Counselling

:sign0163:
Can anyone give me an insight as to what the counselling involves and what they feel they get out.

Thanks

Pammiedoll

I think the counselling differs greatly depending on who your LLC is. I think the main thing is that you get out of it as much as you put in. If you say nothing, you may struggle to understand how each subject affects you directly.

Each week follows various subjects around you and your relationship with food. Personally I've found dealing with which mind state I go into and and why the most useful. I now think like an adult and not a rebelious child. Take responsibility for what I put in my mouth and be a grown up about it. And it's about time!

As I say, it's different for everyone due to different counsellors. Even the people in your group will affect what you get out of it. But it's definitely benefited me in a lot of ways I hadn't realised until now.

Sorry that's not much help! Hope you get on ok x

It is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Transactinal Anaysis - which is basically methods to change your behaviour after learning and understanding why you behave the way you do.

What I got out of it was 9.5 stones off my back! Something I could never acheive on any other plan.



xx

I'm a bit different because I'm attending refreshers. I only did it for 12 days before I dropped out last time, but there were no groups starting and I really wanted to get going so my LL counsellor said I should join refreshers. So I did. The counselling is the same but more condensed as most have been through it before, but my LLC is excellent and a real help. We were doing Cycle of Change last night (the stages which you go through to achieve change).

I was sceptical about the counselling before last night, but we got talking and I mentioned how i'm taking this one day at a time because if I think long term I freak and give up. About how I need choice - to choose every day to do this.

Then others started talking about how many packs they consume and how some were struggling to eat all their packs. I said, I had found this time so much easier because I'm consuming all 4 packs, whereas last time I deliberately consumed 3.5 to save half a pack a day. LLC asked me why - was it for additional weight loss, and funnily enough, no it wasn't. It was so I could have my choice of packs at the end of the week. I hated the thought of being forced to have flavours I didn't feel like at the end of the week...I didn't think that was that weird, but she said, you have real issues with choice, don't you? And I burst into tears!!! Surprised myself!

Anyway, now I'm buzzing, and have been since yest evening. I've still got to think round this, but I know a lot of it stems from my husband leaving last Dec (we were together 14 years) and feeling very constrained and lacking in choice as I have a 2 and 4 year old at home. So it appears I'm seeking out choice in different ways, which is why I'm more successful this time, because I'm choosing to do it every day, and I'm not doing the whole 100 day thing which takes the pressure and "have to do it" feeling away...

That, I think, is what the counselling is all about. I think you have to participate fully yourself because its not one on one and professional CBT (e.g. I'm now going to have to go away and work on why choices and control is so important to me), and it so much depends on your counsellor (mine is fab) but it has already, after just one session, identified a key issue for me, and one which was at least partly behind my failure at this diet last time.

Anyway, I hope this helps, and good luck.