weight loss and groups

First, thanks Mary for reporting in and I am glad you are following this daily! Hope it helps your efforts!

Many people, when they embark on a weight loss effort would rather not tell anyone else, least if little-no success is achieved, then there is less embarrassment about being seen as a "failure".

I try very hard to have my patients be very upfront with everyone about their weight lossefforts, as often, your family and friends, once they know this, will be more apt to bea help as opposed to a saboteur. If your family knows you are trying to lose weight, they will be encouraging, and perhaps select restaurants and offer food choices at their houses that would be supportive of your efforts. Also, witht he overweight rate in the US being 67%, I would bet there are some other family members and friends who need to lose weight , and your mission will inspire them to also move forward to become healthier.

Weight Watchers and other organizations offer group meetings for support. Some people thrive on this and others find it abhorrent to be with other people in a group. My daughter, Kymberly, is currently a graduate student at George Mason in a counseling program. Her undergraduate degree is in criminal justice. Not that eating an Oreo is a criminal act, but Kymberly has excelled at facilitating group meetings, and we are going to offer some group meetings in the near future. More details will follow both here and at the office.

Your friends, family and certainly your family here at Serotonin-Plus can be a great support system for you during your efforts. If your goal was to gain weight (some actors/actresses need to do this for movie roles) no support is needed at all..do what is fun and do what the body tells you to do. However, to lose weight, lots of support is needed.