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Online Slimming Club
Our website has
been designed to help men and women lose weight by combining the
latest in web programming and design with the motivational help and
support they need.
Information about Various Slimming
Diets
Weight
Watchers NYSE: WTW,
founded in the 1960s
by Jean
Nidetch, is a company offering various diet products and
services to assist weight
loss and maintenance. It started as a discussion group
for how to best lose weight. It now operates in about 30 countries around the world, generally under the name
"Weight Watchers" translated into the local language.
Weight Watchers current spokesperson is Jenny
McCarthy. Perhaps its most prominent celebrity
endorser is Sarah, Duchess of York. Before her, Lynn
Redgrave appeared in a series of popular television
advertisements for the packaged low calorie food division of the H.J. Heinz Company, then the parent of Weight
Watchers.
In
some areas, including the Philadelphia metropolitan area in the
United States, Weight Watchers meetings are operated by a
locally-franchised organization rather than by Weight Watchers
International.
Weight
Watchers usually has a 'minimum weight' level, to protect those who
are not actually overweight. If those interested in Weight Watchers
are above this 'minimum weight' then they can set up their weight
loss goal with their local Weight Watchers leader. Height, age, and
beginning weight are recorded in order to establish their goal
weight.
Varying
on location, Weight Watchers generally offers two distinct programs:
-
The
Flex program
-
The
Core program
The
programs are supplemented by optional support groups which meet
regularly and provide assistance to those trying to meet weight-loss
goals
Slimming
World is a British
company which runs over 5,000 weight loss classes a week across the UK. Adults who are seven
or more pounds overweight may join a local Slimming World class and
pay a weekly fee to attend classes. In 2005 the cost on joining was £10
and the weekly charge £4.25. Slimming World calls its diet plan
"Food Optimising."
Classes are led by self-employed consultants. At each class members
are weighed and the loss or gain is shared with the group. At no
time is a member's actual weight mentioned. During classes members
also share tips, experiences, and ask for advice. Prizes are given
for the "slimmer of the week" and "slimmer of the
month."
Consultants
do not have quotas to meet for total weight loss among their
membership, but do with class attendance, and there are financial
incentives for achieving targets.
Exercise
Exercise
is not a formal part of the Slimming World plan. They do encourage
their members to be active, but the focus of the groups is placed on
diet.
When
people exercise while trying to lose weight they may make progress
which is not reflected by weighing themselves. Muscle is denser
than fat,
so members may find that their weight loss slows or stops altogether
when they exercise at the same time as following a diet plan, as fat
stores are used up and muscles are strengthened.
The Slimming World literature acknowledges this and tells members
not to be discouraged if they find that this is the case. Each
member has a Food Optimising book in which to record their progress
which also contains space to record changes in their body
measurements (bust and waist). This enables and encourages them to
see any change in their body shape even when there is a slow down in
the weight loss.
Health
and Pregnancy
The
Slimming World plan follows the UK
government's healthy
eating guidelines. Following a pilot program in 2001–2
with Derby Primary Care Trust,
Slimming on Referral was launched to encourage doctors to refer
patients to Slimming World classes. Under the program the first few
class fees are subsidized.
With
permission from her midwife
a pregnant
woman may continue to follow the Slimming World plan. New mothers
may attend classes starting six weeks after giving birth, even while
breast-feeding.
Company
history and products -The weekly classes are at the heart of the
Slimming World business.
The
company sells recipe books and
other books to accompany their diet plan. For people unable or
unwilling to attend classes, they offer postal membership and an online program
called Body Optimise. Body Optimise costs more than the classes, but
offers more support than postal membership and is more flexible than
attending classes.
In
January 1998, Slimming World Magazine was launched, sold exclusively
to members. It went on general sale to the public in January 1999
with a circulation in excess of 255,000 copies.
Prior
to 2004, Slimming World assigned its naughty-but-nice foods
"sin values." Some found the idea of foods being sinful as
negative and off-putting. Weight Watchers in the UK, Slimming
World's main competitor, even advertises under the slogan
"Where no food is a sin." Slimming World always said that
"sins" were intended to be seen as tongue in cheek, but
members and non-members alike were divided over whether they found
it the idea of "sinning" fun or discouraging.
As
of January 2004, sin values were renamed "syn values,"
short for synergy, according to Slimming World. In addition to
countering the criticism from Weight Watchers, the change to syn
values gave Slimming World the opportunity to revise and recalculate
the values. Publications that predate 2004, such as recipe books and
lists of sin values, are now out of date.
The
South Beach Diet is a diet plan started by Miami,
Florida-area cardiologist Arthur
Agatston which emphasizes the consumption of "good carbs" and "good fats". Dr. Agatston
developed this diet for his cardiac patients based upon his study of
scientific dieting research. The diet first appeared in a book of
the same name published by Rodale
Press.
Dr.
Agatston believes that excess consumption of so-called "bad carbohydrates", such as the
rapidly-absorbed carbohydrates found in foods with a high glycemic
index, creates an insulin resistance syndrome—an impairment of
the hormone insulin's
ability to properly process fat or sugar. In addition, he believes
along with many physicians that excess consumption of "bad
fats", such as saturated
fat and trans
fat, contributes to an increase in cardiovascular
disease. To prevent these two conditions, Agatston's diet minimizes
consumption of bad fats and bad carbs and encourages increased
consumption of good fats and good carbs.
The
diet has three phases. In all phases of the diet, Dr. Agatston
recommends minimizing consumption of bad fats.
The
Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins
Diet or just Atkins, is the most marketed and well-known
of the low-carbohydrate diets. It was adapted by
Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960s from a diet he
read in the Journal of the American Medical Association and
utilized to resolve his own overweight condition following medical
school and graduate medical training. After successfully treating
over ten thousand patients, he popularized the Atkins diet in a
series of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in
1972. In his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution,
Atkins updated some of his ideas, but remained faithful to the
original concepts.
The
Atkins franchise (i.e., the business formed to provide products
serving people "doing Atkins") has been highly successful
due to the popularity of the diet, and is considered the iconic and
driving entity of the larger "low-carb craze". However,
various factors have led to its dwindling success and the company, Atkins Nutritionals of Ronkonkoma, New York, founded by Dr. Atkins
in 1989, two years after the death of the founder filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy
in July of 2005 and re-emerged in January 2006. The Atkins logo is
still highly visible through licensed-proprietary
branding
for food products and related merchandise.
Text above courtesy of Wikpedia
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