Last night we had a different group leader. She has been doing this for five years and was telling us that Oakland has 30 groups going right now (SF has 3.) So she asked if we had questions about the long-term on the group and someone asked how many people keep the weight off. She wouldn't answer. Another said that she heard it was 25% did that sound right - and she wouldn't answer.
What she did say is that if you take the weight off and keep it off for a year studies show you will keep it off for five years. So that is why they have the 82 weeks.
Then we talked about Christmas and cheating. She said that she didn't like calling it cheating but lapses off plan. Then she said that lapsing is perfectly acceptable and it teaches you how to deal with difficult situations. So whereas the other facilitator would have said you really need to stay on the plan because this is the time that you lose weight and going off plan will slow this active weight loss up, she said thats okay as long as you got back on the plan. Basically what I got from her was "lapsing was good" because it taught you stress points.
Hmm. So we have one person on the plan who got really sick and she didn't want to take any medicine because she didn't know what it would do to her active weight loss. She called the doctor asking her what she could take for her cold and if it would be off plan. Then you have someone who periodically cheats and said that she ate all day Christmas - whatever she wanted - but she didn't enjoy the food and was back on plan, and then another who said that she ate 30 Almond Roca because her brother upset her. Everybody else stayed true to plan.
We talked about staying on the plan after the 16 weeks and she said that if you felt you needed to stay on the shakes that it would probably be a good idea to stay on the shakes. She stated that a number of her groups had people who continued on the meal replacement even after the 16 weeks - as long as their health was good.
So those are the facts I am not sure I agree with her about the "lapsing" but she had some good information.
I can attest that T3 did NOT cheat or lapse on Christmas Day - I have the extra leftovers to prove it.
ReplyDeleteNext week to talk with you Dr. to see if she'll OK staying on the shakes after the 17 weeks!
What a "PITA" facilitator to not answer the question about how many keep the weight off!
Mop rules!
Interesting about the 82 weeks. I'm thinking you need to put your own stats together and publish an article. For example, split the group into cheaters and non cheaters and see what percentage in each group keeps the weight off. Write up the article and then sell it to individuals who enter the program after you. We'll get rich! (Note I said "we")
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