The Groups: An Overview…

In a couple of my earlier posts and elsewhere on this site I have referred to a series group Wellness and Nutrition programs and how the changes I made toward a fit and healthy lifestyle and a nutritious diet produced a significant loss in my weight and inches in my waist. Thinking you might be interested in some specifics, here’s an overview.

Known technically as “Wellness Group Visits for Weight Management and Lifestyle Change”, they are conducted by Dr. Wayne Altman and licensed dietitian, nutritionist and personal trainer Kerri Hawkins, both of the Family Practice Group, Arlington MA. To become a participant, you need to be either a patient of a provider in the practice or referred to the FPG by your personal care physician.

I joined in September 2010. We met Tuesday evenings for 15 sessions over a 4 month period. Each week, our vitals were taken and we completed a weekly questionnaire. Each session had a theme which allowed for give-and-take on the subject as well as general sharing about how we were doing, issues we may be having, etc. The themes were generally directed at a behavioral modification we were urged to undertake including: exercise and activity; food selection, meal planning and nutrition; mindfulness; mutual support. Other than being urged to eat less and eliminate foods with no or low nutritional value for the calorie consumed, there was no “diet” as such. Instead, the program is about changes made gradually but “for life”.

Seems pretty straightforward but if you look beneath the surface, something special was happening.

In retrospect, my experience was that participation in this endeavor as a group member was crucial: the mutual support and accountability it fostered and the emotional connection or bond (and, yes, even affection) that developed between and among the group members as we traveled the path together toward the common goal of living a healthy and nutritious lifestyle were the keys to the successes that we achieved. Yes, you have to do the “work” but it’s a lot tougher going it alone.

We use a private e-list – to share our insights, vent our frustrations, ask for help and, yes, “crow” about our successes. When one of us experiences a ‘win’, it gives the rest of us hope; when one confesses to difficulty achieving a goal, we discover we weren’t the only one. Sounds simple but my observation was that it’s crucial to help keep each other on track, not just during the 4-month term but even afterwards. In effect, the Wellness and Nutrition programs seem to have propagated, perhaps as an unintended by-product, a caring community of like-minded compatriots that continues to grow as the new groups are formed and mature.

Following my initial 4-month session, I have maintained my involvement with the Wellness and Nutrition programs by re-upping in a subsequent group, then as a visiting ‘alum’ to the sessions of newly minted groups and more recently, in an “advanced group” iteration of alums that met monthly during the period September 2011 and June 2012. To me, the common thread of the fabric of success remains the commitment to “mutual support and accountability” either in person or via email. For me, I expect that will continue, going forward.