Ex Slimming World Disordered Eating Recovery #2 Underestimating Our Desire To Eat Pasta

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disillusionedbythegram said:
So I’ve been having a cleanse of all my followers on Instagram, as I used to have a slimming world account which I stopped using for that purpose. I would say that 90% of the slimming world accounts I’ve unfollowed have had something along the lines of “restarting x date” or “serial slimming worlder” or “back at it again” or “x loss in 2018, back to lose it again” you get the drift. Only a handful of accounts were target members maintaining, they were pretty much all ones who have struggled and are “back on the wagon”. Yet people will still insist it works 🤔
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The diet is far too restrictive, things are high in "syns" with no rhyme or reason. It is a low fat low sugar diet (when they are not pushing certain products to make money of course) most people don't need a diet like that unless they have a health condition. Sugar doesn't make you fat on it's own. Nor does full fat. So you then get the fear factor when you eat these things. Eating/drinking more cals than you use makes you gain weight.

The competitive element of it makes people starve themselves to get these silly rewards so it becomes unsustainable the smaller they get. A lot of people have mental health problems that make them over eat, so it doesn't solve the problem long term
 
ChubClubThug said:
The diet is far too restrictive, things are high in "syns" with no rhyme or reason. It is a low fat low sugar diet (when they are not pushing certain products to make money of course) most people don't need a diet like that unless they have a health condition. Sugar doesn't make you fat on it's own. Nor does full fat. So you then get the fear factor when you eat these things. Eating/drinking more cals than you use makes you gain weight.

The competitive element of it makes people starve themselves to get these silly rewards so it becomes unsustainable the smaller they get. A lot of people have mental health problems that make them over eat, so it doesn't solve the problem long term
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Agree agree agree!! I've only just started eating full fat things again after nearly 12 years :(
 
ChubClubThug said:
Sugar doesn't make you fat on it's own. Nor does full fat. So you then get the fear factor when you eat these things. Eating/drinking more cals than you use makes you gain weight.
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This is so true. My grandma used to live on pies, pasties, fish fingers, chips, eggs fried in lard, white bread, butter, boiled sweets, pepsi and 2 sugar coffees.
I never saw her eat a vegetable outside a sunday dinner.


She never got beyond a size 6 because, even though she only unhealthy food, she didn't overeat.
 
SundaysChild said:
Agree agree agree!! I've only just started eating full fat things again after nearly 12 years :(
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Literally, anything you learnt with SW, bin it from your mind and soul. In theory the message is good but when they introduce all these weird rules (that they pinched from the Hay Diet/food combining diet way way back) it just becomes silly. You enjoy those full fat products, I bet they're healthier than all the synthetic crap we used to eat to save 20 cals
 
Thank you for starting the topic! I had no idea I wasn't the only one.

I struggled with my weight a lot when I was in my early 20s, but I really hated myself so I would starve myself a lot, then end up binge eating, then starving again, etc. It was so tit because Drs were horrible to me about gaining weight, as if they just thought I was being complacent, when actually I hated myself and was damaging myself just like a thin person with an eating disorder.

Anyway, I didn't realise the extent of my problems. I didn't realise I was mentally ill, I thought I just had to stop being greedy. So when I went to a doctor wanting to lose weight, she told me to join SW.

I felt very self conscious there and I hated it. I had bad anxiety and just hated the atmosphere of forced cheeriness and clapping. I also hated that if someone hadn't lost weight, the group leader would single them out and say that this diet was perfect and if they weren't losing weight they must be lying about what they were eating.

I still couldn't stop binge eating, so I started to panic really badly if I had even one bar of chocolate, because it would show up on the scales. I felt like I couldn't live a normal life or see friends because my whole brain was consumed with having to eat a certain way. When I got praised at the group for losing weight, I knew I had to pretend to be happy, but I just hated all that attention on my body and felt like I could burst into tears.

Eventually I was getting such bad panic attacks thinking about going to SW that I just stopped going. After a couple of months, the group leader messaged me asking if I wanted to start going again. I replied with a short and sweet message about how unfortunately I'd developed an eating disorder and felt that being pushed to lose weight was making me behave dangerously (starving and bingeing, being obsessive and depressed). Then this bloody woman had the gall to reply "Do you think coming back to group would help with that?" Absolutely disgusting. Not even an "I'm sorry to hear that", just right into pushing her MLM on me. (Is SW an MLM? Idk, feels like one).

Years later I saw a therapist who specialised in eating disorders, and she said that the worst thing my GP could have done was tell me to go to SW. She said that eating disorders like mine were best treated without mentioning your weight at all, but by improving your mental health to the point that you don't starve yourself which ends up making you so hungry that you binge.

Oh heck, I made myself cry writing this. I hope reading my story might help someone else!
 
InkHeart said:
Thank you for starting the topic! I had no idea I wasn't the only one.

I struggled with my weight a lot when I was in my early 20s, but I really hated myself so I would starve myself a lot, then end up binge eating, then starving again, etc. It was so tit because Drs were horrible to me about gaining weight, as if they just thought I was being complacent, when actually I hated myself and was damaging myself just like a thin person with an eating disorder.

Anyway, I didn't realise the extent of my problems. I didn't realise I was mentally ill, I thought I just had to stop being greedy. So when I went to a doctor wanting to lose weight, she told me to join SW.

I felt very self conscious there and I hated it. I had bad anxiety and just hated the atmosphere of forced cheeriness and clapping. I also hated that if someone hadn't lost weight, the group leader would single them out and say that this diet was perfect and if they weren't losing weight they must be lying about what they were eating.

I still couldn't stop binge eating, so I started to panic really badly if I had even one bar of chocolate, because it would show up on the scales. I felt like I couldn't live a normal life or see friends because my whole brain was consumed with having to eat a certain way. When I got praised at the group for losing weight, I knew I had to pretend to be happy, but I just hated all that attention on my body and felt like I could burst into tears.

Eventually I was getting such bad panic attacks thinking about going to SW that I just stopped going. After a couple of months, the group leader messaged me asking if I wanted to start going again. I replied with a short and sweet message about how unfortunately I'd developed an eating disorder and felt that being pushed to lose weight was making me behave dangerously (starving and bingeing, being obsessive and depressed). Then this bloody woman had the gall to reply "Do you think coming back to group would help with that?" Absolutely disgusting. Not even an "I'm sorry to hear that", just right into pushing her MLM on me. (Is SW an MLM? Idk, feels like one).

Years later I saw a therapist who specialised in eating disorders, and she said that the worst thing my GP could have done was tell me to go to SW. She said that eating disorders like mine were best treated without mentioning your weight at all, but by improving your mental health to the point that you don't starve yourself which ends up making you so hungry that you binge.

Oh heck, I made myself cry writing this. I hope reading my story might help someone else!
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Much love to you, I hope your therapist has helped you. I’ve often thought of the similarities between SW and MLMs, they both have very cult like behaviour
 
InkHeart said:
Thank you for starting the topic! I had no idea I wasn't the only one.

I struggled with my weight a lot when I was in my early 20s, but I really hated myself so I would starve myself a lot, then end up binge eating, then starving again, etc. It was so tit because Drs were horrible to me about gaining weight, as if they just thought I was being complacent, when actually I hated myself and was damaging myself just like a thin person with an eating disorder.

Anyway, I didn't realise the extent of my problems. I didn't realise I was mentally ill, I thought I just had to stop being greedy. So when I went to a doctor wanting to lose weight, she told me to join SW.

I felt very self conscious there and I hated it. I had bad anxiety and just hated the atmosphere of forced cheeriness and clapping. I also hated that if someone hadn't lost weight, the group leader would single them out and say that this diet was perfect and if they weren't losing weight they must be lying about what they were eating.

I still couldn't stop binge eating, so I started to panic really badly if I had even one bar of chocolate, because it would show up on the scales. I felt like I couldn't live a normal life or see friends because my whole brain was consumed with having to eat a certain way. When I got praised at the group for losing weight, I knew I had to pretend to be happy, but I just hated all that attention on my body and felt like I could burst into tears.

Eventually I was getting such bad panic attacks thinking about going to SW that I just stopped going. After a couple of months, the group leader messaged me asking if I wanted to start going again. I replied with a short and sweet message about how unfortunately I'd developed an eating disorder and felt that being pushed to lose weight was making me behave dangerously (starving and bingeing, being obsessive and depressed). Then this bloody woman had the gall to reply "Do you think coming back to group would help with that?" Absolutely disgusting. Not even an "I'm sorry to hear that", just right into pushing her MLM on me. (Is SW an MLM? Idk, feels like one).

Years later I saw a therapist who specialised in eating disorders, and she said that the worst thing my GP could have done was tell me to go to SW. She said that eating disorders like mine were best treated without mentioning your weight at all, but by improving your mental health to the point that you don't starve yourself which ends up making you so hungry that you binge.

Oh heck, I made myself cry writing this. I hope reading my story might help someone else!
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Sending you a tattle hug 🫂 you're not alone. There are thousands upon thousands of people who feel the same as you, and have been failed by ignorant doctors and slimming world consultants.

Slimming world is a load of old bollocks, it is nothing more than a business. You are sucked into this ridiculous cult, with ridiculous rules. The consultants all have heavy targets to meet. They are monitoring them all the time from head office. That's why they're on you with the text messages and little notes, it's all fake they only care about money.

As their tag line goes, it touches lives ... yeah to fk them over. It should be banned but for some bizarre reason the NHS champions it and ignores all the negative experiences and just victim blames
 
I've been wondering...I wonder if there is one single person who lost a good amount of weight say 5 stone let's say 25 years ago.

then maintained target never falling out of the range, remained a member while still going to group, completely 100% following the SW maintenance plan using all their syns & HE's and fully 'food optimising' all special occasions, holidays and meal out.

The reason I wonder because this is their text book definition of success. The whole 'it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change mantra'

I wonder because I don't know if a single person has done it.

EVERYONE seems to gain back once they hit target and those rare ones who don't gain back usually are restricting or find something else other than SW such as CC
 
JustWonderingIf said:
I've been wondering...I wonder if there is one single person who lost a good amount of weight say 5 stone let's say 25 years ago.

then maintained target never falling out of the range, remained a member while still going to group, completely 100% following the SW maintenance plan using all their syns & HE's and fully 'food optimising' all special occasions, holidays and meal out.

The reason I wonder because this is their text book definition of success. The whole 'it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change mantra'

I wonder because I don't know if a single person has done it.

EVERYONE seems to gain back once they hit target and those rare ones who don't gain back usually are restricting or find something else other than SW such as CC
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I found a story about a consultant who is in her 80s who has apparently kept the weight off for 50 years. I wonder if the SW plan was different back then? Obviously there were less crap low fat, sweetener filled foods back then.
 
Mr Krabs said:
I found a story about a consultant who is in her 80s who has apparently kept the weight off for 50 years. I wonder if the SW plan was different back then? Obviously there were less crap low fat, sweetener filled foods back then.
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tit did they join back when old mags was lugging her suitcase round the welsh valleys peddling her wares

Be very very different, 20 years ago corned beef was a free food on red days. So god knows what the plan looked like back then.
 
Mr Krabs said:
I was not keen on Noom. It’s very Americanised. You have to read through lots of cheesy articles about how ‘you’ve got this!’ Basically the plan is green, amber, and red foods. You fill up on as many green foods which are good as you can while restricting red foods. Doesn’t seem all that different to SW in that regard except there’s some stuff about eating foods with lots of water to fill you up. Then there’s some vague psychological bollocks behind it which is nothing I haven’t read before.

It was also very annoying to try and track UK foods. Their app is awful and definitely set up for the US market. Apparently they were working on improving it for the UK market but I don’t want to pay £99 for a tit service.
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Man, reading about Noom shook a memory loose... I remember a few years ago I was setting up an account on Noom, and there's a bit where they make you write in your goals and WHY you want to lose weight, then ask you again WHY you want that, and dig into your reasons. When I was writing those out, I started out with "I want to be beautiful" then went through the middle steps of WHYYYY and whatever. Then I got to the last bit and wrote "Because nothing I do is ever good enough." I was really shocked that that had come out of me. I had no weight-related health problems, I was reasonably fit... all that my years of hating my weight boiled down to was that I never felt pretty enough. It was horrible that basically everyone in my life had encouraged me with that. Anyway, that's when I realised I had a bona fide eating disorder. I didn't go through with the subscription after that, but thanks anyway, Noom!
 
I had such disordered eating from SW for years. I would touch a crumb of bread and would refuse anything that was cooked in olive oil or had butter in it. Syning medication. Eating a measly 30g of cheese on my mountain off pasta! Make it make sense! I started calorie deficit 2021 and it’s so freeing. Avocados, bread, ready made sauces when I’m feeling lazy, it’s bloody great and my relationship with food is still a work in progress but so much better than before.
The ultimate proof it’s bollocks was seeing a girl I went to school with who lost 8 stone doing SW. She’s in a new relationship and she’s piling on the weight again but still running group and encouraging people to join. It just proves how unsustainable deprivation of certain foods and maintaining an eating plan like SW is.
 
I want to know what the recipes in this are like...also proof the 'syn' 'synergy' thing is bollocks. They just changed it to a 'y' when they caught flack for demonising foods.
Screenshot_20230525-213231_Google.jpg
 
I joined years ago and hated it. It was like brainwashing and brand advertising in one.
Those bloody Muller yoghurt that were 'free'. Nearly 100 cals, of course it's going to matter if you eat 3!
Then there's the weekly weigh ins.
£5 to weigh yourself. In front of everyone. My rep discouraged weighing at home or more than once a week to ensure you turned up to their class.
 
JustWonderingIf said:
tit did they join back when old mags was lugging her suitcase round the welsh valleys peddling her wares

Be very very different, 20 years ago corned beef was a free food on red days. So god knows what the plan looked like back then.
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I remember it well over 20 years ago 😄 you could also eat tinned macaroni cheese for "free" you got a little book to record your weight in with a pic of what looked like the Yorkshire ripper on the front 😄

I used to do green days , you had 2 hex Bs and 2 As and it worked very well...but they changed it to this extra easy nonsense. They became extremely greedy for money and the insta hun culture took over. I've watched it all unfold for so long, that's why I've got so much to say on the subject 🙈🤣
 
ChubClubThug said:
I remember it well over 20 years ago 😄 you could also eat tinned macaroni cheese for "free" you got a little book to record your weight in with a pic of what looked like the Yorkshire ripper on the front 😄

I used to do green days , you had 2 hex Bs and 2 As and it worked very well...but they changed it to this extra easy nonsense. They became extremely greedy for money and the insta hun culture took over. I've watched it all unfold for so long, that's why I've got so much to say on the subject 🙈🤣
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Yeahhh the macaroni cheese tins!

I remember some people used to blend it up and make cauliflower cheese with it, some used it for lasagna topping.

Because this was back when 'tweaks' weren't tweaks and consultants even recommended them.

Also corned beef used as quiche base.
 
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