Our expert panel –
Margaret Miles-Bramwell
HonMUniv FRSA OBE

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, UK.

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.

The very latest evidence of this is Slimming World’s investment in research into weight management, and the company’s involvement in the DIOGENES European Research Study, the biggest pan-European obesity research project ever undertaken.

In 2007 Margaret was invited to become an honorary Fellow of the RSA (the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), an honour shared by Charles Dickens, Nelson Mandela and Professor Stephen Hawking among many other distinguished names.

This was followed in 2009 – Slimming World’s 40th anniversary year – when Margaret received an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to healthcare and charity. And in January 2010, an honorary Masters Degree was awarded to Margaret by the University of Derby, Derbyshire, UK.

The honours recognise Margaret’s remarkable contribution to the field of weight management. In the 40 years since she first started Slimming World, millions of slimmers across Britain and Ireland have benefited from its unique support and from the company’s extensive research into the causes and treatment of obesity. The honours also recognise Margaret’s significant contribution to the community. As well as being a major employer in Derbyshire, she is the driving force behind an enormous charity fundraising effort that has raised around £2.5 million since 1996, mainly for children’s charities, most recently the NSPCC.

There are now around 6,000 UK-based groups held weekly on a nationwide basis via a network of 3,000 Slimming World trained Consultants, with an average of 300,000 members each month. Slimming World’s online weight loss programme bodyOptimise launched in 2004 and in 2009 Slimming World groups also opened in the Republic of Ireland and Texas, USA, taking the message of weight loss without hunger worldwide. In four decades, over 3 million slimmers have attended Slimming World groups and lost a total of 60 million pounds and in 40 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."