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Personal trainer accuses Slimming World of 'demotivating' and 'misleading' customers

The post was met with backlash from fans of Slimming World

Chelsea Ritschel
Friday 04 January 2019 18:22 GMT
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'Couple of the year 2018' who lost 24 stone with Slimming World tell their story

A personal trainer has criticised Slimming World for its New Year’s advertising and accused the diet company of “misleading” customers.

In a Facebook post, Daniel Wheeler, who goes by the nickname The Big Friendly Nutrition Guy, condemned Slimming World after his clients received a pamphlet that said: “We’ve missed you! Let’s make this New Year the start of your special year” from the diet company.

According to Wheeler, 33, the “desperate” campaign is not about missing clients but rather missing the “gravy train of money you’ve been ripping people off with a diet that doesn’t work.”

“You said the EXACT same thing last year… and the 60 per cent of people you let down last year won’t be fooled again, I hope,” Wheeler wrote.

The trainer from Surrey also suggested that Slimming World is guilty of “stealing” from, “misleading” and “demotivating” its customers, in addition to “encouraging binging” and “weighing you like cattle every week.”

Wheeler concluded his post with: “This has to stop!”

However, not everyone has agreed with the personal trainer’s negative review of the diet company.

In response to the post, members of Slimming World have defended the diet and revealed their own successes.

“Slimming World doesn’t work?? Can you explain how I’ve lost over 12-and-a-half stone doing it then?” one person responded.

Another said: “11 stone off in one year with Slimming World, and kept it off for three years because I still attend Slimming World! It works. How can you say healthy eating doesn’t work? It doesn’t work when you stop going and stop eating healthy.”

And others have taken offence to Wheeler’s tone and aggression targeted at the diet company.

“You call yourself the big friendly nutrition guy, actually your posts are aggressive and intimidating. Slimming World works so well for so many, people have found hope and changed their lives. Concentrate on looking after your own instead of slating others,” someone wrote.

In response to the personal trainer’s claims, a spokesperson for Slimming World told The Independent: "We understand that Daniel Wheeler has a business to promote, however, it is disappointing that he has decided to do that by attacking his competitors. In doing so, we believe he’s hugely discounting the thousands of people who choose to lose weight by joining a slimming club. Our members choose Slimming World because they know it works – after 50 years of helping people to lose weight, Slimming World is a trusted brand, well-known for the effectiveness of our methods. Our many successful members, and their passion for sharing how they feel about Slimming World, are testament to that.

“While it would be impossible to feature every member's story on our website, Slimming World has an extensive evidence base. This includes the largest published evaluation of a national lifestyle weight-management service comprising more than 1.3 million Slimming World members, which was published in the BMC Public Health journal in 2015 and showed that our members lose clinically significant amounts of weight at three months. Our powerfully motivating support is recognised as effective by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the NHS.

"Tackling excess weight is well-recognised as a life-long challenge and members do come back to us when they’re struggling because they know that they won’t ever be judged and that they’ll receive the support they need to get back on track. Currently around 140,000 members who have reached their personal target attend their weekly Slimming World group free of charge, although the number of people we have helped to reach their target is far greater."

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This isn't the first time Wheeler has attacked Slimming World - two months ago, the personal trainer shared a Facebook video of himself discussing the weight-loss company, which he captioned with the suggestion that Slimming World "actively promotes emotional eating and binge-eating."

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