Is Slimming World really that bad?

[baggagecabbage]

Just that really. I have about seven stone to lose and have tried everything to lose weight but I just end up half-arsing it and going back to my binge eating. The only plan I've ever actually lost weight is Slimming World but all I seem to see on social media is people calling it out as a "cult" or saying it's inevitable that you put the weight back on again.
Surely that's the same with most diet plans - calorie counting for example. When you stop cc you will put the weight on unless you have addressed the reasons why you overeat. Also a lot of the accusations levelled at SW are that they encourage you to eat massive portions of things like Miuller lights, but surely just because something is free you wouldn't expect to lose weight after eating five of them!? I think being as fat as I am means that no diet plan is going to work unless I actually stay consistent with it, which is my downfall. I don't think it's necessarily SW's fault of people do end up abusing the plan.

I have tried hypnosis, calorie counting, weight loss shakes and plans like Second Nature and nothjng works. Perhaps I'm a masochist and only feel motivated by attending a group where I have to explain myself. I know that ultimately I need to stick to it for it to work.

I'm just interested to hear others opinions before I sign up next week.

I am a big fan of SW but, like most things, it is what you make it. I have lost just over 4 stone over two years. I still want to lose another couple of stone and have no doubt I can succeed. I think it encourages you to eat an extremely healthy diet based on fruit and vegetables, lean protein, plenty of fibre and dairy products for calcium. I feel brilliant on it. But it is up to you what foods you choose to eat. Yes you can eat sweetened low fat yogurts and other ultra processed foods if you want and you will lose weight. I choose not to - I try to avoid UPF and I cook everything from scratch (batch cooking and freezing to save time). It works for me because there is no calorie counting involved and it doesn't feel like dieting, more like eating healthily. And being weighed by someone else helps to keep me 'honest' when I am tempted to stray.
I think the people who put the weight back on ime are the ones who lose it very quickly and then just go back to their previous eating habits. You have to see it as a new, permanent life style.
I would certainly recommend it - at the age of 69 I am healthier than I have been for years, I feel great and I just love being able to buy clothes I like instead of just clothes that fit. Go for it OP and good luck!

I gave up because I found it really unhealthy that people were upset if they'd gain a pound that week. Weight fluctuations are so common depending on a woman's cycle, so watching someone feel bad about themselves for gaining a pound or two was horrible.

Totally agree with this. Our leader is so kind and encouraging, but I've heard of other leaders who are not.

Also, re the "money racket" side of it - once you hit your target it's completely free! So it really does encourage you to get to your target and stay there.

What people do after they've lost the weight (i.e. if they overeat and put it all back on and have to join up again) is not SW's fault!

I really like it - my group is really supportive and genuinely excited when someone does well - one member is coming up to 10 stones lost. And there are a bunch of lifetime members in there. I know some of the groups and the magazines really push prepackaged food but I cook much more from scratch than I ever used to and feel healthier overall.

I'd be interested to read the scientific evidence re the eating disorders.
Can you point me towards it please?

Get yourself the MyFitnessPal app.

Make sure you put all your food into that app. Easy as anything as you can scan food packets etc. be honest as if you eat and don't put it in, it won't help!

It's free and so good if you stick to it.

The big thing why diets tend to fail is because they don't fit into lifestyle or feel too restrictive.

I also did well on slimming world and it helped with my understanding of some of my healthy snacks which I didn't really think about the calorie content of (nuts, olives etc).

I think it can help as it easily fits in to a family lifestyle (no cooking separate meals, less sugar and salt from making sauces from scratch etc). My kids absolutely love the butternut squash macaroni cheese and won't eat normal macaroni cheese!

I don't go anymore but it definitely gave me the support and tools I needed and I still follow some of the principles such as half the plate being of veg etc.
I did very well on it, I did find some others were delusion going why am I not losing weight when I eat the free food of a bowl of pasta......but if you follow half the plate being veg then it should help.

If you find it works for you then go for it 🙂

I have a couple of friends who swear by it but I think you have to be prepared to cook from scratch a lot. I might be wrong on that one.

I think with any diet you will regain the weight if you don't change your mindset and eating habits.

I have a close family member who lost weight on SW and five years later she's still at her target weight. However she does still attend the group as it keeps her on track.

I have seen loads of negative reviews on slimming world recently, mainly from other fitness 'experts' who say it leads to disordered eating. I'm not disputing that it could, but I recently signed up to their digital slimming world and it feels like it is structured to promote eating 80% healthy food, fats and protein and then gives you 20% allowance of foods that aren't such healthy choices. It's broken down really well (well for my brain anyway) and the app is full of really good, easy recipes! I am in need of a healthy eating reset and I will be following this plan for the next few months.

It has helped loads of people lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. its not for everyone but i think it will work for me.

@DomesticatedSavage @Moier yes I’d be interested to see the scientific proof that it causes eating disorders too.

I’ve rejoined slimming world because calorie counting was driving me a bit doolally, and for the first time in a long time I am eating properly, and exercising some degree of moderation. I’ve stopped drinking. I definitely agree with many on this thread that it comes down to people’s interpretation of the rules, and if you actually stick to it 100% and don’t cheat the system, it will work. My loss is really slow actually but it feels sustainable and it drives me to eat healthy nutritious meals, very little ultra Processed food, and I feel so much better for it.

I really, really don't get the hate for SW. Some people are absolutely vitriolic about it and it just seems odd to me.

I'm on it now, currently a couple of months and 9.5lbs down. It would be more than that except for a fortnight's holiday where I returned to my previous awful eating habits and undid about half of my work last month. That's not a sign that SW 'doesn't work', just that like anything if you don't actually stick to it it won't yield results. Now back on track though, regained my lost ground and moving forward.

I find it incredibly straightforward. Eat as much fruit, veg, salad, lean meat as you like. Unlimited rice/pasta/noodles. An allowance of healthy dairy (milk/cheese) and healthy fibre (wholemeal bread/cereal) per day. Everything else in very limited quantities due to syn values.

People obsess over the unlimited rice and pasta. 'HOW can you, that will never work' etc. Nonsense. The vast majority of fat people I know (including me, 5 stone to lose when I started) aren't obese because they eat too much plain rice 😂

I find it freeing. No calorie counting, just a hefty push to make healthier choices. I eye up a bag of walkers and think bloody hell that's probably about 9 syns. Not worth it. I'll pick up an apple instead. Similarly with chocolate, my ultimate downfall. I eye up a big bar like I'd used to eat and its 25 syns. So I eat a curly wurly every evening instead which is 5 syns...and for those that work in calories, less than 100.

I feel that constantly obsessing over calories and counting every item into your mouth is probably more damaging and likely to contribute to ED's than SW where you have a huge list of free food.

My sister is currently doing a 'standard' calorie controlled diet and meticulously measures and counts everything, including every item in her plain salad.

I can't imagine having to measure the calories in a plate of cucumber sticks. That would make me utterly miserable.

As a man, I am not sure I am allowed to post on here but I wanted to comment on the topic of Slimming World, as it is something I have personal experience with.

I have been a Slimming World member for a few years now. I have had a lot of success losing weight in the past. At one time I had lost just over 7 Stone following the plan. Unfortunately, more recently, I have put some (actually quite a lot) of that weight back on again. The reason for that is simple: I didn't stick to the plan. I let older habits creep back in and I paid the price on the weighing scales. I only have myself to blame for this. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Slimming World plan. It works just fine but, like anything, you have to stick to it, which is what I intend to do now.

Anyway, if I am not intruding, I thought I would have a read through some of the comments on here and possibly respond to a few of them.

The old mashed banana isn't really brought up that much at Slimming World. Whenever I come across someone going on about mashed bananas not being a free food, it is usually someone who is not a Slimming World member who somehow thinks they have found a major problem with the plan.

To answer the question though, all fruit (not just bananas) has a syn value when it is cooked, mashed, blended or pureed. Among the reasons are the releasing of natural sugars which makes them more calorie dense, it far easier to over consume and that the process breaks down the fibre content, reducing their filling power. It makes sense when you look into the reasons given.

On the question of credentials, here is a page giving the names of Slimming World nutrition experts for your inspection:

Meet the Slimming World nutrition, research and health team | Slimming World Blog

I agree with this, although Muller Lights are no longer a free food. They haven't been since 2018. Depending on the variety, they are half a syn to one syn each in most cases. They were actually given their small syn values the week after I joined so I remember it happening. The change applied to all fat free flavoured yogurts, not just Muller Lights. I remember some people not being happy about it but they got over it fairly quickly. And you're right, no one is required to eat such things.

I used to go a long time ago. I mean 20 years ago.
It was, in retrospect, awful at the time. They had sayings like "the more you eat, the more you lose". We were told to buy a huge plate by our leader. They sold items such as "hifi bars" which were packed with artificial sweeteners and most of the sessions were about "cheat" ways of eating huge quantities. We were taught how to make fake icing by mixing quark with jelly and sweetener, and how to make cakes out of Weetabix. We were shown how to make fake ferrero rocher out of scan bran and nutella, so you could eat 20, and how to make cheesecake from eggs and cottage cheese so you could eat a whole cheesecake. Much better to eat 1 actual ferrero rocher or a small slice of cheesecake of course. Muller lights were recommended. There was no emphasis on portion control or healthy foods at all.

I can only assume it must have had a complete rethink.

There are loads of different ways to lose weight. I personally find slimming world fits in well with my life. I make a lot of food from scratch and eat lots of healthy food including loads of fruit and vegetables. I don't eat mug shots or things like that, and to be fair, SW have distanced themselves from products like that over the last few years because they are poor nutritional choices!

I totally believe there are many different ways you can lose weight and you need to find something that works for you.

Most of what you said there is not endorsed by Slimming World and is in fact discouraged. Overeating is not presented as the way to go about things and replacing high syn ingredients with free foods so you can eat the whole thing is known as "tweaking." It is stated very clearly as something that can hamper your weight loss goals. If you replace a high syn ingredient with a free food, you're supposed to give it the same syn value as the ingredient you replaced (therefore no point doing it).

You do get some Slimming World members doing daft things like you mention. Are you sure these kinds of things were actually endorsed by group leaders and not just what some members thought they could do?

Hi-fi bars are still around. Personally, I quite like them but it's fine if someone doesn't. No one has to eat or drink anything they don't want to.

I left years ago when they seemed do demonise extra virgin olive oil and advertised nasty fruit yoghurt over plain or Greek. It just didn't seem sufficiently supportive of the healthy diet I was aiming for. Some of their stuff is great if you have a poor quality diet right now, as it's really a vast improvement. It definitely works in terms of losing weight.

OP- With so much weight to lose have you considered weight loss injections?

Yes