Slimming world fail

[Beachcountrysidetown]

Slimming world has left me fat, tired, unfit and addicted to sugar.
Their whole concept is rubbish (for me) the fact that a chocolate bar has less syns than an avacardo or handful of nuts is mad and has left me in a state where if I don’t have sugar I get a headache. Two healthy extras being those hi fi bars is also mad - they are full of sugar and no nutritional benefits except a bit of fibre.
I have become frightened of normal foods and never know what to eat as in obsessed with counting a fictional number of points is supposed “bad” food.
The weigh in is crazy - everyone has starved them self all day to then binge on quavers and hi fi bars after their weigh in. Not being able to eat freshly prepared sausages from the butcher as the syns are unknown but able to eat processed crap sausages with the SW branding....
I never exercised as it really isn’t a thing with SW. Yes there’s mentions of body magic but that’s it - getting steps in for body magic if you want to but I was constantly told it’s not needed unless you want to. Thanks to SW I am in the worst shape of my life and I have a good 12 month fight to get my fitness, diet and weight back on track in a healthy way.
Rant. Over.

www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work/up-next

And ready her book. Loads of research showing why the "willpower" and fat people are just weak/make bad choices" arguments aren't true either.

If you took two normal weight people and had one do SW/WW/low carb and one do nothing, the dieter would most likely gain weight after a period of time. Because diets actually make most people gain weight in the long term.

But a vast amount of people would chose to be able to have the cider and 3 Oreo thins rather than 1 avacardo. That does nothing for ones blood sugar levels or sugar addiction. It does not teach about a healthy lifestyle at all. Yes YOU are choosing to cook from scratch, not eat their own brand meals or hi fi bars but that is not the norm at all. Most people use their syns for junk food and if the company are putting their name to this junk ie “healthy” hi fi bars - how are many many people supposed to “stay strong” and not eat them?

Beach it really seems like you are looking for a diet where there are no choices and you are told exactly what to eat and how much, right? How about something like Diet Chef, I think the meals are already calorie counted and delivered to your door so no opportunity the make a bad choice.

Thanks Child but I’ve just gone back to training 4 times a week and eating clean cutting out sugar and I’m getting there. It just takes a while for a sugar addiction to be hit in the head and fitness to get up

The OP reminds me of the rebelfit rants that pop up in my Facebook feed regularly.
I am a target member of slimming world. The rants do not describe the SW I know. I've never eaten a hi-fi bar or any of the packet pasta meals. I mainly eat home cooked meals with loads of fruit and vegetables.

But other people do eat the branded hi fi bars don’t they?

Some do, some don't.
Tbh I find the rebelfit way very similar to the SW way. Well the bits I've read on Facebook. It just advertises by slagging off another weight loss method.

I’m not too sure what rebel fit is - I’m discussing slimming World

Perhaps you should join them as you sound just like their posts on Facebook.

Ok I’ll hve a look! Thanks!

That's the impression I got of Rebelfit too. One man telling people they need to pay him ££ a month for a generic sheet that's not a diet but tells you what foods you should be eating and that his way is the only way and an exercise regime that you can't question? I know what sounds more cult like to me.

I agree river

I think what I take from this is slimming world gives you choices. Good and bad. It's up to thr individual to control those choices. Sometimes have the avocado, and sometimes have the cider or the hifi bar.

The issue arises if you always chose the cider and hi if bar. Then it becomes unhealthy. I'm just surprised that people like the op then blame the diet for them making bad choices, because they were "allowed". There has to be a basic assumption that the people who are on the diet have a modicum of common sense and an iota of understanding about food and nutrition and don't always make bad choices.

Op, it's clear given the option you will always go for the unhealthiest option over the healthy option.. Because it's "allowed" as such as a pp said, a diet where you have no choice and are told exactly what to eat is going to work better for you.

So in some way I agree with you. The diet did leave you "fat, tired and addicted to sugar" because it gave you the option to eat those things and you took that option whenever you could and were unable to rationalise and go for the healthy options. It's simply the wrong diet for you personally. It would also be the wrong diet for me and is the wrong diet for many, but for others, it's the right diet and does enable them to lose weight, but those people do not behave as you do, they chose the healthy options a lot of the time.

AVOCADO!!

I just took a look at rebelfit. Far too much slagging off of various things for my liking. There is not much positivity to be found on a page that posts so much judgement.

I’ve been following slimming world for 6 months now and am now maintaining my target weight. It’s such a popular diet for a very good reason and so many people succeed on it but it obviously isn’t for you. You don’t have to use your syns or eat chocolate or even sugar at all (although it does massively promote artificial sweeteners which I don’t think is ideal), these were your choices so I fail to believe it’s got you ‘addicted to sugar’. Perhaps calorie counting would be more beneficial for you?

I've lost 3.5 stone on Slimming World. I went from a size 16/18 to a 10/12 (depending on shop...!).

This is going to be controversial, but I genuinely think the whole SW mindset is aimed at very overweight individuals who have absolutely no idea what a remotely healthy diet and lifestyle look like. To these people, eating gallons of Mullerlights and a few boxes of Hi-Fi bars (no matter how nutritionally deficient these chemical shitstorm 'foods' are), instead of three packs of chocolate Hobnobs and a supersize McDonalds is probably going to result in a calorie deficit. And therefore weight loss. Bingo. But for those who already have a reasonably sound idea of nutrition and balance or who do not have much weight to lose, I think the logic is deeply flawed.

I've kept my weight off for almost a year. I also now run 20k a week. But I took what I wanted from SW; the basic message of lean meat, veg and some fruit. I think the other messages they broadcast around processed 'food' are quite frankly ridiculous.

But, at the end of the day, we all choose what we shove in our mouths. Don't blame SW for weight loss failure. Blame greed and lack of self control or motivation or willpower or whatever other label you want to attach. That's how I got fat.

I'm off to eat an Easter Egg

@HollyBollyBooBoo Yes. I'm glad someone said it.

hollybooboo Thank God someone said it

The thing that appealed most to me about SW is that it is pretty flexible and you can make choices - I want to be able to have a glass of wine, fizzy drinks and chocolate if I want, and I also want to be able to cook healthy family meals that include carbs.

Sorry I spelt a word wrong - I have dyslexia

Notaneasyjourney maybe you’re right... it’s got me thinking - i was actually only 1lb overweight but I wanted to bring my weight back to a much healthier point and create a good lifestyle change for me - maybe that’s where I was going wrong?

They promote miller lights as they are “free” and they promote powder packet pasta kits - all bloody full of processed crap and SUGAR. No you don’t have to eat them - but they are a huge part of the diet weather you like it or not.

If you don't have to eat them, they really can't be a huge part of the diet.

Looking at the basic 'rules' of Slimming World and applying some fundamental health knowledge and common sense to it leads to a really quite healthy way of eating.

I had poached eggs on wholemeal toast with spinach for breakfast, a big chicken salad for my lunch and will be having chilli con carne, rice, broccoli and avocado for my tea.

That kind of eating is fairly representative of what I eat each day. Funnily enough, I'm not addicted to sugar. And I've lost 3.5 stone.

But if you're the kind of person who isn't able to grasp that 200 calories of avocado (10 syns) is healthier than 200 calories of chocolate (also 10 syns) then you're very likely to respond to advertising and rely solely on syns/calorie contents and end up eating a lower calorie diet full of processed shite. You'd probably do this on any diet that has an element of choice.

That isn't Slimming World's fault. It's a business. One that needs to have more than one source of revenue because actually, a lot of people following the diet aren't paying members. So they have their own lines of convenience foods (and that's all they are, just as crap and processed as any other convenience foods, not something to rely on entirely) and they make money advertising branded processed shite, because usually the brands big enough to pay advertising costs aren't known for selling eggs or broccoli.

Slimming world is fantastic if you stick to its basic principles - home cooked food and 1/3 veg, with fruit for snacks. Your health extra A is the national recommended guideline for dairy and the healthy extra B is the recommended fibre.

HOWEVER
I do agree that these "syn plates" and "wheetabix cakes" etc "tweaks" are completely ridiculous

Those touting the 'But you don't HAVE to eat them!' line regarding processed shite; you do realise that if people were capable of exercising self-control and making wise decisions regarding their diet, they probably wouldn't be queuing up in front of the Slimming World scales in the first place?

Applying a 'free' label to foods and selling them as an intrinsic part of a plan then suggesting that they can be easily ignored is counter-intuitive.