It's Friday (in Australia)! This is the first WIN OF THE WEEK post, where we can share some small achievement from the past week. It doesn't need to be food or weight related, just something in any category of your life where you ticked a box. I'll start us off with ..... I cleaned my wardrobe out this week! Round of applause please!🤣 In the process I found clothes that I had completely forgotten about and shoes hidden right at the back covered in about an inch of dust. I also have 15 pairs of shoes to take to the charity shop.

The first 2 sections of Bariatric Essentials is now live under the 'classroom' tab. This will slowly build into a complete guide, then in time I'll add more info, guides, resources etc. Once we get bigger, I'll be able to get other experienced people onboard to help and support our community. If you know someone who might like to join us while it's still free, why not send let them know about us?

We are ready to add our first challenge to the group! Are you ready to get involved? The first challenge is called REMEMBER THE BASICS. Each day from Monday 19th January, and for 7 days, I'll be adding a useful reminder of the basics for you to incorporate into your daily life. This is a chance to reboot your motivation and to let me know how you are going. We are still a very small group, but who's up for the first ever challenge?

I thought it might be a good time to properly introduce myself and share my journey so far. When I turned 40 I weighed about 110kgs (242lbs) and was in hospital with massive gallstones. The doctor said my weight had contributed to the problem, so I knew it was time to finally do something more radical. I had tried every diet in the book between the ages of 18 to 40, and had just got fatter and fatter over that time. I visited a local surgeon to talk about surgical options. I took the option of a gastric band and lost 40 kgs (88lbs). At the time I had also started studying counselling/psychology, and began to realise that many of my previous issues with food were psychological (I knew what I SHOULD be doing, but always seemed to self sabotage). I had a traumatic childhood, developed binge eating disorder, and many issues needed to be resolved from that time! Once I had my degree I undertook further study into eating disorders, obesity and nutrition. I talked myself into a job with the surgeon that has fitted my gastric band and was now supporting other patients through the process. I lived with the band for 8 years, then swapped to a sleeve gastrectomy as that seemed to be a much more 'livable' solution (IT DEFINITELY WAS!). That swap was nearly 9 years ago, so for 17 years now, I've maintained this smaller body. I'm now 57 years old, I work in 2 multidisciplinary bariatric teams and I've coached thousands of people through surgery, and more recently started supporting people using one of the GLP-1 agonists such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro. I have an award winning podcast called Change your Relationship with Food and I'm the Director of the Australian Centre of Eating Behaviour. I have always wanted to build an amazing community of people who are willing to share struggles and triumphs with each other. I'm so glad you are here!

A lot of people have issues leaving food on their plates. I often have clients saying "I was always told to eat everything on my plate". This is especially difficult when you are eating out and have paid good money for your meal. I have a mantra that you can adopt... YOU PAY FOR A FULL STOMACH, NOT AN EMPTY PLATE In other words, if your feel full (which is likely if you've had surgery or are taking a GLP-1 medication), the food was delicious, and you've had a good evening with great company, then you've had your money's worth! Does anyone else have some wisdom to share about food waste?