It just doesn't work for me

[picklethetickle]

I've tried about 4 times and followed the rules to a tee, but it simply doesn't work for me.

I am an intelligent woman and perfectly capable of following SW to the letter and I put weight on with SW. I was skint at the time and said to the group leader who intimated that I was cheating ‘if you think I’m paying a fiver a week and then not following the plan you are mistaken’. Never went again.

Ive recently lost a lot of weight by going unprocessed, higher fat and protein and low but no carb. It’s been a revelation not to be hungry on a diet and is more of a plan for life

I concur.

The only reason you were putting on weight following SW was because you were consuming too many calories.

Simple as that.

If you eat to your appetite, reduce the high calorie stuff by replacing with veggies then you'd lose weight.

But people don't do that on SW they eat loads. Plus the members and leaders won't actually twig/say/understand that as people lose weight they need to further reduce the amount they're eating. This is what's wrong with SW, the "consultants" don't understand nutrition and BMR etc.

I have struggled with my weight most of my adult life. I've tried Slimming World ( with some success) and Weight watchers. Of course as soon as I completed the programmes I went back to my old ways and the weight crept back on.
I'm now using the Nutrachek? App and I really like it. I think it costs about £25 pa. It has taken me a few weeks to get to grips with all its features but it's actually very user friendly ( I'm probably a bit slow on the uptake!)
You do have to input everything you eat and drink. It seems a faff at the beginning but very soon becomes second nature. You can scan barcodes on most foods and digital scales make the weighing child's play. It also gives you an analysis of the percentage of fats, proteins, carbs etc you are consuming each day. I have found this knowledge alone a useful tool in helping me amend my meal plans. You do have to weigh your portions and you soon realize that you've probably been underestimating what you are eating! The main benefit I see is that you can eat the foods you like but become increasingly aware of the consequences of poor choices. I feel using this app no food is forbidden but it makes me more mindful about managing my treats and portions. It also syncs with your steps counter so more steps / activity means more food, win, win!!
I'm losing a 1-2 lbs a week whilst enjoying the food I would normally eat.
It may not be for everyone but has been a game changer for me.

I had multiple attempts at SW, WW none of them work for me 😭

@00100001 you are totally wrong. I wasn’t doing the unlimited pasta etc. I was absolutely starving the whole time I was doing the plan and put on 3 pounds in 5 weeks. There was no way on earth I was overeating . I also could not lose weight with weight watchers or a plan the doctor put me on with 1300 calories. All of you calories in v calories out believers need to understand that whilst that works for some people it does definitely not work for everyone. I’ve lost 2 stone this year and never been hungry as I’m eating loads , I’ve finally found a way of eating that suits MY metabolism and that is sustainable for the long term.

I think its wrong to say that the consultants dont know, but then Im guessing not all consultants are the same, but they do all get the same training

My consultant is a good one. Shes been through the trials and tribulations of weight lose herself and shes maintained for 6 years so she does know a thing or two. SW do know you have to reduce as you reduce and they encourage you to use what they call speed days more. Not as in you are going to speed up your weight loss, but speed are the foods that are nutritionally rich and calorie poor, so you fill up on those rather then the pasta which you possibly could get away with eating shedloads off at the start.

I know myself Im naturally turning to veg. My BMR is around 1200 calories and if I used that up on high fat food, Id be starving and reaching for the chocolate so to keep me full Im eating more lean protein and veg/fruit with either a weighed portion of oat bran or wholemeal bread or pasta

Now as I say I loosely follow SW, I go along as I need the accountability to keep me on track of maintaining.

I think the biggest problem is most people dont know their BMR and go by the recommended 2000Kcals a day for women thats on every food label and if I ate 2000kcals and sat on my arse all day, Id be in serious trouble I was totally shocked to find out what a BMR was and how little it was, seriously like I got to 59 to find that out?? But then Ive not just sorted the extra weight Ive also sorted the exercise and most days - at least 5/7 I average 8 miles of walking/12 flights of stairs and now I add a couple of HiT routines in - something else SW encourage you to do. My group has a walking group twice a week, to encourage those that have never exercised in their lives to get up and do something , and the website is full of videos to exercise along to which I find useful.

So I do think your exertion that SW dont do these things isnt right, they do have the tools and help and advice available to you, but in all things, you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink

Im doing my first marathon in 2024, by 60th birthday pressie for myself

SW dont like to be called a diet, diets dont work, it really is a lifetyle change and not everyone is at the stage where they want that.They come along, follow the plan rigidly , lose shedloads, leave and gain it all back because they wont make the small changes they can live with, for them its all or nothing. Target members who still go to group are the ones who make the small changes , have a slow gradual weight loss and keep at group to keep mindful. I still eat pizza, chip shop chips, curries and Chinese , still drink like a fish and did so all the while I was losing because I made the changes I could live with. I dont eat these foods daily, they are an occasional treat/meal out as they always should have been, not 3 or 4 times a week as are the norm for so many of us

Im not a SW fanatic, Ive not been brainwashed, I also dont like how they label foods, but Im also of pretty average intelligence and Ive taken from SW what has been best for me - the weekly weigh ins, the group ( made some good friends id have never met ) the motivation , the tools they have available online. I dont buy their products but I use a lot of the recipes which the whole family eat and enjoy

Don't SW have that thing that if you haven't lost weight in the first 4 weeks you can have your money back.

I don't take much notice of the you can eat loads - unlimited pasta etc. I even noticed our leader dismiss that one too with another new member. I just go for the scales as don't have this in my own home so it's proof I'm doing something and company.

New member pack coming for new year.

2 weeks to lose half a stone, cut back on food really and 12 days of exercise.

You were eating too many calories on the SW/WW diet. Plain and simple.

If you lost weight on a 1300 calorie controlled diet from the dr, you would have lost by eating 1300 calories in SW and WW.

Consuming fewer calories than you expend is the only way to lose weight. People don't have different biology to other humans.

@suki1964 ❤️

@00100001 I didn’t lose weight on 1300 calorie diet from the doctor that’s the whole point, I was just starving and miserable. I was weighing and recording every morsel so I wasn’t miscounting etc. I’m now eating way more than that, happy, not starving and losing a steady pound per week. I’ve just changed what I eat rather than how much. My body doesn’t process carbohydrates so I’ve cut them right down rather than out, keto is too extreme but would work well for my metabolism . I’ve gone back to full fat milk and full fat Greek yoghurt. Meals based on a large portion (200 grams)of meat/fish, salad or veg and a minuscule portion of potato/rice/pasta. I have full fat mayo on the salad. Everything is unprocessed or minimally so. I make no attempt to reduce the calories only the carbohydrates.
As an eg when I was cutting calories I’d have low fat yogurt but ten minutes later be hungry. Now I’ll have full fat Greek yoghurt with 3 times the calories and berries and be full ages. The book ‘why we eat too much’ was a revelation and even the experts are now coming around to the idea that calories in v out is not the answer for everyone. If it was as simple for everyone as calories in/out then there wouldn’t be so many obese people around. I’ve been overweight 30 years and believe me I’ve tried absolutely everything and this is the first time I feel the eating plan is sustainable for ever.

It doesn't work for me at all but I have severe pcos and only an extremely low carbohydrate diet works.

@Digestivechocolatebiscuit
This is one of the silliest things I have heard today. Whilst I did not like the plan much, your nutritionist is making some ridiculous sweeping statements there.

I've just started SW for the first time ever (in my 40's) and honestly don't recognise some of the criticisms being levelled at it. I'm eating way more fruit and veg than I did before and it's just making me think more about what I've been putting in my body (mostly bread and butter ugh). They do obviously have all those snack bars at every meeting and talk about fat free cooking spray a lot but no way I'm putting that sh1t in my body and I haven't needed to; I cook a stir fry in water these days - little difference. I've been a bit hungry but really not that much.

Only thing I don't get is unlimited carbs, that can't be right. But either way it's nice not to have that guilt. Like anything, take from it what you will... but it's better than so many other diets in my experience.

It's unlimited... As long as you eat ⅓ speed alongside it

Not 500g of pasta and a slice of cucumber.

And your plate is quarter protein so really carbs should only take up one quarter of your plate. That doesn’t equate to unlimited despite the implication.

A duet high in lean meat, fish, pasta and wholegrains with limited cheese and loads of fruit and veg is hardly a cult