I've been thinking about getting into counseling or some kind of support group to help work through my obvious food issues. My insurance does cover this, but I also thought about Overeaters Anonymous. Has anyone here gone to their meetings? Did you think it was helpful? How do they view people who have surgery?

I like the idea of a support group because it can be a bit uncomfortable just focusing on my for an hour (the curse of being a twin and a mom - you're not used to the spotlight!) Any insight/opinions you guys have would be appreciated.

I have a friend who went to the meetings and she did well while she went to the meetings but as soon as she stopped she gained the weight back.

Thanks for the info. I did some more checking on their website and I don't know how accepting they would be of sleevers. They have a list of statements to help determine if you're an overeater and one of them asks if you've considered weight loss surgery. Hmmm, have to think about this.

I haven't been to oa before, but it might be worth emailing the contact person in your area. They can usually give more detailed information and answer questions. Also, there probably are oa forums you could look up and ask there. Does your area have any weight loss surgery specific support groups?

You can also check to see if your company has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Lots of large employer groups have this as a benefit. They typically offer some type of free counseling for certain types of situations. If you work for a really big company or a hospital, sometimes the EAP counselors are on staff. Other companies outsource it. But since it's counseling at no cost to you, it's worth a look-see.

If there's no support groups in your area -- maybe you can start one!

You might consider the group TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly - http://www.tops.org/default.aspx). They are nonprofit and each group runs itself. They collect dues like Weight Watchers but not near as much (they have national dues which were like $20 a years and club dues which are voted on by the members). They use the dues to give awards to people who lose weight and to do things. And to make it fair, they have categories - by sex, weight category and they even have a category for people who have had weight loss surgery.

I used to go but quit. I might go again. The reason I quit is because I didn't feel like I fit in with that particular group - there were a lot of really old people in my group. But I went to one of their conventions and there were groups with much younger members.

Thank you all for all the input. Unfortunately, I work for a really small company so there aren't any of those kinds of benefits available. @Pinky Green, I've never heard of TOPS but I might check them out. I'm also going to call my insurance company to see if they have any groups or counselors that specialize in dealing with food issues. It's on my list of questions for my surgeon as well. I see him on the 6th.

Another option is OA online. They have great resources and then a sort of chat room that people join and then the meeting is conducted online in that format. I live on the booneys so the nearest meeting was over an hour away. That was a nice option.