How Open Are Support Groups?

[Véronique 238]

Hey,

So, I am about to have surgery with my bariatric surgeon and they offer monthly support groups at Poudre Valley Hospital called "Light for Life". However, since I live in Longmont, my ability to attend these groups is limited. In fact, unless I move up to Fort Collins (which I don't see happening unless I get a job up there), I will only be able to attend one: the one next Monday, as I plan to be staying with a friend up in Fort Collins as I have surgery scheduled for the following morning.

One thing I keep hearing is that one key to success is engaging in these support groups. I'm not sure how accurate that is but I'm not willing to neglect any tool that could help me not only get to my goal weight but to keep the weight off. My question is this: is it typically possible to attend support groups set up by other practices when you can't attend the ones with your practice? For example, if you lived in say, Tampa, Florida and had surgery there and you decided to move to Seattle (just as an example), would you have a reasonable expectation to be able to attend the groups there? Or if you worked closer to one set of support groups than another, would you be able to attend those if they worked better for your commute?

[gotime0810 71]

I would think you should be able to attend any support group in your area. A lot of the hospitals in my area offer them so they are not surgeon specific.

Making it out to meetings is hard for me, so I consider this forum a great support group. I'm also part of a small Facebook support group.

[Véronique 238]

2 hours ago, gotime0810 said:

I would think you should be able to attend any support group in your area. A lot of the hospitals in my area offer them so they are not surgeon specific.

Making it out to meetings is hard for me, so I consider this forum a great support group. I'm also part of a small Facebook support group.

Yeah, I figure it's important to use all the resources at your disposal to make this a success.