Joined today but now feeling a bit deflated

[theboywonteat]

I’ve been a member of WW on & off for the last few years but stopped going completely about a year ago & have piled weight on since. I have around 4st in total to lose so made the decision to give SW a try & joined today.

Chose SW rather than WW as know a few people who’ve had great weight loss success with it recently.

The food plan itself looks good & is actually surprisingly similar to WW (in terms of free foods etc).

However, I didn’t really enjoy the meeting - each person’s weight loss was announced loudly to the whole group & then they had to talk about how they’d done. It went on forever (almost 2 hrs !).

I don’t know what I was expecting but thought it would be more like WW where they don’t publicly announce your weight but you can share it if you choose to. I think I will find it really embarrassing . Plus WW meeting is 1hr max.

Since getting home I’ve also discovered the SW app doesn’t have a food diary or exercise log or links to Fitbit, all of which WW app does do. Or am I missing something?

Also at WW I was able to pay by card/pay monthly whereas SW group is cash only pay weekly. Feels a bit behind the times.

I’m now sat here feeling really deflated & disappointed & am left wondering if SW is the best plan for me after all.

Is there anyone who has done both who can persuade me it is better than WW & worth persevering with?

SW online does have an activity tracker & food diary, i use it on my phone.

You just need to log in online with the details on your membership card.

At mine i can also pay contactless/ with a card . There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do this .

No I've done both and the WW meetings were much better. SW meetings are boring, or the ones i went to were.
The diet is good and many people seems to lose large amounts of weight on it though.

I much prefer the SW plan to WW. But I agree the SW app is awful and outdated. But I found if I used the myfitnesspal app and customised it it works as a SW food tracker. I didn't do meetings for either as not much of a people person

I've just started back at SW, but I don't stay for the meetings (cardinal sin I know) but there's about 35 people at our group and it goes on for hours! I can't bear it. I just go in, get weighed, have a quick chat and maybe a cup of tea and leave again! I'll stay to one or 2,should have stayed today really because I lost 4.5lbs and that'll be my best weight loss ever for sure!

I think the plans are very similar. No counting of certain foods, portion control of a few things, and a (small) allowance for treats.
My SW meeting is max 1 hour. It's a big group and he goes to each person with a loss or gain unless they've said at weigh in they don't want their gain/loss mentioned. But I know people do forget to say.
I've been to smaller groups and I like them as there's more time for general chat and sharing tips.
I'd say try another group. FB has loads of SW groups filled with tons of recipes. The plan works and is not too hard - I've lost 14lbs over a 12month period.

Thanks for the replies

Ifonlyoureyessawsouls I’ve logged in to the app again this morning with the membership card & code given to me in group but still no sign of tracker or food diary? Can you or anyone else help with where to find it?

LollyBox how have you customised MFP? Any hints or tips gratefully achieved.

I’m still going to give it a go in the good old fashioned way recording with a pen & paper!

If you click on the bottom bit here 'food ideas' it takes you to another section where you've can choose 'weight loss planner' which is the food & exercise diary bit.

You need to use the website as well as the app as the desktop version of the website has a lot more content

I signed up to Sw last week after doing ww for a few months and completely agree about the meetings and the app

I do prefer the sw diet as there's so many good meals with the free food that I find less restrictive than ww

Have you looked on the pinch of nom Facebook site? That's really good for some recipe ideas

If you change the meal names to SW categories so you can keep track of everything but try not to pay attention to the calories section too much. I second the Pinch of Nom website too.

The app has improved but not as much as people asked for. You need the website for the food diary.

I use the Slimit App to track my syns and my healthy extras.

I find "image therapy" hasn't changed in the last 12 years and it bores me. But I like the members of my group. I wish it was more focused on help such as HE's or parts of the plan, rather than talking cos when you get to Audrey who always feels sorry for herself or Susan who jumps in on everyone else's time telling something else about her.

But I've lost 5.5st and am on my 14th month of maintaining my weight.

Use the website not the app, there’s a mobile version with all that stuff on and you can save it on your phone.

You can pay for 6 week or 12 week blocks... but whether there’s card payments depends on the consultant running the group.

Re how long it takes... that’s because it’s your first week and you’ve been there since before weigh in, next week arrive 25 minutes after the advertised time, get weighed and you’ll be in and out in an hour at most.

next week arrive 25 minutes after the advertised time, get weighed and you’ll be in and out in an hour at most.

Or turn up first, get weighed first, get announced early & then leave

Well you could... but then you’re literally just there to get your weight change announced...

I want the recipes or new product ideas other people have tried that come up.

icklboo thankyou I’d never have found that without your help! It’s not obvious & you have to go through about 6 screens to get to it - looks like it redirects you to the website.

Having used it I don’t rate it in comparison with MFP or WW, it’s really not user friendly - but it’s better than not having one at all.

Just finished day 2 & enjoying the meals so far and finding it reasonably easy to stick to so will see how I get on.

Will see how I feel about staying to the meeting on the day. It was a very lengthy weigh in session so might take the advice to turn up a little later!

I am also doing SW now instead of WW as my closest WW meeting I wasn't able to get to.
I then never made it to the SW meeting but I have been following it myself at home and have lost 5lbs so far,this is my 3rd week.

Have friends who go to SW and the meetings sound awful, I did enjoy the WW ones. I had a look at the app and they seem very different,one of the reasons why I havent bothered to pay as I feel like it won't be as good value for money.

I think as long as you are "in the zone" you will be successful.
I bought the SW magazine and joined a few fb pages,followed some SW people on Instagram for meal ideas

How do the WW and SW meetings differ? I've joined SW this week and love the good plan but dear god the meeting was tedious. There's no way I'm going to be able to sit there for an hour each week listening to it.

When i went to WW a while back the leader did a talk on a particular topic, eg. Eating out. Our leader was quite witty. They didn't go through everyone's loss/gain, just announced the group total loss and i think who'd done the best. I can't remember what else but i preferred it to the SW format.
I did like the SW diet though

I use the slimming world recipes online, there are plenty. I follow mostly the vegetarian meals and add a couple of meat or fish dishes in each week

I wasn’t impressed with the actual meeting but next time will be in get weighed and then of to the gym 😂

Oh nooo... I had finally decided to go to slimming world (it's this morning) and now I'm worried!

I've done WW years ago and when I got into the groove of it I really enjoyed the classes. I'm not sure how motivated I'm going to be if I find the classes boring?

And the app will frustrate me by the sounds of it, but I quite like MFP also will look at adapting that instead.

I guess I can just give it a go and see but don't want to feel like I'm wasting money.

WW worked well for me years ago but then then started changing things like pro points and smart points and I never got into it the same

I've lost 12lb in 7 weeks though so it's definitely working!

I’ll boo well done 👍🏻 what have you been eating?

I made fajitas tonight with Nandi rice 😋 and enough rice for lunch tomorrow with tuna and same Friday

Today was:

My entire weight in fruit & berries, grazing at work

Tea was wholemeal pitta bread (HEB), Iceland tandoori chicken skewer (1/2 syn), lots of salad and extra light mayo.

Supper will we mixed free meats and HEA cheese.

Last night we made the risotto from last month's magazine (the arancini recipe up to the oven bake part), salmon fillet and scallops. So filling and all free.

To be honest, the meetings are what eventually put me off. I realised I was sat in a hall listening to the same people having the same conversations over and over and over. And realised with the two hours I was spending there, I could have been cooking something healthy, and going to the gym - both much better for my weight loss!

The diet is fairly sound now they've raised the amount of calcium allowed - if you are able to practise portion control - so I'm just following that in my own time.

The app and the meetings are bloody awful. My consultant is great and does do a talk at the beginning on a topic, but she cant deviate from the announcing weight loss which takes ages and is completely pointless. Who the hell cares or remembers other peoples weight loss? I was at a standstill for ages and it was just embarrassing and demotivating. The app is also terrible but I like the plan and I've made some really supportive friends there. I don't want to go to another weight loss group.

I'm thinking of joining online SW but can't see if I can buy the books - anyone with a website login that can tell me if you can buy food optimising/recipe books?

Also a rough price for them? Trying to decide bronze vs gold!