The Slimming World Diet
I recently tried the Slimming World diet but decided that it wasn't for me. That doesn't mean that it won't work for you - just remember that not all diets work for everyone. Here's why it didn't work for me.
First of all, when the group leader asked me whether I'd tried Slimming World before, I openly said "no, I've always tried Weight Watchers." I got the response of "well, that doesn't help you keep the weight off afterwards anyway." From a woman who said that she'd always been on Slimming World and had never tried anything else, I've got to question where she got that idea from. It wasn't because Weight Watchers wasn't working for me; I wanted to try something different. I know lots of people who have lost weight on WW and kept it off by coming back to classes every now and then. That instantly turned me off from the group.
The second was looking through the plans. There are three different plans that you can follow but I won't go into them right now (I will post more about them at a later date though). I decided to follow the Extra Easy plan since it sounded easy to get into. I could eat as much vegetables and fruit as I wanted (which sounds about right) along with as much pasta, potatoes, meat and eggs as I wanted. That was something that didn't sound right to me. I still don't get how you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight. A woman is only supposed to have 2000 calories on average a day. I've worked out my metabolic rate and I'm only supposed to have 1600 per day due to the lack of exercise I do at the moment; even when I do exercise, I'm only supposed to have around 1800 calories per day.
Eating so much doesn't sit right with me, especially when I added on the fact that I had to get in some dairy and some wholewheat products a day. It got a little confusing from there but mainly because of my preferences during the day. I'm not the biggest milk lover and getting the amount of milk I should have had a day was actually really difficult for me.
When starting the plan, I was told that I wouldn't feel like I was on a diet because of how much I could eat. The difference is I did feel like I was on a diet - and much more than I have ever felt while on WW. Once you've gone through everything I've just mentioned, you've got to start pointing things. The points are known as Syns on SW but that doesn't change what they really are. The difference was the amount of points I was allowed compared to the amount of points that were in products.
The amount of points your allowed isn't based on your weight, height, gender or anything like that. You're allowed between 5 and 15 per day. Apparently, your supposed to eat around 10 for the best chance of losing weight. I easily ate my way through points just by having a Daily Milk bar! I ended up eating half and letting my other half have the other half because of how many points were in it.
Now on WW, I can limit my chocolate pretty easily but the best thing is that I know I can have that bar of Dairy Milk per day without worrying about going over point values and having to sacrifi ce something else. That was why I felt like I was on a diet. If I wanted a treat, I had to look through the books for the best one on SW. I don't really have to do that with WW because there's a little more freedom.
The thought of not having certain types of chocolate or letting myself relax a little but still lose weight was really getting me down - especially when I was walking through the supermarket with my other half. He'd pick something up and I'd shake my head because of the points that were in it. Pitta breads and wraps were even out, which meant no Nandos for me! Not something I could deal with! It was there that I decided to revert back to Weight Watchers.
I've tried the change but it doesn't work for me. The stupid thing is that I didn't even get to the weigh in to see if it does work but with the psychological feeling, I know it won't. I know WW will as long as I have the motivation. I have the motivation now to be successful with WW so I'll go for it...
Disclaimer: I'm definitely not saying that SW will not work for everyone. There are people I know that have had success with the diet. Maybe I picked the wrong meeting to go to and the woman rubbed me the wrong way to start with. Maybe this is just one diet plan that isn't for me. All I know is that I'm better off with a diet that I know will get me down to my dream weight; I just have to stick to the change of eating habits afterwards.
First of all, when the group leader asked me whether I'd tried Slimming World before, I openly said "no, I've always tried Weight Watchers." I got the response of "well, that doesn't help you keep the weight off afterwards anyway." From a woman who said that she'd always been on Slimming World and had never tried anything else, I've got to question where she got that idea from. It wasn't because Weight Watchers wasn't working for me; I wanted to try something different. I know lots of people who have lost weight on WW and kept it off by coming back to classes every now and then. That instantly turned me off from the group.
The second was looking through the plans. There are three different plans that you can follow but I won't go into them right now (I will post more about them at a later date though). I decided to follow the Extra Easy plan since it sounded easy to get into. I could eat as much vegetables and fruit as I wanted (which sounds about right) along with as much pasta, potatoes, meat and eggs as I wanted. That was something that didn't sound right to me. I still don't get how you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight. A woman is only supposed to have 2000 calories on average a day. I've worked out my metabolic rate and I'm only supposed to have 1600 per day due to the lack of exercise I do at the moment; even when I do exercise, I'm only supposed to have around 1800 calories per day.
Eating so much doesn't sit right with me, especially when I added on the fact that I had to get in some dairy and some wholewheat products a day. It got a little confusing from there but mainly because of my preferences during the day. I'm not the biggest milk lover and getting the amount of milk I should have had a day was actually really difficult for me.
When starting the plan, I was told that I wouldn't feel like I was on a diet because of how much I could eat. The difference is I did feel like I was on a diet - and much more than I have ever felt while on WW. Once you've gone through everything I've just mentioned, you've got to start pointing things. The points are known as Syns on SW but that doesn't change what they really are. The difference was the amount of points I was allowed compared to the amount of points that were in products.
The amount of points your allowed isn't based on your weight, height, gender or anything like that. You're allowed between 5 and 15 per day. Apparently, your supposed to eat around 10 for the best chance of losing weight. I easily ate my way through points just by having a Daily Milk bar! I ended up eating half and letting my other half have the other half because of how many points were in it.
Now on WW, I can limit my chocolate pretty easily but the best thing is that I know I can have that bar of Dairy Milk per day without worrying about going over point values and having to sacrifi ce something else. That was why I felt like I was on a diet. If I wanted a treat, I had to look through the books for the best one on SW. I don't really have to do that with WW because there's a little more freedom.
The thought of not having certain types of chocolate or letting myself relax a little but still lose weight was really getting me down - especially when I was walking through the supermarket with my other half. He'd pick something up and I'd shake my head because of the points that were in it. Pitta breads and wraps were even out, which meant no Nandos for me! Not something I could deal with! It was there that I decided to revert back to Weight Watchers.
I've tried the change but it doesn't work for me. The stupid thing is that I didn't even get to the weigh in to see if it does work but with the psychological feeling, I know it won't. I know WW will as long as I have the motivation. I have the motivation now to be successful with WW so I'll go for it...
Disclaimer: I'm definitely not saying that SW will not work for everyone. There are people I know that have had success with the diet. Maybe I picked the wrong meeting to go to and the woman rubbed me the wrong way to start with. Maybe this is just one diet plan that isn't for me. All I know is that I'm better off with a diet that I know will get me down to my dream weight; I just have to stick to the change of eating habits afterwards.
Sorry to hear you didn't have any success with Slimming World. I've lost almost 3 stones following the Extra Easy Plan and hope to reach target by Christmas, losing a total of 4 stone in 2 years. Good Luck for your future weight loss.
ReplyDeleteWell let me tell you, no weight loss plan is universal. It depends a lot on the body's metabolism and how it adapts to different diets and exercise routines.
ReplyDeleteTruly Scrumptious, it is a shame that it didn't work but that's just the way it goes. Well done on losing almost 3 stones and good luck at getting to your total. I've recently found out that I'm pregnant so my weight loss days have come to an end for a while.
ReplyDeleteWeight Issues, you are right - no plan is universal. That's why I will never knock a healthy eating plan, even if it doesn't work for me; it doesn't mean that it won't work for someone else.