What Happens in Image Therapy in your class?

Hi All,
I just wondered what types of things everyone does in their image therapy sessions? I am not finding mine very inspirational!

:sigh:

Thanks! :-D

At our class our leader goes round the room tells everyone their loss so far and what they've done that week, a loss, how much loss or a gain. She doesn't say how much if a gain. She asks us if we are happy with our result and if we say no then we have a bit of a chitchat about it or what has gone wrong.
Then we have SOW and then a raffle, 50p for tickets and the prize is about £5 of food relating to that weeks password, or a free week voucher.
There is no topic that we talk about like Weight Watchers have. I like listening to the stories and I usually leave the group having learnt something. Not usually from our consultant though...she is not IMO the most supportive or inspirational...I get that from the other members.

What happens at yours?

Thanks for getting back to me, about the same thing happens at mine but there are about 25/30 people in our class so going round and discussing everyones losses that week takes the whole session. There are the occasional tangents in conversation so i learn bits and bobs but i don't feel inspirational. Theres no stories told, no recipe swapping or anything. Im glad i found this forum as i can get that from here but i begrudge paying £4.50 a week when i feel better supported on a free forum! I know i won't stop going as it is my motivation. i know without a weekly commitment i won't try as hard but it seems that other people's groups are more supportive and interesting. is that the truth though?!
(am considering starting a rogue SW group!)

Knickerbocker Glory said:

At our class our leader goes round the room tells everyone their loss so far and what they've done that week, a loss, how much loss or a gain. She doesn't say how much if a gain. She asks us if we are happy with our result and if we say no then we have a bit of a chitchat about it or what has gone wrong.
Then we have SOW and then a raffle, 50p for tickets and the prize is about £5 of food relating to that weeks password, or a free week voucher.

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This is exactly what happens in my class and probably most of them. I think "image therapy" is a hilariously overblown name for it. Our consultant tries her best to find interesting things to say but frequently seems bored to death with SW...And who can blame her when she hears the same excuses and questions week after week?

We have a nice group though and they can be supportive. We've had brilliant "taster sessions" and people do sit and copy out recipes etc. but it isn't any kind of deep "therapy"... It's more like the activities in an old people's day centre. I guess there are only so many ways of saying "eating too much makes you fat".

That said, £4.50 won't buy you much these days and for some reason I LOVE going to class. Seriously, I LOVE it. I like being weighed and I like seeing people to chat to and I like disrupting the sessions with my "jokes".

So yeah, utter rubbish but worth every penny.

Knickerbocker Glory said:

At our class our leader goes round the room tells everyone their loss so far and what they've done that week, a loss, how much loss or a gain. She doesn't say how much if a gain. She asks us if we are happy with our result and if we say no then we have a bit of a chitchat about it or what has gone wrong.
Then we have SOW and then a raffle, 50p for tickets and the prize is about £5 of food relating to that weeks password, or a free week voucher.
There is no topic that we talk about like Weight Watchers have. I like listening to the stories and I usually leave the group having learnt something. Not usually from our consultant though...she is not IMO the most supportive or inspirational...I get that from the other members.

What happens at yours?

Click to expand...

Same at ours tbh. We have a small group (18/25) and it still takes ages to go round. We all sort of catch up in the pre amble when the C is talking to new members. There is a sense of camaradery within the troops but not much towards the C!

Same in ours, that's what Image Therapy is (individual motivation and group experience!) - it's your chance to ask for advice, say how you feel, what has gone well or badly....

Our consultant is really good, if you say you want to lose 2lb the next week she will ask how you are going to do that, what you will change or do differently etc.

We always start with a little topic, just for 5 or 10 mins - school holidays, hot weather, barbeques etc and how to survive them SW style!

What sort of thing would you like to see or do? It may be worth suggesting something to your consultant perhaps.

Sometimes we have food nights, either suggested by one of us as "it's about time we had a food night" type thing or for a special occassion like woman of the year.

Its the same for me, I in fact stopped going because I found staying to class so boring, just going round the room saying what you had lost the c didnt teach us anything new, and I thought it was a lot of money just to get weighed. The other members of the class were great and they made the class not the c . Having said that I have found it very difficult not going to class and am going to have to go back, So it is money well spent and I would tell anyone considering not going to class to think again because I could have lost more weight instead I have gained,

Oh and I also see it as my little social club, I love the people and have made some great friends - I always get there for opening time so I can have a coffee and natter for half an hour before IM starts!! It's more than getting weighed for me

Mine is like Jaylou's. We have a kind of 10 min spiel in the beginning (I liken it to a sermon - but it's not boring!) relating to relevant topics at the moment - it's usually something motivational. We have a raffle too and then go through awards that week and then go through and do individual losses/gains. If anyone feels like they can help then we feel free to pipe in or give suggestions. I'm very lucky and have a great group and have made some wonderful friends - incl my C!

AH well i suppose it is a little more comforting to know that that is what happens. I guess i just thought that when I began it would be less like a register and more inspirational.
I personally think it would be good to ask who wants their weightloss read out - not sure if everyone does and they all feel on the spot when asked what they want to do this week.
It would be good to have a discussion topic as well, picked from a suggestion from the group the week previously so people have time to think about their experience/advice etc and can come prepared with things that might help someone else.
I think i just thought it would be a lot more like this forum but in real life!

I agree that Image Therapy is not all you'd expect it to be.

My current consultant is lovely but i first found her VERY uninspirational. I have attended two groups previously and my second consultant was hilarous. She was very down to earth and made group so much fun.

She used to give us clues for the password and we'd end up in hysterics when she tried to act things out. She'd tell us funny stories about her own life and SW experience and had little games she liked to play as well as doing a little Barbie girl of the week (as we had no males at group). To be honest though her image therapy lasted 1-1.5 hours, but you were never bored and always inspired.

I feel my current consultant is maybe feeling disheartened with her members as most seem to come and go straight after weigh in and they always maintain, lose half a pound or put 2 or 3 on. There shopping seems to be done every week straight after weigh in and cannot wait an hour until after image therapy. Others come and get weighed and think it's funny they never lose any weight.

I emailed my consultant last week after having a gain and then not being able to make group the following week (baby in hospital)and feeling like i wanted to give up. Her email and texts really helped me through that night and the following day i weighed in 2.5lbs lighter. She said she wished people were more honest like i was, so that she could set them back on track.

Our image therapy starts with 5/10 mins of 'speech', we usually have a different topic every week, body magic , barbeques, ice lollies etc and this week she's set us into two teams to try and get a bit of competition going. We then do everyones losses and awards etc, slimmer of the week and the raffle and we are then asked if there's anything we'd like to do the following week.

We have a taste session on the first tuesday of each month (but hardly anyone joins in! although they are happy to eat what is there! LOL). We are planning a night out in August from the raffle funds....

I'm really liking my consultant now - she may not have an amazing personality - but she really does help when you need a kick

Meant to say that we do a buffet night on the last Wed of the month which is usually really good and we all look forward to it! In fact, I try and plan what I'm going to make for it weeks in advance as I love thinking about what to make that everyone will like.

My C also randomly sends cards in the post just to say how well you've done and that she's proud, etc. Or she always seems to know when you need that boost and a text will appear saying how your BMI has dropped loads!

I dont stay to class anymore as I dont find it very helpful to be honest, I just got & get weighed then come away... starting to wonder if it would be better to just weigh at home & save the £4.50 a week but i'm close to target so gunna carry on for a lil bit longer x

I'm really am in two minds about this. We've only missed IT a couple of times since we joined last Sept. apart from hols, and it certainly seems to be true that those who do STAY for it loose the most.

We have a really great Consultant, who really does try to help, and uses text and e-mails regularly to spur us on, as well as setting up a Facebook page just for our Group, to help us to help each other between meetings, report local bargains etc etc.

BUT we are such a HUGE Group - over 60 at times - and we follow on from a well supported earlier Group, so I don't know how she does it! Obviously it takes AGES to get round everybody, and it often seems that the 'naughty ones' get the most attention! Even worse, we split into two competing teams and get points for our team for each pound lost, when we reach a mini target eg sticker or certificate, whether we've tried out a new (to us) SW friendly recipe, bought a countdown that week etc etc. As we don't always sit in the same places each week there is no sense of 'team spirit' and I find it totally pointless, but it is supposed to encourage the quieter ones to speak up. Being a bit of a loud mouth anyway, it doesn't help me!

BUT, on the plus side, we do have frequent taster evenings, which are remarkably well supported food wise. Not everyone has time to actually cook, although many if not most do, and if you can't, we're asked to bring something bought like a punnet of strawberries or other fruit, a prepared salad - SW friendly of course - even a diet drink, so the tables are usually GROANING with goodies! My only gripe here is that we go through each item with the person that made it giving details of the recipe, whilst we're all sitting there DROOLING, only to find that some have not LABELLED their plates - I've had some of the oddest combinations of flavours imaginable! I really do feel sorry for those who don't do this regularly, or even at all I've read, it is such a valuable experience, even if only to find out whether you love or hate the new free Quorn Cocktail Sausages, if Kellog's Crunchy Oatbakes are for you, or if you like the latest Alpen bars.

All in all, I think that you have to put yourself in the right frame of mind, be determined that you WILL learn something from IT - it certainly gets better when you get to know everyone - and enjoy it!

At our image therapy our consultant starts by telling us how her week went with sw and what she lossed/gained etc. Then she goes through everyones sheets and congratulats those who have lost, and offers help and suggestions to those who sts or gained.. and like others have said, no actual weight is discussed.. we often all end up chatting about random things, things people have done, cooked.. what we got up to.. etc and we have a raffel also, so everyone brings fruit (and the fruit basket goes to slimmer of the week) and cans/packets for the raffle, all the money from teh raffle goes into a pot and when theres enough theres a draw and the one who wins gets a free 12 week countdown. Its good stuff

at christmas eveyrone brang in loads of stuff each week and she made huge prize baskets, they were lovley! and everyone got somthing, which was fab.


anyways. I find image therapy really helpful, na dit motivates me each week, i only stay every other week.. but i couldnt ever stop staying at all, as its what keeps me going, and to try new recipes! x

our group is great and the consultant is really good, we dont have the going round the group with the losses as there is just to many people in the early one there are around 120 members and the late one afterwards that i go to is about 50 members!

the consultant talks about anything to do with slimming world and makes it funny and interesting, we go through syn values, recipes and how to cope with going out and last week it was about how to cope with the school holidays, i dont have kids but it was very interesting.
at the end before the raffle she then gives out the awards and slimmer of the week and what have you

i think thats probably a better format: to congratulate those who have reached a milestone and then ask if anyone needs some support. They dont have to say if theyve lost or not but it would be nice to be able to have discussions as with a lot of us it means that you only really get a chance to chat to the person next to you.
Thankyou all for writing, there are some good suggestions about taster nights and buffets in there which is something i can suggest.