Realwomen.co.nz

Am thinking about joining Sure Slim, has anyone got any feedback- either good or bad? I know it is expensive, but may be worth if you need to lose a lot of weight. It is strict, but think I need that to stay on track.
Would love to hear from any RW about this - any feedback most welcome.
Thanks
Sue

If you are ready to invest time, effort and money to lose weight and become fitter surely you would be better off going for sensible and proven support. i.e. A personal trainer and/or a dietician.

You say you need something strict, I know what you mean that is why I signed up with a personal trainer about 18 months ago. There is nothing I do with him that I could not do on my own but I know I can lack willpower and motivation at times. Many people can achieve just as much without a personal trainer but I need someone driving me, making me accountable if you like. I don’t even like my trainer much, he is arrogant and nosey, but that doesn’t matter, he pushes me hard and is not interested in excuses.

Its up to you of course, we are all responsible for our own choices but I’d say if you are seriously considering things like sure-slim you are deluded and gullible.

There is no magic or ‘easy’ way, as Oprah says if there was she would have found it. Personally I like her trainers book, Make the Connection. I don’t follow all his steps and advice, not because I think they are wrong but I am not dedicated enough to do it all, but I do follow his advice when it comes to aerobic exercise.

I believe one of the biggest myths being perpetuated today about exercise is that gentle or moderate exercise will being results - rubbish. You hear GP’s telling people if they go for a gentle walk they will loose weight and get fit - rubbish. Few doctors are trained in fitness they are trained from a drugs and surgery standpoint, look at the state of many of them.

Words you need are not gentle and moderate but sweat, intensity and the zone. I have been thinking a lot about target heart rates recently and I was asking my trainer why so many people (especially women) at the gym do not exert themselves and sweat, one reason he was saying is they look at the heart rate table (which I think, understandably, err on the side of caution) and people get it into their head they must never go above a certain heart rate no matter how easy they are finding their work out.

The tables say my maximum heart rate should be about 170/175, but tables are just guidelines and there are large variations in the population. I have not done a stress test but based on how I can work out now I estimate my maximum heart rate to be about 185-195, as now I am fitter I can train at a target heart rate around 150-160.

I see people at the gym all the time pottering along chitty chatting to their friends while they are ‘working out’ they are deluding themselves. ‘Diets don’t work’ has become a mantra, you could just as easily say ‘gyms don’t work’. Of course they don’t if you don’t use them properly. The trainer I go to opened a full gym about a year ago and there are many overweight members, only the ones doing it properly will ever lose weight or get fitter.

You make a number of good points Staying There - discipline is absolutely essential. However, perhaps the doctor knows the negative effects on the body, whereas the personal trainer knows only the positive? My body craves exercise and does not get enough, and I know my limitations. Like you, I know there are no quick fixes. A SENSIBLE, monitored regimen of diet and exercise works and is desirable. Launching into a full on exercise program with a personal trainer who is not a trained medical professional then stopping because of injury, simply means more weight gain. I am not saying don't get a personal trainer, I really wish I could afford one. I am just saying that a doctors advice to do 'gentle' exercise, initially, is possibly good advice.

Sue, I cannot comment on Sure Slim. It would be good to see what others have experienced. Good luck with whatever you decided to do...

Staying There wrote:

QUOTE:
II see people at the gym all the time pottering along chitty chatting to their friends while they are ‘working out’ they are deluding themselves. ‘Diets don’t work’ has become a mantra, you could just as easily say ‘gyms don’t work’. Of course they don’t if you don’t use them properly. The trainer I go to opened a full gym about a year ago and there are many overweight members, only the ones doing it properly will ever lose weight or get fitter.

I completely disagree with your last statement ST.

I have been a gym goer for many years and also an employee of my local gym. A large emphasis that is predominant in my gym is that the journey is just as important (if not more than) as the end result. Studies have proven time and time again that the only method of successful fitness is the one that you enjoy. Obviously if you enjoy doing something then you are more likely to stick to it. So I hardley believe that a gym environment of sweating, out of breath and in pain members, is going to be particulaury enticing to anyone who walks in those doors for the first time. Furthermore, I think that you will find that a large portion of those people standing around "chit chatting" while they work out, are in fact those that dont get out much (such as mums with young families) and have met other likeminded people who all have the same goals. Often these friendships that have been formed through the gyms are lasting. Whats more, they often tend to reach their goals together while enjoying it along the way.

Let me also point out that yes, there are those gym goers who are fanatacil about their fitness also have their goals. I can guarantee you though that they dont have nearly as much fun along the way as those who you see as time wasters having a lark. I think that your attitude seems to be somewhat "nose stuck up in the air". Yes, exercise and sensible eating are the golden rules to weight loss, but who said you cant enjoy it along the way?

Sorry about the thread drift Sue Mercury - as for Sureslim - I haven't had any experience of this concept so I am sorry that I cannot be of any help.

Post edited by: powderpuff, at: 06/07/2007 09:28

I think more has been read into what I wrote than was actually there. I find it interesting that people build in interpretations such as fanatical, launching full on etc. Obviously no personal trainer will take a person on without considering what is appropriate for each individual.

A good personal trainer is a highly trained professional but in a specialist area, just as you go to a dentist for your teeth or an optician for your eyes, and a various different doctors for different things, they overlap but each has their own specialty. However it is always our own reasonability what we choose to do and I never delegate to anyone. I listen, read, do my own research and make my own decisions and take full responsibly for them.

No-one ‘needs’ a personal trainer anymore than anyone ‘needs’ a manicure, however anyone can have access to a personal trainer via books, TV, the net etc. I can afford it and, as I am a person who can make excuses to not ‘have time’ to train, for me having set appointments keeps me going, but only because I am a person for whom an appointment means something, in 18 months I have canceled twice and he has cancelled once. However he has many clients who don’t bother to turn up, he is getting a bit more business like now and culls them.

Some people enjoy training just like some people enjoy ironing, but we don’t have to enjoy doing something to do it and and keep doing it.

All I am saying is I hear people all the time saying things like I go to the gym for an hour a day (or whatever) and its not fair because I am not losing weight (or whatever they want to achieve) instead of whining they could look at the facts and consider why what they are doing (or not doing) is not achieving the results they want.

If people want to meet their friends for a coffee, lunch and a chat why not workout first and meet up later.

These are just comments, what other people do, or don’t do, is their choice and none of my business, but if people want results they have to make choices, and sacrifices perhaps, to get them.

Post edited by: Staying There, at: 06/07/2007 16:12

Sue - I remeber that some time awhile back, there was a thread on Sureslim. Do you remember it at all? Maybe it is still on here somewhere or if not, maybe Lee the Brain might be able to bring it back onto the thread for you.

Staying There, you seem to contradict yourself on the gym subject. First you condemn those who enjoy the social side of belonging to a gym yet when I point this out to you, you say that "it is none of my business waht people do or dont do". Please make your mind up - you cant have a foot in both camps everytime you make an observation that you are taken to task on. Also, you might be interested to know that many gyms around the country also encourage socail activities outside the gym for their members, eg: bbq's, drinks or day trips here and there. This concept came about as many members formed friendships at gyms.

Wahtever works for you be it mental or physical factors is great, but please dont condemn those who have other ways of achieving their own goals.

Am not in the least bit interested in hearing about Staying There's obsession with gyms, personal trainers or one sided views - she goes on & on & on . Just because a person is overweight, it does not stop them from being healthy .
Can we stick to the original topic please ladies!

If you schroll back through the Health thread pages you will find the Sureslim topic, I think that Roseyone may have written it.