Slimming club

Slimming clubs are support groups to encourage weight loss through healthy diet and fitness. Known as lifestyle weight management programmes, slimming clubs have been recommended by the National Health Service in the UK since 2007.[1]

Public slimming clubs are typically commercial ventures[2] and are distinct from non-profit clinical groups, which are usually short-term in nature, and twelve-step groups such as Overeaters Anonymous, which address food addictions.[3] Some firms cover the membership fees for their employees, if health is an issue or employees are required to fit in small spaces.[4]

Weight Watchers, one of the most popular slimming clubs, was founded in the United States in 1961, when housewife Jean Nidetch began a support group at her home in Queens. In the UK, Slimming World was founded in Derbyshire in 1969.[1][2] Rosemary Conley founded another British slimming club, which is now online only.[5]

In the UK, women are much more likely to join clubs though there is a higher rate of obesity among men; the notion that weight loss is a feminist issue has led to a demand for all-male clubs.[6][7][8][9]

In British popular culture, slimming clubs featured in the television sketch comedy Little Britain[10] as well as the television series Fat Friends, which was turned into a musical.[11]

See also

References
  1. "How slimming clubs work". The Daily Telegraph. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  2. Wallis, Lucy (8 August 2013). "Do slimming clubs work?". BBC News. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  3. Huff, Charlotte (January 2004). "Teaming up to drop pounds". APA Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological Association. 35 (1). Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  4. Lay, Kat (2 January 2019). "Firms pay for staff to join slimming club". The Times. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  5. Moore, Charlotte (6 October 2006). "Consumer test: Slimming clubs". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  6. Moss, Chris (1 August 2014). "Why don't fat men join slimming clubs?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  7. Monaghan, Lee F. (2008). "Men%27s+Slimming+Club" Men and the War on Obesity: A Sociological Study. Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 9781134134519. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  8. Connell, James (5 February 2008). "Appeal for men-only slimming classes". Worcester News. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  9. Gask, Marina (31 August 2015). "Man v Fat: The male weight loss regime that works". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  10. Lindsay, Jessica (5 January 2018). "Why I loved going to a slimming club". Metro. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  11. Bourne, Dianne (20 March 2018). "Freddie Flintoff knocks us for six in Fat Friends The Musical". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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