Since 1969, Slimming World has helped millions of slimmers in the UK successfully lose weight and maintain that weight loss, via a healthy eating plan, weekly group sessions and support between groups. Our weight loss program is now available in the USA.

Slimming World’s approach is based on the philosophy and deep understanding that dieting alone is not the solution to long-term weight management.  It is an integrated approach combining psychological and dietetic expertise to provide an effective, nutritionally balanced and practical solution, empowering Slimming World members to make healthy lifestyle changes around diet and physical activity.

Slimming World uses an integrated approach to weight management, combining 4 key principles to help slimmers adopt a healthier lifestyle:

• changing dietary habits to adopt new healthy eating patterns
• activity management to help members gradually increase activity levels
• behaviour change regarding eating and activity habits and attitudes to food
• support and encouragement in a warm, friendly and empowering group environment

Nutritionally sound

Food Optimising, Slimming World’s eating plan, is a weight control system based on healthy eating guidelines enabling weight to be lost at a comfortable and healthy rate.  With a focus on normal, everyday, basic foods, Food Optimising promotes a reduction in fat intake, particularly that of saturated fat, and avoidance of too much alcohol and refined sugars.  Essentially Food Optimising takes account of a food’s energy density, its health-giving properties, ability to satisfy the appetite quickly, ability to maintain a feeling of fullness and people’s behavioural patterns.

Eating for optimum health

We encourage members to eat plenty of low energy density, highly satiating foods, including vegetables, fruit, lean meat and fish, pasta, beans and grains. We also encourage the consumption of a variety of foods to obtain a nutritionally balanced diet.

No foods are ‘banned’. Instead Slimming World encourages members to learn healthy eating practices, through advice on eating plenty of lower energy foods to keep the appetite satisfied, while enjoying the more energy-dense ‘treat’ foods in controlled amounts. 

Motivating targets

Members are encouraged to initially focus on losing and maintaining a 10% loss of body weight, highlighting the potential health benefits of smaller weight losses rather than focussing on large losses.  

Encouraging more activity

Our physical activity program has been developed in collaboration with Professor Ken Fox of the University of Bristol, UK. It is in line with current federal initiatives and objectives to help raise awareness of the benefits and encourage people to gradually increase physical activity levels. Members do not participate in activity during the Slimming World group. They are encouraged to build up their physical activity level between groups, step-by-step, towards the recommended guidelines, in a way that suits their lifestyle, to they can sustain the activity in the long term.

Supporting behaviour change

Slimming World’s revolutionary support system includes a series of advanced psychological and behavioural modification tools which address such issues as:

• Self-monitoring of food intake, feelings and emotions to raise awareness of the relationships between them

• Setting behavioural goals and effective planning to develop long-term lifestyle changes

• Finding ways of coping with negative feelings and emotions

• Recognising and overcoming obstacles to healthy food choice and weight loss goals

• Developing personal strategies to remain in control of eating without feelings of guilt or deprivation (learned self-control and stimulus-control strategies)

• Raising awareness of self-sabotage (self-defeating) patterns of behaviour and developing strategies to change them

• Developing a better outlook on life and higher self-esteem

• Encouragement, facilitation and motivation to increase physical activity levels

Responsible membership

Members will only be accepted with a BMI of 20kg/m2 and above. Members are encouraged to set their own personal target weights, however we will not accept a target that will take the member below the healthy BMI range.

Members who are pregnant, have recently given birth, are breastfeeding, or who have diabetes or any eating disorder (such as anorexia or bulimia) are asked to gain their physician’s approval before joining Slimming World. Members who are taking prescribed medicines, or who have been advised to eat a special diet to treat a medical condition, are asked to seek approval from their physician before participating in the Slimming World program and reminded to follow the recommendations and advice of their physician.

Slimming World will help members incorporate any specific dietary requirements or recommendations into their healthy eating plan.

Click here to visit the UK health professionals website...