Two Last Things for 2018- 30 Day Challenges and Slimming World

I hadn’t planned to write this one but two things kept popping up on my Social Media over the weekend which I wanted to address.

Number One- 30 Day Challenges

No alcohol in January, no cake, no sugar – you get the drift.

Yes, if you can do this it’s amazing, and if you generally have good habits already in place this is totally achievable.

BUT

January is a shit month.

It’s cold, dark, everyone is skint and on a comedown from the excitement from Christmas.

Now take away something which you enjoy (and I assume you enjoy whatever you are thinking of giving up or it wouldn’t be a challenge) on top of that and you are just making January a little bit more tough for yourself.

Yes, of course the health benefits be good for you.

Chances are though at some point in January will power will crack and one drink or cake will spell the end of the challenge and possibly spur you to say ‘fuck it, i failed so i might as well have some more’.

I’m not saying not look to make improvements in this area but be kind to yourself about it.

If you have a drink every night aim for two nights a week where you don’t drink. Aim to reduce your cake consumption by 50% of what it currently is. Still beneficial, still challenging, still an achievement.

But here’s the thing- if you aim to do something 100% and slip up you see it as a failure. If you aim to make small changes then you allow yourself some room to slip up without failing to reach your goal.

Changing your mindset as to how you make changes and view those changes will ultimately help you sustain them long term and build upon each win. Making goals to change things more realistic will make you more likely to succeed and help you treat yourself a little kinder.

Number Two- Slimming World

I’ve seen lots of posts by Fitness Professionals talking about the negatives of Slimming World.

Now yes- some of the rules are absurd.

Yes – the education around nutrition is poor.

Yes- Some consultants actively discourage exercise (muscle gain doesn’t assist in the scales going down and they only go off weight).

Yes I would encourage people to see a nutrition coach or PT for advice instead of go to Slimming World.

BUT

I worry the demonising of the brand could alienate those who are Slimming World Members.

No it’s not the ideal.

But for some people Slimming World is a less intimidating option that booking in with a PT.

For some people they perhaps need to do that and build some confidence before they go to a gym.

I say this because this was me.

And knowing that PTs actively disliked Slimming World may have discouraged me from making that leap from a slimming club member to a gym goer.

Once I started working with a PT I quickly phased out Slimming World. I didn’t need someone to tell me to to, as I learnt more I was able to make the choice myself.

My point is whilst it isn’t the optimum of nutrition it also isn’t harmful.

It can teach some basic lessons in what to eat more of and what to eat in moderation, it can help you learn to manage your eating, it can act as a springboard.

That is it could act as a springboard if we encourage those Slimming World members we meet to use it as such.

Ultimately Slimming World creates a calorie deficit. We encourage clients to create a calorie deficit. Different methods, different education but same goal.

I’m not suggesting we celebrate Slimming World but we could instead educate people as to why some of their rules are a bit silly in slightly kinder words so as to not put people who do currently do Slimming World from also working with us.

‘Diets’

Tomorrow is the day where traditionally people go on ‘a diet’.

The word ‘Diet’ conjures up images of restriction, lettuce leaves, starving, no chocolate, cakes or sweets, cutting out carbs, cutting out fat … the list goes on.

What ‘Diet’ actually means is the sum of food consumed by a person – what we actually put in our mouth.

Some diets may be more health focused than others, some may promote weight loss and others weight gain, but we all have a ‘Diet’.

So if you were planning on starting a ‘Diet’ tomorrow – good news- you’re already on one and have been for the last 365 days!

So actually all you need to do is make some small improvements to that current diet to see weight loss.

If you have booked sessions with a trainer, signed up to a programme or plan (in person or online) then you know you will get the advice you need to do this sensibly.

If you are planning on making the changes yourself then don’t look to quick fix diets or plans that promise you a six pack in six weeks.

Work out how many calories you burn daily, take 20% off this and aim for that number of calories each day. This will create safe and sustainable calorie deficit which will allow you to reduce body fat steadily.

You can eat whatever you want as long as you stick to that calorie allowance. Perhaps you will want to make more sensible choices and eat less junk but overall the way to reduce body fat (which I am assuming is the goal) is to consume a little less than you burn.

Overtime you might want to start fine tuning what you eat, but to start just focusing on hitting a calorie deficit is a great habit which will make a huge difference to how you feel and one small change to your diet at a time will have a longer lasting effect on your health in 2019 than any quick fix fad diet.

Christmas Eating

It’s hard to eat well over Christmas.

Even if you have good eating habits / systems the rest of the year it’s difficult over Christmas.

I have meals prepared at home in the fridge – it would take me no effort to eat them at all, yet this last week I’ve eaten all sorts instead of them because there’s just so many temptations around.

Tuesday there was homemade Christmas cake (made by a work colleagues wife who quite frankly makes the best cakes ever), Wednesday was a working lunch in restaurant that does a brilliant crab linguine, Thursday was a pizza and chocolates lunch to celebrate a work colleagues birthday followed by a team meal in the evening (think pasta and much alcohol), Friday was a hangover in work and the work Christmas party (free bar), Saturday was hangover food and tomorrow is Christmas Eve (so all meals must be chocolate based as is the law).

In the past I would have felt guilty. This year I’ve accepted it’s ok. I eat well most of the time, and I’ve had some decent meals too around the less decent food. I’ve trained when I’ve been able to and let’s face it –it’s a couple of weeks out of 52 (and overall I generally eat alright). I’m not going to be in a calorie deficit, but I’m not in a massive surplus either.

So this year I feel no guilt.

I’m not saying Fuck It let’s go crazy – I’m getting better at ignoring the all or nothing mindset. If I said that and went mad eating everything I possibly could I’d probably feel regret in the new year.

I’m just saying I won’t feel guilty for enjoying myself over Christmas.

Realistically this is not going to cause a dramatic amount of damage to my weight, certainly nothing that going back to my normal eating habits in January won’t sort almost immediately.

And mindset wise it’s going to be so much healthier for me to not feel guilty for relaxing or like I need to punish myself for it in January.

So should you follow your ‘diet’ over Christmas? If you want to, yes, if you don’t then no and if you try to and slip up it’s ok. What isn’t ok is making yourself feel bad for whatever decision you make.

10 Things I Wish Someone Else Would Write a Blog About

Because I have zero idea!

How to not to eat EVERY.SINGLE.PIECE.OF.CHOCOLATE.I.SEE.EVER (I’ve just stolen someone elses advent calender chocolate. True story!).
How do people get up on their first alarm? I mean if it’s possible why was the snooze function invented?
How do you put eyeliner on without looking like you’re a member the living dead?
How do Les Mills Instructors learn their releases weeks before launch date? #lastminute.com.
How to stop your laundry basket from overflowing. Seriously as soon as I almost get it empty it’s full again!
Gardening for idiots.
How to flirt without looking like you’re having some kind of fit.
What to do with protein powder you really don’t like the taste of but have purchased 4 million kilos of.
How to get bendier when you are built out of the least bendiest thing you can think of.
How to use the toasters when you go down to breakfast in a hotel (they scare me).

If you have written a blog about any of these please point me to it!

Meal Prep for Mr or Mrs Normal

One of the biggest barrier to eating well for me is being out of the house for around 15 hours a day Monday to Friday.

If you have a job which leads to you being out of the house most of the day you will probably agree that when you get home the last thing you want to do is cooking, not only some food for that night but also lunch for the following day (unless you really enjoy cooking). If you don’t make your lunch the night before though, the likelihood is you’ll end up going to Tesco to get a sandwich and packet of crisps which won’t be that filling or inspiring and won’t benefit your nutrition as much as a home prepared meal would.

Meal Prep tends to be something that immediately makes you think of body builders and chicken with broccoli. But, whether you go to the gym every day, twice a day or once a week preparing your meals for the week ahead can help you stay within your calorie goal, save money and keep meals tasty and interesting with minimum effort. They don’t need to be just chicken, rice and veg either you can make any type of food you like that fits within your calorie goal for that day / week.

Recently I’ve taken this one step further and started to prepare a months worth of meals at a time but if your new to meal prep start with a few days and see what does and doesn’t work for you.

Benefits of Meal Prep

Save time – a couple of hours cooking at the start of the week can save you having to spend half an hour every day making food. When you are busy or tired during the week you will have food that you ca pop in the microwave to heat up quickly.
Save money – Unless every meal is fillet steak the chances are that making your meals for the week is going to be cheaper than going to the shop every day for a Meal Deal and getting takeaways or ready meals on the way home for dinner.
Save calories – A homemade curry will often have fewer calories than a shop bought one – you can use chopped tomatoes and herbs to make sauces and pack in as much veg as you like. You will also be in a position to prepare food in advance that you know will fit your calorie allowance for the week – it’s much harder to keep to your targets if your going into the shop each day and picking food out whilst hungry.
Save on boredom – Be honest, if you go and buy a sandwich everyday do you always pick the same one or two fillings. If you plan and prepare your meals you can add as much variety as you want.
Save on stress – Once done that’s it for the week. No cooking in the evening or having to work out what you have time to pick up on your lunch break. You can pick up your tupperware boxes in he morning and then just wack them in the microwave when your hungry. Whilst I’m at it – home prepared meals are often more filling than your average Greggs or Meal Deal.

Meal Prep Tips

Plan – Work out how many meals you need for that week and what you are going to take to hit that number of portions.
Have the necessary equipment to hand- Tupperware boxes don’t need to be expensive. I buy the cheap boxes from B&M Bargains (10 for £1.99) which last for a reasonable amount of time but can be replaced cheaply when they break. Sandwich bags are ideal for freezing food in. A slow cooker is the god of meal prep in my eyes – it doesn’t need to be a fancy one, mine was £10 from Asda.
Cook things in bulk- Make a curry / chilli / spag bol / casserole with 4-6 portions.
But keep it varied – Eating casserole every day for a week is rubbish. Try making at least a couple of different meals at a time so you have some variety. If that means you have excess portions left over you can freeze them for another week.
Portion out your food – Separate food into portions so you know exactly how many meals you have for the week- it will prevent you eating more calories than you planned and stop you running out of food half way through the week.
Freeze half your portions – Pop half the portions into tupperware boxes to store in the fridge, the rest can go in sandwich bags to freeze.
Pot Luck or Plan? I tend to just chuck the sandwich bags in the freezer and take them out at random but if you like to know what you’ll be eating that day label up the bags as almost all meals look the same once frozen.
Let food cool first – My main rookie error with freezing food prep was putting it in the freezer before it has totally cooled. This resulted in a very frosty freezer and an evening of defrosting it because I could no longer open the drawers. Let everything sit on the side until it’s totally cool before putting in the fridge or freezer.
Slow cooker anything and everything – Meat in a slow cooker will taste so much more tender than that cooked on the hob. You can throw almost anything in and just leave it for a few hours and come back to something with lots of flavour. Amazing taste, minimum effort equals a meal prep win.
You can meal prep breakfast too- I tend to only do two or three days at a time but if you eat breakfast at work instead of at home or are in a rush in the morning this can allow you to have a good breakfast without the fuss. Sausages and bacon taste ok cold (eggs can be microwaved when you get to work) as done banana and egg pancakes amongst other things.

Experiment and see what works best for you – once you find a routine that suits you it will become second nature to prepare al or some of your meals each week and this system / habit will free up so much time and help reduce the stress in your week.

Why you shouldn’t make New Year’s Resolutions

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?

We were talking today at work about what resolutions people planned to make.

The idea was that everyone would write down what they wanted to change and hide it away somewhere and then check again in three months’ time to see if everyone had stuck to their resolutions…. or if they had failed.

A few years ago I would have been up for this. I’ve made many New Year’s Resolutions over the years, in fact normally the same resolutions year after year which I never kept.

These days I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions as such. Here’s why:

January is a shit time to make drastic changes

It’s cold, dark and everyone is depressed and skint after Christmas. It’s a rubbish time to decide to suddenly make drastic and often restrictive changes to your life. Result is you feel miserable two days in and give up. Planning to give up chocolate on January 1^st when you probably have a shed load of left over chocolate in your cupboards is practically setting yourself up for failure. Deciding not to drink in the most miserable month of the year so you’re left sitting on the sofa instead of going out to catch up with friends is going to become unappealing quickly.

Resolutions tend to be negative

Generally we say things like I’m going to give up… sugar, wine, chocolate, smoking. It’s something we are NOT going to do anymore. This means we feel like we are depriving ourselves. Depriving yourself is rarely a long-term plan for success.

Resolutions tend to be vague

I want to lose weight, I want to get fit, I want to earn more money. They are goals / outcomes we’d like to reach yes, but they aren’t very specific and how and when they will be achieved isn’t always clear. How often do you make vague plans with a friend to ‘catch up soon’ only for that catch up to not happen? It’s not because we don’t want to catch up it’s just because we’ve been too vague for anything to actually happen. Resolutions can be a lot like that.

Resolutions end up leaving you feeling worse about yourself

The actual idea that got me thinking about this was based on hiding your resolution away and checking again in a few months to see if you have succeeded. The flip side of that is if you haven’t then you feel like a failure. Yet if you’ve hidden something away for three months how likely is it you will lose sight of it as a goal as life gets busy? You’re essentially setting yourself up to feel shit.

Negatives out the way – I fully believe in improving things – here’s what I think is better than making New Year’s Resolutions and why:

Change when you are ready

There’s a popular saying that if you’ve thought about it you’re ready. It’s November – if you’re thinking about stopping drinking fizzy drinks – stop now, why wait until January? If you want to start running start running – these things aren’t banned until January 1^st. I get that over Christmas isn’t the smartest time to start a diet or new training regime – that in itself is potentially setting yourself up for failure. You could however start to make some small changes to set yourself up for after Christmas. Start walking more, logging your food intake a few days a week, drinking more water so that after Christmas you aren’t starting from scratch and you haven’t just spent a month feeling crap thinking I’ll sort myself out next year. If on January 1^st you don’t feel ready to make a change but do a couple of weeks into the year start it then, or in February or August or October, you haven’t got to wait until 2020. New Year’s Resolutions have the idea of starting at midnight on 1^st January – change can however happen at any time. How often do you think I’ll start my diet on Monday and eat a weeks worth of food over the weekend knowing restriction is coming- you ‘could’ start a diet on Thursday (well we ‘could’ not call it a diet at all but that’s another blog altogether). Generally change that happens when you’re ready as opposed to an imposed time tends to be more effective.

Choosing to make positive changes

Positive changes are easier to put in place than ‘I won’t’ type changes. I will drink more water, I will eat vegetables with every meal, I will walk 10,000 steps a day. These are things you are going to do – so you do them and you’ve created a change. You might have also eaten ten chocolate bars but you’ve still eaten vegetables with every meal, the change has still happened. Positive changes make us feel better and so we are more likely to stick to them.

Goal setting over resolutions

I don’t make resolutions any more but I have sat down and done some goal setting for 2019. I have decided what I want to achieve, these are specific goals so they aren’t things like ‘I want to get fitter’ they are set things I’d like to get done, some will be quick and relatively easy others less so. Along with these goals I have made detailed plans of what I have to do to reach these specific goals and planned out realistic timescales for taking these actions. I’ve asked for feedback from people more experienced than me on these plans and discussed goals that include other people with them so we are on the same page. I know what I need to do personally and professionally in 2019 and how I plan to do it. I’ve got more chance of reaching these goals than if I left I chance.

SMART resolutions

Specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time specific. If you goal ticks all these things you’re more likely to be able to reach it. But taking this on a slightly different tangent being smart about what you decide to try and do AND WHEN will help you succeed. I know I’ll eat more cake and chocolate than I normally would this month. I will move more to stop me feeling sluggish but I also know I will want a bit of a shake up of my diet and training routine in January to make me feel refreshed. Yet I also know that the first week of January is likely to be an extension of Christmas for me so I won’t do this January 1^st. Instead I’m committing to joining in with a programme on 9^th January which I know won’t drastically change my current lifestyle as I already follow a lot of the principles but will give me a bit of renewed focus at a time I will need it. Planning ahead, being honest and smart with this planning will help you feel good about change.

Commit to creating habits / systems instead

If you want lose weight you could think of it as working towards creating habits that in turn help work towards weight loss. Make drinking more water, creating a calorie deficit and training three times a week a habit and you will achieve your goal but you also find it is something that starts to fit into your everyday life as opposed to something you have to work towards constantly. The benefit of this is you can pick one small thing to work on then once that has become a habit work on something else, building change gradually.

Re-framing how you think

‘I want to be get over my ex and for them to see me looking happy.’ You could re-frame this thought process to what would make you happy? Seeing your friends more perhaps? So instead of I want to get over my ex you could say I want to go out and do something fun with my friends once a week / fortnight / month (commitment depending here). Instead of focusing on becoming happy or getting over someone you could just commit to doing something that has the potential to make you happy and allow feeling happy and getting over them to happen naturally – all the time your still succeeding in your actual goal of getting out and socialising. It sounds very self help book but when you start to habitually re-frame your thoughts, you start to find it easier to make changes.

I’ve made lots of changes to the way I approach things in 2018 – old habits die hard admittedly but by looking at making changes in a more positive light you can create a you that you are happier with and start 2019 not feeling the need to set resolutions.

Supplements

For a couple of years I have limited the supplements I take to a Multi Vitamin and Omega 3 but recently after feeling fatigued I introduced a couple of additional supplements into my routine, namely liquid iron and hydration tablets.

In particular – liquid iron (specifically Spatone)

Adequate iron levels are important for the body to function properly whatever you do day to day and Doctors have often suspected my iron levels to be low (although blood tests have always shown otherwise – I think I’m just very very pale!). More relevant for me though, from my own reading on the subject recently (because before I start using supplements I like to do some research), ensuring the levels of iron in your body are adequate can have a positive effect it can have on your fitness goals in several ways.

Some things taking an iron supplement may improve (note I’m not massively sciencey and this is just my understanding of what I read):

Energy Levels – Ensuring iron levels are not low can help reduce fatigue during workout as without sufficient iron less ATP can be produced (part of the reason why those lacking sufficient iron can feel tired and fatigued).

Performance in the gym – One thing iron does is ensure oxygen saturated blood is able to efficiently reach the areas that need it thus assisting your performance.

Recovery – That same nutrient filled blood pumping efficiently into muscles can also aid recovery after training. In addition low iron levels can reduce the efficiency of our immune system, which could also make it harder to recover from a tough week of training.

Hydration Tablets (specifically ORS)

Hydration plays an important role in sports performance (and every day human being functioning).

Most of the time I still just drink water (and I average about 4 litres a day) but when I have been feeling run down I’ve been adding a hydration tablet to my pint of water a couple of times a day to perk myself back up. Adding a hydration tablet into your water can help you get the right balance of water and electrolytes needed to replenish your body after training. The theory therefore is that you can hydrate more efficiently after training by drinking a hydration solution to just water. The advantage to these over sports drinks is the tablets are lower in sugar and calories.

As little as a 2-3 percent reduction in body mass via water loss can have a significant impact on your concentration and muscle power so potential benefits to remaining hydrated:

Reduced chance of cramp, muscle fatigue and joint pain. As the core body temperature and heart rate can be regulated more efficiently.

Reduced fatigue. Helping making training easier.

Improved concentration. Being well hydrated can maximise the speed at which messages are sent from the brain to the muscles, resulting in a better performance for longer.

Avoid Dehydration When exercising, your body loses water and essential salts through sweat. If not replaced, this can result in dehydration – this obviously is not good.

Obviously you can’t replace good nutrition with supplements but knowing what your body needs and making smart use of supplements to ensure you get it can be a good thing.

Most People are Kinder to Others – Discuss

This week I’ve only trained twice (about 30 minutes both times) and I’ve only taught three classes. This isn’t because I’ve been lazy (well not totally), I had a trip mid-week and whilst I could have fitted in a couple of extra sessions I decided to listen to my body and get some extra sleep.

I’ve also not really paid any attention to my eating. Some meals I’ve prepped and taken with me to work (perhaps 60%) but whilst travelling I didn’t really think about what my body needed and have largely eaten what was convenient and I wanted. Normally I do four Paleo based days a week and this week I haven’t done this at all.

These two things combined have left me feeling a bit sluggish. Logically I know it’s stupid. I’ve still done about 3.5 hours exercise over five days and statistically I’ve eaten vegetables more times than I’ve eaten chips. But I’m very much an all or nothing person. One bad week won’t undo months of hard work in the same way one good week won’t immediately turn you into an Olympic Athlete. The brain, however, isn’t always a muscle that reacts logically to events.

When I feel like this I often instinctively think, right I need a really ‘good’ week next week and I’ll do every training session planned and eat perfectly and not eat cake and so on and so on.

But, this isn’t good for me. We are only human. We need to know that when we have weeks where we do a little less or eat a few too many calories it’s ok as long as we don’t let it continue for too long. I know that if I feel ‘fat’ because I’ve not had a perfect week of eating or training then there’s something wrong with my own mindset towards my body. Nobody can be perfect all the time and trying to be sets you up for failure (and there we have that never-ending circle of feeling bad about ourselves)

Of course this is easier said than done and writing this doesn’t mean I suddenly feel great and healthy and happy with how I look today. Knowing something isn’t logical and not letting it bother you are two different things and overcoming those little demons in your mind isn’t always easy and even when you do overcome them sometimes they can creep back in!

But I’m not fat – a ‘bad’ week hasn’t made me fat. I’ve put a little weight on recently, yet in comparison to a few years ago I’m fit, I’m healthy and I’m in a much more positive position than I was. It’s ok to have a little wobble at times but we need to be kinder to ourselves in terms of our own expectations. Because if someone else outlined my week to me as their own I’d be pointing out all the positives, but because I’m looking at my own week I’ve focused on all the things I haven’t done. Most people are kinder to others than they are to themselves I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person reading this to need to be reminded of that.

How Paleo Eating Can Help With Weight Loss

5 reasons why eating a Paleo based diet can help you lose weight:

Protein

The Paleo diet encourages the eating of protein rich foods which helps control your appetite meaning you naturally eat fewer calories than you normally would.

Low Carb

Eliminating carbs such as bread, rice, pasta can reduce the number of calories consumed each day without really trying as these tend to be quite high calorie foods. Yet you aren’t removing carbs from your diet completely as you continue to eat potatoes and veg – so hanger isn’t an issue!

Removes Processed Foods

Sticking to a Paleo diet tends to mean making most of your meals from scratch as you want to avoid many of the foods found in pre packaged meals. Homemade food is likely to be lower in calories and contain more nutrients than a ready meal, and be more filling at that; so you will consume fewer calories and still feel more satisfied so less likely to snack later (thus keeping your calories lower than you might have with shop processed meals).

Reduces Sugar Intake

Processed sugar can add lots of calories to your daily intake (apart from the health issues too much sugar can cause). Limiting your sugar intake to fruits and vegetables can help reduce your daily calorie intake.

No Calorie Counting / Eat When You’re Hungry

To lose weight you need to hit a safe calorie deficit – all of the above ‘rules’ to Paleo allow you to do this naturally – without having to painstakingly count every calorie every day. By sticking to Paleo principles, if you’re hungry you can have an extra snack or meal without worrying you’ve gone over your calories budget and if you can eat when you’re hungry you are much less liekly to binge eat all the cake. You may want to track at first to get the hang of how much you need to eat each day but after a while it will become second nature.

You don’t even need to eat Paleo all the time. I follow the 80/20 rule and try and have 4 Paleo days a week adding a little bread and sugar into my diet on the other 3 days. This still allows me to hit a calorie deficit most weeks without too much effort.

The Scandal of the Mullerlight Yoghurt

Slimming World have changed Mullerlight yoghurts from a ‘free’ food to having 1 syn. From what I can tell this has caused something of a shitstorm on social media.

If you aren’t familiar with Slimming World – in a nutshell, there are ‘free foods’ which you can eat as much as you wish of everyday and Healthy Extras (a small portion of foods providing calcium and fibre) which you eat each day on top of your free food. Everything else has a syn value – you can have 5- 15 syns a day.

The bonkers thing here?

Mullerlight yoghurt’s recipe has not changed (from what I have read). The yoghurt today provides the same number of calories, same amount of sugar etc. as it did yesterday – it’s just the Slimming World company have decided that people were eating too many of them because they were ‘free’.

They have also done it with Smash and tinned spaghetti by the way. Again the nutritional values within these foods has not changed overnight.

So here is my issue with Slimming World.

This whole yoghurt fiasco demonstrates it perfectly.

The company doesn’t teach people how our energy system works. If you follow the plan you can lose weight – but it does little to educate you on how to eat well and be healthy, away from counting syns and eating lots and lots of jacket potatoes.

Background- Back in 2011 I was overweight- I did no exercise and I ate takeaways more than I ever cooked. Diets were started every Monday morning and abandoned on Monday evening. I eventually decided to go to Slimming World. It was practically a last ditch attempt before I gave in to being overweight forever.

Now I have plenty of positives to say about the experience – the people were lovely, for me getting weighted kept me accountable and at first the plan worked- I was generally eating better food than I had been and losing weight.

Fast forward six months.

I’d started a Zumba class at the same time as Slimming World. I’d enjoyed it. The confidence I gained from doing Zumba led me to venture into other classes and I was now doing Body Jam, Body Combat, Zumba, Yoga and Circuits on a weekly basis. My shape changed (I got smaller) as a consequence- but my weight loss slowed. The consultant suggested that sometimes you could do too much exercise. This was when alarm bells started going off in my head. I’d started to educate myself more as I started to enjoy a healthier lifestyle and it felt a little like I was being encouraged to do less exercise to see bigger results on the scale.

Likewise there was little emphasis placed on the nutritional benefits of food. Generally having some good fats such as avocado with your breakfast would probably be seen by most as more beneficial than having a kitkat for breakfast. Yet 100g of avocado is around 10 syns whereas a Kitkat is 5.5. It is therefore unsurprising that people on Slimming World choose to stick with processed foods over fresh but high in calorie foods in some instances.

I often say I lost 4.5 stone on Slimming World, but in truth the last couple of stone came off through simply making better choices and exercising. I’ve since stayed the same dress size but put 2 of those stone back on. I am now the fittest and healthiest I’ve ever been.

Accountability and support is vital when people want to live a healthier lifestyle but groups such as this focus purely on a number on a scale going down. There is little emphasis on how calories work – how many you should eat, what they should generally be made up of to get a balanced lifestyle, how they provide you with fuel. There’s limited reasons for people to choose fresh over convenience foods and there’s no education as to why – just because Mullerlights are ‘free’, eating 20 will still derail your progress. There’s not enough encouragement to get moving and some of the education around exercise in my experience was quite simply incorrect.

I understand the logic behind Slimming World changing these foods from ‘free’ to ‘syned’. What they could have done however is educate people as to why even with ‘free’ foods you need to eat in moderation. If they did that they would de- mystify their product however. Like everything else Slimming World is just another method of creating a calorie deficit.

Not all calorie deficits are created equally however – and I don’t feel like Slimming World helps you understand how calories work, that free foods still have calories and over eating them will slow down weight loss. Equally, unlike a fitness professional say, who would celebrate changes to your physique over changes on the scale, Slimming World aren’t bothered by you dropping a dress size and looking amazing as you shape up via exercise. They want you to earn stars so you stay hooked and kep paying them a weekly check in fee.

So essentially- if you currently do Slimming World, eat well, have been eating a Mullerlight a day and getting results guess what? You will continue to see those results going forward because the food itself has not changed.

But if this has made you question the sense of Slimming World- all is not lost. The good news is you can sign up for My Fitness Pal for free- work out how many calories you need a day, what deficit you want to aim for and track what you eat!