I can remember putting off joining for quite a long time. My friend who is now my consultant too, was doing really well and I wasn't to be honest. I'd been using My Fitness Pal to log calories and was losing weight but didn't have the nutritional knowledge to make the most from my calories, so was sometimes hungry or using ingredients which I could have tweaked a bit and got more out of. Everything was weighed and measured making it hard work.
After months of trying to persuade me to give it a go I gave in, and now wished I'd done it so much sooner.
When you first come to group you will be given a talk by your consultant which lasts about half an hour, they will go through the basics of the plan, tell you all about Food Optimising and get you to fill out a registration form. Consultants will tell you about their journey and then you will be invited to stay to group, or Image Therapy. At the end of this you will go and pay and register and then your consultant will weigh you and answer any questions. You will be given a PIN code to log onto Lifeline Online which is the Slimming World website full of recipes, articles and helpful advice. There sill be a shop where you can buy the latest magazine, recipe books, HiFi bars etc and we have tea and coffee which is free. This is paid for by the weekly raffle which is drawn at the end of Image Therapy. The raffle prize might be the ingredients to make a recipe, or something useful like a lunch box or cool bag. The consultant will also award Slimmer of the Week which is the person who has lost the most weight, and has lost the previous week. Everyone brings something free or low syn to put in the Slimmer of the Week basket for the winner to take home.
If you can always try and stay for Image Therapy as it's so helpful. It can be a bit daunting at first. The consultant will give a little talk about any events coming up, ours tells us what is featured on Lifeline Online. They then go round the room and speak to everyone about how they have done that week. Your weight will always remain private and confidential but the consultant will talk about whether you had a loss, gain or stayed the same that week. I used to dread it to be honest, I'm not great at speaking in front of a crowd and even less so if it's not been a good week and there's been a gain. However, stick with it as it is something you get used to and overcome as the weeks go by. As you get to know people in your group it becomes much easier. I've seen new members join who quite obviously find it uncomfortable at first really come out of their shell and open up over the weeks. If you've had a good week it's great to be able to share any tips on how you did it, and if you've had a bad week or a struggle with something there is always someone there who can give you some helpful advice and support. Our Image therapy is great as it's opened up a lot to the group so everyone gets as involved as they want to. You will never be forced to join in but from what I've seen most people join in at their own pace, and remember everyone is there for the same reason.
I read this article recently which really made me think about how I view Image Therapy.
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
This is one of the lines in the article and I thought if I view Group as one of those five the I can really make a difference. The other thing that struck me was this part.....
"I would talk about them [choices] with my new friends; they would ask me about how I was doing; and I could see how well these healthier choices were working for them. It was like I was cheating, but it was just self-efficacy. It was just learning a “new normal.”
Old habits are so hard to break and it's so easy to slip back into them but I've found that even the year or so between Slimming World groups where I didn't go some of the Food Optimising habits stuck. I used frylight, I still bought 5% mince and removed the fat from meat. Yes I ate too much bread, and synned foods but the basics stuck and became a new normal.
If you are thinking of joining but are feeling nervous about joining a group then take a deep breath and give it a go, what's the worst that could happen?
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