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Does anyone go to any local support groups for people have have had wls? Have you found it helpful? What have you learned?

Pros & cons?

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Kay I go to a few support groups. My surgeon has a twice monthly group meeting of pre and post op patients. The benefit of these meetings are the chance to talk to pre op patients about what they will experience. The meetings did help me pre op. As for post op, we compare notes and root for each other and give support.

I also go to a group meeting that my therapist has. The meeting isn't productive. Everyone talks over each other and there is no structure for people to participate. It's the loudest and pushiest that get to speak. I actually go to these meetings for the entertainment value as I don't get much therapeutic value out of them.

My last support group is Overeaters Anonymous (OA). My therapist was able to show me that I was a Compulsive Overeater. No matter how much weight I could lose it would only come back due to my compulsion to over eat. OA is based on the same 12 step program as Alcoholics Anonymous. It is a very good fellowship that helps to get one spiritually grounded and to help with the compulsion of overeating. I attend a few meetings a week and I also have a sponsor who I call every day for guidance and support and to help me be mindful of my eating habits..

Any support group that you feel comfortable with and that will help you succeed is worth joining. I know that I cannot be successful on my own. I am 100% successful in failing at all of my previous attempts to keep my weight loss off. I take it one day at a time. If I can be successful today then I try my best to carry that success over to the next day. So far, I'm doing better than I thought I would. I'll be 18 months post op at the end of this month and I've been able to achieve my goal weight and maintain it. How long can I do it for? I don't know. I do know that I will never again get the advantage that I now have from the WLS. I don't want to squander this "Golden Ticket" that I've been given.

Good luck in your weight loss journey and I wish you much success.

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I agree with Danny that you should find a support group that you feel comfortable with.

I was required to go to the support group at my hospital for 3 months before and after. I really wanted it to be useful, but (like Danny's therapist's group), people just yell over each other and there are several conversations going on at once. It stressed me out so much I actually threw up once.

Now i go to one offered by my therapist (who specializes in weight loss/bariatrics). It's new, but so far, great. We share our experiences, fears, emotional issues with foods. She prepares a topic to discuss if we don't have anything specific to talk about.

I'm also looking into seeing if one of the other hospitals has a convenient group. My therapist's group is pretty small, and I'd like to meet a larger community of WLS patients. Most hospitals will let you attend even if you had surgery elsewhere.

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My hospital has monthly support groups for WLS patients, but unfortunately it only available to their own patients. It is well attended and the facilitator is very skilled at providing the perfect balance of structure and flexibility. For pre-op people researching surgeons and programs, I would highly recommend finding one with consistent and robust groups. There are people who have not missed a meeting in 10 years and they partially credit the support for their continued success.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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