I kept promising myself that I would got to the group, but kept chickening out because I don't want to go on my own. So doing it on my own

I've signed up to SW online and got a bunch of books from some friends. I'm pretty confident I can do this solo. Is anyone else doing Slimming World from home?

Anyone got any tips, advice, success or horror stories?

Oh well, best of luck. I did it successfully a few years ago but I did attend the meetings. I think I needed the pressure to keep me on track. Maybe you will have sufficient will power on your own. Once you get into the routine, it's not too difficult though.

Hi Mitch I am doing SW at home too, I don't think there are any meetings in my part of Denmark. My husband is doing it too, so I am not totally alone.

Afraid no great tips as yet, as we have only just finished week 1, but we are enjoying it so far and amazed how we can, with a few alterations, still eat some of our favourite recipes (love to cook).

Best of luck, I am sure we'll get there!

Have you signed up online or have any book? I got given some books, but also signed up online just for 3 months to see what the website is all about. At the moment I'm pretty much staying with what I usually eat but adapted so fit with my syn quota (eg. slimming world chips instead of frozen).

Will eventually branch out and try some of the new recipes on here and the SW website. Used to love cooking but got lazy over the last few years, which is probably why I'm now having to go on a diet

I have signed up online like you for 3 months. The main changes we have are not using any oil, bread, butter and of course no more cakes - that's baking knocked on the head now Made up two big pans of different free soups from recipes on the SW website which only took about 40 minutes and they are really nice. I think my problem was the opposite - cooking/baking too much haha.

Do they really promote FAT FREE, no oil at all?

Sorry, I probably made it sound that way but it's not totally fat free no. You can still have oil (for instance 1 tbsp oilive oil once a day or 1tsp butter) as a healthy extra, I tend to use my healthy extra on a slice of low fat cheese right now. You also get optional syns so you could use those on oil/butter/fat. Which is where I guess I get my oils as I usually use some of mine on french dressing/balsamic dressing which has some olive oil in it.

Fat is essential for health, it is important for a number of hormonal factors as well as repair of the cell membranes of EVERY cell in our bodies. Super low fat is actually really detrimental to health in the medium to longer term. Just an observation. Do they tell you about protein, fat and carbs at SW, what they do, why they are needed etc?

Yes they do (I have only just started, been doing it just over a week so I am still getting to grips with it and reading everything on the website) but from what I can tell they are encouraging you to get the correct proportions of fat/carbs/protein etc on your plate.

You are supposed to have one third of your plate made up by what they call "Super free" foods, which are healthy fruit and vegetables. You are still able to eat potatoes, rice, pasta and meat/fish/eggs without measuring or counting, you just make up your plate in pretty much thirds. You have two healthy extra choices a day which could be high fibre carbs/nuts and seeds on one side and oils/butter/dairy on the other.

Hope that explains it a bit, I did try weight watchers but felt that with their ready meals and chocolate bars and how you need to weigh everything it wasn't encouraging healthy eating in some ways. I think given that you can make proper healthy meals on SW it's more liveable longterm.

Thanks very much for the advice though, always much appreciated, perhaps I should swap the cheese for the olive oil

Good luck to you, SW works for some people, there is no doubt.

My problem with it is education to some extent. We don't all have to be nutrition geeks, but it is definitely possible to gain weight, or at least, not lose any, eating free foods etc.

I know plenty of people in my own area who post on Facebook about their progress with SW, one week they are delighted because they have lost SIX pounds (no way have they lost 6 pounds of fat), and the next week a 3 pound increase, and all depressed (no way have they gained 3 pounds of fat).

I just feel that it is something of a slapdash approach, that, although it does not require counting per se, it is 'trying' to get you to reduce calories.

My issue is this

You may have heard the old saying 'what gets measured gets managed', and without data to reflect on, if you just stop losing weight on any diet plan, what do you do?

You have no way of evaluating what has halted, or reversed the weight loss.

This is why I am a big fan of

1. Counting protein, fat and carb intake for the first month or two of a diet with an app on online.

2. Transitioning from that type of counting to a simplified version, where you weigh protein, carbs, and estimate fat, whilst eating leafy greens, broccoli etc as free foods.

Then, once you have the weight off, or most of it, you are so knowledgeable about how to eat for YOU, that you can move towards a more 'eyeballing' approach to portion control, but knowing exactly how to fix things if you go off track.

Good luck with it, will be following with interest.