GL Wk 22

Week 22: The Key Concepts

Past week review (no longer than 10 - 15 minutes).

Last week's lesson was centered on the question of "How will I know when I'm done?" and your homework was to do the "naked in the mirror test." Did you do the test…or at least do it in your underwear or swimsuit?

Who would be willing to talk a little bit about their experience?

Pause for discussion.

Anyone else have a different response?

Try to get a response from as many people as possible. Finish the discussion by reading this:

Please take note: if you chose not to do the test last week, you really want to reconsider. Being willing to take a good, long, hard look at yourself and thinking about where you are and where you want to be are all part of the work that you've been doing here. And don't be afraid to be positive. Even if you are not where you want to be yet, remember that you are still much closer to that goal than you were when you began the program months ago.

Discuss.

Now, before we go on to the lesson, does anyone have any other insights or interesting experiences that they think would be valuable to share with the group? What about any questions?

And then play the lesson.

After Audio Check-In:

What did you think of the lesson you just heard?
Anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share?
Questions? "Ah Ha Moments"?

Give people a bit of time to flush out initial reactions before moving on to the next discussion point.
If there are no responses, simply move forward.

Discussion Point 1:

This week's lesson introduced the "Key Concepts." They are not new ideas. All of them have been discussed at some point; but they are a way of reviewing and remembering some of the most important ideas that you will want to take with you when the course ends.

So, let's talk about the Key Concepts in today's lesson. The first was:

Key Concept #1 – Personal Responsibility

Who would like to explain what this means and why it's so important?

Important because: The acceptance of personal responsibility has been found to be the single most important factor in weight management.

Anyone have any experiences they'd like to share with the group on how taking personal responsibility has affected them since they started on this journey?

Call on people if no one volunteers. Have more than one person respond. Try to ensure that people understand the point of the Key Concept.

Then, move on in the same way with the same questions for each of the remaining Key Concepts from today's lesson. They are:

Key Concept #2 – Monitoring Your Internal Environment

Important because: You must learn to switch from being controlled by externals to judging and making assessments based upon what you know to be the case internally.

Also, supports the next key concept because the more internal awareness you have, the better prepared you are to trust yourself to be able to deal with any challenges that might arise.

Any experiences to share?

Key Concept #3 – Trust Yourself

Important because: You must have enough confidence in yourself to rely upon and act upon what you know internally to be true. You must learn to be able to take action based upon your own self knowledge.

Any experiences to share?

Key Concept #4 – Positive Self-Talk

Important because: You want to develop the ability to not let sad or negative thoughts overcome you and to turn such thoughts around so they become encouraging and upbeat…move from discouraging to optimistic in your thinking.

Any experiences to share?

Key Concept #5 – Playtime

Important because: You must learn to make positive activities a part of your life so you can develop a balance between work and play and avoid the anxiety and frustration that arise when you don't make time for yourself.

Any experiences to share?

Keep in mind, the "Key Concepts" aren't just about "ideas." They are about you developing very real, very concrete changes in your lifestyle. As the lesson said, there is a big difference between saying “I need to work on this.” And saying “This is what I am going to do to address this problem."

So, if you haven't already done so, begin to create a list of what purposes food serves for you, along with a list of alternative behaviors you have begun to develop for dealing with these issues. It's important to actually write all this down.

So, who's ready to share with the group an example of a way in which you used food in the past to satisfy some need and what you are now doing instead of eating?

These kinds of changes are the basis for future success, so be sure to get a number of people contributing to this discussion.

If time permits, you can also have the group work together on coming up with concrete plans and suggestions for other ways to satisfy people's needs if some group members are having problems coming up with alternative behaviors.

Wrap-Up:

Now is the time when you need to start really putting into action your new, very specific, concrete plans for change. Develop, practice, and refine your new strategies.

Use the Key Concepts to make your new lifestyle changes. These changes make up your new lean and trim lifestyle formula. They are not just some nice ideas to try out; they need to be a living reality for you.

Working on this…developing that new lifestyle formula is your only homework for this week.

Have a good week!

Track Your Progress: