Comparing two dieting methods
100% diet talk, comparing my experience of two different approaches.
Slimming World.
I started at Slimming world in May of 2008.
Why did you choose SW?
# They weren't Weight Watchers*
# They had an emphasis on home-prepared foods, plenty of fruit and veg.
# They were keen on encouraging us to eat 'treat' food in moderation. Yay for occasional cake, chocolate and butter!
# The idea of never needing to be hungry appealed to me.
# There was a group that was run by a man. Men make up a small portion of the diet industry (as well as the eating disorder self-help world), and at the time I was early enough in transition for it to be important to be around men in a female-dominated environment.
# I liked the idea of a supportive group of people who met once a week. (One can have this at WW too.)
# Paying the group each week to help me lose weight did help for the first 2 years; I didn't want to waste my subscription money and that seemed to be a motivating factor.
Did the diet fit in with your lifestyle?
For the first two years, I had enough time to do all the cooking that was involved with the Slimming World diet. For my third and final year, it wasn't as convenient.
How easy was it to stick to?
As someone with a binge eating and compulsive over-eating problem, I found it hard to comply 100% with the plan. I also found it quite difficult to be allowed to eat as much as I wanted to; this would sometimes mean I would eat four pints of lentil dal and then be physically ill afterwards. It took me about 3 years before I learned how to STOP eating when full. I managed to have about 70-80% compliance. Along with a heavy exercise regime, I managed to lose weight for 2 years with this level of compliance.
After a certain point, I either had to eat 90-95% in the style of the diet or I would fail to lose any more weight. This led to a period of about 10 months where I maintained the weight I had lost whilst wanting to lose weight. At least I know how to maintain weight loss now! I decided to stop going while I was training for my marathon.
Would it work for other people?
If you have the TIME and the inclination to do a lot of cooking mostly from scratch, then it may work for you. If you have a busy life and little inclination to have home-cooked meals every day, it may be difficult to stick to.
How much weight did you lose with Slimming World?
I lost 4 stone with Slimming World over 2 years and put 1 stone back on. I have maintained a loss of 3 stone in part due to being a Slimming World member. (1 stone = 14 pounds.)
What are the useful things about it?
Going to group every week ESPECIALLY when I'd had a bad diet week was crucial in me losing all that weight. We would be encouraged and supported when we gained weight.
I found filling in the paper food diary to be really useful, when combined with my ways of thinking about just filling it in today/now/this evening and not worrying if I'd failed to fill it in in the recent past.
What were the negatives?
# Having to do so much cooking.
# The group leader I joined with became lacking in enthusiasm over time, and was no longer motivating to new or existing members.
# The business model (at least at the group I went to) involved getting 1 or 2 people a week to help run the group without any pay or discounted membership. I helped out for a few months, and that added to my dissatisfaction.
# It costs £4.95 a week, which is not cheap. If you're failing to lose weight and still shelling out cash, that's a waste of money.
# If you follow the rules exactly, there is no extra food to be gained if you exercise a lot (apart from the 'free food' which you can eat without limits whatever your exercise level).
MyFitnessPal
I started using MFP in mid-November, 2011.
Why did you choose MFP?
I'd heard quite a few people talking about it. When choosing a web-based diet tool, I wanted to use something that was mainstream. It is free. There is a free iPhone app - this is the most important factor.
What are the useful things about it?
Filling in the food/exercise diary via iPhone app is incredibly convenient. It's an easy system to use, and it can learn things about you (what are your most frequent foods, what are your recipes).
I can eat convenience food! I can also eat home-prepared food.
It gives me a bigger calorie allowance the more exercise I do; so I can have a heavy workout day and not worry about eating energy dense food in the short term. (I would be penalised for that using the SW system).
It has a social networking aspect; people can encourage each other. I have added people on MPF.
What are the negatives?
If I'm not careful, I have a tendency to over-eat then over-exercise to balance it out. This can lead to a) physical problems caused by over-training and b) dodgy eating disorder purging through exercise. I am able to keep aware of this problem, and I DO nip it in the bud when I see myself doing this.
Because it's Internet-based, there isn't the same kind of social support one gets with real-life slimming groups. However, I feel that I'm at a stage where I can get support in other places (from close friends and therapy).
Would it work for other people?
Maybe. If they had support outside of MFP they might be able to stick with it.
People who like iPhone apps might like it.
It is convenient and flexible - it can fit in with a lifestyle based on ready meals or on home-cooked meals or a combination of the two.
People who have had a long history of dieting using calorie-counting might find this difficult. (I don't have that sort of history.)
How much weight have you lost so far?
I lost 6 pounds in 7 weeks. That's pretty good going for me!
* At the time I had quite negative ideas about Weight Watchers. I'd heard that the group leaders would try to sell you over-processed WW-branded foods. I had the impression that the main focus of the diet was on processed ready-meals. I'd heard that WW leaders used a bit of humiliation to encourage weight-loss; I think this is out of date information. I have since learned that there are several diets they promote, one of which is the kind I like: high in fibre/fruit/veg/whole grains and low in fat.
Slimming World.
I started at Slimming world in May of 2008.
Why did you choose SW?
# They weren't Weight Watchers*
# They had an emphasis on home-prepared foods, plenty of fruit and veg.
# They were keen on encouraging us to eat 'treat' food in moderation. Yay for occasional cake, chocolate and butter!
# The idea of never needing to be hungry appealed to me.
# There was a group that was run by a man. Men make up a small portion of the diet industry (as well as the eating disorder self-help world), and at the time I was early enough in transition for it to be important to be around men in a female-dominated environment.
# I liked the idea of a supportive group of people who met once a week. (One can have this at WW too.)
# Paying the group each week to help me lose weight did help for the first 2 years; I didn't want to waste my subscription money and that seemed to be a motivating factor.
Did the diet fit in with your lifestyle?
For the first two years, I had enough time to do all the cooking that was involved with the Slimming World diet. For my third and final year, it wasn't as convenient.
How easy was it to stick to?
As someone with a binge eating and compulsive over-eating problem, I found it hard to comply 100% with the plan. I also found it quite difficult to be allowed to eat as much as I wanted to; this would sometimes mean I would eat four pints of lentil dal and then be physically ill afterwards. It took me about 3 years before I learned how to STOP eating when full. I managed to have about 70-80% compliance. Along with a heavy exercise regime, I managed to lose weight for 2 years with this level of compliance.
After a certain point, I either had to eat 90-95% in the style of the diet or I would fail to lose any more weight. This led to a period of about 10 months where I maintained the weight I had lost whilst wanting to lose weight. At least I know how to maintain weight loss now! I decided to stop going while I was training for my marathon.
Would it work for other people?
If you have the TIME and the inclination to do a lot of cooking mostly from scratch, then it may work for you. If you have a busy life and little inclination to have home-cooked meals every day, it may be difficult to stick to.
How much weight did you lose with Slimming World?
I lost 4 stone with Slimming World over 2 years and put 1 stone back on. I have maintained a loss of 3 stone in part due to being a Slimming World member. (1 stone = 14 pounds.)
What are the useful things about it?
Going to group every week ESPECIALLY when I'd had a bad diet week was crucial in me losing all that weight. We would be encouraged and supported when we gained weight.
I found filling in the paper food diary to be really useful, when combined with my ways of thinking about just filling it in today/now/this evening and not worrying if I'd failed to fill it in in the recent past.
What were the negatives?
# Having to do so much cooking.
# The group leader I joined with became lacking in enthusiasm over time, and was no longer motivating to new or existing members.
# The business model (at least at the group I went to) involved getting 1 or 2 people a week to help run the group without any pay or discounted membership. I helped out for a few months, and that added to my dissatisfaction.
# It costs £4.95 a week, which is not cheap. If you're failing to lose weight and still shelling out cash, that's a waste of money.
# If you follow the rules exactly, there is no extra food to be gained if you exercise a lot (apart from the 'free food' which you can eat without limits whatever your exercise level).
MyFitnessPal
I started using MFP in mid-November, 2011.
Why did you choose MFP?
I'd heard quite a few people talking about it. When choosing a web-based diet tool, I wanted to use something that was mainstream. It is free. There is a free iPhone app - this is the most important factor.
What are the useful things about it?
Filling in the food/exercise diary via iPhone app is incredibly convenient. It's an easy system to use, and it can learn things about you (what are your most frequent foods, what are your recipes).
I can eat convenience food! I can also eat home-prepared food.
It gives me a bigger calorie allowance the more exercise I do; so I can have a heavy workout day and not worry about eating energy dense food in the short term. (I would be penalised for that using the SW system).
It has a social networking aspect; people can encourage each other. I have added people on MPF.
What are the negatives?
If I'm not careful, I have a tendency to over-eat then over-exercise to balance it out. This can lead to a) physical problems caused by over-training and b) dodgy eating disorder purging through exercise. I am able to keep aware of this problem, and I DO nip it in the bud when I see myself doing this.
Because it's Internet-based, there isn't the same kind of social support one gets with real-life slimming groups. However, I feel that I'm at a stage where I can get support in other places (from close friends and therapy).
Would it work for other people?
Maybe. If they had support outside of MFP they might be able to stick with it.
People who like iPhone apps might like it.
It is convenient and flexible - it can fit in with a lifestyle based on ready meals or on home-cooked meals or a combination of the two.
People who have had a long history of dieting using calorie-counting might find this difficult. (I don't have that sort of history.)
How much weight have you lost so far?
I lost 6 pounds in 7 weeks. That's pretty good going for me!
* At the time I had quite negative ideas about Weight Watchers. I'd heard that the group leaders would try to sell you over-processed WW-branded foods. I had the impression that the main focus of the diet was on processed ready-meals. I'd heard that WW leaders used a bit of humiliation to encourage weight-loss; I think this is out of date information. I have since learned that there are several diets they promote, one of which is the kind I like: high in fibre/fruit/veg/whole grains and low in fat.