Has counselling helped you?

[Slimlouise]

Hi eveyone,

I was wondering how essential the counselling has been to your weight losses and success?
I see some peeps on the boards who have reached goal seem to have started on LL and then moved to CD after the initial 100 days.

I did Cambridge last year and loved it, however after my initial success I went back to my old eating habits. I know, it was silly of me but Iim not sure why I did it? Maybe a fear of being slim.

After careful consideration I think the counselling on LL may help me?

Hope you dont mind me asking but I need some advice?

thanks
SlimLou

[SafcGirl31]

It seems to be helping me! I especially like challenging the chatterbox in my head that always seems to be in overdrive. And I'm getting better at accepting compliments and letting the negative things go over my head. Yep, all in all I think its helped loads. It helps if your LLC is good at the counselling side of things and mine is plus the in group support is good, you don't feel so alone in following such a strict regime. Long term I'm not sure because I'm only half way there but I think the maintenance programme sounds very interesting and worth doing as a way of stabalizing your weight after the rapid loss. Good luck, why don't you go to a introduction session with a LLC and see what you think.

[carla]

I certainly think the counsilling is helping me. I have faced a number of challenges along the way with this diet and it is great to be able to rationalise my thinking. Every time it happens, I feel like it is a mini accompishment!

I also think that when it comes to eating again, I will make better choices and will find it easier to decide what I can and can't have. In the past I had so many ways of excusing my eating habits, but I am now confident that I will be able to ignore the chatterbox telling me "go on, you deserve it." As my LLC says, food is not your friend - a friend wouldn't make you feel bad about your self.

[Goombagirl]

Short answer is YES! Like most people on here, I've lost and regained a few times. This time feels different and I know I can maintain my current weight (or be a successful weight holder as LL say!) for life as long as I put into practice what I have learned. I think you have to be prepared to put in the work to succeed though i.e. do your homework, read around the subject, listen to the management CDs etc...oh yes and do the management programme - while technically possible without, statistically you are more likely to keep the weight off if you finish management. I'm 2/3 of the way through management and am very happy with the programme. It obviously is vital to have a good LLC - mine is excellent.

[chunkychicken]

I have to say that I was sceptical about the counselling but have been amazed how certain aspects of it (crooked thoughts/thought records and game playing) have spoken to me and given me a few eureka moments along the way. Not to say that all the counselling will "speak to you" some of it feels downright daft or just common sense - but when you come across something that clicks with you - its like a light going on.
It doesn't just help with the weightloss either - I have realised that I have been stuck playing the same useless games with people for years and years and I am now working on a way to free myself from that trap. it feels great.

Hope this helps
Good luck
Laura

[SoonBeSlim... It'sTrue!]

I firmly believe the counselling has been and is so important!

Like most of us I have dieted one way or another for over 20+ years on/off and this will be the only route I will see through to the end. I have to say, mainly at the begining I wondered what some of the Foundation exercises were about or getting at but as I became more focussed, gelled with the group and get to know the LLC it was much more helpful and constructive.

I am hopeing when do Management the counselling and tools will again make me challenge and equip me with the tools for life so I can look and feel like a worthy slim person.

Every other diet has tried to teach me 'THEIR DIET' with a tad sometimes on emotions around food. For me this is the whole package.

I also feel depending on the time in your life, the make up of the group, LLC etc that it's just not the right time for some people.

Take Care, and hope my ramble offers some answers

Sam

[Yorkiegirl]

I have dealt with lots of demons during my LL journey, both with food and also other things in my life. I know you don't deal with those in the LL sessions, but what I have learned there has helped me overcome those too.

[fatpossum]

I don't think that the counselling per se has helped me as this is not the forte of my LLC!!! Don't get me started!

What has helped however is being without food and then noticing what 'triggers' me to want to eat. It felt a bit like when I gave us smoking - something would happen and immediatly I would 'need a fag'. The experience with food was exactly the same. A stressful situation would develop and my first thought would be that I wanted to eat.

That was a real eye-opener but I think that would have occurred even without the 'sessions'.

[10stonesize10]

The group has been what is important to me
to be with a group of woman in the same place as yourself makes you not feel alone........
And gives so much the support , you feel as you can do anything.and you do...............
This site is also a great place for support

[Eileen]

my group have really bonded i love mondays, i think the conselling is the main part.

[In search of me]

For me the process as a whole (theory, group support and doing bits at home) have made it for me and whih was what sold me the diet. CDC just didnt offer me the same as I knew I needed to look at why I ate to stop doing it. I think I've learned my weak times and look forward to being able to learn more about trigger foods etc on management. One word of caution - I know 3 people who did LL but didnt think they needed the management bit and have put it all back on. To me the process when you introduce food again. The only thing I regret is not doing it earlier...

[fatpossum]

Yeah,

I wasn't going to do Managment but I have changed my mind. I will probably go on to it a bit early (as I dont need to lose much more) but I think it is the best way forward.

I couldn't bear to put on weight again - in fact I think that I have become a bit dependent on the whole LL thing - not the counselling because as I have explained that hasn't helped me but the packs routine and the sense of being back in CONTROL!.

I love feeling in control. I feel calm and contained after a very long time of feeling out of control and sluggish and lumpy. Now I am streamlined and I feel like days are so much easier to manage. It's like I slide through them as before I felt as though I would lumber. Anyone know what I mean?

I find work easier not because I do it any differently (I have always been okay in that forum) but because I look different. I look like I used to look before I allowed myself to be ambushed by fat.

It feels wonderful!!

[AmandaJayne]

"...I love feeling in control. I feel calm and contained after a very long time of feeling out of control and sluggish and lumpy. Now I am streamlined and I feel like days are so much easier to manage. It's like I slide through them as before I felt as though I would lumber. Anyone know what I mean?..."

Yep, that sums it up for me too Fatpossum.

I found the counselling very useful. Sometimes it was difficult or uncomfortable, but usually it was thought-provoking.

I liked the group meetings too. It was always good to hear how everyone else got on, and to have a laugh watching the DVD!!

Like Fatpossum said ...

"....What has helped however is being without food and then noticing what 'triggers' me to want to eat..."

I think that that aspect was crucial to my success. Taking food out of the equation completely enabled me to 'step back' and become objective about food and the eating experience. I watched people eating in different situations and thought about my previous behaviours. It made me think carefully about what I ate, when I ate, where I ate, and ultimately WHY I ate in the past. I was able to distance myself from the whole eating experience. It was wonderful to get off the merry-go-round and relax. No more worrying about calorie content, fat content, carb content, sugar content, too much or too little, using points, saving points, eating after 6 or not, making mistakes, obsessing about what to eat, when, where, why. I was so tired of it all!

Just having to eat four packs and 4 litres of water a day. What could be simpler?

It should be possible for you to find a person qualified to do CBT counselling, if you want to explore issues about food and eating, rather than go to LL. However, the combination of group therapy and SSing helped with my success, I think.

Good luck anyway.