Our expert panel – Magaret Miles-Bramwell

Margaret was 21 years old when she conceived the idea of Slimming World - a club where there was no humiliation (common in slimming classes then and now), a genuine support system, a positive approach and real empathy for the little understood dilemma of overweight. She opened her first group in September 1969 and by the end of the first year, Slimming World had 40 groups in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Having a deep understanding of the hunger and deprivation slimmers experience and the support and encouragement required to change the habits of a life-time, Margaret was clear about the type of support system that was desperately needed. Image Therapy was ground-breaking then and, still today, is simply light years ahead of any other support system available. She went on to develop an eating plan, a ‘no-diet diet’, that supported this highly positive approach to weight loss. Today it has evolved into the world-renowned system known as Food Optimising. Together with Image Therapy and Body Magic, Food Optimising serves as the most effective solution for slimmers everywhere.

Margaret is extraordinarily passionate about solutions to the very real misery of low self-esteem caused by being overweight. She believes strongly in the importance of treating everyone as adults with the ability to use their thinking and feelings together, in a combination that changes their lives so that they can become the person they really want to be. Her focus has always been to raise awareness in slimmers that they are in control. To this end, the strategies used by Slimming World are supportive, challenging and non-judgemental. Integrity, warmth and humour are pronounced features of her personality and these qualities have become the basis for the culture of the whole organisation.

Her indefatigable spirit and boundless energy to the slimmers’ cause continue to drive the company onwards and keep Slimming World as the most advanced and forward-thinking slimming organisation. The latest evidence of this is a web-based support system that is free to Slimming World members and available to non-members world-wide as bodyOptimise and, as of January 2005, two further options have been added to the Food Optimising suite of weight-loss programs, which, she believes, will bring even more success to slimmers.

There are now over 5,500 groups held weekly on a nationwide basis via a network of 2,500 Slimming World trained Consultants, with an average of 250,000 members each month. In 35 years, over 3 million slimmers have attended Slimming World groups and lost a total of 60 million pounds and in 35 years Margaret has become one of the most experienced and knowledgeable leaders in the field, with a hands-on practical approach and understanding of the help that is needed.

"Overweight and weight loss is complex problem; there is no quick-fix answer. In bodyOptimise we provide a solution, based on 40 years of experience, that
offers understanding, empathy and support without judgement, to everyone
who chooses to join."