Slimming world

[WalterMittyfan]

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

That was about four to five years ago - I remember as I was deep into SW then. They were all OBSESSED with food though and I think that was the underlying problem- making all those insta pics fed the obsession and once at target or close to, they just crept the overeating back in as it was all about posing in photogenic pubs and restaurants.
There was a girl called Gemma who played netball who had a massive following and it was all about the pretty food pics. Also ‘this time I’ve done it ’ is obsessed with food and cooking huge meals. Same with Swfeebs, no wonder she’s piled it all back on. Slimming World feeds this food fixation as all you do in the meetings is talk about food! I remember one meeting they were all going on about how fantastic popcorn is and it made me go and buy a huge bag of it and eat the whole lot in one go - I hadn’t even thought about popcorn before then

 

[MamaD]

I went to one meeting a few years ago and it was clear the leader had lost all control. They had members who were interrupting them and talking loudly to each other during the meeting. I had to stay about an hour longer because all the machines stopped working to weigh me and take payment-not anyone’s fault but it added to the general ineptitude.I was stuck there for three hours. It really put me off. The online meetings have been good though, I suspect because SW pay for the franchise it is harder to vet them for suitability. WW has some horrors, but mainly because they seemed like they did not care and had lost belief in the plan-like I did haha.

Yep I used to be a WW leader and you’re basically a sales person. Weight loss is not a priority for the business! It was all about upselling the monthly pass (no longer available) and selling the product of the week. I loved my members and we’d have great meetings and would be happy to help but now WW has massively lost its way! The app is great in theory but has too much going on! You can’t even pay weekly at WW anymore!
SW meetings are sooooo long! I don’t want but know about why Doris gained 5lb after eating 10lbs of beige food at a buffet. Plus the consultants were all overweight themselves (the ones I had). At WW we were weighed at every team meeting and if you had gained and were out of target you’d be asked to report weekly and explain why you weren’t following the plan. They also made it a rule that you couldn’t be a diamond leader if you were outside of goal weight. I was young and thin at the time so was a firm fav but the managers were super hard on some leaders!

 

[letsmeltthatlard]

Please can you stop using terms like that please. It is incredibly offensive. You wouldn't say to someone with lung cancer a joke about cigarettes so please stop. Sugar doesn't cause diabetes. There is a whole thread about this. Not just aimed at you, I have seen others post about this today.

You're in for a bumpy ride

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

This is where SW does need to invest further I feel. You sit there at a group asking about how to navigate a social event or what to have when you really fancy a takeaway but don't want to blow your weight loss and there aren't really any answers. No-one wants wants to have fish and chips then take the batter off the fish or order chicken in bloody black bean sauce with boiled rice and is there anything more depressing than worrying about what you're being fed if you're at someone's house when really you should be enjoying getting together with people....especially when we've been denied these kind of events for the last year.

The on/off plan is a bit of a head fuck for so many people. It's all very well for consultants to say nothing is banned but it doesn't seem to work like that in reality. So many of us struggle with having food we can't easily fit into the plan so we end up veering off then having to reset.

100% agree. I think I was the earlier poster and its not sustainable long term for me.I had great success with SW but it took over my life. I would avoid social activities and if I had to go would order and pay for food I didnt really like just because it was more 'on plan'

Yes I lost weight, a lot of it but found life stressful. There are such limited options for grab and go foods.

I dont want to be making every single meal from scratch forever more. Things like pasta sauce, there are shop bought which come out almost identical calorie wise. When I first started calorie counting I was making my own and then realised calorie wise there was v little difference so sometimes its ok to use a jar of sauce if short on time.

Ive said it before but CBT helped me so much in regards to eating, habits etc. Sorting out the negative language I had attached to food, good/bad, on plan/off plan, guilt/no guilt. I cannot recommend it enough. I used to be the type of person who would buy a box of Krispy Kreme and eat all 12. Have absolutely no control, in my head it'd be oh well Ive had one, ruined it, so be aswell eating them all now and I feel like SW reinforced all those feelings for me. I was either binging or purging. I couldnt just have a takeaway and move on, Id then continue to eat and eat afterwards, whatever I could get my hands on, because Id been 'bad' so be as well. Was my attitude.

I can now though, ok Im not as slim as I was on SW but Id say my eating habits are a lot better and Im having 3 balanced meals most days and I rarely snack.

Ive had my kids easter eggs and easter treats in for a few weeks and havent even looked at them. 2 years ago Id have eaten them and replaced already.

 

[lesleybanks]

just came across this for some reason. prime example of what we were saying

 

[Smith290419]

Why do all these big accounts that obviously do not follow slimming world anymore and have obviously gained weight still hashtag slimming world?? Skinnyjeans is 1 of them! Non of her food is sw friendly at all!

 

[Wowwwwwwwww]

Remember Ross who was the worst flip flopper on/off plan drawing the line twat going? He’s all for Munro fitness and slagging SW off now.

 

[ChampagneBox]

The fuck has she done with the scraggly leftover bits?!

Eaten them

 

[antisocialmedia]

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

You don't deserve any backlash for this.

I was in a similar position, I ended up with disordered eating from SW. I feel I'm fully recovered but it was a long process.

You will start to feel normal, I promise. I eat white bread now and feel no guilt. Someone said "guilt isn't an ingredient, don't add it!"

 

[eSsExBiRd]

i HATED it when practically every single person weighed in on boxing day and posted it. absolutely no need at all to weigh yourself, of course the scales will be up if you’ve indulged for 2 days but it’s christmas!! live a little ! it’s not real weight gain, it’s water retention and the food is still in your stomach lol. it’ll go away after a couple days. a lot of accounts also made it look like they had lost loads of weight around january when in reality they’ve just dropped their ‘fake gain’ from xmas. i couldn’t imagine myself waking up on boxing day and thinking yeh let’s jump on the scales what a great idea, it’s actually really quite sad

They do it because they know they’ll get a big loss on their next weigh in which in turn will bring in a flood of “YoUr sUcH aN InsPirAShOn BaBe” comments, follow a fuktard Friday nominations and those wanky “WhaT U dOiN NoW” tags.

 

[Northeast1988]

Please can you stop using terms like that please. It is incredibly offensive. You wouldn't say to someone with lung cancer a joke about cigarettes so please stop. Sugar doesn't cause diabetes. There is a whole thread about this. Not just aimed at you, I have seen others post about this today.

Ok so not Being too technical here like , sugar can contribute to the cause of type 2 diabetes. you are more likely to get it if you are overweight. You gain weight when you take in more calories than your body needs, and sugary foods and drinks contain a lot of calories. So you can see if too much sugar is making you put on weight, then you are increasing your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
Hence why a lot of my patients once they’ve had bariatric surgery , also are no longer diabetic

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

That Josh Clark should stick to the day job instead of baking I’m sure he likes his shortbread but is it commercially viable? I doubt it

His name Joshclark_sw....

His bio 'loosely following SW'

What

 

[Hodgies]

The thought of battenburg on my porridge makes me feel quite queasy, same with a Freddo or whatever other nonsense they put on.

I know syns are there for using but it does rather seem like taking the piss!

 

[SootySweepAndSoo]

Sophie Jude is another big account still trading off SW fame but now calorie counting and constantly ‘drawing a line ‘ She irritates me massively.

 

[Damocles]

Mr Sleek himself had beef burgers for breakfast the other morning.

 

[NapQueenReturns]

SW are definitely rattled.

So much bullshit in there, I don’t know where to start.

 

[Littleoldlurker]

I’ve had 3 consultants in my time, 2 were good. 1 was horrific. i feel like I cant say much as it would easily identify me but I went back to a different class after pregnancy, I had got to target prior to falling pregnant at a different class but my original consultant gave it up, so I thought I’d try a new class. I didn’t have much to lose really, combination of being at target prior to pregnancy, breastfeeding and running after 2 kids. I lost I think 5lbs in my first week (which was obviously water weight) and she made me stand up in front of everyone at my turn in image therapy and said look this woman does not have a lot of weight to lose and she can manage 5lb in her first week so there is no excuse for anyone. Should have been my first red flag but no I continued to attend. She’d make catty comments if you lost 1lb or stayed the same.

The final straw was when a close relative of mine had an accident and I got a phone call about it 20 minutes before going to my class that week, I posted in the Facebook group to say really sorry cant make today but I had a countdown anyway so she’d had her money up front. She had seen the comment, but text me later that evening to say why didn’t I come along to her other classes that week and I needed to prioritise my weight loss, seemed like a generic text she sent everyone who hadnt attended that day, she didn’t reference what I’d put on the FB page. I replied saying well this has happened blah blah. No response. She then continued to bombard me with texts, I eventually said this is too much can you stop messaging me, it’s just not for me, I’ve did SW before and never felt like this. Her response, oh please still come along I’ll just take you off my text message list. I said please do that and no I won’t. I eventually had to block her as she continued to text me and send me stuff via email.

the best part of all of this is she was not at her target weight, I think had been at her target weight for a few months once in all the time she was a consultant. She was not a small lady at all.

Edit - she also used to write really bitchy comments on my food diaries, said I used too many syns (never used over 15 btw) and didnt eat enough free food. I honestly wish I had reported her to SW HQ at the time because she was horrible.

Sounds EXACTLY like an old consultant I had.. who told my mum that my grandad dying the week before wasn’t an excuse for a gain and “this is a slimming club you know not just an excuse for you to go out”. Luckily a few people complained and she actually got sacked!!!

I do actually enjoy the SW plan but I hate the aggro you get for not getting massive losses. If I try hard I get 1-1.5 a week maximum which I’m happy with but I feel like I’m constantly told it’s not good enough by the consultants! Then the largest member there will say something like “well I had 2 takeaways this week and I still managed 3lbs!!” Yes babe but I’m about 10 stone lighter than you

 

[Moonflower]

Not suggesting that you have to live on chicken and broccoli, but chocolate covered breakfasts and chocolate desserts doesn't sound like it would fit in a deficit everyday (as a treat, sure, but everyday?)

it's very easy to over estimate especially things like sauces where you can't measure easily and how many times are those baked oats covered in spreads, sauces etc and it claims to be a teaspoon but looks like far more!

You can workout as much as you want but you can't outrun a bad diet, no matter whether that is SW, calorie counting etc.

Very interesting that SW are changing their tack to mention calories now.

 

[Ng!917658150]

Isn't it about time Sophie Jude dropped the SW from her name if she's no longer following it and has jumped on the calorie counting bandwagon

 

[Grumpyscotslady]

The fact that their own spaghetti carbonara at 550 calories is "syn free" and the tesco low calorie carbonara at 325 calories is 6 syns should show you what a load of rubbish it is. It's all about making money.

I've noticed people saying that the instagrammers "aren't following the plan properly". Well, a lot of them are. A 3rd of your plate must be speed food. Apparently this will stop you eating too many calorie dense foods. All they do is buy a bigger plate