Meeting the NICE obesity guidelines

Slimming World welcomes the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) obesity guidance for partnershipspublished in December 2006 and the opportunity that they offer Primary Care Trusts and Health Boards to work with commercial slimming organisations.

The guidance recognise the importance of providing regular and ongoing support for behavioural change – not only for losing weight but for maintaining weight. Slimming World pioneered referral from primary care to commercial weight management services and is able to demonstrate how it meets each of the guidance criteria.

"Most adults understand that lifestyle change is needed to reduce weight and improve health,” says Dr Jacquie Lavin, Head of Nutrition and Research “but people need support with practical help to build the necessary changes into their own and their families’ lives. Slimming World already has an NHS referral system that is effective. Crucially we offer a weight management solution with extensive long-term benefits, that costs significantly less than pharmacotherapy or surgery and with none of the negative side effects."

Helping people decide on a realistic healthy target weight

All members set their own target weight at Slimming World. There is never any pressure to reach a set ‘ideal’ weight. Slimming World actively discourages people from setting targets that are too low and publishes a lowest acceptable personal target weight table. Slimming World recognises members’ significant health milestone of losing 10% of weight with a Club 10 award.

Aiming for a maximum weekly weight loss of 0.5-1kg

Members are encouraged to achieve a realistic weight loss. Over a period of time this averages out to a steady 1-2lb (0.5-1kg) each week. Members achieve success through regular weekly group support and a healthy eating plan based on the highest standards, and in line with government nutrition guidelines.

Focusing on long term lifestyle change

The emphasis is not on dieting, but on healthy eating and regular physical activity through lifestyle change. Group members support each other by discussing how they cope with lapses and high risk situations at weekly meetings and are able to contact their Consultant at any time.

Addressing both diet and activity and offering a variety of approaches

Slimming World groups provide a combined approach integrating healthy eating, encouragement of physical activity and behaviour change through our unique support system. We offer a variety of eating plans to fit members’ lifestyles and preferences and support members in finding their own personal ways of becoming more active.

Using a balanced healthy eating approach

Slimming World’s Food Optimising eating plan encourages members to eat plenty of highly satiating foods while controlling intake of energy dense foods. The plan encourages people to freely eat plenty of fresh food like pasta, potatoes, lean meat and fish, eggs, fat free yogurt and plenty of fruit and vegetables. Members are also encouraged to eat limited amounts of dairy, high fibre breads and cereals, dried fruit and nuts and to cut down on high fat, sugary foods and alcohol.

Offering practical, safe advice about being more active

One of the most difficult things for someone who has been struggling with overweight or obesity is taking those first steps to becoming active. Our Body Magic programme (developed in collaboration with Ken Fox, Professor of Exercise and Health Sciences at Bristol University) encourages members to increase activity levels in small, steady steps no matter what their starting point. Members are encouraged to start doing a bit more than usual even if it’s only 5-10 minutes a day, and ultimately build up to the government guideline of 30 minutes a day on at least 5 days a week. The aim is for activity to become an intrinsic part of their day: climbing stairs instead of using the lift, walking instead of going by car, washing their car instead of going to a car wash.

Including some behaviour change techniques such as keeping a diary and advice on how to cope with ‘lapses’ and ‘high-risk’ situations

The very heart of our approach, Slimming World weekly group sessions are led by highly-trained Consultants and address psychological issues and barriers surrounding successful weight control. The focus is on group support and members discuss how to overcome their personal weight loss challenges. A number of motivational tools such as diaries to monitor relationships between food, emotions and situations are available for Consultants to use with members where barriers to behaviour change are greater. No one is ever humiliated at Slimming World. Reward and praise for behaviour change in a genuinely warm and caring and non-judgemental environment is fundamental to our approach.

Recommending and/or providing ongoing support

Slimming World has a number of other support techniques including a catalogue of recipe books, a regular magazine which is the market leader in its sector, a public website with inspirational case studies and recipe and food ideas (www.slimmingworld.com) as well as a dedicated members’ website which is accessed via a weekly password. Members who reach their target weight are able to attend group for free as long as they stay within 3lbs of target. Slimming World recognises that to be truly effective as a means of combating obesity, lifestyle change is crucial.

Food Optimising + Body Magic + Group Support = Total lifestyle change