slimming world : Most liked Posts

The problem with SW is that it has been bastardised by social media.

6+ years ago, you’d bang your veg on the plate, follow the plan properly, have a nice loss, then listen to Fat Susan talk about her all inclusive cruise in class. The meals weren’t pretty, but they were honest and got you where you wanted to be. No fuss, no wannabes, no Beggy Mitchells.

These days, it’s all about tweaks and likes. Tower burgers that are about 7 layers high, porridge with ridiculous cake decorations on, and dickheads with a different comparison picture every day, tagging the shit out of SW in the vain hope that they’re not enough of a munter to appear in the magazine.

Give me Fat Susan any day...

There is no 'apparently' about it. I think thats really insulting if Im honest and not at all nice when people have ended up with eating disorders.

SW does work for some people, doesnt work for me to live a healthy sustainable life gave me absolutely atrocious eating habits. Maybe its the type of person I am that caused it but combined with SW it was a recipe for disaster.

If youve lost weight on SW and maintained it, I also think thats amazing, would never ever knock anyone for that. I always say losing weight isnt the hard part its maintaining it. If following SW is what suits you to maintain your weight then genuinely Im pleased youve found something that suits you.

Long time lurker, first time poster. To be honest, I’ve been waiting for a thread like this for a long time.
I had a fairly large SW account (dating way back to 2014/15, back when it was honest, no ads, no seeing how far you could stretch the plan) and back then it was a brilliant place to be. Everyone was so supportive, everyone ate proper food and offered help with recipes and inspo. I deleted my account because the SW IG place was just awful, full of people only thinking about themselves, being rude to people asking questions and pretending they eat all the stuff they post. I would consistently scroll through my feed like ‘I dislike 90% of these people’
I think it’s these ‘influencers’ (term used VERY loosely) being let loose on IG posting that have tainted people’s ideas & opinions on SW. The plan followed correctly, works. I know when I followed it properly and ate lots of fresh fruit and veg and single source foods I was losing weight and feeling better in myself. It’s only when I tried to follow the IG plan of SW () was when my relationship with SW, food and the scales got bad.

I am sorry for rambling, I’ve wanted to say things like that for a VERY long time

I wasn't sure of the general attitude towards SW vs CC on this page so I've held off commenting.
Here goes; SW fucked me up. Big style. My mum joined SW, had previously been on WW but it wasn't working anymore. A colleague lost weight on SW so my mum decided she would too. My mum has always been on a diet. I have grown up around a woman who calls food 'good' and 'bad' and is absolutely obsessed with how much she weighs. My mum lost 3st initially which was great and I loved that it made her seem happy so I decided to join SW with her when I was 20/21 (I can't remember because, frankly, I don't want to)

I thought being 'skinny' would be the answer to all my problems. The consultant always went on about how 'happy' everyone will be once they are 'skinny' or their 'goal weight'. I lost 2.5st, eventually got down to 10st 8lb which should've made me happy. But I wasn't. I was terrified of putting ANY weight on. I was terrified to go out with friends, would turn down lovely, delicious food at my boyfriends house because I couldn't control how it was made or what the ingredients where. I specifically recall working all day Saturdays and not eating (I worked at Asda, very full on and exhausting) so that I could 'save myself' for going out and getting drunk that night. I was no longer in control, SW was. I weighed myself everyday, sometimes multiple times. Even the 'free' and 'speed' food made me feel this consuming guilt that I was eating 'too much'. There was an event in group in which people wrote 'inspirational' things (centred around losing weight) and stuck them to this big board. One woman wrote 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'. This quote is used widely in the pro-anorexia community and was famously said by Kate Moss during her battle with anorexia. That quote stayed on that board until I decided to leave SW over a year later. I went on holiday at this 'goal weight' and I expected to feel confident and gloriously happy, like my consultant promised I would.

However, I still hid away because I still felt 'too fat'. Anyway, life progressed and I started to see through the plan. Things that didn't make sense, for example the blended fruit not being free and the Muller Light saga where they magically gained syns over night. I still went to SW, paid money to stand on a scale because my mum did. How could I explain to my mum that SW was impacting my mental health in such a way? We aren't the sort of family that talk about serious things like that. I don't even think my mum or dad believe mental health issues are real. Lockdown came, the first one, and I STILL did the Zoom meetings, still transferred this woman who didn't really care about me £2.75 (reduced fee) to weigh on my own scale and sit on a video call with women I didn't like who, actually, really annoyed me. Then the opportunity came, the consultant was leaving. And I knew, that was my chance to leave too. So I did, I said to my mum (terrified, may I add) that I was leaving SW because it was affecting me negatively (she still doesn't know about the borderline ED part of it all) After leaving I spent time eating food as I wanted, when I wanted and actually enjoying myself for the first time in almost 3 years. I did put all the weight back on, but that's fine! I would rather weigh more and be happy because being 'skinny' made me miserable.

A few weeks ago I decided, mainly out of curiosity, to look at how many calories I ate a day. I never intended to start CC. I realised I wasn't eating nearly enough for my body. Most days I sat at around 1000 calories which, I'm sure I don't need to point out, is extremely unhealthy. Because I always thought that the less you ate, the more weight you would lose. I did this for a week and then the week after I decided to weigh myself and start CC but in a lighter way, I didn't want to fall back into the SW trap and the control that had over me. I don't track when I go out, don't track my drinks (I mainly drink diet anyway) and definitely don't count alcohol. I'm not as in to the losing weight side as I once was and eat what I want mostly, just in better moderation. in 2 weeks I have lost 2.5lbs. I think that's pretty sustainable. SW was not the dream I was sold it to me. One day I hope to convert my mum to CC. SW is not working for her anymore.

SW does work for some people, but I don't believe that it is sustainable for long time use. I believe it is like a drug you need to wean off of, it's a safety blanked to go under when you lose trust in yourself. The woman with the Kate Moss quote quit SW and now does CC. I fully expect backlash for this comment but I needed to share my experience somewhere

After the food bank scandal in my local slimming world, all the morning group members have left. I am not sure about the other groups but it’s a big step for us after being ripped off of our meal deposits.

We now have a community slimming programme, we have the scales. One of the members, her son is a personal trainer, we are going to do a weigh in, a little bit of exercise, meal prep and calorie discussion and we’re paying £3 to cover costs and the hire of the community hall.

The head of the community centre is in the process of not welcoming slimming world back and giving us the slot in place of Slimming world in return. We were a group of 12 in slimming world, we now have 18 joining us in the Community Slimming Group.

Everyone we have spoke to are really annoyed with slimming world and the truth about the food bank donations were hidden from the other groups.

It feels like a very small victory and I have far too much time on my hands post retirement.

No plan tells you to starve all day but calorie counting doesnt require me to sit in front of a large group of people and justify why Ive gained half a pound. Or listen to people telling us how theyve had 3 takeaways and a night on the last but managed to lose 2lbs. I have severe anxiety that Im medicated for. The thought of having to explain myself was terrifying.

Having to justify any maintain or gain with a story or declaring the ins and outs of my menstrual cycle to a large group of people, including men who probably couldnt care less.

SW did not give me any knowledge of nutrition at all. It didnt teach me that if I had a salty meal before weigh in that the scales might not show any success that week. I lost 5 stone on SW but didnt really fully understand losing weight. I only understood SW. Ive told the story of a consultant I had who would shame you if you only lost 1lb, and others seemed to agree theyd had consultants like that. Also every consultant I ever had poo pooed any form of exercise which now seems mental to me?

So yeah it did totally alter my relationship with food. Ive not gained 5 stone back or anything but I definitely couldnt maintain my weight eating the SW way because it doesnt suit me. I lost most of my weight before all the codes and affilate links. It does suit some people and if its worked for you, amazing.

Back to the biscoff breakfasts..... although I do like a biscoff biccie. Perfect biscuit to pair with coffee imo.

Just catching up...

boothy_sw_insta: those huge portions are actually grotesque. She has a mountain of chips with every meal with the obligatory longstem broccoli on the side. Bellend.

ClaireandAmanda: they seemed to disappear around about the time that teamRH on Facebook shared a photo of one of their massive fakeaways in a pizza box which went viral. They actually kept old takeaway packaging to do stuff like this which I found really odd. Again, their portion sizes were hideous so they put their weight back on then deactivated their Instagram.

sophiejude: constant ads, loves herself, shares the same old pic of herself in the khaki green playsuit which gets on my actual tits tbh

List of things which piss me off about about SW Instagram...

1) JD seasonings: absolute ripoff.
2) Harry pickard and his bullshit 8 stone loss
3) Everyone serving their meals on a fucking chopping board
4) people taking pics of their food in their garden
5) when it’s Easter and all the big accounts post pics of Easter eggs full of sugary shite. Not. Healthy.
6) How everyone just conveniently forgot about Jack Towers raising 40k for skin removal surgery, having the cheapest surgery possible (had a tummy tuck and nothing else), claiming he was suffering with his mental health then fucking off with the money and deleting his instagram
7) Overly edited photos
8) easy on easy off...draw a line...start again monday
9) big accounts never losing weight or never posting weigh ins
10) The fake belief that it is still possible to lose weight with mountains of beige.

justhavinganoseynow said:

I’ve just joined SW for the first time 2 weeks ago. I’ve read through the thread and agree with what a lot of you are saying however people need to use their heads and eat in moderation. I’ve slowly gained 4 stone in 3 years and managed to lose the first 1/2 a stone in 2 weeks.

For example you’re saying people think they can eat a shit load of ‘SlimmingWorld chips’ or 27 muller lights and lose weight… they’ve got to take personal responsibility and have a handful of chips and one muller light. The same goes with syns… I never knew what a syn was until 2 weeks ago and they’re a good visual for what is bad for you eg I used to buy cold latte drinks in home bargain for 49p- I wouldn’t buy one I’d buy 3 and drink them in a day or 2. A Big Mac burger is 25.5 syns which I was eating weekly so Now I can see where I’m gaining the weight.

I don’t think I’ll be a die hard SW fan… I wanna get the chunk of the weight down and as soon as I feel good enough I’ll be back at the gym and calorie counting.

I don’t know what I’m adding to the thread tbh. I don’t disagree with you but people have to take personal responsibility for their own weight. And all this making crazy concoctions for a sweet treat.. if they’re that desperate have a treat and earn it by doing a walk or bike ride and eat the bloody sweet.

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A Big Mac you mention is 25.5 syns so you won't eat it now and blame it as cause of your weight gain.
Eating one would be classed as off plan.
A big mac is 493 calories
This is a Slimming world alternative the 'big daddy burger' for 0.5 syn with HEB or 6.5 syns. Its off their website bear in mind, and not a random insta hun recipe

If you put the ingredients listed into nutracheck its more calories than a big mac (this not including the syn free chips you'd likely have with it)

Yet you could eat 3 of these if you use one of your buns as heb and still be on plan and under 15 syns.

So, if you ate the big mac you'd probably watch what you ate for the rest of thr day because its a big mac and we associate it as high calorie and fattening.
If you eat the half a syn 'big daddy burger' you'd likely enjoy another 14.5 syns, a heA, breakfast and lunch on top.
Your consultant would even tell you that you need to eat all these things.
You could walk into and eat a big daddy burger monday - saturday and only eat a big mac on the sunday.
If you gained your consultant will blame the big mac.
Demonising a food for no reason.

Syns are loads of shit.

purpleberry said:

Good old Harry Pickard is back on the slimming world bandwagon!

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I saw that he wants to lose three stone, if he follows the same plan as he did last time it should cost him no more than £6.30 on eBay.

Hodgies said:

I want to know what they're putting in their pancakes

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Lies, they put lies in these pancakes

I've been sat for a while reading through these threads and it's helping me so much.

My mam did Slimming World when I was growing up and as a child who was a little bit chunky I also was encouraged to follow it. I can remember being 11 years old at school and having 2 fish fingers and a small scoop of beans for dinner because it was only 4 syns and it was all I could eat within my 10 syn allowance. I think from then my relationship with food has just got worse and worse and Slimming World has a lot to do with it.

Following SW from 11+ I got into the mindset of if it's free food I can eat it and have as much as I wanted whether I was hungry or not. So that meant Supernoodles for breakfast and as a late night snack! I then started to binge as I was restricting myself so much, I can remember making myself a crumble packet mix and just eating it all. Then came the cycle of going to SW classes, weighing in and then having a 'cheat day' where I would consume a fried breakfast, a family size bag of revels and a takeaway for tea as well as snacks throughout the day. Then I would feel incredibly guilty and try and not eat until weigh day.

Fast forward to 2018-19 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone and through CC, but I was having 1200-1400 calories a Mon-Fri and then as soon as I stepped off the scales on Saturday morning I would eat whatever I wanted until Monday. So even though I was losing weight I was still in that cycle.

Covid hit and I started working from home and put all the weight back on. June this year I was the heaviest and most miserable I have ever been and knew I needed to change! I have lost 6lb so far since June and trying to change my mindset. I'm trying to get out of bingeing at weekends, allowing myself things that I had wrote off as not being able to eat because they were too many syns, and telling myself its ok to have toast for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch which is one of the main things I struggle with!

Longgg post but I've never even typed how I felt about SW before and just had to get it out

I have to say, I lost 3 stone on slimming world and eventually gained it all back through the pandemic and tried to lose it again beginning of the year with calorie counting but it all fucked up my head. I realised I was burnt out by dieting...and growing up with a mum who was always doing slimming world and eventually just barely eating anything. For some fucked yo reason i wanted to be like her.

but this year I began feeling so exhausted from years of these diets I just decided fuck it all off and not in a "I'll get back to it Monday" kind of way.
My life is far too short to go back and forth between slimming world and CC, it's so tiring.

I stopped dieting. I started cooking food I liked and eating what I want within reason and I started running 3 times a week for my mental health alone. I'm pretty sure I've dropped some weight since but I've completed couch 2 5K and I'm now running 5K 3 times a week and drinking more water than ever and I feel SO free from counting calories or syns. It feels incredible.

I genuinely forgot what life could be just seeing food as food and exercising and doing things for your mental health not your weight. It's genuinely joyous.

I could be slimmer (14) with size 16 hips ha but I think this is my happy weight.
Sorry for the ramble!

DomMcGoldio said:

Favourite is davidcyril_sw

My wife and I are both doing slimming world currently. I’ve got about 4 stone I want to lose. Slimming world groups are good but on Instagram some of the accounts are cringe worthy. My wife likes that Harry Pickard and I can’t stand him. Why does weight loss turn some people into tossers? I followed that Dan Sully guy because his photo is everywhere on our group but he is mega cringe and seems a bit of a sleaze. As a man, I want to follow normal people I hate all this gifted stuff and people think they are celebrities. Vidlerjon seems ok too I I Follow him too

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I do SW and have lost 13 stone at my most (currently lost 10st 7lbs and working on the rest but not too bothered about the weight to be honest, more about the body now).

I wouldn't be following any of those instagram accounts to be honest! I think a lot are kidding themselves that a syn free meal is good for them but they post it and a lot of people see it and think it's all good to do as this person has lost x stone and they're doing it. They key SW for me is to stick to what I like to eat but to make it all fresh. Plenty of water and exercise on top of that when you can fit it in. Try not to eat too many "syn free" fry ups. Having 4 fried eggs, a tin of baked beans, 3 SW sausages, bacon minus the fat and then some fried tomatoes is syn free but it's still going to destroy you!

The good, the bad, the synful.
Harry prickard - Fraud
Beingbrittany - Racist and piled on all the weight.
Towers - Stole all the money and never came back.
Sw-kirk - Don't get me started.
Mrsbavington - I honest would rather starve than touch her food.
Swfeebs - Gave it up as why would people take advice from someone who is overweight again.

Ok loads more guys just wanted to start a thread for us.

Buzzing this morning, despite what I said yesterday I’m actually 3lb down from last week and got my Club 10! I’m thanking this thread and our mini revolution against the beige

Now to celebrate with a bowl of 10 melted chocolate bunnies topped with a jar of Biscoff for breakfast, a large Big Mac meal and 20 chicken nuggets for lunch and a £40 Domino’s order for tea followed by an Easter egg filled with random shite jokes!

have been a yoyo dieter for years and did join SW and WW at different points of my late teens and early 20s, i am almost 30 now and have been recovering from disordered eating for about 3 years and i just wanted to throw some tips that really helped me (these may not work for everyone and i'd love to see other tips so i can continue my journey!):

• joining therapy!
  • this is incredibly privileged as i pay for my therapy and i have no children and don't pay an extortionate amount to live because of where i live. i tried a few therapists through the NHS and CBT really did not gel with me, i needed to address the roots of my issues.
  • i didn't join therapy initially for food related issues but once i was there it just came about that a lot of my emotional eating stemmed from not knowing how to cope with emotions (even positive ones!), i still sometimes emotionally eat now as i know ultimately it's just food and if i'm having a really hard time i deserve to cope and get through it in whatever way i can.
• not engaging in diet talk with others
  • in the midst of my disordered eating i needed to distance myself from diet talk wherever possible and working in an office it's literally impossible to do that, if someone talked about their diet and mentioned a meal i would focus on that meal and create a conversation around it.
    "oh for my diet i made sweet potato brownies"
    "oh i didn't know you liked to bake?"
  • this was a super good way to distance myself from the diet itself but let the other person indulge a bit in what they want to talk about
• intuitive eating
  • this will not work for everyone but it worked very well for me. i read the book and the very basic principle is initially you just let your body have whatever it wants and my god was i ravenous. i think for about a year i just consumed and consumed and consumed and granted i gained quite a bit of weight, but then my brain just settled and all i wanted was a big load of veggies
  • once you stop depriving yourself of food and labelling food as good and bad you can start understand what food actually makes you feel - if i eat pizza 2 days in a row i feel really low energy and sluggish, so i try to increase my veggies the next day! it helps because i am listening to what my body wants and i want my body to have energy and i want to feel upbeat, so i'll learn what works for me and what doesn't
• exercise!
  • one of the things that frustrates me about weight loss accounts is the ENTIRE focus is on weight loss and that means it's just about calories and a lot of the time there isn't a mention on exercise, i've never been an active person even from when i was a child and then i decided one day to go for a run and something just clicked? i kept running and like oh my god the mental clarity it gave me!
  • the benefits of exercise tend to boil down to what it can do to your weight but my weight hasn't really shifted but i feel a gazillion times better when i am consistently moving my body in a way that is fun for me
• my weight and what i eat do not affect my moral compass
  • understanding that whatever diet i've done and whatever i put into my body and whatever shape my body is does not affect who i am as a person is huge to me. in life your body will change because of literally everything and anything, and that does not mean you're a better or worse person because of it
  • when i used to binge i felt so shameful and guilty and sad and now if i slip up and binge i just look after myself, i deserve to heal and just because i ate 3 meals does not make me a bad person and does not change me inside

sorry for the long post, i know how hard it is to be all consumed by these dieting programs and to know that your weight can affect so much - i hope this post is even a little bit insightful?

eSsExBiRd said:

For every fraud account there are many genuine accounts out there. You only have to see the commments on their FB posts from people who are just like you, I, you’re Aunt etc to see that many have successfully lost weight and kept it off over a prolonged period. They’re not after the instafame.

Most of these big accounts are now gorging on processed, sugar ladden shit now as that’s the new bandwagon They’ll be back - just look at Emily Walters, she’s the biggest flip flop ever.

If you follow it properly it’s a great plan. I ate healthy, home cooked food, we all did as a family. I tried CC/Macro it was honestly so stressful and I found myself eating separately to my family. It wasn’t for me.

Not everyone wants to sit and count calories, they appreciate the syn system and how you can still enjoy a wide variety of food. Yes, that includes the controversial Avocado It’s really not depicted as the devil like some Fitness influencers make out If followed correctly then you are put in a deficit without the hassle of CC (I find it such a faff!) Some people enjoy the social interaction of classes, most consultants are fantastic.

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I agree, the amount of people slagging sw off now is laughable. Sw defo works if you do it properly, its the same as any plan really if you fall off the wagon you stop losing weight! Bloody tik tok is full of videos of people slagging it off, saying how toxic it is etc, lots of them lost loads of weight on it . I lost 4 stone on it and I’ve kept it off because I’ve stuck to plan, yes it can be restrictive but if I eat a load of shite I’ll gain it’s as simple as that, I prefer it to calorie counting as it encourages me to eat more fruit and veg, on cc an apple is nearly the same amount of cals as a biscuit, obviously the apple is healthier but I was going for the biscuits on cc. I agree, they’ll all be back to sw

swipe_up said:

Oh god I remember when SW Instagram was at its peak, ASA wasn’t so hot then so they were all pushing their spice codes and wanging on about crucial sauce, a certain chocolate brand and water bottles.

some were rather preachy, piled it all on and then disappeared.
Slamdunkthechunk
Itsyourgirlems
Oh and who could forget taste the rainbow JSG

i know a lot of people hate SW now but it worked for me, had a little to lose in 2016, kept it off and would never take a hard boiled egg to a hen night

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I miss JSG talking about eating the frigging rainbow

DrStriker said:

Hey huns can I have paracetamol as my healthy B option?

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Absolutely fine babez, don’t mash it though as the syn value goes through the roof.
next time you should try a quark and balsamic vinegar substitute mixed with a burger blend spice mix, use my code #cuntface for 20% off.
you’re welcome hunnay

I'll always remember seeing some SW Instagram user saying she fancied something sweet, so she boiled some pasta and mixed it with a Muller light as a "syn free treat" (this was obviously before the Muller light controversy). How anyone can think that sort of eating habit is healthy is beyond me

Tattle is probably the wrong place to be if you’re easily offended.