Not impressed Slimming World :(

WillowFae

Gold Member
I have to say that I am not too impressed so far. I contacted Slimming World two weeks ago with a query and heard nothing from them despite the website saying they respond within 7 days. So I called them today (finally, after managing to get a non 0844 number for them) and it looks as if I will not be signing up.

As you can see I have lost a lot of weight with WW and my final goal will take me to over 100lbs lost. Now call me silly, but I like to have that recognised as it is a major achievement. However it turns out that if I join slimming world then that will NOT be recognised as they will not take account of any weight I lost before joining even though I have official confirmation from WW of my loss :(

This is a shame. I am struggling with WW filling and healthy as I have to eat gluten free and from all accounts SW makes this much easier. I don't want to stay counting points forever so wanted to switch to something where I don't have to.

Got some thinking to do but it isn't a good way to encourage people to 'defect' so to speak. Quite disappointed :(
 
Sorry if I sound thick but what exactly were you wanting? Do you mean rather than starting from scratch you'll bring your weight loss with you so your first sw certificate wouldnt be the 1/2 stone award but the next 1/2 stone after your ww loss is taken in to account?
 
Yes. I already have the 50 and 75lb certificates from WW. Surely certificates celebrate weight loss not the sucess of a specific programme?
 
Why do you need SW to recognise your weight loss before you joined? Surely you are joining to lose more weight, so it makes sense that they would start from what you weigh now and not from what you weighed before. I don't mean to sound rude but you have the certificates and you know you have lost the weight, why do you need SW to recognise this?
 
I am still losing weight - I'm not joining to lose more weight, I'm still on my weightloss journey. I was at WW last week, I want to switch now to SW (as I said it is more suited to my gluten free diet). It is not as if I lost all the weight with WW and then stopped and put lots back on again. If I keep going with WW then I will carry on and get my 100lb certificate. If I switch I will have lost the same amount of weight but it wont be recognised. Like I said, it may sound silly, but it is important to me.
 
Sorry I did mean to continue to lose weight. I understand that is important to you and I definitely would encourage you to join SW as it is very easy and stress free with minimal counting. What I meant was, I wouldn't let it put you off. Even though SW won't recognise your weight loss before joining, you have lost it regardless of whether they recognise it or not.
 
There is just a big part of me that mourns the loss of a 100lb certificate. It's a stumbling block for me at the moment
 
Congratulations on your loss to date and good luck for your continued success.

You would get new certificates from SW to celebrate the weight you lose with their program. I appreciate that you want certificates to record your overall weightloss - could you not make your own? OK, so they wouldn't be official, but you have the combined certificates of the two programs, and your SW book would record the weight you were when you started SW so that you could prove the loss to anyone who wanted to see proof.

If you are finding the WW program unsuitable, but think the SW would be better for your dietary requirements, then I think it is more important to put that ahead of your wish for certificates and not let the certificate situation deter you from joining SW.
 
I don't need it to be recognised by a 'competitor' - it is just nice if it is recognised by SOMEONE. The credit for my weight loss certainly does not go to a specific weight loss programme but it me. So I'm not looking to say 'yay, lost 100lbs with SW' or 'yay, lost 100lbs with WW'. Just 'yay, I lost 100lbs!

It's not that I'm struggling with filling and healthy and need a 'fresh start': filling and healthy is just very hard on a gluten free diet. WW have admitted to me that they are not geared up for gluten free
 
Your weightloss should be congratulated, you've done so well! But if I were in your shoes I would just suck it up and move on - I'm vegan and if one plan didn't work for me, I wouldn't hesitate to swap just because my losses might not be as recognised. In fact I am in a similar boat, I lost almost 4 stone as an online member but struggling with the last bit so going to join my local group so my other losses won't be recognised as such (no certificates etc) but as long as I know what I've achieved that's all that matters, doesn't matter what other people think or know about. I do think you should swap plans if that will be easier for your dietary requirements
 
You've done brilliantly so far and well done to you for that!! I can see that you'd want to carry on your achievements, and it's obvious that's really important to you and so it should be. But I suppose it boils down to what's more important, certificates that you know you've achieved/would achieve regardless of what anyone else says/thinks/recognises, or switching to a 'diet' that will be better for your dietary requirements and therefore potentially better for you :) good luck with whatever you chose! Xx
 
Surely the most important thing is that YOU recognise what you've achieved.

I suspect the response would be the same if you tried to carry your accumulated loss across to Rosemary Conway or were doing it in reverse and leaving SW to go to WW. I started SW as an online member and accumulated a few certificates then continued by myself for a while. When I rejoined online, my weightloss record started afresh and I believe the same is true if you rejoin a group - I'm sure there will be a 're-joiner' who will correct me if I'm mistaken..

Whilst no-one can lose weight without but in a great deal of effort themselves, I think you are being a little unfair to say ' The credit for my weight loss certainly does not go to a specific weight loss programme but it me.' If you followed a plan and lost weight following it then I think the plan deserves some credit!
 
Who exactly do you want to recognise your 100lb weight loss apart from yourself? I don't think SW HQ have a clue who I am so they really don't care if I have lost 10 or 100 lb. My consultant is wonderful and supportive but she uses her tablet thingie to know exactly how much I have lost (she could probably give me a ball park figure without her digital tablet in front of her but not the exact number). Every week at group I hear that X has now lost 2st 7 lb but after the clapping and quick chat this number completely goes out of my head. I could say for some the regular members I have gotten to know whether they have lot a lot or little, but even still could not say two minutes after hearing it whether it is 1, 5 or 10 stone. In my group we don't get certificates for stone and half stone milestones, just stickers, but I am not upset by that - where would I put the certificates anyway? The people that matter to me - friends and family - do not need a piece of paper certificate to tell me I am looking good and doing well, so again the certificate becomes irrelevant. Without the piece of paper those who matter to me do acknowledge my supreme effort. Is the certificate really more important to you than the additional help and guidance you could possibly get about special dietary requirements?
Having said all that, can I also say CONGRATULATIONS on your wonderful weight loss so far. Well done you, and you are definitely an inspiration (and I can say that without having seen your other certificates ;))
 
Congratulations on your weight loss. I can definitely see it from your point of view. You've lost 100lb so you would want the certificate the same as if you've lost with SW. The certificates do seem to motivate a lot of people, I'm online so don't get them. Maybe you could do something yourself to mark the achievement. A framed photo of you or even your own certificate. Good Luck with SW if you decide to continue. x
 
Hi, I totally understand your desire to want to get that 100lb certificate. You've done so well to continue on a plan (ww) and not leave sooner or switch.
I started my journey on WW and left class then rejoined and then left and rejoined and then I made the switch to sw (best move I made btw)
I joined sw in November and only had 1 stone 5lbs left to lose. When I joined, I told my consultant about my previous weight loss so she knew that this wasn't the start of my journey. Today, I have got to target!! My sw consultant has always mentioned in class that I've lost previously and even though my latest and last journey has seen me lose 1 stone 5lbs- my total loss is 5 stone 7lbs!!! I've gone from 14'2 to 8'9! I never believed it was possible.
I suppose it depends on you as a person, I personally felt like ww wasn't a plan I could stick to forever because I was tired of counting points. I also felt that my body got used to ww and I could not shift any more on it. I didn't really mind that it hasn't seemed at sw that I've lost a lot of weight because I knew my start weight- I had the pictures, the clothes in every size etc to show for it!
Certificates and such don't really bother me - it's the lovely comments from people you haven't seen in a while, the photo where you think 'I actually look quite nice in that', the going into another stone bracket, the reaching a healthy bmi, being able to run rather than walk.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do- you've done amazingly well and I'm sure you'll continue to do so with the determination that you have. Well done.x
 
I was on WW previously and lost about 14lbs then I switched to SW and am carrying on. I know SW don't recognise my previous weight loss, but my family and myself know I've already lost a stone and that's all that matters!

If you've got your certificates from WW then when you get certificates from SW you can still add them up and see the total weight you've lost and show them to people. Or as others have said you can even make your own certificate.

At the end of the day I'm sure you're losing weight for health reasons and to look better in clothes, not for certificates.

I personally don't see why you can't join SW and keep your weight loss going. SW sounds better for your dietary needs and to not join just because you won't get a shiny certificate is self-sabotage.
 
If SW would suit your gluten free diet better than SW why not join it seems to me you are 'cutting off your nose to spite your face'! You could always make your own certificate & put that with the other certificates, what matters is you've lost the weight due to your hard work & determination.
 
A massive congratulations on your amazing weight loss :D

I totally understand you want the 100 lbs certificate but sadly you can't expect SW to take your loss under their records. You done amazingly with WW and although ultimately this was down to you, it was WW who gave you the tools, you can't expect SW to take your loss into consideration.

Your certificates is in many ways no different to my situation. I'm a gold member with WW at my weight of 11st but if I was to join SW I couldn't claim target (even though I lost 3 stone) This wouldn't be fair on the members, and at the end of the day i lost the weight with WW.

If you're looking for outside recognition, maybe if you joined a class spoke to the consultant; he/she could make a note but officially it can't be recognised.

Good luck in whatever you decide
 
Seriously, how can a piece of paper mean so much? I started SW 4 weeks ago and have lost about 10lb. Great going eh?... In 2009 I weighed 24 stone, my weightloss to date is over 100lbs, I don't have a piece of paper that states it, but I know it, my family knows it, my friends know it. That's what counts. Every time you step on those scales you will know, you don't need a piece of paper to tell you what an incredible thing you have done. xx
 
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