Slimming World is not just a diet, it is a way of life, it is a world that you have to create in order to loose weight but more importantly maintain that weight afterwards.

What I aim to do in this op is to try and explain in easy terms how the diet works and what you can expect to achieve. I have joined Slimming World 3 times and can tell you both the good and the bad.

~~~~~ HOW TO JOIN ~~~~~

I have decided to tell you about the fees and how you go about joining at the beginning of my review, mainly because you will want to know if you can afford it! There is no point in me waffling on if you are going to struggle with membership fees and other associated costs. Let me say though that I have found it money well spent as whenever I try to diet without the support of a club I fall by the wayside in the very early stages, you are paying for the support network as much as anything else.

MEMBERSHIP

You can make yourself a member in one of two ways, you can either join a class or apply for a postal membership where you don't attend classes but still get some support.

Normal class membership is £10 as a one off payment, they are currently offering half price membership but this will end soon. It is always best to get an up to date cost before trundling down to your local class. You also have to pay a current class fee of £3.75 per week. This needs to be paid every week whether you go and just get weighed or you stay to the class. Just because you sign up with a class does not mean that you have to stay for the 'image therapy' you may prefer to get weighed and go straight home. This may be due to work or family commitments but if you can; then please stay. You will reap the rewards of membership much more by staying to class and sharing your experiences with other members, you might just have some fun too!

You are entitled to four weeks holiday per year, what this means is that you can take four

weeks without attending a class and not have to pay, anything over the four weeks and you will need to pay for any weeks you were absent. If you have a long absence through illness etc, it may be cheaper to rejoin and get your four weeks holiday back again rather than pay arrears.

To find out details of your nearest class please phone 08700 7546669 or email info@slimming-world.co.uk

Postal membership is available for the fee of £49.95 in the UK only, for this you get:

Slimming Worlds food optimising system, this is a book explaining how the diet works, what you can eat, how much you can eat, the sin values of certain foods etc. You get this free in class when you join. This is the main book that you need, without this you cannot follow the plan.

Your personal passport to success, this is a little book where you can record your weight each week; this is also given free when you join a class.

Free branded foods list, this is available normally to buy at a cost of £1.50 in class but it is included free of charge with the postal membership. It basically gives you a list of branded foods that you can eat freely on the plan in addition to the mountain of 'free food' you should eat each day (please note that sins and free food will be explained but I don't want to confuse you at this point)

A year's subscription to Slimming World Magazine (seven issues), the cost of the magazine in class is currently £1.40 but if you buy it in the shops it is £2.10.

Four open diet sheets, these are simply to record what you are eating so that you can keep track of your sins and make sure you are eating the right foods. If you are not loosing weight for any reason these can be looked at to see if you are doing anything wrong or if it can be improved on.

For the first four weeks you will receive a weekly support call from your personal consultant to chat about your progress, after that if you s
till
need help at any time you can give them a call.

To apply for postal membership you may either fill in a form that is available in the Slimming World magazine or phone the credit card hotline on 01773 52360 between 9am-5pm Monday to Friday.

OK, so you've now decided which method of membership suits you best you will want to know what to expect and how the diet works, here goes:

~~~~~ FOOD OPTIMISING ~~~~~

This is what the plan is, food optimising, making the most of the foods you can eat.

The plan has been carefully designed in order that you get the right balance of proteins, calcium, carbohydrates and calcium. It is very important when loosing weight to make sure that you are not eliminating certain food types completely, we even still need a certain amount of fat.

The basics of the diet is this, you need to eat a certain amount of fibre each day, a certain amount of calcium and lots of free food. That doesnt change, what does change is the types of free food you eat. Let me explain; Slimming World works by alternating the types of food you eat by having what they call, green days and original (or red) days. The term red is used in addition to original, as this is the day that you can eat as much meat as you desire. It is best to have an original day followed by a green day but you can have the same day in succession if that is easier for you. Just try to vary them as often as you can.

GREEN DAY

This is the day where you can eat as much pasta, rice or potatoes as you like! That's right, mountains of baked potatoes! You do not have to weigh any of these. In addition to the free food you need to choose three healthy extras that are listed in your food optimising booklet. These are split in to two further sections, A and B; you must choose one from section A and two from section B. This is to ensure that the right balance of nutrients is gained on each day.

Section
A covers c
alcium so you can choose either cheese or milk. The amount you can have will depend on the fat content, for example you may have 250ml of semi skimmed milk or 350ml of skimmed milk, you can vary this each day but any unused allowance cannot be carried forward to the next day.

Section B ensures that you have the right balance of fibre, vitamins and minerals. This is where you may see a change as if you are on a green day you may be eating loads of baked potatoes that are rich in fibre. You can choose some meat to go with your meal, you can eat more white meat and fish that you can red meat. For example you can have 170g of cod or 57g of minced beef. The only time you need to weigh or measure anything is when you take it from the healthy extras section all free food can be eaten in any quantity.

Other B choices include things like cereals, cheese, nuts, brown bread, cooked, canned and dried fruit and soups. White bread will need to be counted as sins as it has low nutritional value and fibre.

~~~~~ ORIGINAL DAY ~~~~~

This is the day where you can eat, chicken, bacon, lamb, fish, pork etc to your hearts content. A full roast chicken without added fat can be all yours. No weighing needed!

The only sausages you can eat are certain low fat ones like Bowyers 95% fat free, they are not a free food though, they are simply no sins and there is a difference.

You still have to choose three healthy extras and you will find that section A is the same as on the green day, section B however will be different. After all there is no point in including 170g of cod when you can eat as much as you like. Here you will see that things like pasta and potatoes are moved to the healthy extras and they need to be weighed. You will also note that to ensure the correct amount of fibre etc, the pasta will need to be wholemeal and the potatoes need to have there skins on. Of course if you don't eat the skin it will not a
ffect the weigh
t loss, it simply means that you are not having as much fibre as they would like. Cereals and soups are still included as are canned, dried and cooked fruit. All measures have of course been carefully worked out and rice has been excluded from the healthy extras on an original day due to the lack of fibre. You will also find that after a while you will not need to weigh items, as you will get used to the 'size' of potato etc you can have.

~~~~~ BOTH DAYS ~~~~~

You can eat many things freely on both days so rather than list them under each day I'll list them here.

Most fruits, Strawberries, Oranges, Apples, Bananas, Melon, Kiwi, Limes, Pineapple, and many more, one exception is Avocado Pears. Remember though that this is uncooked fruit, any cooked fruits have to be taken from your healthy extras as when cooked they actually sugar.

Herbs, seasonings and spices are free, things like gravy granules and Oxo cubes will need to be counted as sins. Bovril from the jar is free and this can be used as a drink.

Other drinks that are free are tea, coffee, herbal tea, low calorie carbonated drinks and squashes. Again if you add milk or sugar this is not free and needs to be taken from the healthy extras or sins.

Quorn, Tofu and Quark are free along with very low fat natural cottage cheese, very low fat natural fromage frais and very low fat natural yogurt. You can eat very low fat fruit yogurts also but these don't come under free foods, they are zero sins.

Sauces such as, Mint sauce, Worcester sauce, Marmite etc are free and so are flowers! Yes; you can eat dandelion if you wish.

You can also eat as many eggs as you like although the maximum recommended is 10 per week due to high cholesterol levels. You can eat these any way you wish and use milk from the healthy extra or from sins. You can poach them by using a little fry light spray that is free to use.

>Off course there ar
e many vegetables to choose from so you can eat plenty of cabbage, sprouts, carrots etc, NOT POTATOES, these have to be taken from the healthy extra on an original day due to them being a carbohydrate. The recommended daily allowance is 5 portions of fruit or veg per day so you have no excuse on this diet for not eating them! lol

You can see that there really is no need to go hungry. In comparison to Weight Watchers where you even have to count fruit as points this gives you much more freedom.

~~~~~ SINS ~~~~~

Slimming World say that sins are not naughty, just nice!

You can have between 5 and 15 sins a day and this will be discussed with your consultant. I have used 15 a day but at the moment I'm trying to manage on 10, it stands to reason that the more you limit your sins, the more successful you should be.

All foods have a sin value, some of them are listed in the food optimising book that you receive and others are listed in books that you need to buy. The Slimming World Food Directory is the most comprehensive book that covers sins, it is priced at £5.95. It includes most supermarkets and well known brands as well as unbranded foods such as takeaways.

I have mentioned in this op that some foods have a zero sin value; you can therefore eat as much as you like but they won't optimise your weight loss. That is the only difference, they won't make you gain weight but you may loose weight faster by having more 'free foods' than zero sin foods.

You can use sins on whatever you want, alcohol, chocolate, fat, crisps; you name it. You can also carry sins forward and save them for a weekend but not in to the next week, so once you've been weighed you start again. If you like to go out at weekend you may save them for a mad alcoholic binge, your average pub measure of Vodka is 2.5 sins so if you have it with diet coke that's not so bad! White wine is quit
e high in sins at 6 sins
for 175ml.


Your average Mars bar is 14.5 sins and a 28g slice of Battenberg is 5 sins. I usually save my sins for an Indian takeaway at weekend; I cannot do without my curries!

Some foods like curry will have a different sin value on either the green or original day, for example if you are on an original day a beef madras will have a lower sin value due to the fact that you can have unlimited amounts of beef. According to the food optimising book a beef madras on original is 30 sins and on a green it is 38.

Anther way of checking the sin value of foods is to use their website. They have a sins online section where you search by manufacturer and then the item. Most of the time you will get a result unless the item is very new. If you have unmetered Internet access this is an excellent method as it won't cost you anything, just go to www.slimming-world.com. You can also phone their sins hotline on 0906 8518518 but calls will cost 60p per minute. I did use this service last week about Quick Jel as it stated the sins per portion and didn't state what a portion was. As they weren't sure and they had to find out she took my number and phoned me back, this was excellent as it saved money on the phone call.

What I have explained may seem like a lot to take in but you will soon get used to it, the secret is in the planning of your meals. Try to buy plenty of fruit and free food so you always have something ready to eat. There are many recipe books you can buy and there are free diet planners where your meals are planned if you can't make your mind up.

~~~~~ WHAT TO EXPECT IN CLASS ~~~~~

Firstly your weight is never revealed, all that is mentioned is your weight loss for the week and your total weight loss. You pop along to your local class and on your first visit you will have the plan explained and be given the books that you need.

Everyone gets in line and
goes to a private area to be w
eighed, this is then reco
rded in your own passport and on a sheet that your consultant keeps. You must also sign in and write in the amount that you are paying, you can pay in advance if you like. Normally if you pay for 10 weeks you get one week free but at the moment you get two weeks free. You can pay by cash or cheque.

Most clubs ask you to bring a piece of fruit as at the end of the class the person with the highest weight loss wins it. It's not compulsory but it's a nice gesture. At the moment our class is also doing a raffle at 50p per ticket and the name drawn out wins 6 free classes. A previous class I went to asked for donations of 10 pence and at the end of the month the person with the highest weight loss would win this.

Once the weigh in has been completed everyone sits around in a circle for image therapy. It's not as intense as it sounds! It is simply a way of people chatting about their weight loss, how they are doing, if they have any problems and sharing ideas. Your weight loss will be announced and everyone give you a round of applause. Even if you maintain or gain weight you are congratulated on your weight loss so far. Any loss is of benefit no matter how small, we all have good and bad weeks and it's important when we have a bad week to have some support. You can gain some excellent information from other members and share recipes. I've taken cakes in that I've baked for people to try and so does the consultant.

At the end of the class you can ask your consultant any questions and get some more open diet sheets if needed. The consultants are usually more than helpful. Once you are used to the plan you may only need to record your sin intake as you will get to know what you can and can't eat freely.

It's as sinple (get it?) as that! Go home, have a good week and look forward to jumping on the scales next week.

~~~~~ HOW MUCH
WEIGHT SHOULD YOU LOSE ~~~~~


This needs to be discussed and there are guidelines in your passport as to what your ideal weight range should be. This is based on working out your Body Mass Index, don't worry there is a chart. They will not allow you to go below a certain weight according to your height although you set your own target. You don't have to set your PAT (personal achievement target) straight away. You can set yourself small goals and it is often advisable. You may have a PAT of say 10 stones, which requires you to loose two stone. Try to work towards this in small weight losses like half a stone at a time, that way your target may not seem so far away. Each time you loose half a stone you get an award to stick in your passport and it's announced in class.

Once you reach your target weight you can attend classes for free providing you stay within 3lb of your PAT. You may wonder why you should do this, well I'll tell you. I have successfully lost weight twice before at Slimming World but because I didn't attend classes afterwards and I went back to my old eating habits I put it all back on and more besides! Even if you only go once per month it will help you keep track of your weight and do something about it if you need to. It is possible to loose weight very easily and realistically a couple of pounds a week is not difficult. It is better to do it gradually than have a massive weight loss initially; you are more likely to maintain your weight afterwards. My current Slimming World membership has seen me loose half a stone in two weeks. You generally loose more in the first couple of weeks so I do expect this to slow down, especially due to me going out for a meal at weekend!

~~~~ OVERALL OPINION ~~~~~

I much prefer Slimming World to weight watchers as I feel you are encouraged to eat more healthily with the free foods. You don't need to do as much weighing and measuring and you can eat as m
uch fruit and very low fat yogurt as yo
u like. The best ones are Muller Light as they are a large pot, really tasty and totally zero sins.

The key to success is preparation, write out a shopping list and stick to it, make sure you have plenty of free food in the fridge. Grapes are excellent as you can just pick at them and they are tasty. Chop up some melon and strawberries and you can eat them all day long. Cubes of corned beef are a good idea on an original day and you can eat pickled onions freely too.

It is a good idea to exercise if you can as this will help your weight loss and your overall health, if you haven't done any for a long time or you have any medical conditions please see your GP first.

The cost of following the plan can be quite large as you will need to buy lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat etc. Summer season is least expensive as you can pick up fruit and veg cheeper. If you are used to buying processed pre-packed foods it may take some adjusting too.

If you are a vegetarian your options will be limited and this should be discussed with your consultant.

I would recommend slimming world to anyone and even pregnant women can do it. Anyone who is pregnant or has an illness such as diabetes should discuss it with their doctor as well as the slimming world consultant before embarking on the plan.

If you have thought about doing it and been previously undecided I hope this has helped, if you have any questions then please feel free to ask, good luck!


p.s. weight loss refers to current loss after 4 weeks