I would love for a leader representing a slimming group come and have an in depth chat with me on what foods they’re promoting to members. I maybe ignorant when it comes to slimming groups and what goes on in them, but I’m seeing a lot on social media of people following “plans” and I just get red flags popping up occasionally.
Can we just call a spade a spade here and say that if you’re overweight and most of your diet consists of junk food and takeaways, once you start any sort of diet change then you will lose weight in the initial stages. You don’t need to pay any professional, we already KNOW that info already.
But here it is, I’ve seen a person ask if they can still lose weight following X club when they don’t eat fruit or veg? The person originally said that fruit and veg causes stomach problems and they went to doctors and specialists over it. As the conversation developed it turned out this individual just doesn’t LIKE fruit or veg (soup only) and was being told by other people that they would still lose weight. I’m trying very hard to understand how that works without depriving yourself of vital vitamins and minerals.
I’m just putting it out there for the record, I’ve never been a fan of anything green, my 29 years of life I’ve only eaten mashed potato, carrots and onions (along with burgers, chips, pizza and all that processed crap). I’ve lost weight down to exercise only, and I’ve now hit a plateau where if I want to lose any more I actually have to assess my nutrition.
I’ve made an effort to get the good nutrients from veggies into my by juicing them with my nutribullet, it’s not as ideal as eating them solid, but in my mind I think it’s better than not taking them at all. I also add chia seeds so I’m still getting protein and I don’t use the juices as meal replacements, I’d have a juice every other day in the morning instead of coffee. The nutribullet blitzes the ingredients, so I’m not losing ALL of the fiber content. And we need fiber for heathy stomach function.
If you haven’t watched “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” you really should have a look at it (available on Netflix or YouTube). Now I’m not saying the juice fasting is the way to go, but it proves that by getting regular intakes of micro nutrients found in veg, can boost your immune system and make your body just work better.
People with eating disorders lose weight, but end up very very sick in the end. Therefore I can’t understand how one can lose weight in a healthy fashion without getting a basic micro nutrient intake – i.e veg (and fruit)
But don’t just rely on the fruit, yes it’s a better choice than dairy chocolate or biscuits, however if you over indulge on fruit, you’re taking in a lot of sugar which can just mess up your insulin levels, and overall goals.
I really think it’s mind over matter on this one. For example, I had steak and chips the other night, but I also cooked a stir fry of loads of veggies, and a side of spinach. I love mixing flavours, so I just thought “Steak tastes good, if I put the green stuff on the fork with it then maybe the steak will hide it” And it did! Again, the chips aren’t the best choice, but I’m trying my best to get some good stuff into every meal, especially since I’ve been so picky all my life over greens, so don’t judge me for having chips!!
But I’m looking at one person here who said they don’t know where they’re going wrong, posted a one day food diary and the first thing I see for breakfast is a “toasted sandwich and tea with milk and sugar”. Then a chocolate bar and packet of crisps, which collected more “points” than their main meal at dinner time. I can only guess that you’re allowed a certain amount of “points” or whatever daily from a list of foods, and I’ve seen people ask for point values based on calories for unlisted foods. This person used up their daily allowance on foods that were lacking in nutrition and weren’t filling. Coming from my perspective, this person will not lose any weight going by this, because they’re not eating enough, the body goes into “starvation” mode so to speak (when you don’t actually eat a lot then your body stores whatever’s ingested into FAT rather than sugar to go into your muscles and liver). Furthermore, as this person used up all their “points” on junk, I can assume fairly that they were left starving before bedtime. I for one can’t sleep on an empty stomach.  Comments underneath from members said that the points were unbalanced, passing comment on the sandwich and the treats, to which the person replied that they just love bread!
FYI bread, is an “anti nutrient” food. Not only has it got no nutrients, it takes the good stuff out of your system. It’s just unfortunate that it’s so convenient and a quick go to for lunch. Im not saying you should never eat it, but pick a better option if there’s one available.
So what I’m asking is are these slimming groups promoting a healthy intake of nutrients? I saw one person “advise” another not to take protein, didn’t give a reason, but we need protein for muscle repair and growth. It’s one of our main macros. When we have more muscle, it’s easier to drop body fat. Muscle takes up less space than fat so it makes sense that by gaining some lean muscle in turn will reduce body fat and trim the waist line. How to we gain lean muscle? By putting them under stress through resistance training and feeding them with protein afterwards.
And then there’s the other debate: exercise vs diet. One colleague of mine openly got annoyed because her client was told by their slimming group leader that they put on weight because they were exercising. She looked at the meal plan and the client had spag bol and tea and toast on the list. No fruit or veg. Now spag bol is better than ordering from the chinese (unless you use sauce from a jar!), but it’s still not the healthiest option, and if your day starts with a slice of toast then you’re more likely to splurge on crap for lunch if you’re not prepared.
A big concern for me though is, if exercising is frowned upon by these leaders, I’d be worried that the clients are dropping weight by muscle waste rather than body fat. It’s no use just going out for a walk, walking doesn’t increase lean muscle. Its a great start for the totally unfit, like literally walk before you can run, but as the client progresses and starts seeing some sort of results, they should really take up some weight or body weight training to improve strength levels so they don’t end up “skin and bone” (with a load of excess skin in certain cases)
It’s true that when you lift weights, you instantly swell as your muscles react to the stress, but over a prolonged period of time, if you’re training for fat loss and not losing inches, then it’s your diet that’s the problem.

Feck the scales by the way, the numbers will only mess with your head.