Some days, I feel like I am a great counselor and other days I wonder if I should have stayed home.
Yesterday, I accidently asked a client, "What's up with all these french fries?" OK, that was not being a good counselor. I shouldn't have said that. I was actually thinking out loud. She laughed it off, but I still wished I hadn't said it.
Today, on the other hand was a much better day. A client, "Susan", posed a completely different challenge. She lost 60 pounds on the program when she did it over a year ago, but then she gained 40 of it back this year because she didn't go through Maintenance.
She came back to the center to restart the program about 6 weeks ago and has already lost 8 pounds. Then Thanksgiving happened and now she is back up 8 pounds to her original weight.
I asked her what happened. She said Thanksgiving with her parents and also with her husband's parents and she was out of control. She looked me in the eyes and said she came to the decision that she was happy where she was and decided it wasn't that bad being in a size 14. She told me that she knew she could eat anything she wanted in a size 14, but wouldn't be able to if she was in a size 10.
I told her 6 weeks ago, she wasn't happy in a size 14 and that 6 weeks ago she wanted to lose 40 pounds so that she could feel better and avoid hereditary diabetes and heart disease. I told her she may be complacent in a size 14, but this is not where it is going to end. If she keeps up what she did last week, she will not stop at size 16, 18 or even more...
I explained to her that it is only food and for some reason she was sabotaging herself. For some reason, she was giving food total power over her. It's only food!
We dug out her Before & After Photos from when she was on the plan before. What a difference! She was a knockout by the time she finished the program. But the woman sitting at my desk was tired, slouching and hiding under layers of elastic clothes.
I tried to get down to what the real problem was, but that may be another session. I stopped pushing when she almost cried. That's where I draw the line. I never want to make anyone cry. If they cry, then I will cry and that would be one big mess!
So, we hung her photos on the wall so that she could see them each time she comes into the center. I feel like she was motivated to lose the weight now. I can't wait till she comes back into the center. I hope she stays motivated and drops a couple of pounds between now & then.
