My SWC isn't what you'd call 'slim' - do you think this matters?

[Chicky Noops]

I'm not sure how to word this without it being offensive and I want to say that I really, really like my consultant and she has made me feel very welcome to group and has made be WANT to stay to class unlike my previous SWC.

She is on the big side though and I wonder if that's a good role model to be setting? She must feel a bit embarrassed as one of the first things she said was that she lost 5 stone 7 years ago but had put it all back on due to personal circumstances.

I wonder if SW have any limitations on consultants putting weight back on or would that be classed as discrimination?

I'm not even sure what I'm trying to ask, I'm just musing really but I can imagine some complete newbie coming along to SW, seeing a consultant who has lost weight and put it all back on again and leaving with the impression that the weight loss is not sustainable long term?

Any thoughts?

 

[Littleslimmingbee]

I totally get what your saying.

When you apply to be a consultant one of the requirments is that you have to have lost a certain amount on teh sw plan.

- however, 6 years down the line, if its all back on.. they dont say anything.

Personally i think there should be a standard. .

when i went to YSOTY comp, there were two in perticular, who were massive (no disrespect, but i was thouroughly apauled that they should be aloud to continue holding classes..) the bloke, in pertiuclar was really big.. and i felt for the girl, as she looked fab.. but when you win, they not only market you, but your consultant also, and i expect this proberly limited her chances as i dont see how they could have a marketing him the face of a slimminworld campaign.

Now im not syaing i want all C's to be slim and glam.. my consultant is not at her smallest, but shes not really big.. and maybe some people may think that she cannot be a role model when she could be slimmer, BUT my C makes no secret that she attends another class, held by another consultant as she needs that support also, and she is ALWAYS on plan. whether that to maintain (as she goes away every other w.e) or to loose a few.. but i'd much prefer a C who is activly using the plan, than one who is slim.. and has kept the weight off for years, because although they are a godo role model, i think activly using the plan and following her own weight loss journey gives my C the edge.


Personally i think there should be a standard, they have to be a healthy role model, whether slightly over weight or not, and should either be activly following the plan to set a good example or be keeping off the wieght,

Bit of a ramble.. not even entirly sure that makes sence haha x

 

[Chicky Noops]

Yes it does make sense and glad you think I'm not being an utter *****! But yes I agree with some kind of standard in that if their weight moves into the over weight category they should have to go and attend meetings at another group?

Target members have to pay if they move out of their target zone so it's a similar way of reasoning but as I mentioned on my first post, SW have to be careful as an employer not to discriminate. It's dodgy ground really!

 

[Littleslimmingbee]

true, but then dont air hostess's have to remain a certain size and be a certain height? ..

 

[Chicky Noops]

I did think of that example but that's more to do with health and safety than image (well that's how they justify it anyway!)

 

[Sticky]

I can totally understand where you're coming from (and Fern), especially when it comes to showing maintainability of the losses.

However, I don't personally think size matters when it comes to being a good SWC. What I mean is, if you're able to stand in front of a group of people who are potentially slimmer than yourself, and continuing to slim, and maintain a positive group atmosphere despite your own size, all the credit to them. The two heavier SWCs at the YSOTY awards might not, to an outsider, be a positive role model to anyone losing weight, but you can't take away from the fact that they were able to make a huge difference to somebody's life - especially someone so young. They've helped those people achieve their goals and not only that, do it well enough to warrant being up for an award.

What I am saying is...though I agree that a standard might be a potential positive change...a good SWC is a diamond no matter what their shape or size may be.

Yes I agree that it might put some people off if they think 'hang on, this person is overweight again after slimming down on this plan...will that happen to me?', but at the same time, an overweight person walking into a group and seeing a slimmer consultant may also feel intimidated. You don't need to be uberly skinny or beautiful/handsome to make others feel uncomfortable either - especially someone with low self esteem like we all probably had/have when joining SW.

I think it would also be wrong for a slimming group to discriminate against anyone very big - there is enough of that already in this world. I got called fat when I was my heaviest and that was 12stone 3lbs and a size 12/14. I felt like sh*t after that and though my BMI was over 25, I wasn't massively overweight for my height. I cannot imagine how horrible it is to be bullied for being really large - and people are really cruel. If that makes sense? Look at all the glossy mags...they promote being stick thin as beauty and anyone normal or slightly overweight is shunned let alone anyone else. It's nice that SW don't discriminate and though it may be a better advertisement to them if all SWCs were thin, the requirements to have lost a certain weight might be soely to know that they can do the plan and know it well enough to promote etc?

SW monitor the SWCs anyway and I am sure if they felt that the SWC were no longer suitable as they were not encouraging a healthier lifestyle etc they would intervene.

Hope this makes sense...basically, I agree with your points but personally, it wouldn't bother me xxx

P.S Remember the joke about the two dentists...one with bad teeth and one without? You'd go to the Dentist with bad teeth right as he does the teeth of the good one? ;-)

 

[xxkatyxx]

Ive had one consultant who was a lot overweight (i know thats a rude thing to say) but she didnt give any enocuragement to everyone, only those entered for SOY etc. I changed group as i wasnt feeling motivated and then saw her in sainsburys with her trolley piled high with pizzas and other rubbish - no fruit in sight! definatly glad i switched groups, after seeing her trolley i wouldnt be able to listen to her advice in group!

 

[Chicky Noops]

Interesting points Sticky and no, it doesn't bother me, it just makes her more 'normal'. But I've done SW before and know we all have our ups and downs.

My previous SWC didn't really know what it was like to be big. Yes she lost a lot of weight but it was all baby weight. Her 'before' pic in class was the one when she had just given birth! She was just a naturally slim person who had used SW as a way of healthy eating to regain her pre-baby figure.

In terms of my current consultant, she knows her stuff without a doubt and I really think she's great. But I get more motivation from the group rather than her directly. It's still early days for me so I guess it will be interesting to see her journey and if she will get back on plan (she said at the moment she isn't but she is trying to)

 

[Littleslimmingbee]

Good perspective there sticky and i totally agree with what your saying, - However, for young people, especially and maybe even others i think with all the different outlooks on dieting and the potential health hazards that can arise from being exposed to the wrong information etc (like the online anorexia sites, or the media glamming up a celebs new skinny look... ) i think as a consultant, if i were to be very overwieght, i would be concerned that i wouldnt be giving the best impression of sw. The best advise on how to maintain healthy and live a healthier eating lifestyle and the benifits of being a healthy weight, when being overwieght myself.. unless i was activly doing somthing about it, as my consultant is, (although granted shes not really over wieght)

I think i'd just be concerned about sending mixed messages to young members, who may already have emotional issues with food..

- even more so for very young members, under 16's.. my little sister is 11 and has a friend who goes to a sw class with her mother..

Maybe i'm just looking into it too much..

i do completly respect those who can stand up in front of a class, put themselves out there and each week deliver a class to the highest of standards, when they could be dealing with thier own issues. Everyone has thier own demons, and afterall, its our consultants that really push us to make that change, because it's thier support we seek each week, and without that support i suspect it would be very different. x

 

[IreneH]

We talked about this at class this week. Our leader has put on some weight as she has health problems but it makes no difference to me. She is the best leader I have had in any diet and I've been to many classes over the past 30 years with many different diets.

She is trying to lose weight again but with her medication it is hard. But she is wonderful and so supportive I would not want someone else.

So no I don't think it matters

Irene xx

 

[Sticky]

Good perspective there sticky and i totally agree with what your saying, - However, for young people, especially and maybe even others i think with all the different outlooks on dieting and the potential health hazards that can arise from being exposed to the wrong information etc (like the online anorexia sites, or the media glamming up a celebs new skinny look... ) i think as a consultant, if i were to be very overwieght, i would be concerned that i wouldnt be giving the best impression of sw. The best advise on how to maintain healthy and live a healthier eating lifestyle and the benifits of being a healthy weight, when being overwieght myself.. unless i was activly doing somthing about it, as my consultant is, (although granted shes not really over wieght)

I think i'd just be concerned about sending mixed messages to young members, who may already have emotional issues with food..

- even more so for very young members, under 16's.. my little sister is 11 and has a friend who goes to a sw class with her mother..

Maybe i'm just looking into it too much..

i do completly respect those who can stand up in front of a class, put themselves out there and each week deliver a class to the highest of standards, when they could be dealing with thier own issues. Everyone has thier own demons, and afterall, its our consultants that really push us to make that change, because it's thier support we seek each week, and without that support i suspect it would be very different. x

Good points about the influence on young people - and yes, it does work both ways. Being overweight is as dangerous as being underweight, though being skinny is almost sold as a good thing in some industries whereas being overweight is not - if that makes sense?

Though I agree that setting the right example for SW members, young and old, is essential, I also think that any youngsters at group will still be more positvely influenced by a SWC standing there and explaining about diets, albeit overweight, than that youngster turning to a glossy magazine full of twigs with the words 'beauty' and 'trend' blazing across the pages. Sorry - my friend died from an anorexia and it still p*sses me off greatly that magazines say celebs who dare be over a size 10 are 'curvy' and then two weeks later have the same celeb in showing how they got their amazing size 8 body in a fortnight on a fab new diet (i.e. starvation). Grrrrs!

Plus, it's nice to know heavier folk can be seen as a positive 'thinspiration' (hate this word but it keeps with the next comment) and not just idiotic models who say 'nothing tastes as good as thin feels' (grrr at Kate Moss and her stupidity in this day and age) xxx

 

[kissme]

I went to another type of slimming class and my consultant was stick thin..... she actually looked horrible, but to her merit she had lost 20 stone and she was only 5"2 but even tho she was sol slim she wasn't particularly inspirational.

I'd rather have a chubbier motivating one than a skinny unispirational one...... but the fact she put it all back on would worry me slightly, but then again we dont know what happened in her life to cause the gain

 

[Chicky Noops]

Quite Kissme, she said personal circs so could be anything and who am I judge?

And I agree about having larger, positive role models... we need more of them.

I'd be interested to hear SW's view on their consultants gaining all the weight they've put back on. From a PR point of view it can't be good.

Sticky - that is sad about your friend :-(

 

[Fallen Angel]

We had a male SWC in our county who was no longer allowed to run classes due to the fact that he'd regained a significant amount of weight (and I'm not talking a couple of stone!). I think he was one of these that laughed about the fact and what he'd eaten all week etc rather than that he'd gained the weight.

But I'd rather a SWC who knew what it was like to be big AND is with us through every loss, than one who says 'could do better' when you lose 2lb!

The first time I lost on SW I put it all back (3.5 plus 2 stone) but it was my own fault as i went back to really bad habits. SW does work but it is a lifelong change, not just a diet.

 

[Littleslimmingbee]

Totally agree!! i wouldnt want my c to be stick thin..

healthy, curvey and happy is what i want in a c. There should be more woman promoting inner happiness and self confidence than the desire to be skinny.

- sticky, i am so very sorry to hear about your friend. Massive hugs to you. x

It would be very interesting to hear sw side... its all dodgy ground though as said before..

I supose at the end of the day, aslong as they are still able to deliver a class and make a difference.. that is all that matters. x

 

[JestersTear]

I used to have a SW C who was bigish and she'd tell us that she was on the plan and that she was 'losing with us'...except she was no inspiration at all, and, when I said I was planning to leave, gave me a 20 emotional blackmail lecture on how I'd never be happy if I was overweight...silly mare, all she did was make me want to get out of there more quickly!

 

[Sticky]

Thanks for the comments about my friend people

She was someone I met in the first year at uni and we lived together for the year. She was one of the sweetest, most adorable girls ever. She was already tall and willowy, but, as we all did, she put on a few lbs due to take outs and booze in the first term (I mean, we were all scrawny teenagers and looked better for it). Just before our first term ended, he bf visited and commented she looked fat - hardly!

But she came back after the holidays really thin...and it just got worse and worse over the three years at uni. We hung out even though we lived in different houses and we all tried to help her but she was convinced she was ok.

She graduated and moved back home, but ended up in an eating clinic and died when she got menengitis - but to me it was her ED that took her life.

Don't mean to hijack the thread - just all of us remember that no matter what our goal weight is, to stay healthy in all ways and not to get obsessive about being slimmer and slimmer until you get poorly. Sorry if I seemed defensive in earlier post - I just know how dangerous it is to call someone fat/make them feel it if that makes sense? But then again not losing weight is dangerous - it's grey area eh?

Stay safe - stay happy xxx

 

[Littleslimmingbee]

Stay safe - stay happy xxx

Deffinatly agree. xxxxxxxxxx

 

[julie19]

I think that as long as the SWC is also following the plan & losing weight - I believe they have to go to another class though - then as long as they are motivating they are ok BUT that said if I went to SW for the first time & saw that the C was a big person I may be slightly put off about how good the plan actually is, I do agree with others though about also having 'stick thin' people running the classes, I know I felt self concious enough the first time I walked into my group but luckily for me my C made me feel so comfortable & she talked about her weight loss, had photo's etc & made you feel like it did work, I can only assume that SW do monitor the SWC's weights & there must be rules & regs that they have to follow.

 

[Laddiesboy]

My first impression of my SWC was of her size, and I thought it very odd that she should hold that position.

When she gave me my first introduction to SW she mentioned that she had lost ten stone!! Holy Crap, very motivational, especially as I had that amount to lose.

But then I got to thinking ... if I were a 'bigger' size and I was a SWC wouldn't I tell people I had lost ten stone too? looool

Ultimately, I care not if she is thin, fat, tall, short, black, white, I don't care anything except one thing : Can she (or he) motivate ME and help and support ME to my goals?

I don't pay my £4.50 every week to look at other people or pass judgement on anyone for any reason. The money is PURELY selfish, it is to help me nearer my goals.

And it is the best money I have ever spent, as my SWC is superb at what she does

Thanks Sally ♥