I’m not losing any weight. What am I doing wrong?

[MemorableLlama]

I’ve been doing slimming world online for about 6 weeks. I’m sticking to it rigidly but have only lost 2 pounds.

I think the issue is, I have a huge appetite and am eating large portions of free food (eggs, chicken, salmon, pasta, potatoes). If I don’t, I get really hungry.

Consequently, I have maintained the last 4 weeks. (I lost 1lb in week 1 and 1lb in week 2. )

I’ve got about 2 stone to lose to get to a healthy weight so not massively overweight- but significantly so.

Any advice?

I know that SW works for a lot of people but for me, it led to disordered eating patterns.
I would massively cheat after weighing, stay roughly on plan for 3/4 days then starve myself for the rest of the week.
Finally bit the bullet and am now on Mounjaro. Absolute game changer. Seeing it as investment in my health. I had 2 stone to lose and am already 9lbs down after 4 weeks.

To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than your body uses. There are no truly "calorie-free" foods in a typical diet, and regularly eating more calories than you burn.
A good starting point is to calculate your daily calorie needs and determine an appropriate calorie deficit. There are many free online calculators and AI tools that can help with this. You can also create a personalised meal plan based on the foods you enjoy eating and those you prefer to avoid.
These commercial weight-loss programmes are geared up to see you fail, they tell you that you can eat as much as you want and lose weight and the reality is that you can't! They need you to yoyo diet, going back and forth! I would stop giving them my money and work out a diet over haul. It may seem scary to begin with, but AI will help you massively!

It’s easily googleable.

and you seem to be failing to understand the whole point of a successful diet plan is you can maintain it. Slimming world is one of the worst, if not the worst. No one pretty much can maintain it, people go back for decades and end up fatter than when they started, it’s how they make their money.

it’s mind boggling people shell out for it. My sil did it for decades, is now fatter than ever, and said to me recently, I don’t think it works. I was literally thinking. O shit Sherlock if it worked you’d not have had to keep going back.

it is designed to be virtually impossible for people to maintain on it. A good diet is not just getting it off, it’s keeping it off.

Yes most people know this. It’s sticking to it everyday forever that’s the hard part, especially if your hunger & satiety hormones are out of whack.

I did SW twice.
As a big eater/overeater I think the "free food" concept SW push is a disaster especially if its carbs. I think my head it still a bit messed up by it.

If you want to lose weight and eat lots look at volume eating - lots of vegetables!!!

Otherwise you need to address the overeating and SW is no help with that - I've lived with it all my life and its tough. 💐

For SW you need to get out of your head that all foods are free and just focus on SPEED FREE foods. Your potatoes and pasta are fine in moderate portions as part of a meal but you won’t lose weight if you snack on lots of eggs, eat a bowl of SW-friendly potato salad and a bonus bowl of pasta.

I’ve been very successful on a version of SW both losing and maintaining but forget their constant snacking and eat as much as you it just doesn’t work for losses or long term maintenance.

If you eat SW-friendly sensible portions always starting with 1/3 speed meals (I also try to focus on protein)and then only snack on speed food or better still wean yourself off lots of snacks, you should start losing weight

🙄okay. Most criticism of SW is that it characterises some foods as bad using the syn label and system. It does work and people can be referred to SW by the NHS.

A lot of people diet and lose weight then go back to old habits. That's not the fault of SW - they even have a maintenance plan.

Most people criticising SW then go on to tell people that they need to eat in a way that is just about identical to SW. Lots of veg and protein, limit processed food and sugary crap etc. It is quite odd.

The point I’m making is that slimming world has a higher regain rate than other diets, and the whole premise of it is set up to make people fail in maintenance , this is how they make their money.

ive seen my sil do it. Bland tasteless food. Weird little chocolate bars, light laughing cows, ryvitas, cooking without fat or sugar, making it tasteless. Far too many carbs as it’s free. Sure they lose weight, but they fall off the wagon immediately and can’t keep it up. And often the eating becomes disordered, bingeing after a weigh in then starving themselves in the lead up to a weigh in.

if it works for you great, I wish you well and a life time of a healthy goal weight.

Bland tasteless food. Weird little chocolate bars, light laughing cows, ryvitas, cooking without fat or sugar, making it tasteless. Far too many carbs as it’s free. Sure they lose weight, but they fall off the wagon immediately and can’t keep it up. And often the eating becomes disordered, bingeing after a weigh in then starving themselves in the lead up to a weigh in

I think that says more about the people who eat those things, I never eat anything like that. Plus when they've lost the weight, they think 'I'm slim now, I can eat what I like' and go back to the eating habits that caused them to gain weight in the first place - too much fast food, sugar, alcohol etc. That's nothing to do with SW, who strongly discourage that sort of eating, it would apply whatever sort of weight loss plan someone did, or if they went on the jabs to lose weight.

This is just why SW never worked for me. My portions were too big. The theory that I could eat as much ‘free’ food as long as I paired with veg was, quite frankly, ridiculous
the only way that worked for me was to track calories in (my fitness pal) against calories out (Fitbit) and gave myself a 500calorie deficit a day to steadily lose 1lb a week. I paired that with Mounjaro to help with the portion control. Good luck

Honestly I found calorie tracking way way easier - SW did my head in and I found the meetings somewhat depressing discussing others eating habits -

Yes, I did. It is marketing speak, in other words, they'll say any old bollocks to get people to sign up.

OP asked for advice and this turned into a SW bashing thread.
Make sure that you’re eating at least one third speed food,OP, and you will lose weight.
I don’t know the accurate figures for members’ success ( I’d be interested to know).
It often depends on the Consultant and their ability to advise and support members.
I’ve maintained my target weight for 23 years, still attend group regularly, and know many other members who have had similar success.
It’s a very healthy and normal way of eating.

U need to fill plate with 1/3 of speed with every meal this way u will fill up with less calories and protein is also filling on my journey as a 50 year old I only have a small amount of pasta potatoes or rice ! I do actually prefer SP meals I find them way more filling also measure healthy extras and aim for 10 swips and use the extra 5 as a buffer hope this helps x

Well if you don't have the will power to stick to a healthy eating plan, unfortunately you won't be able to lose/maintain no matter if you're calorie counting, slimming worlding or cabbage souping! It's about choices, what you want the most

S what you join and they say by the way we lied, there is no free foods?

Op must have missed that memo. As did my sil.

But it’s far more complex than just ‘have more willpower’ as I’ve said in two previous posts its also to do with the imbalance of hunger and satiety hormones.

They say, actually to lose weight you need at least 1/3 of your plate to be 'speed food' or whatever their word of the week is to mean 'green vegetables'.

Are you exercising and taking walks, only real way to lose weight is to burn off more calories than what you eat

I was sceptical about SW ( still am) but tried everything -low carb, mfp, everything. Just couldn't maintain it. I exercise a fair amount so was maintaining a high weight. I've joined SW and when I follow the plan properly I do lose weight. But I don't volume eat, I just eat high calorie stuff without thinking. So I'll have a bowl of crisps here, a couple of biscuits there. What it's done is make me aware of the number of snacks I eat. So if I have a bar of chocolate I can't then have a bag of crisps, a couple of biscuits a cake and a glass of wine( which is what I would have had) I think twice before drinking a Vanilla Latte from Costa if I look it up. I was always eating plenty of fruit and veg for my main meals.but I've added more The snacking during the day between meals was the main issue. I've stuck to it for longer than I have other eating plans. Maybe it will work maybe it won't long term but nothing else was working either.

Speed foods are nutrient dense, low calorie fruits and vegetables.
It’s a term in general use and not specific to Slimming World!

Sorry I disagree! I’m someone who has been big and small…. The difference between both for me was what I was eating… wrong food choices bigger portions = bigger…. Healthier food choices smaller portions = smaller. It’s science, most people would be the exact same! Unless there is an underlying health problem/medication. It does boil down a lot of the time to will power, it’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s the truth! Losing weight was hard for me, and still would be if I didn’t over haul my lifestyle! As I said, it’s about choices… saying, “ oh well this cake won’t hurt, I’ve been good all week”, when in fact you haven’t been in a calorie deficit and hardly moved! It’s easy to not acknowledge the little things that build up! If you ate low calorie protein rich foods, vegetables (a clean low calorie diet) you would lose weight and be full up….

It most certainly does, on the link you provided yourself

"Slimming World Speed Free Foods are Free Foods that are super-low in calories per gram. To help you zoom towards your target weight, fill at least a third of your plate with Speed Free Foods at mealtimes and make them your first choice if you’re hungry between meals"

And those that have success with SW , maintain - as I do for three years so far - are those that follow that rule of thumb and keep attending - its free , its a social event eventually as you become friends with the long term members

Sure I have weeks where the bad habits creep in - being so busy I might not get to eat until late in the day and then fruit or a yoghurt arent going to do it - and the bread and butter comes out and I might go for carb heavy meals, but those weeks are rare - the scales soon tell me off - and I get back on track

One lass in our group has lost 6 stone since Christmas , she's taken to cooking proper meals , eating proper meals, doesnt go hungry and watching the change in her is just fantastic, the confidence is oozing from her

Did you read what you quoted ?

this does not say what you think it says,

Slimming World Speed Free Foods are Free Foods that are super-low in calories per gram. To help you zoom towards your target weight, fill at least a third of your plate with Speed Free Foods at mealtimes and make them your first choice if you’re hungry between meals"

this says at least a third of your plate. The words at least means at a minimum. Not a maximum. As such, they do not say only a max of a third. They are maintaining you can each as much as you wish.

in English, the words at least means a minimum of, not a maximum of. As such, it means it is unlimited. As they say everywhere else.