'Slimming clubs are not going anywhere'

With weight-loss jabs and news WeightWatchers has filed for bankruptcy, the diet industry is experiencing big changes. But Lisa Salmon, MD of Slimming World, tells Jo Dunbar why the traditional diet club still has a place today

- Jo Dunbar

There's no escaping the fact that so called skinny jabs are making an impact on weight loss, not just on bathroom scales but also on the diet industry as a whole.

Data from one of the largest retailers of weight-loss injections, Simple Online Pharmacy, suggests half a million Brits are using the jabs - with an estimated 95% of patients buying their medication privately.

You might imagine that the bosses at Slimming World, which has been guiding slimmers for more than 55 years, and has 700,000 members in the UK, would be worried that their business is losing traction.

Managing director Lisa Salmon assures us this isn’t the case. For her, all the fanfare about weight-loss medication is nothing new and she isn't rattled in the slightest.

"We were told liposuction would be the end of us; that weight-loss surgery would be the end of us," she says. "We were told drugs would be the end of us but, actually, with the millions of people we know who are struggling, there's space for different offerings."

Earlier this week WeightWatchers filed for bankruptcy in the US. While the company insists it will keep operating there is no doubt there is huge pressure on the diet and exercise industries.

You'd expect the Slimming World boss to be anxious. But Lisa is calm.

"I'm not particularly concerned.

"Slimming World and WeightWatchers were formed around the same time in the very late 1960s. We've always been shoulder to shoulder and whilst, like any competitors, we've had our differences and we've always believed our service and philosophy to be superior, we would never want to take away from the fact it's another offering in the community. We very firmly believe that losing weight needs support."

Support is key