BodyOptimise website - a bit rubbish?

[scraggyanna]

Just wondering if anyone else is an online member and finds the website a bit rubbish?

I have been an online member for a while, throughout my fall off the wagon, and had just paid up for another 3 months when I found this website - can't imagine I'll be renewing when that runs out!

I find it really user 'unfriendly'! I've found things on there and never been ever to find them again, no matter how hard I search.

Also, the trial menus and recipes don't seem to get updated very often, and new products are not added to Syns online very often at all.

Sorry for the rant!!

 

[cocktailprincess]

Oh dear- I quite like it but think I am in the minority (been an on-line member for 22 months)!

I use it a lot- recipes, features, syns online, food diary, dowloadable food lists, SAS logs, etc. I guess if you never use these things then it would seem poor value. I know you can get various parts of these elsewhere but I like it all being in the same place, instantly accesible and the proper SW view (sometimes on here and other sites, it is an individual persons opinion or interpretation which may not be the correct answer to a question)

I also see it as an extra incentive to stick to it as I paid up front - I know a lot of people see classes as a waste of money as all they do is go in and get weighed, and other people find them a lifesaver as they get the most they can from them.

No point in paying for it if you don't use it. Have you tried classes?

 

[deadredhead]

i use the online diary but thats the best thing about it!

 

[Brightonrosie]

Scarggyanna i am with you on this one. I get very frustrated with its inadequacies. For example on their 7 day sample plan for EE some days the eggs are listed as free foods and on one occasion superfree. The syns directory has many many everyday things difficult to find. I tried for 20 minutes the other day trying to find Balsamic vinegar (still didn't find it) Doesn't have all the quantities some foods come in as a pack eg M&S Sushi only has two orthree of the variations etc etc. As this is a paid for site i do think it should be more accurate

 

[scraggyanna]

Hey Cocktailprincess - I know what you mean about it all being first hand info - from what I've seen on here, the groups all give out different info which makes everything more confusing!

I wouldn't be able to get to a group, as I travel all over the South East for work, and am rarely home by 7pm, so that makes it difficult. I guess using the website with this as a support and motivation top up is an option I'm going to have a go at for a while and see how it goes.

 

[Brightonrosie]

Hey Cocktailprincess - I know what you mean about it all being first hand info - from what I've seen on here, the groups all give out different info which makes everything more confusing!

I wouldn't be able to get to a group, as I travel all over the South East for work, and am rarely home by 7pm, so that makes it difficult. I guess using the website with this as a support and motivation top up is an option I'm going to have a go at for a while and see how it goes.

You can go to any group anywhere in the country if that helps xx

 

[scraggyanna]

Brightonrosie, thanks for replying, I know what you mean. The Syns online also don't show if things could be counted as a HE, for example, I had no idea about Alpen lights, and if I had checked them on the Syns online there would've been no info about them being HEBs.

Lots of the menus now are only EE, and I don't trust myself on that, so plump for red and green days, and the ideas for that are now limited. Saying that, I bought the magazine this month and found the same - red and green seems to be drifting off the radar a bit.

 

[ilovelife]

i seem to have difficulties finding syns - I might not continue with my membership, seeming as there is a lot of help on this forum

 

[mod-karen79]

i think the site is pretty dire considering we're paying to use it! there should be a mammoth back catalogue of recipes to look at amongst other things. the layout is bizarre - you find something then go to look at it again and it take forever to guess where you discovered it in the first place.

when i did WW online about 4 years ago it had a forum on the site, which is something that would be nice..... good job we've got this site really!

 

[OzzieMoz]

I'm in Australia now so have to use the BodyOptimise site as they don't do classes here. I really pay the money for the discipline of weighing in each week, sounds daft really when I think about it, but I have found that going it alone, I tend to kid myself a bit, whereas having paid for it I stick to the plan as I don't want to waste money.

I do agree though that the site itself leaves a lot to be desired and could do with some radical improvements. I find it quite irritating when I feel I have had a good week even though I have sts and I do the to indicate that I am happy with how things have gone, yet I still get one of their "inspirational" messages to tell me not to be downhearted - which I'm not! I smiled at you ffs!! Now I know this is because it's not very interactive but why ask for your interpretation through a or a if they are going to ignore it! I also agree that it's annoying sometimes trying to locate things you've read previously as there sometimes seems no rhyme nor reason to where they are saved.

It's not cheap being an online member and I feel it's not really good value for money and could be so much better! They've also not really invested in the website, as I was an online member a few years ago and it really hasn't changed much between then and now.

Having said that I'm staying signed up as it does keep me in line!

 

[Sorus]

I couldn't agree more. I think the Body Optimise site is appalling. When I first signed up and logged on I was staggered at how badly designed it was and how totally unintuitive it is. As someone else has said - there is no logic as to where to find things.

I did email them my opinion and suggestions as to how it could be even vaguely improved (I did it nicely!) but all I got back was a fairly patronising standardised reply.

They still spell syns as sins ffs. Not a hanging offence but combined with all the other stuff it's just sloppy. I too couldn't find balsamic vinegar. What is the point of having an online syns facility if it doesn't even show fairly basic food items?

When my 3 month stint comes to an end I'm not sure if I'll be renewing. I'm with Ozzie - literally the only reason I might stay with it is because it does give you the discipline of weighing once a week. Is that facility worth £20 a month to me? I'm not sure to be honest.

But it would be great if they had loads of archived stuff - as someone else suggested - and was just way better designed!

I've found out far more, and learned far more, from this site than the Body Optimise site. Considering the latter is Slimming World's flagship website that's a disgrace.

Maybe if more disgruntled people emailed they might actually listen!