This blog began as a journal of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Award visit to the USA to study how Lifestyle Redesign could be used in Occupational Therapy to improve the hospital/home interface for older people. It has continued to record developments and inspiration gained from that experience since returning from Los Angeles early in 2012.

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Saturday 21 January 2012

Weight Management Group- week 2

Almost everyone attended again this week, the group had a more serious feel to it and it was clear that people had given a lot of thought to the issues that were introduced last week. Everyone had kept their food diary (myself included) and some have put it onto a web based site such as myfitnesspal.com .
Chantelle, the OT leading the group, gave positive feedback about the efforts people had made and helped them to see what they could learn from any difficulties. She emphasised the importance of every individual finding the solution that works for them and their lifestyle. For example, one person reports eating take-away virtually every night, so the group talked about solutions that might be a healthier option but not too big a change initially such as looking for 'healthier' take away food, getting a rotisserie chicken one night and more gradually introducing the idea of preparing some meals at home. Another group member explained the difficulty they have eating breakfast to avoid being so hungry later in the day. They leave the house before 6am so quick, easy options that could even be eaten a bit later in the morning were discussed.
There was a weigh-in at the start of the session to allow everyone to keep track of their progress, but the focus of the session was  not explicitly on weight but on giving information on healthier choices that will result in weight loss, and giving people the tools to start making these choices in a way that is relevant to their life. The session ended with everyone setting a goal for the following week, these included increasing exercising by one day a week, making sure to drink a set quantity of water each day, eating breakfast etc.
There is a sense of motivation being high at this stage and it will be interesting to see how the group continues to develop over the next few weeks. As Chantelle explained, change is not easy. I am sure there would be easier ways for the group members to lose weight in the short term, there are lots of prescriptive methods available, but the Lifestyle Design approach aims to enable sustainable changes to people's occupational functioning and choices that are long term solutions.

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    Your reports all sound very interesting. With the weight management classes would they be encouraged at the end of the course to join something like Slimming World over here, to carry on with healthy eating habits. Your report reminded me very much of the Slimming World groups with the focus on healthy eating and solutions being provided by other members of the group. Do you know if any of the group have been to clubs like Slimming World etc before?

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