Why I go to Slimming World

I've had it said to me many times that I don't need to go to Slimming World, sometimes because I know how to do it, and sometimes because 'I look fine/don't need to lose weight  etc.  Over the years I've had members who are currently bigger than me telling me it's easy for me because I'm younger/ I'm so good at it / I like cooking/ I've been exercising  etc etc.

If I occasionally am disappointed with a maintain or a gain on the scales some say 'but you don't need to lose more you're slim enough'

And I get it, I REALLY do,even though it might not seem like it. When I first joined in 2006 there was a girl in my group who looked gorgeous, wearing a clingy top, skinny jeans and a pair of boots I could never have even dreamed of wearing.

She was there every week and every week I looked at her and wondered why she was there.

I wondered why she sometimes thought she'd had a bad week or got annoyed about putting on a few pounds.

I hated it when she lost a 1lb and didn't know why as she'd hadn't been 'good'

I can't remember how much she had lost but she was at her usually at her target weight.

I realize now that to new members with a long way to go that that girl could kind of be me.

I realize now why that girl was there....

THIS is why I'm still there.....

Me in 2004 (not quite at my heaviest at that point)

When I joined Slimming World my original weight was 15 stone 1.5lb and I was a dress size 22.

Two years later at the end of 2007 I reached my target of 11 stone.

In 2009 I had my first baby

In 2011 after a year of trying to do it alone I joined a new Slimming World group and reached a new target of 11.5 stone.

 I stayed there for almost a year, then....

I ate for England (and Cyprus) whilst pregnant and ended up almost back at my original 15 stone. Between September and Christmas I lost about a stone but it was really hard work, despite the fact it was baby weight some of which would have come off anyway.

September 2012

In January this year I joined a new group and now I'm 2lb away from my target of 12 stone  (note an extra half a stone for each baby!)  For my height that is a good weight, most importantly a healthy weight and not 'skinny'   - I hate that word, Skinny is not something that I do well!   Slim I'll accept but not skinny!


I've yet to stay at a target weight for more than a year due to pregnancies but as I'll be having no more of those I am more hopeful this time.

I will however still be going to my group and no doubt have people wondering why I am there.

I am there because I love it, it might sound over the top but it changed my life and without the group I could never have done it. Since blogging about it I have had messages from people who have joined after reading my story and that to me is amazing!

I want to say it was not easy, I have literally worked my arse off and I too wondered why people who looked 'ok' were there, and to be honest sometimes I still do as I forget I am now a 'normal size'.

In 7 years I have lost lots of weight but I have spent many many weeks with gains / maintains, some explained due to not following the plan, some for no apparent reason and eventually I got there - twice.

I have spent years on and off food optimizing, sometimes more strictly than others. Usually my losses were 1 or 2lb and I've always been happy with that. Occasionally I lost 4 or 5 lb but those weeks always followed a gain and involved me sticking to the plan 110%.    The weight never 'just fell off'

Slimming World works  - it really REALLY does but you have to do it, properly READ the books, FOLLOW the plan, DON'T guess your sins.

In no way am I an angel, it wouldn't have taken me this long (or three attempts) if I was, but sometimes I just get my head in gear and get on with it.

As I write this I am 2lb away from my target, and I'm trying my hardest to get there this week.



So if you join a Slimming World group and you wonder why someone is there when they don't need to lose weight, or they seem to be losing more than you, don't hate them - they may be you in a couple of years time.......

Of course if it turns out they have always been a size 8 and they now have just a few pounds  to lose then then that's fine... go ahead   ;)