slimming club
{{Short description|British diet groups}}
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.{{cite news |title=How slimming clubs work |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10859361/How-slimming-clubs-work.html |accessdate=8 February 2019 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=28 May 2014}}
Public slimming clubs are typically commercial ventures{{cite news |last1=Wallis |first1=Lucy |title=Do slimming clubs work? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23463006 |accessdate=9 February 2019 |publisher=BBC News |date=8 August 2013}} 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.{{cite journal |last1=Huff |first1=Charlotte |title=Teaming up to drop pounds |url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/jan04/teaming |accessdate=9 February 2019 |journal=APA Monitor on Psychology|volume= 35 |issue= 1 |publisher=American Psychological Association |date=January 2004 |language=en}} Some firms cover the membership fees for their employees, if health is an issue or employees are required to fit in small spaces.{{cite news |last1=Lay |first1=Kat |title=Firms pay for staff to join slimming club |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/firms-pay-for-staff-to-join-slimming-club-q977wwrcd |access-date=9 February 2019 |work=The Times |date=2 January 2019 |language=en}}
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. Rosemary Conley founded another British slimming club, which is now online only.{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Charlotte |title=Consumer test: Slimming clubs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/oct/07/consumernews.moneysupplement1 |accessdate=9 February 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=6 October 2006}}
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.{{cite news |last1=Moss |first1=Chris |title=Why don't fat men join slimming clubs? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/10996173/Why-dont-fat-men-join-slimming-clubs.html |accessdate=9 February 2019 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=1 August 2014}}{{cite book |last1=Monaghan |first1=Lee F. |title=Men and the War on Obesity: A Sociological Study |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134134519 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X6IxUeYo9tYC&pg=PA183|accessdate=9 February 2019 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Connell |first1=James |title=Appeal for men-only slimming classes |url=https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/2019590.appeal-for-men-only-slimming-classes/ |accessdate=9 February 2019 |work=Worcester News |date=5 February 2008 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Gask |first1=Marina |title=Man v Fat: The male weight loss regime [sic] that works |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/diet/11827494/Man-v-Fat-The-male-weight-loss-regime-that-works.html |accessdate=9 February 2019 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=31 August 2015}}
In British popular culture, slimming clubs featured in the television sketch comedy Little Britain{{cite news |last1=Lindsay |first1=Jessica |title=Why I loved going to a slimming club |url=https://metro.co.uk/2018/01/05/what-happens-when-you-go-to-a-slimming-club-and-why-i-loved-it-7197199/ |accessdate=9 February 2019 |work=Metro |date=5 January 2018 |language=en}} as well as the television series Fat Friends, which was turned into a musical.{{cite news |last1=Bourne |first1=Dianne |title=Freddie Flintoff knocks us for six in Fat Friends The Musical |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/freddie-flintoff-fat-friends-sings-14434126 |accessdate=9 February 2019 |work=Manchester Evening News |date=20 March 2018}}