Slimming World - cult?

[Guacamole123]

It’s all a money making scheme. It’s not a sustainable diet, you will lose a fair bit of weight at the start and then eventually you will put on weight or plateau, you’re paying fees to go to their meetings at the end of the day so they wouldn’t make the diet 100% effective! I do know someone who lost a massive amount of weight on SW and has kept it off, but I think she’s probably in the minority. Don’t even get me started on how a banana apparently has a different syn count to a mashed one!

 

[PineappleQueen19]

I agree these programmes are designed to keep you in a never-ending loop of gaining and losing weight to retain you as a paying customer.

As well as the usual sensible advice (opt to drink water as much as possible, up your fruit & veg, get fresh air /go walking, be mindful when eating, etc) my top bit of advice would be to do some weights.

Even if you’ve never done them before it’s ok. It was a true game changer for me. Mainly because muscles need fuel and growing muscle counteracts your metabolism dropping if you are in a calorie deficit. And getting stronger will give you such a mental/psychological lift.

If you hate gyms you can buy a cheap 8kg kettlebell from Decathlon or amazon and sit it next to your tv so you see it from the sofa. The YouTube account Bodyfit with Amy has a 10 minute beginner kettlebell routine (skip any swinging exercises for now). Start super gently, this is a marathon not a race.

Apart from supporting your weight loss, doing weights is so important for long term health eg bone density. And it will make you feel amazing and proud of your body.

 

[Jennyie]

The clapping like seals if you’ve lost, sympathy groans if you’ve gained all sat round in a cult like circle. Hideous, as well as completely pointless and a total waste of money.

 

[Riggs]

Everyone ive known go to Slimming World has been going there for more years than they can count and they are barely any further than when they started. They seem to do well for a while but its not sustainable long term so they end up Yo-Yo'ing and putting on whatever they lost and then going back year on year just to keep funding the service.

 

[Jam-sandwich]

This might sound a bit harsh, but for me the most off-putting thing about SW (and similar plans) is that there seems to be a lot of overweight consultants, which IMO speaks volumes about whether the plan actually works. They've made a career (often full-time) out of signing people up to the plan, spend many hours a week immersed in all things SW-related and some could probably give the new member talk in their sleep, yet they're not slim?!?! It's clearly not the magical weight loss solution it's cracked up to be.

PS: This is coming from someone who spent the last 10 years or so signing up to one plan after another until I had the lightbulb moment a few months ago!

 

[Onepotatotwopotato]

Just count calories and aim to eat more protein, fibre, fruit and veg, and do some walking. The rest will take care of itself!

 

[Pot2PeeIn]

I’m part of “the cult” and had lost 10.5 stone, have settled at a 9.5 stone loss but agree its now hard to find the balance between religiously following the plan and actually having some semblance of a normal life. If you’ve lots to lose it’s a good place to start- however you do need to adjust your attitude to a nodding dog and clapping seal if you stay to group

 

[Guacamole123]

I just wish people would understand that the way to lose weight is to put yourself in a calorie deficit! The whole idea of syns and speed food is too confusing, and completley unnecessary! Does anyone else find dedicated SW’ers similar to people in MLMs? It is like a weird cult

 

[PineappleQueen19]

This is good

 

[elloelloello]

From someone that had an eating disorder for 7 years slimming world in some ways did 'change my life' in some ways. I spent years and years starving myself and restricting my food, this only stopped once I fell pregnant and I needed to eat for my baby. After having my child I had gained about 6 stone no joke, my metabolism was totally fucked and I gained weight so easily just eating a normal every day diet with a few treats here and there.

I tried eating soups and liquid diets after but ultimately I said enough was enough and I cant starve this weight off so I joined slimming world. I lost about 2.5 stone on it in 3 months. It was the first time in my whole adult life I had ate 3 meals a day and snacked. I ate alot of food, and I cried the first week when I lost 2 lbs, I didnt think I could ever eat and lose weight so it was great.

However, I quit because whilst it's great that you can lose weight eating things like pasta for 'free' the whole syns thing was taking over a bit and I'd never eat my syns and just use them on wine on the weekend, not very healthy lol.

I decided to stop going to group, I joined a gym, and I now still eat my 3 meals a day. I no longer count food as free or syns, but one thing I will say is I have taken some of the basic sw principles and I use that in my own diet now, so for examply hexA/B I will have one serving of wholemeal bread, or grains, whatever a day but I do not limit this to a 60g roll, if i want proper wholemeal bread i will have it. Also with milk/cheese I will decide which one I want that day, and have one of them not both (diary doesnt agree with me but i FUCKING LOVE CHEESE)

Ultimately sorry I am rambling but I think if you follow slimmingworld properly (not like harry pickard) and eat 1/3 of your plate veg for most meals and not overdoing it on the bread and cheese it'll probably work! But doing it the wrong way:

Eating pasta (&not weighing it) for every meal will not make you loose weigh
Just because you have 10 syns left over doesnt mean you should binge on crisps and chocolate to use them up
Using your daily syns on sweets or junk is NOT HEALTHY, eat an advocado

Slimming world is good for people who need to be educated on diets, fat or thin, it really helped me change my entire outlook on losing weight!

Sorry for boring you all!

 

[DomMcGoldio]

I’ve put on weight, wedding, hitting my 30’s and reducing sport. Want to lose 2-3 stone. Starting my own instagram page. My wife is very active but does slimming world too. She wants me to join. I want to do it but I’m apprehensive. The wife shows me a few of the slimming world Instagram accounts of men some of them are absolute melts. Bloke being run over by a car and thanking slimming world for it. Never seen something so stupid in all my life.

 

[Ellsbells123]

I have done SW and got to target through following the plan. It then all went down hill, I felt there was little support as a target member and it was always “well you know what you are doing”. I am currently nearly a stone away from that target and determined to go it alone to get back where I was.

 

[Cocopops91]

Definite cult in my opinion and the reason I now have an eating disorder.

 

[Followtheyellowbrickroad]

I tried SW. Waste of time and money. I cut out sugar / wine and takeouts.... joined a spinning class and i went swimming and lost weight.... if you want to check foods download the My fitness App.

 

[dontgetit]

Many thanks folks. Clapping seals. ok, SW is not for me then.
I have been told to download 'my fitness pal' to count calories and manage macros ??!!
Protein is key.
I will start using my gym membership and will have a go at weights, a lot on this online at the moment.

Many thanks

 

[msp1124]

Sorry I haven’t read all of the posts here.. I come from a health promotion/disease prevention background and work with people everyday who are trying to lose weight and improve health (nhs programme, it’s free so not robbing money off people lol)
2 things I would say are:
1. Any sort of diet/group for weight loss are keeping you (the consumer) at an arms length away. They keep you close enough to lose weight so you think ‘yeah this is working!’ But not so far that you no longer need their assistance anymore (loss of money for them)
2. With any diet, you have to ask yourself ‘how sustainable is this?’. Can you continue those changes/that big of a calorie deficit for the rest of your life? If the answer is no then it’s not sustainable.

essentially weight changes down to calories in vs calories out (age, gender, BMR, and activity levels influencing how many calories you need).
your calories out come from your Basal Matabolic Rate, Structured Exercise (EAT), Non structured exercise (NEAT such as cleaning, fidgeting) and the Thermic Effect of Food.
I would recommend you finding out your BMR (how many calories you would burn if you were essentially in a coma) and your TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure)

BMR Calculator

www.bmi-calculator.net

This will give you a better idea as to how many calories you need a day.

I follow Syatt Fitness and the Fitness Chef on IG, they have a no bullshit approach to weight loss.

a few things to bare in mind, weight is influenced by calories in vs calories out so technically you could consume all 1800 calories you need from pasta and not put on weight however you also need to consider the nutritional holdings of these foods, making sure you have a variety of nutrients.
Increase fibre intake, it helps you feel fuller for longer, can help reduce overall calorie consumption and helps to control glucose levels.

lastly, humans are most responsive to protein in terms of feeling full (we feel more full from having 100g protein as opposed to 100g fat or carb) so make sure you are getting enough protein.

Sorry if this has all been said already but hope it helps!

 

[dontgetit]

My Fitness Plan app on my phone.
Here we go.
Thanks for all your advice. Never realised how important strength training is, have had a good read on it this afternoon x

 

[PineappleQueen19]

Nutritional content and calories both matter. How you choose to hold them in tandem depends on your goals.

The Fitness Chef posts good content on this topic, eg:

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Whilst adherence to Slimming World ideals may result in fat loss for some, for others its system prohibits the necessary understanding required for long term progress.
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A calorie deficit is required to lose fat. But adherence to slimming world does not guarantee that calorie deficit. Because the model’s encouragement to eat unregulated quantities of ‘free foods’ becomes problematic when there is no structured caloric control of those foods. ‘Free’ is to imply that it doesn’t count. But it does count - irrespective of that food’s overall quality. -
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Designing an eating system in such a way denies the consumer factual nutritional values and thus the meaningful information required to make informed choices in relation to their goal. As a result, one may over-consume ‘free’ foods and unknowingly counteract the calorie deficit required to lose fat. -
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SW success is judged by weekly measurement of total body weight (which includes water). Therefore, progress or failure could be defined by going to the toilet or drinking a bottle of water prior to the weigh in. Despite this, members are required to pay £20 per month for the privilege of this ‘assessment’, along with ‘educational’ discussions conducted by SW ‘coaches’ who teach customers how to manage their ‘syns’. -
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As a fat loss intervention, it is unnecessarily complex. It also serves to potentially worsen one’s relationship with food. Replacing facts with fictional buzzwords in a ‘win or lose’ arena defy what is required for sustainable fat loss and positive food relationships. A gradual, tracked calorie deficit, including factual appreciations of food is a cheaper, better informed, long term solution. -
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Some may have accidental success with slimming world. But if calories define fat loss, surely caloric recognition ought to be translated by SW to their customers. Instead, it is not. -
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For those who can’t afford £20 a month for an irrelevant system, unskilled advice and yo-yo results, maybe it’s time to step back into the real world.

 

[Flumperooni]

I enjoy slimming world, I lost 3 stone on it steadily and enjoyably but over the years I’ve put it all back on because I quit and went back to old habits. I’m back to it now, so like anything I suppose it suits some people and not others. Tracking on my fitness pal is good too but I personally find that quite regimented, slimming world for me is quite relaxed and flexible

I realise this is a really old post, however you do realise that the reason slimming world worked for you is that essentially it did exactly the same thing as my fitness pal (that you claim is too regimented) and put you in a calorie deficit. The slimming world plan is not magic and the only possible way you lost weight is that you used more calories than you consumed

 

[Fomohomo]

it's not sustainable, research shows that too, theres plenty of material to show that only 5% of dieters maintain their weightloss.for 5 years plus. the rest of us 95% put it all back on with 40% of that lot putting g back on even more than before.

proof is in the pudding with the fa t it's a weightloss program so yes granted you will lose weight but you get such disordered eating.

perks of it,cooking from scratch was great for me

cons starving myself then binging,became afraid of food and so disordered and it affected my mental health even worse.

people say, well you gain weight because you cant stick to plan, plan cant be stuck to when you've naturally hit your bodies decision of the weight it feels happy with and every body is different. you cant continue to eat the way you did and maintain.

what I found disturbing was the lack of help once you hit target, it made me even more obsessed with food.

I genuinely thought once I hit target I'd be so happy,it actually made me miserable and even more self conscious than ever before.