My LL Counsellor is overweight!

[fatpossum]

My LL counsellor is significantly overweight. She is probably heavier than most of the group she is taking.

Her locum is also overweight - very much so!

Both have mentioned the fact that they have done the diet themselves (more than once from what I gather) it leaves me wondering?

 

[kazz]

I think this has come up a few times before and is a difficult one to call....they could have stopped the program for absolutely any reason, could have started out a lot heavier than they are now. At the end of the day though, the program does work if you follow it to the letter and go thru maintenance properly...it has worked for a lot of people and will continue to work for those who do it properly.

If I had continued with CD properly, I would be at my goal by now, but for my own reasons I didnt....Maybe its similar for your LLC, where for whatever reason she did not continue the plan or follow it properly.

 

[Cherry Plum]

My LLC is overweight, she has been a LLC it for 6 years.
She is very good, we all are losing weight, we are conquering our demons, she is always there for us. I have no bad words to say about her, she is wonderful, she is my saviour.

She just happens to be overweight, who knows why, it could be a medical condition, she may like herself the way she is.
There is a small percentage of people who do not maintain their weight long term, she could be one of them.

But I don't care I'm doing this for me.

 

[gaijingirl]

My counsellor is also significantly overweight and I'm in a class with quite a few people who have done LL and regained weight (to different extents).

I don't know if others have come across it, but my counsellor runs quite a few returners courses - they have different books and sign up for 4 weeks at a time for foodpacks.

I think it would be naive (not you in particular FatPossum) to think that people do this and never regain weight - from what I can see, actually lots of people (not everyone) do regain weight. LL is a great option, but sadly not a magic, cure-all pill! That being said, apparently LL have just done quite a large body of research into the number of people who maintain their weight (maintaining doesn't mean staying exactly the same weight in this context but regaining less than a certain % - can't remember how much exactly) and it was significantly higher than people on other diets. That being said, neither the figure for other diets, nor the figure for LL was perhaps as high as we might hope!

I have myself lost a significant amount of weight before and regained it - and more. To be honest, I know this will be a lifelong problem, as many of my group and my counsellor also acknowledge. However, we are all there to try to work through it, support each other and try to finally succeed in long term maintenance. For many it seems to be a sort of process of ever decreasing circles - they lose lots, gain some, lose that, gain a bit less, lose that etc etc until hopefully, finally reaching a static point. Others maintained for many years and ten, fifteen years later have regained. I feel comforted to know that there are so many people who have this problem and who have a wealth of experience to tap into (not least my counsellor). In my group there are many ladies who have been going for years to the counselling - I suspect I will be one of them.

I guess for me food is an addiction - just like they say once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, I know that part of me will always be a food addict! (which is why abstinence works so well for me!).

But just because your counsellor is overweight and has regained, doesn't mean to say that you will. This may be the first(?) and last time you need to lose weight.

 

[slinkytobe]

Never mind how overweight your counsellor is. You should be thinking about yourself. Think how she has helped you to lose the weight that maybe you never thought you could. I think going back to being overweight must be a real problem for counsellors. They are constantley thinking about other people that they can forget themselves and fall into the trap again, no matter how much knowledge they have. I know that when my children were young that's when I put on the weight because I was always thinking of them and forgot about myself. If we feel awful about being overweight think how they must feel. She's probably alot more conscious of it because of her position. Start focusing on yourself and think about what you want out of it. Are you trying to find an excuse to stop? I know that this is my last chance of losing the weight and I will not let that get in the way.

 

[tishtosh]

Well said slinky!

 

[Coley]

ah.....not this old chestnut again!!!

As little slinky has said...who gives a hoot....it's YOU you need to think about. Only YOU can stop the weight going back on.

This subject causes a lot of discomfort for some people on here because they feel they are being judged already by their clients....which they clearly are. (please note this isn't a personal issue for me as I am not overweight....)

I do just think it's irrelevant to point out that someone else is overweight. It's like saying that someone else got a new washing machine....thats nice...but what has it got to do with you? Does that mean you now have to get a new washing machine?!!

Knowledge and putting knowledge into practice are different things. Remember that.

 

[cheerydino]

My LLC is overweight, she has been a LLC it for 6 years.
She is very good, we all are losing weight, we are conquering our demons, she is always there for us. I have no bad words to say about her, she is wonderful, she is my saviour.

She just happens to be overweight, who knows why, it could be a medical condition, she may like herself the way she is.
There is a small percentage of people who do not maintain their weight long term, she could be one of them.

But I don't care I'm doing this for me.

You could say exactly the same about my LLC but I live in North London! My LLC is very good and I have no complaints about her whatsoever.

I have done WW twice before and I know what it is like when pounds creeps up over time and there are medical problems that we should consider as well. Like thyroid disorder in my case.

 

[Just Do It]

Hi, my counsellor is also overweight. However she is confident, helpful and very positive for us. Our locum is very slim and is about to become a counsellor.

I take inspiration from the people who encourage us on Minimins who have been at goal for some time.

They show me it is possible to lose it and stay there. I intend to focus on them and any advice they give.

I appreciate their contributions very much. (Not to say I don't also appreciate those who are still on their journey down!)

Just to know it is an achievable goal is so positive.

Claire

 

[Mrs Pink]

Hey Fatpossum you must be thinking everyone is getting at you! I think your observation is entirely understandable - as, while I agree with what the others have said, it WOULD undeniably be more encouraging to those of us with fragile willpower and yoyo habits to have a counsellor who showed by remaining at target that our problems with food and weight CAN be resolved once and for all.
(Retires to her bunker wearing tin hat ...)

 

[Coley]

lol....I know what you're saying.....but it's just not nice to pick at others faults.

Its not like they're stupid and don't know how to do it......they just haven't or have some other reason why they've gained weight!!

I just find it altogether a very awkward subject.

 

[sonkie]

Just goes to show they are human and know how hard it is ......! I think those cdc`s or llc`s who have a bit of extra weight can understand how you feel.

 

[Hiddenfishcake]

Trouble is some people will find it very difficult to take the group sessions from someone who very clearly doesn't practice what they preach! I know that the attitude should be to focus on yourself and the reasons why YOU are the way you are, but people are often not like that are they? It's hard enough to do this as it is, but it can be a bit demoralising taking advice from someone who doesn't look like what they're telling you is true!

 

[Hiddenfishcake]

BTW, my own LLC is at goal as is her locum. I don't have this problem, but I think it would certainly make me doubt the effectiveness of the course as a whole if I did. That may make me shallow, but I know I would find it hard to believe, unless of course they explained that there was a reason things hadn't worked out for them.

 

[Coley]

Trouble is some people will find it very difficult to take the group sessions from someone who very clearly doesn't practice what they preach! I know that the attitude should be to focus on yourself and the reasons why YOU are the way you are, but people are often not like that are they? It's hard enough to do this as it is, but it can be a bit demoralising taking advice from someone who doesn't look like what they're telling you is true!

all true.......BUT!!! have you never had a weight watchers leader or a slimming world leader who's over weight?

I have....and it's not like that made me doubt how it worked.....

just wondering...

 

[DQ]

all true.......BUT!!! have you never had a weight watchers leader or a slimming world leader who's over weight?

I have....and it's not like that made me doubt how it worked.....

just wondering...

Or conversely, if you've been to WW or SW and the leader was slim, did it get YOU to goal?

There are so many reasons why people regain the weight. Some of them are happy to explain what has happened, some of them are not. Should they have to explain the ins and outs of their lives - possibly deeply personal reasons for their weight - to reassure you that the plan does work??

As several people have said, your LLC or CDC is a facilitator - it is down to you how successful YOU are.

 

[flirty40greeneyes]

I am one of those CDC's who has put 1 and half stone of weight on after losing 4 stone initially .... nothing wrong with CD the product - totally MY own fault. I chose to put the extra calories in my mouth and if you eat more calories than you expend in energy you WILL put weight on - this applies to ANY diet.

That said, I do feel guilty and constantly beat myself up and apologise to clients .... but they tend to say as Sonkie has that it makes me a more understanding CDC than one who has never had a weight problem, or who lost the weight easily and kept it off. I don't think it makes me a better or worse counsellor - as I strive to advise, support, motivate and help my clients on their weight loss journey regardless of my size.

I think as Nicole has said it can become presonal and it is not nice to pick holes in other people - especially if she does not have the right of reply.

Equally doing any diet is about YOU losing the weight with the help and support of your counsellor - whether they are slim or overweight. I wish you the best in your weight loss journey and so hope that soon I'll be at the end of mine!

 

[Hiddenfishcake]

I haven't, but probably only because this is the first "organised" diet regime that I have ever attempted! TBH the fact that I knew it would be men-only sessions is the main reason I went for LL.

 

[Coley]

I haven't, but probably only because this is the first "organised" diet regime that I have ever attempted! TBH the fact that I knew it would be men-only sessions is the main reason I went for LL.

ahhhh...ok...not quite in the same boat those who have done the dieting rounds...

xx

 

[Hiddenfishcake]

Please don't think that I think that any counsellor, regardless of the scheme, doesn't want the best for their clients or doesn't strive to help them in any way that they can because I'm sure they do. In fact as people have said I'm sure that they do all that and more possibly because they know that they aren't the picture of success that the clients want to see. I take my hat off to all of you that have gone through the programs.

All I was saying was that some people may find it hard to believe all the things that you are told if the counsellor is bigger than many of her clients. I suppose it will also depend on just how good the counsellor is anyway though.

Maybe the above will only apply to us cynical ones!!