Had Enough of Slimming World.....

[izquierda]

Just need to get this off my chest, don't know if it will resonate with anyone?
I'm nearly 52 and have been a SW member on and off for 14 years.
I originally joined in 1998 after I'd had my two DC and my weight had gone up to 11st 8lbs. I'm 5'9" so I know that's no big deal but I lost 21 lbs in about 3 months and was positively evangelical about it.
I then floated in and out of classes over a number of years, always staying somewhere between about 10.3 and 10.8.
However in recent years I have found it increasingly difficult to follow the eating plans, stick to them and lose weight.
I'm now menopausal and not making excuses because I'm quite greedy and I do like a drink, but it seems to have become so much harder.
I really do rate SW for its healthy eating plans, I know it works if you stick to it and because of this I have never attempted any other diet.
BUT - big BUT - I can't do it any more.
I find some of the consultants completely patronising, the classes boring.
The last straw for me was just before Christmas when our consultant was laying down the law, saying 10 salted peanuts were, whatever, 10 syns or something.
I had a "stop the world I want to get off" moment and saw the whole thing as a Victoria Wood sketch, it seemed so utterly ludicrous.
I'm an intelligent woman and I felt insulted.
SO, I have slung my books in the bin and am making peace with my body, appreciating myself for what I am.
5'9", 10st 10lbs, size 14 top, size 12 bottom, blonde hair, blue eyes, nice enough looking, good person, DH, DS, family and friends love me as I am.
I'm walking every other day, going to the gym twice a week and am going to try that "Shred" DVD lots of MN ladies are doing.
I feel better about myself.
Basically, I am not knocking SW, like any diet plan it works as long as you do it. It is healthy and sensible.
But the classes/consultants did my head in, encouraged me to feel bad about myself. It was, I believe, relatively hard for me to lose weight because I only had about 7 lbs I wanted to lose.
I just needed to share this - wondered if anyone else felt the same.
Really hope I haven't offended anyone in the process and would be happy to discuss further if anyone out there feels the same.
Best wishes to all in our 2011 fitness/diet/health endeavours.

I hear you sister!! However, I have just rejoined - it is just a dull as I remember it but I'm trying to get into the spirit of it.

Good for you izquierda! I've never had any luck with SW - it's far too free for me, I cannot have free foods or I'd eat them all day!

Thanks for your replies! Beginning to think I'd been ostracised for daring to speak out against SW.
I know it works - if you follow it - but so does any diet.
And of course when/if you stop following it, chances are you'll put back some or all of the weight.
At my final meeting, where we were being dictated to about mince pies and salted peanuts, it just struck me as ludicrous and I just found myself constructing Victoria Wood/Peter Kay/Little Britain sketches in my head.
I think I just outgrew it.
This final campaign of mine - Sept to Dec 2010 - was embarked upon so I could accompany a friend who needed to lose a couple of stone for health reasons. She eventually gave up too because she hated the emphasis on "synthetic" foods like instant soups and pasta dishes.
I'm a writer in my spare time and am thinking of doing a proper article about this issue - not to "diss" SW but just about giving up the struggle and accepting my body.
Any other thoughts from you girls out there to help with my research?

I wouldd read an article like that. If you haven't already, it's worth reading various feminist books on the subject - Fat is a Feminist Issue, Beauty and Misogyny, The Beauty Myth etc.

I'm not immune myself to wanting to lose weight and am currently trying to follow Paul McKenna (who is all about ditching the diet and learning to listen to what your body really wants) but I do think worrying about weight takes up too much of women's energies (and money). Someone described it as a corset of the mind. Of course everyone wants to be healthy and attractive, but I don't like the way we're encouraged to be self-loathing if we don't fit within a certain mould.

Struggling after 3 wks on SW. Was 100% doing everything right for the first 2 wks, exercise classes etc, felt deprived off all the lovely food in the world but kept going. Have only lost 2 lbs in 2 weeks, others that joined had got their 7 stickers last week! Feel quite defeated by it, I dont eat meat, fish or pasta, but have cooked a bit more from the recipe books. Great if you like cooking I think!

I get pre menstrual bloat for last 2 weeks of cycle, easy to blame that on lack of weight loss but it is true! Also take blood pressure meds after pre eclampsia 8 years ago, which maybe doesnt help. Have at least 1 -2 stone to loose, but have been this weight for several years.

I too was thinking about stopping paying £4.95 and use the tools Ive learnt and just try by myself. From past experience I know if diet is too strict it is impossible not to lapse back, so why not eat the pizzas, wine, peanuts in moderation. Still feel like a failure though.

Interested in your comments - thanks NT and MrsW.
The one element of SW that did work for me was the discipline of the weekly weigh in which really focused my attention. The fact that I was "answerable" motivated me, which is why it's harded to do on your own at home where you can "cheat" by not weighing yourself etc.
On the downside, when my weigh in was, say Monday night, I found myself starving myself all day, then eating a big meal on return from class.
Also, as a younger woman, I was bulimic for a while and have even, to my shame, resorted at times during an SW campaign, to making myself sick.
I'm really troubled and ashamed about this and know it is to do with issues other than food in my life, but it was a contributing factor to my stopping SW.
The whole experience seemed to lead me into "bad habits".
I'm now trying to eat a sensible balanced diet, do more walking and go to the gym where I can also swim, a couple of times a week.
My DH also has joined a smaller local gym so I'm going to see if us working together at weightloss and diet will help - he's also getting some middle-age spread.

Iz, I did it for a while. Nowhere near as committed as you. (by the way I'm 5'4" and 10 stone 10. I don't look massive so you must be pretty svelte!)

I got freaked out when my skinny 6 year old son started becoming obsessed by food and refusing certain foods so he wouldn't get fat. He also used to starve himself at times. I stopped dieting immediately. I thought I was very sensible on it and didn't make an issue about it at all. Certainly never had anorexic tendencies though I do always stop eating when stressed. But he cottoned on to food as a discipline and denial issue rather than something to be enjoyed and essential fuel for your body. His attitude was pretty extreme for a while and only completely stopping mentioning what we eat or any reference to good/bad/allowed foods cured him.

No weight loss guru except Paul McKenna makes any sense to me. His method is 100% sane and helps you ditch that struggle against food forever. That said, I'd go on a short diet to slim down quickly but long term, only PMcK allows you to feel totally comfortable and normal around food, whatever it is.