Looking for Bariatric Support? Hop Online With Us!

One of the things you hear from all sorts of folks involved in the world of bariatrics is that support is crucial. From the group and online aspects to programs such as Weight Watchers to the various support groups offered by bariatric surgery centers to the hundreds of groups found online such as on Bariatric Pal, Obesity Help, Facebook or other dedicated web sites. It doesn’t matter how you want to try and get to a healthier weight, it’s a great idea to get the support of others and you have all sorts of places to go to get all sorts of levels of support from peers and professionals alike.

You would think there would be more than enough options out there, right? Well, we’re going to add one more to the mix.

For those who have attended support group sessions with a bariatric surgery center, the format we’re going to have may be familiar. Part of the event will be a discussion with a “special guest” of some sort. I’ve met a LOT of great people who work in the field of bariatrics in the 9+ years since my surgery, people I have personally learned a lot from and I’m glad to be able to get them to share some of it with you as well.

I’m also really hoping to bring in my experience as a host of The Wake Up Call radio show to help not just educate and support, but to provide a bit of entertainment as well.

The second part of the event will be peer to peer discussion, among those in attendance. The platform we’re trying out will allow attendees to text chat with each other and also allow me to turn on microphones of attendees that wish to do so, and we’ll be able to have live conversations about questions and concerns YOU have, getting live feedback from everyone in attendance.

The Online Support Group meetings are scheduled for the first Wednesday of the month, from 8:00-9:30PM Eastern (5:00-6:30PM Pacific) - the schedule is subject to change though, so watch the schedule for the latest updates.

I mentioned guests… I’ve got a number of great guests lined up in the coming months… our first guest is going to Katie Jay. I chatted with Katie Jay a few years back for an episode of The Weight Loss Surgery Podcast, go take a listen if you would like to get an introduction to her (or check it out after the group to learn more). We’ll do a brief intro for her at the start of the event, but our main point of discussion is going to be the Importance of Support. Katie Jay knows a lot about support, besides being a bariatric surgery patient herself, she’s written some books about it and is the founder of the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery (NAWLS).

To join us, you will need to register - just head over to the Registration Page to do so. While you’re at it, you can also register for some of the other upcoming events on the main registration page (note: you do need to register for each scheduled event).

Just to give you a hint about some of the upcoming guests, we have folks like Ted Kyle, Dr. Walt Medlin, and Merrill Littleberry… I’ll be posting more about them and their upcoming topics in the coming weeks/months. And if you have suggestions for upcoming guests/topics, please feel free to share them, either in the comments or reach out to me directly.

I hope to see you there!