Slimming Clubs - slimming down you or your wallet?

So, before I start let me put it out there that I 100% know that this is opening up a can of worms.  I know some people will completely disagree with me on certain areas of this, some people will try to protect their beloved club promoting how wonderful and fab it and its consultant or leader is, some people may even get angry. However in short, I don’t care - I’m not writing this to make people happy for the sake of it.  I’m writing it to try and support you and provide you with information that will hopefully influence you in your decisions and approach to eating healthy.

I would ask you read this blog in full so that you dont read a line or two and by doing so read it out of context. 

I will not be getting into any war of words, these are my opinions, experiences and knowledge from my professional fitness / nutrition qualifications.  I 100% also accept that people are entitled to their opinions – which may differ to mine, however do try and read this blog with the mindset that I am here trying to help.  

Also just to stress there is no sponsorship or commercial influences in this blog.

So then, slimming clubs – an industry worth billions worldwide.  Whilst they promote the idea of you loosing pounds, they ultimately are gaining them – and LOTS of them (financially!).  But, are they worth their money – and indeed how do we determine their worth and success?

This time of year is when we see every conceivable form of diet and club being marketed to the max.  Maximize this day, point that day, green day, fast day, shake day, low carb day – there is literally a diet and supporting club to cover every single approach to eating.

But, are they healthy?

I am working on the understanding that by healthy we mean eating in a manner that supports achieving optimum nutrition & mental health towards food for you to get the best out of your body in line with your fitness goals.

So then, the types of clubs – for the most part most slimming clubs can be categorised into one of a number of categories:

• Counting Points
• Food Mix & Match
• Very Low Calorie Diets / Meal Replacements
• Online groups  

Counting Points.

Let me ask you this, can you see yourself in 15 years time calculating points for every meal you eat, and having to record this ? That would be practically every day, of every week, for the next 15 years.. and possibly beyond.  Does this sound something that absolutely excites you - or something that makes you sigh and feel as though it might be the only option for you to lose weight? Points, which by the way have absolutely zero meaning to day to day nutritional meanings and standards.   Points which in my mind could just as easily be used to determine the amount of money being earned per person per point !! I'm sure somewhere there must be a calculation in a head office in New York somewhere that goes something along the lines of ** If  Mrs Slimmer is required to consume X number of points per day multiplied by 7 days per week, by 52 weeks a year then this contributes to a total revenue of XX** - ok I might be half joking, but it actually wouldn't surprise me. 

Now, I am well aware there are some plans whereby for the most part your have free foods etc and then you are required to count a small number of points as part of your plan - I'll come back to those later, but for now I am talking specifically about the plans which meal by meal require you to count points.  Seriously, how utterly silly.  I don't know about you but its like they have taken something i HATED ( Algebra ) and added it to one of my favorite things (Food) - sweet lord above its nightmare.  I remember previously when I did an attempt at counting points on a plan by Weight Watchers - I stuck to it so religiously, I was enjoying my food (why wouldn't I - I was living on all the lovely weight watchers foods mostly the desserts and pizzas) however, I was still only eating my daily points and then to be extra good I did some walking - Oh how proud as punch I was walking up to the scales knowing I was such an obedient little group member - I stood on the scales, smiled my little arse off (infact I probably burned as many calories smiling as I had done walking all week) and then hey presto ..... I gained weight. What the f**k ? I GAINED weight ? How on earth could this be I had been so good, I stuck to my plan, I counted points to within an inch of my life - and so much so I actually devised my own excel spreadsheet for tracking everything. 

So then, there are a few fundamental flaws with the points counting plans.  Firstly true respect & understanding for the nutritional value of foods and the needs of those people eating them.  It is absolutely 100% categorically impossible to determine your nutritional needs on the commercial points system.  I think Jean Nidetch the lady who founded weight watchers back in the day genuinely had fantastic ambitions with the support aspect of the group - indeed it was this support network that was the focus of weight watchers NOT a points based eating plan.  The Weight Watchers company was bought in 1978 by Heinz - yes Heinz the people who make food, and lots of it - and also funnily enough they also continue to produce under license a brand of highly processed weight watchers foods which are readily available in most shops.  So who owns weight watchers then, is it some fitness mad promoter of healthy eating? Well - no.  Its now a public company owned 50% by the Artal Group and 50% public ownership - so in other words people all looking to make money - plain and simply.  A far cry from found Jeans humble support groups back in the day which focused almost entirely on supporting each other.  The points based systems and foods side of business came later through business development, and increased realisation of the worth of the weight loss industry.  Now I may seem like I am giving the points based plans a hard time, but to put it simple they  do NOT work, for the majority of people, long term.  

A clinical study involving Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers and The Zone diets, published in 2005, reported that among the Weight Watchers participants the average net weight loss in a one-year period was 3.0 kilograms (6.6 lb)

I am also aware that over the years these types of plans bring out new methods and plans that allow you to eat this or that, or as much of this or that as you wish - however I am speaking here about the foundation of their plans - counting points. 

Now in saying all this - As with all the groups I am speaking about, I know 100% there are some utterly fantastic leaders, group members who give their heart and soul to their club and their members to offer support and advice, to really help their members loose weight - and this aspect of the club I think is what is a redeeming aspect of the club.  In saying this, practically none of the leaders are trained to a recognised professional level in nutritional advice or psychology.  But, I do agree that sometimes common sense and a warm welcome can be more effective in supporting people than the writing on your qualification - but do keep in mind from a nutritional advice perspective that the advice you are getting is based on a commercially developed plan as opposed to a personalised specific plan based on your physical and mental health, needs and developments. Another possible redeeming factor of these plans might be that they do allow scope for you to include any food - however, foods which are healthy such as Nuts are deemed almost unhealthy due to being high in fats and thus develop an unjustified stigma and fear that they are bad. 

Would i recommend anyone to do points counting plans: No

Food Mix & Match

So these types of plans generally work on the basis that you can eat one type of food one day, and one type of food another day - or you could opt whereby you have you're free lists, and then a number of supporting lists whereby you don't really have to count points as such, so long as you have the items from each list / category.  Eg a daily, a fat etc.  In addition there may be a small amount of point counting to allow for some additional food - which most people will use for treats. 

Now, this is extremely similar to the way in which I have previously lost weight myself - prior to going on The Biggest Loser - and I found I did lose weight - HOWEVER, looking back on these plans now with my nutritional knowledge I can quickly see the fundamental flaws with these groups. 

Firstly, there is no food in the world that you can eat as much of as you want - none.  Too much of any food isn't healthy. So to have a *Free Food* list that you can eat as much as you want from is silly and does absolutely nothing to help with portion control and understanding of the bodies needs in terms of calories or nutrients. I remember I used to eat HUGE amounts of potatoes (I know, how stereotypically irish!!!) I would have them at lunch, in the evenings, again at night - and why not, they were a free food.  I would easily say that the majority of the foods I ate came from Carbohydrate sources with very little proteins, and heaven forbid I harm much fat (back in those time I still believed that fat made you fat, which it doesn't by the way, if eaten in moderation).  Of course I could have opted to live almost entirely on chicken and eggs and then have the required small amounts of fats etc - however again this isn't healthy, but it still would have been perfectly within the guidelines set out for me by the handbooks. 

In more recent times, I believe there might be more guidance in relation to how much of your plate should be what type of food - and I think if this was developed further than it would be a very positive move for these type of clubs.  What I do like about the food mix and match is that they generally do promote choose mostly natural foods such as meats, fruits and veggies. And then the extra bits like your treats are what you point - and I think this could be a good way for someone starting out to potentially get to grips with food types. 

Again however these tend to penalise you heavily for having foods high in fats as they are deemed a lesser quality source of foods. From the group I was in the reason I think that I was somewhat successful with this was that I was exercising a huge amount, I was having food I liked and I had such  lovely group leader in Shinfield, Reading, UK who took such a genuine interest in each of us.  She really was fantastic and celebrated each and very loss no matter now small, there was no such thing as "Only losing half a pound" - half a pound was a success.  And this I liked - so support wise it was great, in terms of nutritional value to my body not so great however - and again there was no guidelines re about the specific requirements for me and my body.

Its also important to point out for the purposes of transparency that I have previously worked as a contributor to publications & events organized for Unislim Ireland, this was after much consideration and study of their plans and nutritional approach, what won me over however was moreso the genuine care, concern and interest that they took in its members which stemmed right from their most senior management  - I think this could be partially to do with the fact they were a homegrown brand too as opposed to a huge international organization. Infact with all the dealings I have had, I have never once heard a mention of club revenues, but have heard huge amounts about members wellbeing.

Would i recommend anyone to do Mix & Match type plans:  Potentially yes, depending on the clients needs in terms of support and knowledge of food. These could potentially work as a starting ground for someone with guidance about eating healthier than they currently may be, however I would balance this is a personalised goal in terms of food types based on that persons activity levels, nutrient needs etc. I would not however see this as a life long solution. 

Very Low Calorie Diets / Meal Replacements

Right, I need to control myself here ( and I am writing this as someone who has done Very Low Calorie meal Replacement diets 3 times) .......... this approach is pure evil, it is hell, it is everything I hate about diets and commercialisation of this trying to lose weight. I detest them both personally and professionally  - they do absolutely ZERO to enhance a persons life long term.  Whilst they do offer coaching by their leaders, who have been trained by their own company - the goodness of this is absolutely stripped away by their approach to food and eating.  In short, they promote the eating of 500 -700 calls typically per day, in the form of soups, shakes - and then in time you can progress to the gradual reintroduction of foods. So, let me get this right - to support me with my behavioral changes needs with regards to food, you are going to have me living on soup and shakes - which by doing so I won't even get a quarter of the intake needed to support my bodies needs day to day?  WHAT !! I am actually screaming in my head right now as I type this.  This is shocking, and I cannot for the life of me see why these types of clubs have not yet been made illegal.  These are essential starvation diets, these types of diets are generally used in hospitals where they can be monitored daily by qualified medical professionals for when a patients needs rapid weight loss usually to support surgery to take place. These are NOT a solution to life long weight loss, these are NOT a solution for healthy rapid weight loss - why? Rapid weight loss through dieting is NOT healthy. 

Over the space of a week you may eat 3500 calories - which would have been less than my daily maintenance needs back in the day. So for 3500 calories I then had to pay £66 a week - seriously !!! i could nearly do a weeks shopping for that now.  Imagine somebody saying to you that you had to pay £66 for some cup of soups ? You'd laugh at them, yet as soon as they are positioned as a weight loss solution (granted with the group meeting) its suddenly ok to shoot up the price, and market them to people - who can at times feel vulnerable and willing to try almost anything to lose something, and thus can see £66 as a solution to their weight loss, a rapid solution - which of course it isn't.  All 3 times I did this diet I put all my weight back on again AND more.  

This is why during The Biggest Loser I was somewhat shocked and annoyed that it was being sponsored by The Biggest Loser Meal Replacement range of foods, as it could potentially have then made people think that this is what we lived on - which of course it wasn't.  ( I will be doing a blog about The Biggest Loser Uncovered soon also)

Would i recommend Very Low Calorie / Meal Replacements:  1000% No NEVER 

Online Groups

I’ve included this, as in reality more and more people are utilizing the internet to interact with people some just on the basis of a support network, and some as part of a slimming website such as slimming world online etc.  There is also a plethora of groups run by personal trainers & gyms, general fitness fanatics and just everyday people.  In theory I do think these groups do serve a purpose – they offer support in a place where people can often feel a lot more comfortable being true and honest about themselves.  I would say however for a group to have credibility it should have very clear guidance and direction from a respected professional who can offer appropriate information in terms of nutrition and exercise.  I’ve also seen some rather scary groups giving our shocking advice about cabs and fats being bad, having to do high protein diets etc etc, and its in line with this that I reiterate the point about ensuring there is somebody who regularly answers & provides unbiased and knowledgeable information.  

 Would I recommend online groups: Yes, once there is the relevant support & information provided in a safe and sensible manner to support group members’ goals.

A Note to Personal Trainers and others working with people trying to lose weight.

Although you may view slimming clubs as something which are a fad and something which aren’t a life long solution, and to help balance up this blog I feel its extremely important to raise a point.  Fitness Professionals are just as guilty of conforming to unhealthy eating habits, plans and groups – however rarely do they acknowledge this.  A perfect example of this is when a person is getting ready to compete in a fitness/ physique contest.  The manipulation of water intake, carbs, proteins etc is well outside of the realms of everyday what a normal days eating should look like for am everyday person.  The weeks just before a contest in particular can see some pretty drastic manipulations to food intake in a bid to highlight muscles in a more favorable way.  In essence you are adhering to a non-standard eating regime for the purposes of achieving a specific physical goal.  Now, how does this compare to someone joining a slimming club? They too are simply following what is deemed by you a non standard eating regime with the purposes of achieving a specific fitness goal – so, next time you are about to get onto your client for wanting to join a slimming club – make sure you are not displaying double standards, whilst my blog above has mostly been discouraging clubs – I equally 100% accept that they can offer some extremely valuable common ground and understanding in terms of the mental approach to their weight loss battle – something very few personal trainers or gyms can offer, albeit this is often at the cost of achieving optimum nutrition. 

So then, if weight loss clubs are not the ideal solution - what is? 

Well firstly do you know what foods are healthy but struggle to know how much of them to eat and when? If so then invest you time in an appointment with a nutrionist (or dietician if you have specific medial needs), equally most personal trainers can give some decent advice about nutrition and your specific needs - however I have also heard some SHOCKING things in my day, I remember one PT in Dublin advising their client to go on Atkins (WTF?).  Whoever you choose ring them and talk to them in advance about their approach, ask how they will work with you and educate you about  how to sustain your approach not just for 4 weeks but for a lifetime.  They key should be education - they shouldn't simply hand you a food plan, they should take the time to focus on you and educate you about what foods to eat and why. 

If you feel however that your issues with eating are greater than simply knowing what to eat, and perhaps you feel like food has a grip on your life, and that the habits and behaviors you have around food are the concern then I would suggest looking into a qualified and respected professional who works specifically with eating disorders - there are numerous charities around who also offer this support day in day out and do such amazing work - Your local GP should be able to guide you with regards to this.  Also a qualified Cognitive Behavioral Therapist could also be an option ( I do not include hypnotherapy in these - you need to be awake and educated not asleep!) 

Whilst some of these options above may have a higher cost that the slimming clubs – just stop and think about how much you are spending day in day out, on the branded foods, the weigh ins etc - how much does this come to for even just one year?  The cost of getting professional support, personalised to you and your physical and mental needs is in fact not a cost, but an investment which will stand to you for the rest of your life. 

So there we have it folks, my view on slimming clubs. Whilst the ideal solution is a balanced eating plan, which isn’t overly restrictive that support your fitness goals – whilst at the same time taking time to understand your emotional connections to food – some slimming clubs may very well offer a level of support which does have value. 

To conclude, I have read a few times that allegedly 95% of people who lose weight regain it within 5 years again.  Indeed I can remember Angie Dowds telling me this exact figure for the success rate of The Biggest Loser worldwide also.

Eat Happy, Eat Healthily folks.  Look after your mental health & your wealth. 

Invest in yourself.