As WeightWatchers files for bankruptcy in the US, Slimming World managing director, Lisa Salmon, says weight loss injections can’t replace diet clubs and community support
There’s no escaping the fact that so called skinny jabs are making an impact on weight loss, not just on bathroom scales but also on the diet industry as a whole. Data from one of the largest retailers of weight-loss injections, Simple Online Pharmacy, suggests half a million Brits are using the jabs – with an estimated 95% of patients buying their medication privately.
You might imagine that the bosses at Slimming World, which has been guiding slimmers for more than 55 years, and has 700,000 members in the UK, would be worried that their business is losing traction. Managing director Lisa Salmon assures us this isn’t the case. For her, all the fanfare about weight-loss medication is nothing new and she isn’t rattled in the slightest.
“We were told liposuction would be the end of us; that weight-loss surgery would be the end of us,” she says. “We were told drugs would be the end of us but, actually, with the millions of people we know who are struggling, there’s space for different offerings.”
Earlier this week WeightWatchers filed for bankruptcy in the US. While the company insists it will keep operating there is no doubt there is huge pressure on the diet and exercise industries. You’d expect the Slimming World boss to be anxious. But Lisa is calm. “I’m not particularly concerned. Slimming World and WeightWatchers were formed around the same time in the very late 1960s.
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“We’ve always been shoulder to shoulder and whilst, like any competitors, we’ve had our differences and we’ve always believed our service and philosophy to be superior, we would never want to take away from the fact it’s another offering in the community. We very firmly believe that losing weight needs support.”
Support is key
Lisa – who became a Slimming World member in her 20s after putting on weight while at university – is quick to point out that while GLP1 medications might result in weight loss, they don’t come with the community benefits of a slimming club. “We’ve always believed that support is absolutely key. Of course, we have evolved over the years. We’ve a greater awareness now of the mindset and support that people need to make sustained changes.
“So, we have a healthy eating plan and active-lifestyle programme, but we also know group support is absolutely essential for each of us to learn about ourselves as a slimmer because we are all so incredibly different.”
Lisa is keeping her eye on the weight-loss jabs but so far, has not been swayed. “In terms of noise around weight-loss injections, we haven’t seen any detriment to our membership numbers. We have been approached by many organisations that would like us to prescribe and have said we are watching all the developments closely.
“Fundamentally, it feels like it cuts across what we’ve stood for over 55 years when we know we can genuinely re-educate people.” Part of the design of Slimming World is to give slimmers the tools with which to live their lives, have a social life, eat healthily and enjoy themselves.
Its founder Margaret Miles-Bramwell OBE was passionate that members should feel valued and not humiliated. The messaging has never been about total deprivation and zero treats – something Lisa fears the weight-loss jabs result in. “The drugs are very, very expensive relative to being a member of something like Slimming World. And, also, nobody knows the side effects that seem to be different in different people.
“Anecdotally we have heard reports of people on the jabs where they’ve lost interest in food and that’s impacting their quality of life. We want people to live the life that they want.”
Care and guidance
Surprisingly, dieters who have opted for weight-loss medication have begun to join Slimming World. Lisa believes they are looking for knowledge about how to eat and live healthily in order to maintain weight loss and at Slimming World’s head office, work is being done by the Nutrition, Research and Health team to tailor the right nutritional support for such individuals. “We have some members who are taking the drugs that have come to us for our wraparound support,” she says. “They want guidance and to re-educate themselves.”
It’s clear that one of the things Lisa is most proud of is the atmosphere franchisees cultivate. She mentions how slimmers begin to regard their clubs as a second family – how the smallest of weight-loss milestones are celebrated and how for the very overweight or obese, the club meetings help them out of isolation. There have been Slimming World marriages and plenty of babies too.
Diet clubs may seem like an outdated prospect in a world where so much happens online, but Slimming World has developed its digital offering with work in the pipeline to improve the online membership service. Aware of how time poor so many of us are, which can often lead to unhealthier food choices and a reliance on convenience foods, a Slimming Kitchen recipe box has been devised and was rolled out last year.
‘Drugs are not the only option’
Lisa has resisted launching a shiny new aspect of Slimming World to counteract any fuss surrounding weight-loss drugs. Instead, her eyes are on a bigger prize – helping to solve the UK’s gigantic health crisis. “Excessive weight is taking years off people’s lives and we at Slimming World have a part to play.
“What we say to the government is please don’t treat the drugs as the only option, medicalising obesity. We’d love to work more with the government. We could do more in the workplace too. We already work with a lot of health professionals to refer people to our groups, but there’s more we could do. I take comfort that in the 1980s our founder was being told the day of the slimming club was over. We’re absolutely determined. We are not going anywhere. What we provide in our groups is a very, very special thing and it makes a significant difference to people’s lives.”
A national problem
The latest statistics make stark reading when it comes to the health and weight of the UK. Information from the House of Commons this year found that 61% of women in England are obese or overweight, while for men it’s 67%. Wales reported a similar picture: 65% of Welsh men were overweight or obese and 57% of Welsh women.
In 2023, Scottish figures recorded that 32% of adults were obese and more than seven in 10 adults aged over 35 were overweight or obese. The latest data from Northern Ireland found 69% of men were overweight or obese whereas with women it was 59.5%. The UK ranked as the European country with the fourth highest rates of obesity, and the tenth highest in the world.
There are multiple health problems that can stem from being obese, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and an increased risk of respiratory, musculoskeletal and liver diseases. People who are obese are also at increased risk of certain cancers.
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