go to class regularly and weigh in so that you sort yourself out before too much weight goes on

You said in your OP why you put weight back on - horrendous binge eating. Had you stuck to plan, this wouldnt have happened.

I’ve been at target for 6 years, after losing 3st 3lb, I’ve had two children in that time but went to group throughout and got back into target (8 months for baby1, 4 months for baby2). I still go to group most weeks....if I didn’t I’m sure I would go back to my old eating habits.
As another poster said, I’m not a naturally slim person so definitely need group to keep my head in the right place.

I found I just had to change my way of thinking, to make it easier to keep on track. So whereas before I thought of myself as a chocoholic, now I think of myself as someone who doesn’t drink often, doesn’t eat crisps and biscuits (will always bloody love chocolate though!!) and that helps me to not buy things I don’t need.

I also buy treats for the family that I don’t like (I’d have to be REALLY bored to eat a custard cream), because I’m well acquainted enough with my willpower by now to know that it’s crap. So I just don’t challenge it!

You’ve rejoined so you clearly want to be a healthier weight, and you know what you’re doing to put weight back on so that’s half the battle..... it’s just the tough bit of convincing your willpower now!! Good luck!