It finally happened. Our Sam missed a class. We’d left home and driven 120 kilometres to catch her class every Tuesday for the past 8 weeks. We could have attended a class 20 kilometres away but, without beating about the bush, the consultant in that town was n’t a patch on Sam so on we drove, week after week.
The class felt so strange without her. Our brilliant “ever up” motivator was absent and in her place was a mere mortal. We were all a bit thrown. No one had known prior to the class and I suppose if Sam had let it slip sooner many, including us, would have skipped turning up at all.
You really don’t appreciate someone and their skill until you experience someone else giving it a go and suddenly the difference is immediate and hugely apparent. It’s not what the substitute consultant didn’t do as much as what Sam did.
We’d arrived about 10 am and to my right a queue of, in the main, women were waiting to pay their €9 fee & move on to be weighed & then be seated while to my left at the new joiners table an animated auburn haired women, early 40’s was holding court walking newcomers through the concept, the books and how the plan worked.
Shortly the beginner's table would empty, all the slimmers would take their seats and the class proper would commence. I say all but everyday about 40% of those weighed leave immediately and miss the class which as Sam put it, is like going to the cinema, buying your ticket for the movie and leaving before it starts. The key to weight loss is turning on a switch in the brain, to change your approach to food and to plan your meals for the week ahead. It’s all in the head and that’s where the class comes in.
I grabbed a chair and shortly after my wife sat beside me. We exchanged looks, I fashioned a raised eyebrow “How much down?” and she replied by giving me the two fingers. She’d hoped for two and a half but two was still good. I nodded and took out my notebook.
I always took notes of what is said at these meeting for a couple of reasons. Firstly my wife is a bit deaf and misses a lot of the verbal exchanges so I capture the essence of what’s said for her. Secondly, useful information is exchanged, ideas, new products, recipes, ideas for exercise and I don’t want to miss any of them. Thirdly I do feel I remember things better if I write them down.
I glanced over at the consultant. I could see she was nervous but she was an experienced woman and this class was going to happen one way or the other. I watched as she pumped herself up behind the registration table before bounding out into the middle of the room and delivered a loud “Good morning” accompanied by a broad flash of pearly white teeth.
The loud buzz of conversation amongst the thirty or so slimmers faded to silence and the consultant started her work. She turned to her left and began by asking each person there to state their name and whether they were up, down or unchanged with their weight this week. It sounds a reasonable approach but wasn’t.
Why you ask?
Well if the slimmer, was down the consultant was on sure ground and led the applause. The beaming slimmer was then pressed to reveal what had led to the loss in weight and most said “I just stuck to the plan” but some revealed they’d increased their salad intake, drank more water, cut out the chocolates or simply been ill and unable to eat.
But if the slimmer was unchanged or worse still up in weight the class didn’t know what to do. Applaud someone for putting on weight? Failing to lose weight? It presented us with a moral dilemma and a few pregnant seconds of silence followed the slimmers negative news.
I thought back to earlier classes. What did Sam do? And then it struck me. She didn’t ask the question.
That’s what she did. She had her tablet open in front of her and she knew that this slimmer had had a bad week and was up a few pounds so rather than asking the question and publicly embarrassing the person she ‘d say “ Well Doreen, you’ve lost 2 stone 4 pounds to date.” And she’d lead the applause. She’d ignore the bad news this week, for now, and the applause would ring out for Doreen.
Only then would she gently say “Well Doreen, you were up two pounds this week, do you know why? Is there anything I can help you with?
Today’s substitute consultant continued to work her way around the room, without the tablet, never quite finding the correct response to the slimmers with bad news who got a belated splattering of nervous applause. There was a feeling of gloom gathering as the consultant closed in on each attendee.
Men are rarities at weight loss meetings. I’d say 5% of the slimmers are men. Astonishing isn’t it? Shame it’s not a reflection of the real world. In my opinion there are just as many obese and overweight men as there are obese and overweight women but the men generally lack the balls to acknowledge that they have a weight problem.
However, the light relief our sub badly needed was just a seat away and came in the form of two middle-aged men who sat next to each other. Ken was up 4 pounds and Brian was up 3 pounds. Between them they’d added half a stone in one week!
“Do you know how?” the sub asked Ken. He adjusted his black spectacles perched on his nose and replied at length and in detail. “Six pints on Sunday night was followed by a bag of chips and chicken balls at midnight, not to mention the tub of curry sauce”. Saturday wasn’t much better when his brother in law twisted his arm to slip out to the pub for a few bevies before dinner and they spent the evening there before staggering home after 11.00pm. There was an audible collective gasp from the throng of women who probably chastised themselves for having that second slice of bread with a knob of butter at breakfast. The off diet being recounted here and now was of epic proportions!
Brian’s story of woe was equally off the diet and acknowledged as such by him but he then made a rousing declaration that he was up to a “weigh-off” challenge with anyone for this coming week. “Are there any takers for losing 4 pounds by next Tuesday?”His challenge was taken on by Pete and they rose from their stools, like gladiators and cheerily shook fists at each other. The challenge was accepted.
Finally, the sub completed the personal enquiry exercise and without any fanfare announced the class over and people got up and left. I had my pen in my hand hovering over an empty page. No tips for losing weight, no recipes for free food, no news on the latest finding in the food world or special offers for low-fat food in the local supermarkets. The Sam bonus, the added value she brought to meetings was missing. I slipped the notepad back into my man bag while remembering Sam’s last nugget of wisdom
Her 5Ps ……………“Perfect Planning Prevents Piling Pounds”
See you next week!
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