Have I gone wrong somewhere?

[Livinginacatdictatorship]

I started slimming world and my first weigh in I lost 6lbs, which I assume was mostly water retention. The next week I maintained. I've just weighed myself and it looks like I've put on 1.5lbs.... but I have 100% been sticking to my syns etc. I've put everything in the planner on the app.
I'm just confused and a bit disheartened about it, any ideas anyone?

Also I do think you are misconstruing what is being said about free food, it means you dont have to weigh it - unlike bread for instance , which is mostly empty calories - ie you mindlessly eat it and it doesn't fill you so you go again for more

I was that over weight person who heard the words free and unlimited. Im of average intelligence , did I think I could fill my boots and lose weight shovelling pasta down my neck? No. I listened very carefully, I read the books , I looked at the suggested days meal plans and I looked at syns

And this is why I like SW, syns. I have 15 a day. How I use those syns is up to me. I like a drink, a short is 3 syns, a glass of wine 9. So obviously I then have to make the choice - 1 glass of wine, or two gins and still have spare syns to use towards stuffing with my roast chicken dinner, so I have the two gins, I have a roast chicken dinner with the trimmings and Im still going to lose weight because Ive eaten nothing other then free or speed food the rest of the day - usually have a ginormous bowl of FF greek yoghurt with a tonne of berries and a weighed portion of oatmeal, or if it is a weekend , scrambled eggs, bacon medallions, mushrooms and tomatoes - both choices free/speed/protein - not a bit of pasta to be seen

IF you follow the plan, IF you are of average intelligence and know how to cook, IF you want to lose weight and keep it off - SW works. You are given the tools, you have a great support network, you get great ideas, you get to try new foods and you slowly turn your diet to one that the NHS approves, one where there are no foods off limits, where you eat from all the food groups, and you get your veg in to you

So far Ive maintained for a year, Im one pound heavier this Christmas then last, and maybe Im not because weigh in day was cold and I was wearing more then usual :) Ive gone from size 14 jeans to 8's which I dont struggle into with muffin tops. I wear 10 to 12 in dresses . So yes I still go to weigh ins, its my time, with a great bunch of women all on the same path, and it keeps me in track

Im not going to be fat when I collect my pension. I want to enjoy my retirement.

I didn't mean plain pasta, something like a pasta bake or Bolognese etc. just the pasta and sauce :)

It does work in helping you lose weight, that’s not what I’m disputing. The issue is 97 percent of people regain all the weight back , so it doesn’t teach good eating habits and it isn’t sustainable

maube I’m just frustrated seeing friends on it for years, and basically just ending up fatter than they started.

I hope you’re in the 3 percent who keep it off, I really do.

There is not a diet in this world that is going to keep the weight off , unless you learn restraint - even the WLI - so far, once people come off them , the weight goes on

You have to stop thinking as SW as a diet, its an eating for life plan - proper eating , not binging, not shovelling the calories down your neck ( and believe me I still make bread and butter and Nutella sandwiches AND shove a packet of crisp in ) WE, thats everyone, can not eat like that without gaining weight

Its not even our fault. We ( even I to some extent ) have grown up with processed foods. These foods have been tweaked so much, they make you want more and more. You never feel full, and even that is engineered, its truly frightening to know how food processors have used science to keep us addicted

The more Im moving towards raw ingredients and cooking, proper cooking, the less Im actually eating. Oh, its not my cooking, I cook for a living :) But like every wife/mother/carer - I would use tiredness as an excuse and get the take away, the ready meal, the loaf of bread , the packet of pasta

Today being Sunday, in the home doing chores as most are, I would have snacked all day, chocolate, crisps, sandwiches ,toast, biscuits.......

Now I cook a brunch - the eggs, the bacon medallions the mushrooms and tomatoes. Its a Sunday treat, a cooked breakfast ffs. And that fills me. Ive not snacked on anything, never felt the need. Started to feel peckish about 30 mins ago, but dinner is on, Im not going to die. Im hungry, but within the hour I will eat my fill, a lot less then I did two years back

Diet - everyone thinks its about restricting , depriving, its not, Its about balancing what you eat through out the day/week/month. Do I have kittens if I have a KFC? not a mission , but I know Ive had it so wont be going for a kebab ( unless homemade ) that week

Its learning restraint, the one thing us over eating fatties have never learned.We all have issues around food, mine is a reward - I need a hug, chocolate/crisps/fried chicken/curry/chinese/pizza gave me that hug, but did it really? All it did was allow me to cope. So between learning how to eat a balanced diet, going to group , along with a bunch of others with same/similar issues, Im getting stronger mentally, I can cope with piles of the steaming stuff without a packet of biscuits

There is not a diet in this world that is going to keep the weight off , unless you learn restraint - even the WLI - so far, once people come off them , the weight goes on

in the jabs it’s evidenced it’s average 14 percent of body weight goes back on. So 1.4 stone for a ten stone women.

which is very different for 100- 120 percent of the weight lost on slimming world. So if you lose 4 stone you will gain 4-5 stone back.

and I’m sorry, but the facts speak for themselves. 97 percent of people regain it all and then some.

This really. Slimming world and all the others are a load of shit IMO. They teach you nothing about how weight loss works nor the concept of long term sustainable nutrition plans.

Try and build your meals around lean meats, fish, veg, fruit and limited potatoes, bread or pasta. Avoid processed food as much as possible but allow yourself the odd small treat. That's all you have to do. Adding in some exercise a couple of times a week will speed the weight loss along. So called weight loss companies will not tell you this because they cannot make any money out of it.

There is no need to complicate something that is in essence very simple.

Try and build your meals around lean meats, fish, veg, fruit and limited potatoes, bread or pasta. Avoid processed food as much as possible but allow yourself the odd small treat. That's all you have to do. Adding in some exercise a couple of times a week will speed the weight loss along.
And in that post, you have described slimming world

This exactly.

All the ridiculous things like cakes made with weetabix and muller lites, and "snack plates" consisting of 1000 calories of "free" food are not what SW is about. At it's core it's just a healthy balanced diet based on lean proteins, lots of vegetables and fruit, and a few little treats thrown in. If people put weight back on then it's because they've gone back to what they were eating before, which is not a sign the SW us not a healthy or sustainable diet!

If it’s a 97 percent failure rate, then I’m afraid it is absolutely evidence it isn’t sustainable.

Track your calories and see what you are really eating

Sorry I think we are at slightly cross purposes here. It is indeed depressing that so many fail on SW, but that is partly because of issues with portion control as you mention upthread. Frankly my mind boggles as to what people can have been eating before if they think they will lose weight eating a mountain of pasta! Basically what I meant is that SW is basically a healthy diet, albeit that many people on SW misinterpret the plan/stretch the "rules" and then wonder why it doesn't work.

I don’t disagree with you, that yes if you effectively calorie count it works. But that’s not what they tell you.

the point I’m making is the way it is presented, syn, unlimited foods, speed foods etc. is very detrimental to maintaining healthy eating long term, it doesn’t teach people anything.

both by friends on it have been on and off for years, one is fatter than she’s ever been, and when she’s on it, she eats bizzare fat free and sugar free concoctions which taste like shit. And Ryvita and low fat laughing cow. Some weird little chocolate bars as a treat. No one can sustain that. And all I hear is it’s all free. Or how many syns they had or saved for the weekend. Amd yes they do eat larger portions than they should when it’s free. I can see it. A recommended portion of rice or pasta is actually very small. Slimming world don’t tell you that, they just say it’s free and unlimited.

showing people what a healthy portion of a given food is, is important. Like x grams of pasta. Showing them that they need to eat enough protein, 1 gram for every kg of weight, and how to do that in a calorie controlled way, is all important.

slimming world and weight watchers has a huge failure rate. As in nearly every single person fails on it. And they keep them coming back for the money.

slimming world is on the green mile though, it’s a dead man walking, as they have not got with the glp program, like weight watchers, so I can’t see they will survive, with the ridiculous diet methods, the high failure rate. And now not moving with the industry,

Being brutally honest, diets like these are designed to fail, because they are a profit-making business and need you to keep attending. I don't see them as any better than a pyramid scheme.

I agree with you on the education thing - basically it works if you already know how to eat healthily but just need to lose a few pounds (I joined to lose post-baby weight) but I totally see the issues for people who have loads to lose and who have got themselves into terrible eating habits. The fat-free/sugar-free foods are definitely an issue. If you follow it trying to limit UPFs then it's basically a standard healthy diet but I can see how some people would struggle with that, especially if they rely on convenience foods. I'm sorry your friend is struggling, that must be hard to watch happen.

This. Track your calories, the only way you will lose weight is by eating less calories than what your body needs, if you're not measuring anything you can't just 'assume' you're eating small portions or only a few syns. Cut out the sodding syns and eat clean, whole foods

Every single person on it has a problem with food in some way. They can’t eat within a certain calorie limit. Every single one. Or they’d not be there in the first place.

Hence why they all fail after. And regain. Because the idiotic diet teaches them nothing.

Speak for yourself! That might be true for most people but not every single one 🙄

Some people really are desperate to believe the only way that anyone could possibly succeed in losing weight is to take jabs

Cmon, if anyone there were able to stay within a calorie level they wouldn’t be at slimming world, and having to go and be weighed by someone else every week.

no one goes for the hell of it, they are there as they are overweight. And need help to lose it. Often in the guise of someone else weighing them.

and I didn’t say anything about the jabs as the way to lose it. Not one word other than to correct the comment on regain.

there are plenty of ways to succeed without jabs, and only obese people are eligible for them. Hence why I didn’t comment that the jabs were the best way.

the way to succeed is not unlimited carby foods and syns. It’s not sickening yourself with low fat laughing cow and ryvita or muller lights. it’s eating healthy meals, with the right size portions, with the correct combination of macros. About eating food you will continue to eat when you have reached target, in the right quantities. Not depriving yourself on the way with foods that taste like shite. And are full of artificial sweeteners.

slimming world isn’t one of the ways to succeed . Factually. Evidentially, it is not, only 3 percent succeed, as succeeding is not just losing it, it is keeping it off. That’s what success is.

the way to succeed is not unlimited carby foods and syns. It’s not sickening yourself with low fat laughing cow and ryvita or muller lights. it’s eating healthy meals, with the right size portions, with the correct combination of macros. About eating food you will continue to eat when you have reached target, in the right quantities. Not depriving yourself on the way with foods that taste like shite. And are full of artificial sweeteners.

Yes, exactly. That is literally what I have been saying 🙄. If you follow SW like that then it works well and is sustainable (ask me how I know). It fails when people stop because, well, they've stopped. But I totally agree that the vast majority don't manage that. We are actually in furious agreement here...

I’m not sure we are in agreement fully. I’m saying there is better ways to lose weight, and explained those. Because for me success isn’t about just losing the weight, it’s about keeping it off. And if nearly every single person fails to keep it off, something is fundamentally wrong with the diet. Nearly no one can sustain it.

other dieting methods have an 85 percent failure rate, but statistically both weigh watchers and slimming world are significantly worse. At 95 and 97 percent failure.

my own take is it’s the feeling of deprivation, not eating nice foods. No one wants to eat ryvita and laughing cow for breakfast for ever. And you go off boiled eggs fast. The sausages taste like saw dust.And if you eat large portions of carbs, ie the free food, and note a large portion isn’t a plate piled high, its anything over the recommended portion size, then you’re bound to fail.

and when you fail you keep the money coming in for slimming world when you go back.

the comment above was I must find it difficult watching my friends on this never ending journey, no I don’t, I find it bemusing and frustrating. They can’t seem to see it’s the diets fault, that it doesn’t work. And they need to put it in the bin and focus on losing weight a different way that they can maintain.

It’s exactly this. I think going to the right group, staying to group and having the mind set that it’s about healthy eating is the key. I don’t count syns. I’m a long term goal member. I know that the majority of what goes in my mouth must be protein or veg. It’s simple.

I have a friend who has been 'doing Slimming World', with her husband, for about 10 years now. They're both much heavier (and at least 1 clothes size bigger) than they were, and c£5k poorer (at £5 per week each to be weighed in).

It's madness.

Their portion sizes are huge, and they don't weigh anything. Their standard evening meals are pretty 'healthy' (home cooked, things like casseroles, veg-based pasta sauces etc), and they eat a lot of veg, but they have huge amounts of them! And always 'treats' after meals.

They exercise a bit, but not loads, so their calories in will be way higher than calories out. It baffles me how they are still 'sticking to SW' for all this time.

This is like my friends, I think it’s crazy. Gain weight, go back to fat club. At no point do they say, well I can’t maintain this, it’s not about losing, it’s about maintaining so it doesn’t work, they just go back, do the weekly weigh ins, eat loads of boiled eggs and muller lights, sicken themselves, and then the weight starts to creep back

I get people saying it’s simple and effective, but they need to accept they are in a tiny 3 percent of people. Very nearly other person it is anything but simple and effective. For 97 out of a hundred people it is not.

that for me is a huge failure.

and when you see the stuff they eat, and the way sliming world explains it with their unlimited foods or unpalatable ones, you understand fully why people can’t maintain.

Erm no.

Slimming world allows unlimited potatoes, rice and pasta. This is appalling nutritional advice for anybody let alone those trying to lose weight.

No they dont, they advise you put enough on your plate so you are filled

When half your plate is veg, a quarter protein, how much do you honestly think you are going to eat?

And since when does any balanced healthy diet stop you from eating those foods ?

I eat rice pasta and potatoes , the only thing I have given up because it does nothing for me and leaves me bloated now, is bread. Tonights dinner is Beef in red wine, boiled potatoes , broccoli, carrots, turnips.

Tomorrows dinner is going to be sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice

Last nights was roast chicken, roast potatoes , roast parsnips, carrots, peas, stuffing

And Christmas dinner will be Turkey, ham, pigs in blankets, stuffing, braised red cabbage, carrot and parsnip mash, peas and sprouts. With all that on a plate, all those veggies, how many flipping potatoes do you honestly think a person can eat ?

Apart from the Christmas dinner, the others are representative of what I eat daily and I still lost what I needed to and I maintain.

But some posters are determined that SW doesn't work,