aspoonfulofalice is one of the people speaking out. I don't really like her but her SW criticism has been bang on
Slimming World #6 Mags is off on her yacht, sailing the world on the tears of the fatties
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001y27g - link to Radio 4 - SW discussion.
It's an interesting listen.
I understand the arguments for a few of the things but I still find it a bit annoying when people moan about slimming world because of things which they personally decide to do rather than the plan itself suggesting you do.
Examples of this.
Not eating all day on a weigh day.
Stripping to minimal clothing every week for a weigh day.
Eating laxatives for 2 days on the lead up to weighing (I've never heard of anyone doing this before this podcast!)
On the eating disorder issue when signing up. Whilst it should be put on there about having an eating disorder in the past not just active, how many people is this going to say yes to this realistically? How many people are going to say yes knowing it means they won't be able to join when they have come along because they want to sign up? It would probably benefit SW if they added that on there as it would cover them if someone has had a previous eating disorder and lied about it on that form.
I also think hearing the description said in that of the binge eating disorder I would likely fall under that category.
Over the past year they have really pushed on the "body magic" awards and that is probably what they're trying to get at when they say they don't focus on weight loss. The issue here is they then sit you down in a group and go around one by one and discuss how your week has gone based on your weight change over the week and will then tell you you may have gained weight because you've over exercised
As for the word syn and associating it with foods. I've been with SW for 5 or 6 years now. I don't not eat foods or describe them as syns as I really dislike the terminology. I do however see the correlation between sugar/fat and syns usually so will actively look for foods lower in sugar and/or fat and go down that route rather than scan and syn. I think SW has actually given me a much better relationship with food as I've delved in to their reasoning behind food synning.
There are a few things not mentioned on that podcast that really wind me up including the lack of use of the term calories throughout pretty much all SW groups and paperwork. I know they try to make it so you don't need to count calories but they could easily include this to help educate people a bit rather than ignore it completely. I also really hate some of the consultant terms when you've gained weight, such as the example I said above where you've over exercised, the often used phrase of you've under eaten and many many more which just make no sense but are reeled out every week to try and put people at ease despite them being horribly inaccurate and for some reason apparently believe by the majority as if the consultant doesn't say it, one of the other members will shout it out before they get a chance with a nod of appreciation from the rest of the group.
This is more indicative of the culture it breeds. I've stood by and seen a consultant weigh someone then tell them to go for a wee and take their bra off then weigh again!
The emphasis SW (and other diet clubs ofc) puts on weekly losses, chastising people for maintaining or gaining because they've exercised or they're on their periods, etc, leads people to going to dangerous lengths to not upset their consultants and to get losses.
SW are implicit in this behaviour.
I can honestly say I have never seen this happen in group and the consultant at my group doesn't tend to get involved in the weigh area. It's always two people who are very private and won't discuss your weight unless you bring it up in conversation with them.
I do however strongly agree with what you say regarding weekly weigh ins and weight change issues during the small period of time. The issue is they are effectively on a weekly wage which is dependent on people weighing in so changing it so you can weigh once a month isn't going to help the bank balance despite it being far more beneficial for the person weighing in in my opinion. I have friends who disagree and prefer to daily weigh in and plot graphs based on this which I think is mentally a really bad place to be in!
I don't think it's SW as a company which encourage this behaviour more so the consultants and the other members. I noticed people who want to lose weight can be desperate (from my personal experience) and will be more vulnerable to accepting bad advice and following the crowd if they think it will help them finally lose weight quicker. I'd like to think I have a good sense of judgement but I got sucked into it all and developed an eating disorder. I took laxatives, I didn't eat for 24 hours before weigh in. My consultant encouraged members not to brush their teeth before morning weigh in case we swallowed water, I'd like to think she meant this light-heartedly as a joke but as a young unassuming girl desperate to lose weight, I listened. I listened to other members say they wouldn't dare eat pizza or go for afternoon tea, so neither did I because I was terrified of not losing the following week. I was told to take my bra off and do a second weigh to lose half a pound more for my next award. It's a very scary world.
I knew someone that ate raw off bacon to make herself ill for a good weight loss
she would also go on holiday, come back & weigh in wearing a jumper & jeans & then the following week wear a light floaty dress 🫨A lady at another group I went to came in in the middle of winter in a really light dress and fur coat. She sat in group and said that she’d weighed every single dress in her wardrobe to see which was the lightest one
Wow I'm so sorry you experienced that.
I said it yesterday though, SW are implicit in this behaviour. They don't care. They want people to be yo-yoing up and down. They want people to feel pressured to lose weight and I doubt they give their consultants any resources on how to help people going down the spiral of an eating disorder.
I agree - I was at group once and there was a lady who was one and a half pounds away from her target. A lot of the other members were advising things such as cut out all carbs and other strange advice. The consultant however said it doesn’t matter if it takes one week or three weeks, you’re going to get there and it’s about changing your lifestyle not doing temporary measures which won’t last. The consultant makes such a difference to the ethos and atmosphere of a group.
I remember having a little note pad and writing down what I weighed after a wee, what I weight in certain trainers, what I weighed after giving blood. I was in this deep dark hole and would argue with ANYONE that would challenge me, convinced it was normalI knew someone that ate raw off bacon to make herself ill for a good weight loss
A lady at another group I went to came in in the middle of winter in a really light dress and fur coat. She sat in group and said that she’d weighed every single dress in her wardrobe to see which was the lightest one
I did things like that - I knew which leggings weighed least, cut the labels out of any clothes I wore to group, no watch or earrings etc. and made myself go to the toilet and end up being the last to weigh in but I knew in my head that if my weigh in was at 6pm on the same day each week then I should have a normal days eating but in reality I would only eat breakfast then go mad after 6. Thinking back it was crazy. My friend has just been on an extended holiday and "dare not" in her words go back to group until she is what she was before she went on hols then she can start again.
I did Slimfast for three weeks after my honeymoon because I was terrified of the gain
Even today’s slimming world man of the moment is already gaining! It just goes to show, you dare to have any other priorities in life and take your eye off the ball for a short while then you will not be able to maintain the weight loss! It is not a realistic long term plan - when will people start to get this?!
That's a syn free egg on his face....smug git
Again, I'm going to disagree slightly here.
I think the issue is not the weight gain, it's the continuous monitoring of the weight and expecting it to be within 6lbs forever which is the issue. The fight to get yourself to a weight which in your head is your ideal weight when realistically it's probably under what you could be and leaves you continuously checking yourself to keep yourself in this range where as so many people go through life fluctuating by a stone throughout the year and don't give a crap about it but know when they're starting to feel it they just change something up a bit, usually adding a bit of exercise and cutting down on portion size or having less takeaways/nights out for a while!
Another mental side of weight loss and how to live with it once you've found where you're happy.
It's some diet....err, I mean "lifestyle change", where you can stop doing it for a few weeks (let's say that means 3 weeks) and put at least 5 pound a week on. Clearly not restrictive at all....
Again, to the point I made above.
As an example of this I will use a friend who has just had the easter holidays off with his kids. He spent 4 days in Ibiza then came home and spent 3 days out and about with the kids eating out etc. He gained weight. He told me he's gained weight (he's probably bang in the middle BMI looking at him) and he said his clothes are feeling tighter and he was in between sizes but now clearly feels he's pushed up to the upper size.
Anyway, how much has he gained? He doesn't know, he doesn't care, he's had his week or so shall we say "off plan". The kids are back at school, he's back eating his usual although he said he had dropped the portion size as a short term fix and he's doing some HIIT exercises which he hasn't done for a few months. He'll return to the lower clothes size soon.
The point I'm trying to make, with SW we weigh in every week and we see these fluctuations and are in shock at the big losses and gains which can be determined by many more things than what we eat. In a person who doesn't do any kind of diet plans with continuous weighing they won't notice this but it will be happening to them too.
You know what, I do believe in the "lifestyle change" that is talked about. That is purely because that is what it has been for me. Going from a diet fuelled by takeaways, frozen meals or ready meals and alcohol to pretty much living on home made meals with the odd takeaway chucked in. Just like my friend who I mentioned, I might have the odd few weeks here and there where we're out and about and a binge comes on and I'll gain weight or like I've just had recently, I've trained bloody hard and had massive cravings and eaten copious amounts of cake over a few weeks and gained weight. Knowing that it will come off again in the next few months means I don't care. What I am returning to though, that lifestyle change that slimming world has helped implement and it does include the odd cake here and there still and the occasional takeaway because that is life.
I can see why some people struggle as they see it as one big rule book and eating certain things in their head turn out to be something you cannot do because it doesn't fit in with the ways but once you get over that hurdle you're laughing.
You however must not mention this cake or takeaway whilst attending a slimming world meeting if you have lost weight that week. Or mention you were still in a calorie deficit. I do get there are certain flaws and it's not the perfect program by any means but with a bit of personal tweaking to suit your lifestyle it can be a good program.
You honestly think an average, non dieting person could put on 5 pound each week for three weeks (at least)? Seriously?
Why not? The only difference between the two is probably the mentality and their relationships with food.
My wife will often question how I've managed to eat an entire packet of biscuits, huge bar of chocolate and then a share bag of crisps washed down with 2 litres of pepsi max. It's more of a habit than anything, doesn't make me feel sick, doesn't fill me up necessarily and it's pretty easy to do. Her on the other hand, 2 or 3 biscuits and she is feeling a bit sick. That packet of biscuits will remain around for weeks until the top ones have gone to crap and need to be thrown before eating more.
The diet isn't causing the person to gain these amounts. Anyone is capable of it. Slimming World in this case isn't the blame in my opinion.
A 5pound gain is eating 17,500 calories above maintenance so you're wrong