You know how I usually come up with something pithy at the end of the week about the topic in our meetings? Yeah, this week I just can't do it. So instead, I'll pull back the curtain a bit on what it's like to prepare for a Weight Watchers meeting.
Weight Watchers decides what our topic of discussion will be for the week. They also give me some suggestions on how to frame the topic - suggested questions, objectives to achieve, information to impart. All of that is published to employees each month in a Meeting Guide. How I actually run the discussion is up to me, and I'm free to add my own questions, tweak the overall direction of the topic, find my own motivational closing quotes, that sort of thing.
Most of the time I stick with the general suggestions. For one thing, now that we have standardized flip charts, it's easier that way. (Here's a hint: if I'm blowing through a chart really fast, it probably means I decided to focus on something else more!) For another, I'm not one for gimmicks. Other than the occasional silly headband, I don't bring in stories or poems, don't dress in costume, and very very rarely play games or do small group projects. I suspect if I did more meetings each week I might handle things differently, but when I've got a full-time job, spending a lot of time preparing for just two meetings a week doesn't make sense.
So back to this past week's topic: when I first received the March guide, I flipped through to see what the topics were going to be for the month. When I got to the fiber topic, I groaned. My objective for the week was (and I quote) "to facilitate a fun, high-energy discussion about how fiber helps with weight loss and how to eat more of it." Sure thing, boss.
Look. Most of the topics we deliver are excellent. They are informative, or they are valuable in some other way, either by improving your outlook in regards to weight loss, or by helping you stay motivated to continue the journey. Occasionally there's a topic that's...not so hot. One that just doesn't go over well. Sometimes the group just isn't into it, or it's not extraordinarily relevant (inevitably the "cold weather exercise solutions" topic lands on a week in winter that we're having a heat wave). Some topics can feel (to me) to be very "teachy" and less about group discussion. Sometimes the topic sounds like it's going to be a bust, but then I go out there, and you guys love it - and other times the complete opposite happens.
That's the thing about hanging out with you guys. You just never know where the discussion will take you!
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3 comments:
Fiber! What's not exciting about fiber?
Well... ok.
Though I know a couple of people with constipation issues who think it's a FASCINATING topic.
Thanks for the behind the scenes look!
I think fiber is one of the graces of the Weightwatcher's program, and if you eat foods high in fiber, you naturally cut down calories and the points are low! I was perhaps the only person at Clairemont to be excited by the fiber topic.
That's the spirit! You're right, though, fiber is so important. Hey, I guess that's why it was a meeting topic, right?
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