I'm so fed up if health influencers slating slimming groups

[mintmagnum3]

... just wonder if anyone else feels the same?
I've tried so many diets in the past... never ventured into the shake/supplement world but have tried calories counting, slimming world etc.
I am a firm believer that being successful on a diet is by finding a diet that works around your lifestyle. This will change with family life, age, work, mobility, finances etc... I've had to tweak my diet over the years and that's fine.
I have been a returning member to slimming world a couple times. Not because it didn't work and I out the weight on.... pregnancy weight gain, lifestyle change etc have impacted my weight. Nobody stays the same weight forever.
I love slimming world as the group motivates me and I feel supported. The diet itself also encourages me to eat healthier then ever. I personally don't feel restricted like I do when I'm counting 14000 cals and having to document everything I eat. I'm happy to pay £5 to go.
Saying all the above, o know it's not for everyone.
It just really gets in my nevrves when the social media nutritionists/influencers seem to think their only selling tactic is to slate groups like slimming world. I just don't understand what problem they have with it. It's a varied diet and a supportive group. I know not everyone can afford it... but for example I was following an influencer recently who slated slimming groups due to the money and then promoted his own app which is subscription 😵🥴
I see this time and time over.
It's such a big bear if mine! Why can't we all just accept that different things work for different people and move on 🙈 Or is the only way to advertise your business to slate others around you?!

Rant over 🙈😂

I think I’ve blocked the one that you mean…if it’s Richie so don’t see it as much but yup was the selling point for a good while 2018/2019. There is always someone telling you this works that doesn’t, try this. I think I’ve just about tried everything at this point, and I’m starting to think they all like repeat customers because it doesn’t work and I end up trying it all numerous times 🤦‍♀️

I don’t mind people calling this out if they aren’t just doing it to sell their own plan.

I don’t like SW anymore having tried it myself I have legit concerns with it’s model and basically anyone can be an ‘advisor’ mine used to be a very large lady who didn’t take anything seriously or give advice she was in it for the memberships £ and social side, it was pretty depressing. Not all groups are like this but they all rely on you failing to come back to them… there is a real reason people criticise some of these plans however I agree an influencer is just prob trying to sell you an alternative so using SW and WW as bait

Each to their own I agree, follow what you need to

Everybody's weight loss journey is different. What doesn't work for you might work for someone else. The principles of weight loss are the same regardless of what diet, group, fad, whatever route you choose to get from A to B or Big to Small (B to S? lol) doesn't matter so long as you get there and you're able to sustain it.

Fitness influencers have an ulterior motive to put you off slimming groups and other diets and products... They want you to think they're the only viable, credible option. Most of the time, these fitness influencers have no qualifications or real-world experience, in other words, they're neither fitness professionals, healthcare professionals nor have most of them ever carried an additional pound too much of fat on their body in their entire lives. How on Earth could a skinny person who has never made it over 65kg tell you how to lose weight? They just won't get it.

Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Fat Fighters (from Little Britain), the principle behind them is accountability and support, fettered with their own individual flavour of low-calorie products they want you to buy. They don't promote these products to be a magic weight loss drug (stay clear of those too!), they're simply a means to an end, much like your Slimfast, Herbalife, Juice+ etc. They all serve the purpose of assisting you to maintain a calorie deficit. Ultimately, it is by maintaining a calorie deficit and making sure your diet is balanced, even in deficit, so that your nutritional needs are being met whilst (and more importantly so) you're in a deficit. By maintaining a calorie deficit whilst maintaining our individual nutritional requirements, weight loss is GUARANTEED. Keeping it off is a different story though, to ensure sustainable results, first we have to achieve our maintenance calories and cement this as a habit before we engage with a calorie deficit, otherwise we just end up going back to eating how we used to eat and over time, we gain all the weight back again.

@Menora SW do have strict requirements as to who can be an 'advisor', I think the lady you're referring to is one that's slipped through the net. I'd recommend complaining to the SW head office.

Full disclosure, I have nothing to do with SW but did consider becoming an advisor in the past - I'm ineligible as I haven't used SW before. To be eligible to be an advisor, at the very least, the advisor has to have lost weight and sustained their result - they can gain it back later, nobody will be terminated for dropping the ball and piling it back on but it certainly doesn't look good and I can say that because two years ago, I was proudly Leicester's Fattest Personal Trainer; self-proclaimed. They also have to have attended groups regularly.

I think the likelihood is that either this advisor you're talking about slipped through the net or they were much much larger than they are now, or they've simply put the weight back on.

I think the social side is what makes fat loss support groups so valuable; likeminded people living with shared experiences, each on their own very different but still the same journey. Members hold each other up, celebrate and commiserate each others' wins and losses together - the same principle has worked successfully for decades across all areas whether it's weight loss, alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous, business networking clubs (just to show it isn't always health/addiction related).

You worded it much better then me!!
Thank you!

I've been saying this a lot longer than you, I daresay lol

I don’t have an issue with anyone being critical of Slimming World honestly. I follow a number of dieticians (not nutritionists) who are not selling anything who do not recommend it.

A few have been quite critical of Slimming World - the poor nutritional information they provide, the shaming language around food (Syns which were just called sins in earlier literature), the bonkers logic (mashed fruit is more calorific than whole fruit?!) etc. Then there is the whole unqualified consultants/MLM aspect.

Slimming World works for a while as it is just a way of restricting calories. It may work for some but for most they will gain weight again as soon as they stop as they haven’t learned healthy eating habits. The eating it promotes is pretty disordered really. That’s how they stay in business, repeat customers.

Aww I'm sorry you had a negative experience and don't like the diet.
I think it's absolutely fine to say it's not for you, but what is not ok is people tryin tk tarnish/discredit it and then try and sell their own products t which is basically the same thing but in an app!

@Azulocean ahh no it wasn't him, but he sounds very frustrating!

Mine was some time ago, granted. She was an ex SW person who yes gained all her weight back but she spent all the meetings helping people to cheat syns! I know they have changed the menu and plans now but I met a woman who lost 8st eating 8-9 jacket potatoes every single day and I honestly ended up sick of muller lights (they were ‘free’ back then) and I just found the diet and food to be so frustrating as a busy working mum I couldn’t always cook from scratch so would end up just eating 3 mug shots, 2 jacket potatoes, 3 muller lights and one slice of bread a day and my treats were those crazy sweet SW bars, was all disordered eating and didn’t teach me any good skills tbh. I did lose weight but put it all back on, twice!

I assume it’s better now than it was. But a lot of us remember the olden SW days where everyone was just trying to cheat and save up syns for massive takeaways 😂

SW has worked for me before. The problem was me and not the plan and, for some people who may not have eaten much fruit and veg before (like me when I first joined) it can revolutionise your eating habits. I credit SW with helping me understand that vegetables taste good and I'll forever be grateful for that.

You'll hear a lot of people bitching on about muller lights and unlimited pasta and whatnot, but the truth is that consultants don't give that advice - that's people circumnavigating the plan, not the plan itself.

I left SW because I had a moment of rebellious clarity and decided I was done letting anyone tell me what to eat. Conversely I'm now eating the healthiest I have in my life, but thats another story. SW did nothing wrong - I just outgrew it.

Bottom line: if a doctor tells me weight loss groups are bad, I'll listen. If Shouty Muscly Sweary Gym Guy on Insta tells me, and then tries to push his 5000 day shred, I'll ignore him. The judgemental prick.