Vanessa Engle and Welcome to the World of Weight Loss on BBC Two – a review. This documentary following members of slimming clubs as they try to lose weight is just one of a glut of programmes about diet, slimming and losing weight at the moment. Jacques Peretti has his documentary, The Men who made us Thin, which is a follow up to The Men who made us Fat. Both of those I have already written about in detail. This review of Welcome to the World of Weight loss by Vanessa Engle will focus on that show and what we learnt that could be useful to help in losing weight, slimming and helping with self confidence over weight issues.

All over the country tens of thousands of people, mainly women, attend slimming clubs every week. So, why are obesity rates soaring despite so many people being on diets? This programme aimed to explore this question.

It was interesting watching one lady say that she used to think about all of the things that she had eaten, now she thinks about all the things that she hasn’t eaten..the point I would note is that she is still thinking about eating though! Would it be better not to be focussed on food all the time?

Watching a Weight Watchers meeting with its ritual weigh ins and happy or disappointed women talking about the constant fight with food shows that these clubs are relying on you keeping that fight going, rather than changing so that you don’t need to think about it anymore. It is a constant stream of food diary writing which means that you are thinking about food all the time. This is just making it worse surely? Why are these weight loss groups making you think about food all the time?

Could it be that it means that you will keep coming back to them? When I work with hypnotherapy clients who are looking for weight loss we have a five week programme and then you go away and do it without me. I wonder why weight loss clubs do not like this idea?

At Rosemary Conley as well as the dieting they are also doing some exercise, low impact aerobics. We saw the participants being encouraged to stop looking at nice food over Christmas, because it will be bad for them. Of course this is true, but again it is all about saying, stop, don’t, deny.  These words often make us just want things more!

Many of the interviewees talked about their relationship with food and how they grew up and what this meant to them as they got older. It is common that we learn about our attitudes to food when young, the good news is that you can change these thoughts and feelings...for the better. I wonder if being weighed every week and lectured about what you can’t have is really helping. You can even spend your time weighing your food as well. Scales seem to be a vital part of the ongoing process.

Many people seem to be hooked on the idea of losing weight fast. How many people gain weight fast though? The general story seems to be that most people gradually put weight on, so when trying to lose it do not hurry, take your time and it will work much better for you.

One of the themes that we saw throughout Welcome to the World of Weight loss was the oddly religious flavour of the weight loss and slimming world. We saw church hall after church hall full of groups discussing their food sins or Syns, as Slimming World has named them.

Even the comments made sound like they are of a religious flavour:

“I do believe God brought me to WeightWatchers”,    “I get this awful guilt after snacking”   and   “Slimmers, your haloes are glowing!”

It would seem that weight loss is the new religion. Is it one that you would like to be tied to for life?

You can get lots of free advice and tips to help you lose weight, feel slimmer and more confident right here.

If you would like to hear a free MP3 relaxation audio then it is right here

..and if you would like to give up diets forever the Slimmer You programme and all the details are right here.