Weight Management Week 3- Reflections

Once again everyone turned up for the group. After an initial delay due to a double booking of the room (some things are the same both sides of the Atlantic!) we got started.
After the weigh in (very low key, for participants own information), the session began with a reflection on how the week had gone, this was relaxed, humourous and supportive but kept to the point and to a schedule by skillful guidance from Chantelle. Most people had achieved to some degree the goals they set for themselves last week, some had even exceeded them. Virtually everyone was continuing to keep a food diary and finding it a helpful mechanism to increase awareness of eating patterns and for planning meals and snacks. The discussion was supportive and focused on successes or what could be learned when things hadn't gone so well. The group were facilitated to consider the occupational issues that made for success (or were more difficult) and to use a problem solving approach to come up with strategies for the future. Most people agreed that the structure of the working week made it easier to keep to a routine and stick to what they had planned. The weekends with social and family gatherings were more difficult and some people identified that they were going to need to think about strategies to help them with this.
Information about food choices and some sample menus helped to get the group thinking in more depth now that they have a couple of weeks experience behind them. Generally people seemed to be enjoying the process and several reported having changed their activity and exercise habits because they felt they had more energy.
As usual the group finished by setting themselves goals for the week ahead, some choosing to maintain what they were already doing, a few decided to exercise more. Chantelle helped with prompts to ensure the goals were realistic and specific- such as how many times will the exercise be done?
Finally one of the researchers arrived to invite group members to participate in a study about the thoughts & attitudes that make for success in a weight loss programme. Participants are asked to attend 2 sessions and are paid for their time.