Horrified by slimming world

[Wackelle]

I'm surrounded by people on slimming world at the moment who are essentially stuffing their faces constantly but telling me its OK cause "its free" how can anyone lose weight without counting calories, and eating cooked breakfasts?

Surely this is not healthy, I was also told you can save your sins and have a takeaway at the weekend. Wow.

Not for me.

[NorksAkimbo72]

If you don't want to eat 'free food that contain sweetener or sugar on SW, you don't have to!
I don't like the taste of artificial sweetener and I don't eat ready meals. I didn't actually have to change much about how I was cooking, I just add loads more veg and eat more fruit. I haven't felt like I'm on a diet at all...if I feel like crisps, or a bit of chocolate, I eat it.
If you don't get it, or don't like it, you don't have to do it!

[Emmageddon]

I do get a bit pissed off with the hard sell at the meetings - the Iceland ready meals, the Hifi bars (which are TINY!), the magazine and all the various cook books - but I try not to let it affect me too much. People that ask why I pay someone a fiver to weigh me once a week, just don't understand the way group support works - for me, anyway. I love the positive affirmations I get from the others, when I've lost weight, and if that makes me needy, then so what.

[ChanandlerBongsNeighbour]

I'm in my second week of SW and am loving it. The difference to how we as a family were eating before is immense. I'm cooking almost every meal from scratch and most of my shopping is now fresh veg and raw meat. I've stocked up on herbs and spices and store cupboard essentials and am actually enjoying cooking again! I've found that I get full more quickly so I make sure I eat all the speed foods on my plate first so that any food I leave would be the least healthy parts anyway (or the carbs etc!). I have lost almost half a stone already and I really feel that it's a change for life. My DH and kids are all enjoying the home cooked food so I feel it's a positive change for us as a family! Often I won't use all my syns as I just don't see the value, for me that is the single greatest strength of the programme. It has made me think about what I eat, and put a stop to the mindless snacking where I would open the cupboard and eat a two finger kit Kat without batting an eyelid, purely out of boredom or habit! Knowing that I 'could' still have the kit Kat if I wanted keeps me from feeling restricted! (& and I do have the occasional muller light too if I have a sweet craving!)

[gaspingwaythroughlife]

Drquin that's the part I would struggle with,

[MetallicBeige]

The classes make me laugh, I must burn calories from cringing at the clapping.
But... my group are lovely, everybody is supportive, the facilitator/consultant is really on the ball and promotes health above all. We're all of us in the same boat, just at different stages of the process.

I don't eat yoghurt, never liked it. So by a lot of peoples reckoning I'm screwed.
The plan works for me because it reminds me to prioritise decent foods, over what is quick easy and usually crap. (I love me a slice wedge of cake)

There is a woman in my group similar age to me, she has three small children, she was so worried at the start - didn't know how to cook, and said that she used packets for everything. With the help of the group SW has really helped her to gain those basic cooking skills that we take for granted. She's eating better, and so are her children.

I don't see what's to be horrified about. These people living on mullerlights and mugshots won't last the distance. You have to make real changes overall and long term, and it's hard, but doable.

[Drquin]

I think Sherlock because it works on the assumption that most us, whilst clearly not blessed with perfect nutritional knowledge otherwise we wouldn't be trying to lose weight in the first place, most of us actually get that low fat food tends to have a half-decent amount of sugar in it. Tends to be one or other that gets the taste buds interested ....... So we get that whilst SW advertise them as "free" we also have to use a little bit of grown-up adult common sense and not eat millions of them every day.

[gaspingwaythroughlife]

I went and it wasn't for me.

Definitely too much food!

[DianaMemorialJam]

My whole family needed to lose weight and between us we have lost 11stone.

Wow! Well done to you all, that is amazing!

[tabulahrasa]

"how are they 'free' if they have refined sugar in them?"

They don't generally, the 'sugar' listed in the nutrional information is lactose and fructose, the same sugar you'd have eating plain yoghurt and added fruit.

They do have a load of weird chemicals, that plain yoghurt and fruit wouldn't have, but they have the same sugar and calorie content.

[ClashCityRocker]

drquin bloody well said.

And well done on your loss.

llama the classes are horrific. My consultant keeps telling me she loves me. I find myself thinking 'fuck off' repeatedly...but in a perverse way, they do really help (for me!)

[SherlockPotter]

The only thing that 'bothers' me about SW is that fat-free products such as yoghurts are free foods... how are they 'free' if they have refined sugar in them?

[LlamaBananas]

Im also horrified with SW. Not the plan though. The plan works very well for most people.
Its the actual SW classes that horrify me.

[Drquin]

It's easy to rip apart something ......

What many people need to understand about SW, and WW / Scottish Slimmers and every other group, is that for those folk going half the battle is mental, it's in your (my) head. Completely agree that weight loss is "just" taking in fewer calories than I need. I'm a perfectly intelligent person who does know that a mars bar has more calories than a apple. I'm not thick ..... yet I respond well to group support, even if it can be a bit happy-flappy at times.

Yeah, rip the pi$$ out of mullerlights if you want for being full of chemical crap or whatever ..... but for many folk, and I include myself, it's about making just A change. One change at a time.

I've been doing SW for a year now, and have lost almost 4 1/2 stone. This is the first time in my life I've lost so much, and could lose another couple of stone, and keep it off.

But you know what has worked for me? Eating fewer ready meals, and cooking more from scratch. Eating a huge amount less chocolate, crisps, white bread and takeaways. Drinking far less wine. I've just snacked this lazy Sunday afternoon on a packet of blueberries, a year ago it would have been a family-size bag or 2 of chocolates (and I'm a family of just me!)

Yeah, ok, I've had a few Mullerlights in that year ..... and unlimited amounts of potatoes. Clearly I've taken in fewer calories than i needed. But I said earlier it's one step at a time ..... I'm 4 1/2 stone down, I'm a damn sight fitter than I was a year ago. Maybe I'll cut down on the mullerlights next ..... but you know what, I'm not perfect, I'm just a normal woman who wants to improve her health. Note that I said "improve" ..... it may never be some folks' idea of "perfect" or "clean" or whatever, but I suspect there's a lot "imperfect" about other folks' lives I could rip apart

[Emmageddon]

I've lost a 13.5lbs in 4 weeks following the SW plan. Free foods don't mean calorie-free, just no need to weigh - and portion size is emphasised both in group, online and in the magazine. I wouldn't lose weight if I only ate pasta, rice, noodles and potatoes all day. It is ultimately healthy eating, and I find it a very easy plan to follow, no expensive food required, and it works.

[Alfieisnoisy]

Okay as an example.

It's Sunday and I've had a cooked breakfast made without using fat.
We've used bacon medallions, Heck chicken sausages and eggs. DS has had baked beans but a third of my plate is tinned tomatoes which is a speed food. Very low in calories.

Lunchtime will be turkey sandwich and salad plus Lidl snack tomatoes which I've developed a bit of an addiction to.

Tonight we have beef casserole done in the slow cooker ...already on. I will serve that with potatoes alone as there is lots of added veg in the casserole. The potatoes will take up a quarter of my plate.

In between I will have fruit and make sure I am drinking water or tea/coffee.


I may have a Mullerlight...or I may not. If I do then their orange one is gorgeous.

In addition to this I can have between 5-15 syns a day...syns are foods which contain a lot of calories, fat or sugar. I refuse to syn avocado as I love it. I generally have half in a salad. and I am still losing weight.

I generally add my syns in cooking such as gravy etc but once a week sit down with a milky coffee and a four finger KitKat (11.5 syns for the Kitkat). I make the coffee from skimmed milk and that's part of an allowance each day.

I don't need to go to SW to do this but I find the support helpful and I love the recipes. We've tried out several with great success here. There are some I won't touch though....cauliflower base for pizza anyone? For the support I get I can cope with the happy clappy atmosphere. My consultant is fabulous, knows the eating plan inside out and has lost weight herself using it. She's had a break to have a baby and has 10lbs to lose....she's losing again now.

[DustyMaiden]

The only thing I find wrong with SW is how difficult people find it to understand the rules.

The rule is one third fruit and veg. A muller lite is free when served with fruit not when eaten alone. You couldn't eat many if served that way.

Any meal you make must have one third of the plate vegetables or fruit.

The overall calorie intake for me was higher but GI lower, I lost 6 stone in two years.

[Alfieisnoisy]

Ooh her take on SW is what got her overweight in the first place. I take chicken salad to work which I prep at home.

I don't think SW would recommend that daily either fwiw.

[TheRippedOutPage]

Yes I suppose if you've previously eaten another to get 5 stone overweight then the odd muller light isn't going to make you anymore unhealthy than you already are.

I get that SW helps people lose weight but it tends to be such an unhealthy way of eating. I once had a colleague who would sit down to lunch at work with a mug shot, muller light yogurt and curly wurly. Yes she was losing weight but it's hardly a healthy lifestyle to adopt is it?

(I acknowledge that you don't have to do the diet like this, but if you're bad for making unhealthy choices - hence why you would be overweight in the first place, you are surely more likely to choose a mugshot over a salad?

[CactusFred]

SW works. However I do believe that it still encourages large portions when really you shouldn't eat portions large than both your fists combined. So when people come off the diet and keep the portion sizes bigger they are more likely to put on weight again.

Do it and keep your the portions reasonable and you should be fine.

Or do as I'm doing and count calories.

[Alfieisnoisy]

No Ripped it's about eating until you feel full and not loading up with carbs, no more than a third of my plate is carb. If I loaded up with carbs I would gain weight too.

It's about eating more healthily. If I am hungry between meals I have a bit of fruit or even (shock horror) a Mullerlight yoghurt. And I don't eat those yoghurts daily either. Thing is that they may be chemical crap but if someone is eating poorly before starting this way of eating then a Mullerlight yoghurt is nothing in comparison.

Most of my food is fresh and cooked from scratch, I adapt recipes I e used for years and I am losing weight.

It works even if you only have a stone to lose but not if you overindulge in carbs as you discovered to your cost.

[TheRippedOutPage]

Slimming world works for massive people because if you have 5+ stone to lose you must be eating shit loads to start with - so slimming world gives these people guidance in eating "healthier" (I say healthier however, if you consider fat free muller lights and various other chemical loaded crap healthy then there is your issue with food!!!)

However, if you don't have much to lose, it won't work. I tried it - I had a stone to lose and I put weight ON with slimming world as I was just eating carb after carb.

Calorie counting along with lowering carbs is the way to go for anyone not already really fat

[QueenMortificado]

it's a bit rude to start a thread criticising something and then not read all the responses from people trying to answer your question.

Agree. Esp considering some people were saying things you may agree with!

[Groovee]

I find it an easy plan to follow. Lost 3.5st on 2005 and kept it off until 2009 when I became ill. Now back in the zone. We've had no take aways in the 5 weeks I've been back. I cook using the recipes where quite a few of them are just simple ingredients from my cupboard.

My downfall is crisps. Instead of reaching for crisps, I now go for something else like sugar snap peas and carrots. I've been known to have 5-7 packets a day. This makes me not have any until Saturday night when I get nice ones to share with Dh.

My consultant says to eat until you feel full and not to stuff it in for the sake of it. As I have reflux issues, I have been feeling ok since starting it now off my medication until a procedure and it's been a struggle to find things which do not upset my tummy.

My friend uses my fitness pal. She's within calories but often misses any fruits or veg for a huge plate of gravy after a class.

[Raasay]

It's a bit rude to start a thread criticising something and then not read all the responses from people trying to answer your question.

[Wackelle]

Sorry, just seen someone ask why I'd not come back, not gonna lie I've not read all the responses but the ones I read seemed pretty pissed off - .

Perhaps the people I've encountered are slightly misinformed or following the diet wrong, ultimately weight loss is due to a calorie deficit and judging by what these people eat/say they eat I am baffled as to how this is happening.

If you'd rather pick me up on one word used in the title rather than the actual content of my post then um, OK. I dunno, just something about these slimming clubs in general just doesn't sit well with me.