Slimming World Secrets

Why I’ve reset my Slimming World Target

So I’m no longer a Slimming World Target member – sob! But that’s only because I’ve reset my Target by lowering it by another 7lbs. I hope to hit my new Target very soon – and stay there!

My week

• Average Syns per day: 9.3
• Average Speed foods per day: 8.7
• SP days: 3
• Body Magic days: 5
• Result: Maintain
• Total loss: -5st -4lbs

First of all, my week – and what a mad week it’s been. As well as going viral via multiple Facebook pages for winning my group’s Woman of the Year prize (more on that later), this week’s angelic efforts resulted in a maintain on the scales.

After moving below my Target bubble by 1lb after last week’s 3lbs loss, I said then that, if I didn’t gain to get back into my range, I’d reset my Target.

While I was loads happier with my body after losing 5st, I just felt that another half a stone would get me to where I really want to be – slim, svelte, skinny (words I never thought I’d be able to apply to myself) without going overboard.

This would place me slap bang in the middle of the healthy BMI range, right here:

A number of people have told me that I don’t need to lose anymore. Maybe not, but I want to. Sooooo, I’m going to. Sorry, not sorry.

So what happens when you reset your Target?

I never really thought that I’d get to Target in the first place. I certainly never dreamed that I’d get 4lbs below it – and then reset it.

But that’s what’s happened. When you get to Target, you are given a “bubble” or “range” that you must stay in to remain a Target member. That means staying within 3lb above, or 3lb below, your Target weight.

My original Target was to lose 5st, so that meant I had to maintain a loss of between 5st 3lbs and 4st 11lbs to remain at Target.

If you go outside that range, you’re given what’s called a “grace week” to either lose or gain the weight required to get you back within your bubble.

So when I lost 3lbs last week, that meant I was 1lb below my bubble at 4st 10lbs. This week’s maintain meant I was still out of my bubble – and had a decision to make: to reset or not to reset my Target.

Being between two Targets means you’ve got to pay!

To be honest, it was an easy decision to reset my Target. I am “in the zone” in terms of Slimming World like never before. After years of my weight going up and down like a rollercoaster, I now finally feel like I’m in complete control.

So, once I’d signed in and then been weighed, my lovely weigh ladies Jane and Michelle input my new Target weight of 9st 7lbs (a loss of 5st 7lbs).

I then headed back to the pay desk to pay my £5.95 – as I was no longer at Target (either the old one or new one) that meant I had to stump up some cash. Sob!

So, there we go, it’s done. My Target is reset and I’m just 3lbs away from my new one. I plan on an angelic week ahead, so let’s see if I can get close to my new Target next Saturday.

I don’t really want to be buying new Countdowns and taking ages over this – I want it done and dusted pronto.

Winning the raffle – and a soup-er prize

Group was fab, apart from theatrical types running round in the room above us. We meet in what used to be the home economics room of a former school.

Apparently, the room above is now being used for a drama group. If there isn’t a theatrical adaptation of Chariots of Fire in Lead Boots staged in by an am-dram group near me very soon, I shall be sorely disappointed!

I also have a bit of a reputation which has followed me from my old group, the Night Owls, of pretty much always winning the raffle.

There were three other former Night Owls (Caroline, Karen and Riva) in group this morning, so this fact inevitably got a mention before the draw was made.

And then, perhaps just as inevitably, I won the raffle! And what a prize. Our lovely consultant Tracy really pushes the boat out when it comes to prizes.

This one was the ingredients for THREE soups – leek and potato, cauliflower cheese and mixed vegetable.

That should keep me going in lunches for a couple of weeks and, seeing as all the ingredients are Syn-free, help me on my way to my new Target.

Going viral with the Two Chubby Cubs

Finally, I just want to say a massive thank-you to the Two Chubby Cubs, who took my story of winning group Woman of the Year last week – and ran with it.

Most Slimming World members will know and love the Cubs. They’ve been blogging about the plan for years, combining some incredible recipes with some saucy and hilarious humour. They’ve even released some fantastic recipe books.

As gay guys, Paul and James definitely represent the “G” of LGBT+ Slimming World members, and I think they consider me as representing the “T” (transgender). Proud to do so!

So I asked them if I could post something on their Two Chubby Groups Facebook Group about my Woman of the Year blog post.

They replied straight away to say this was fine. Here’s the link.

Then, they went even further, with their own posts about my story on Twitter and on their main Two Chubby Cubs Facebook Page.

“Fabulous writer”, eh? I’ll take that. thanks, guys!

An outpouring of love from Slimming World members

It’s fair to say the response was phenomenal. This is a fairly new blog – I only launched it in February this year, and visitor numbers have been growing slowly and steadily since, getting up to about 100 page views per day.

Then the Cubs shared my story on Thursday and everything went mental.

• 2,850 page views (and another 1,309 the following day)
• 2,500 visitors (and 1,150 the next day)
• More than 100 new Instagram followers
• Loads of new subscriptions to the website (see form on this page to subscribe)

Wow, thanks Cubs! At the time of writing at Saturday lunchtime, things show no sign of slowing down, so I think the blog has finally *made it*.

All records smashed

The posts got more than 500 likes and loves on the Group story, and more than 1,000 on the main page, plus another 150 or so on the Slimming World Target Members Group.

Statistics aside, what was most lovely was reading some of the hundreds of comments from people. Here are a few:

Many people said I looked great (nah, I really don’t, but thank you!) and quite a few said my story was “inspirational”.

I don’t really feel like I’m an inspiration – I’m just a trans girl who goes to Slimming World and then writes about what goes on. If anything, this blog is more to help me stay on track.

But, if it does help to motivate other people, then that’s just wonderful. The posts that really made me smile were those from other trans members, including one from a former winner of the national Man of the Year award.

Now transitioned herself, she told me how much of a fraud she felt when she won that title, and that’s certainly something I can relate to from when I won Man of the Year in my group in 2016, and Mr Sleek twice before that.

What this does show is that Slimming World gives trans people the confidence to transition in the first place. I couldn’t have transitioned without losing the weight, which boosted my self-esteem no end.

And finally…

Despite all the love from Slimming World members, both in the comments on this blog, and across social media, I’m afraid the one that sticks in my mind most is this one, from Andrew Freeth:

It’s clearly transphobic, so I reported it to Facebook. They responded to say it didn’t breach their terms. Yeah, right. So I appealed, and they said the same again.

Does it breach their own terms and conditions on hate speech? You decide. This is what the terms state:

Personally, I think calling a trans woman a “bloke” is pretty degrading. I have worked so hard over the past few years to escape the shackles of “blokedom”.

So, although I’ve had so much love in the past few days, it really hurts that it’s this one comment that stands out in my mind – and that just goes to underline the damage that can be done when you misgender or deadname a trans person.

When a trans person gets this kind of comment, it can be depressing and upsetting. It completely undoes all the validation from the kind people, and it just makes you think: what’s the point? Why do I bother?

That said, I shall try to focus on the hundreds of positive comments, and not the negative one (and there was only one) from a keyboard warrior like Mr Freeth.