Slimming World v Purely Calorie Counting

I know everyone will find the best way to lose weight and keep it off for them and what is best for one is not necessarily best for another. So all I’d say to anyone reading this, whatever works for you, do that. I’ve tried calorie counting and now on slimming world. For me I find slimming world far more of a lifestyle change than a diet, whereas calorie counting I found more of a diet than a lifestyle change, but never the less both got the desired results.

Calorie Counting

I joined MFP way back in December 2011 and lost 52lbs calorie counting within 5 months. To keep that off I had to do vigorous exercise 4 times per week and log my food even after I’d hit my goal weight. In 2016 I became ill which culminated in barely being able to walk to the bathroom and my food intake was managed by other people. I put back on 43lbs during that time despite still eating conventionally healthily which proved how much my calorie counting success was linked to copious amounts of exercise. I do believe calorie counting works and I have been fairly successful with it, but I do find you have to be slightly obsessed and I found that I didn’t really eat very much. Furthermore, I was the only one calorie counting in my home because my husband found calorie counting a total faff made worse by the fact that he uses a wheelchair so couldn’t offset his calorie intake with exercise. Once I put all the weight back on I mentally gave up because I couldn’t face the mountainous effort it was going to take to get that off again using calorie counting.

Slimming World

I’m not the social sort and I’d always avoided weight loss clubs because I really didn’t want to go to a group. Then a colleague told me about the slimming world online app with no group attendance. ‘Yay’. My husband said he’d do slimming world with me and so we’ve got organised! Slimming world definitely relies on you being organised and planning your meals ahead, but they help you do that. Counting syns is so much easier than counting calories, you only have to count to 15 or 25 depending on whether you’re male or female and they have 9000 recipes to choose from, including alternatives to take aways. Over time, you have a good idea of how many syns different foods have and there are some foods you can just eat and eat and eat with no stopping. My food intake went up by double and my waistline started to shrink. If you’re not organised you can always put a couple of slimming world frozen meals in the freezer for when life throws in something unexpected. I’ve been doing slimming world since May 2023 and have lost 39lbs while running for 30min once or twice a week, and more remarkable, my husband has lost 28lbs since June 2023 without being able to exercise at all. Neither of us are ever hungry.

So for me, slimming world wins hands down it feels effortless compared to calorie counting and I feel like we have a better understanding of nutrition and what we can and cannot eat. When a little unsure we can always assess the calories if necessary, but on the whole fat free and sugar free usually reduces the syns. The hardest job we have is educating our family that we have changed our food lifestyle for the long term rather than a temporary diet but I guess that’s no different to what vegetarians and vegans go through when they embark on a new dietary lifestyle.