Day 24
The Story of Banana Bariatrics
I can remember having a passion for Bariatric Surgery during my 1st year of post graduate surgical residency training (9 years ago). When it came time to rounding on the hospital floors, I always looked forward to seeing our WLS patients the most. I loved chatting with them about nutrition, wellness, and long-term healthy habit creation.
But I started to realize that the limited time I was able to spend with each of my WLS patients in the hospital setting just wasn’t enough time. I needed a way to connect with them more deeply and to be able to offer a deeper level of educational support.
One day – while on my personal FB account- I started searching for bariatric FB groups. As I’m sure you’re aware, there are a TON. I was thrilled! That is, until I got inside a few of them.
Once inside, I was shocked. Some of the information that was being circulated was incorrect information and was not being monitored. It was also evident that there were some hurtful and critical comments that would pop up in some of the FB threads that felt intentionally cold and cutting by some of the members inside the groups.
This really struck a chord with me.
As a result, our first FB group: Bariatric Weight Loss Support Group, was born. Inside our FB group, we made sure all of our information was 1) medically sound and 2) fostered within a culture that was positive, encouraging, and uplifting (only!) Our itty-bitty FB group quickly grew to > 2,000 members. We were thrilled to have such an incredible group of supportive WLS members!
But as you know, information on FB groups can get a little… scattered. As a result, we put our hats on (now as *Bariatric Health Coaches*) and built a website called Banana Bariatrics. This was our way of originally trying to organize the content and education we were providing. But something was still missing on our new website…deeper support.
Banana Bariatrics was officially launched on September 1st, 2021.
When we launched Banana to our “OG” members, we stayed focused on fostering a deeper and stronger level of connection and support. We worked hard to make our community feel like a close-knit family.
As our family strengthened inside Banana, we:
- Pulled in Bariatric clinicians for weekly support groups calls
- Added valuable content onto our website
- Opened a private FB group just for members for deeper engagement and connection, and
- Started building out structured bariatric courses on the topics of Nutrition, Movement, and Mindfulness!
Since 2021, we have added a whole stack of new features inside Banana, such as:
✅ Weekly Live support groups led by clinicians AND veteran bariatric patients
✅Partnership with an entire Bariatric Dietetic Team for monthly nutritional support groups
✅ Banana Teams (small groupings of 3-4 members who chase the leaderboard by completing weekly health challenges over a 3 month “Season”)
✅ 3 month “Back-on-Track” program
✅ 5 Day Mindset Masterclass
✅ Nutritional Masterclass
✅ Partnership with Celebrate Vitamins
✅ Collaboration with DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery
When we think about Banana, we think about family.
And as our members inside Banana say; “WE are better as a bunch.”
Are you ready to join our family? We’d love to have you!
[Join our FB Group: Bariatric Weight Loss Support Group]
