BariatricEating Achieves 27,000 Facebook Members

    SALT LAKE CITY, UT, February 23, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- When it comes to weight loss, support and success go hand in hand. The support provided by theBariatricEating.com team on its Facebook group has led to an astounding surge in popularity over the past year. In nine months, 25,000 members have joined the moderated group in search of peer support.

Sometimes referred to as BE, BariatricEating's vitamin and supplement website caters to past, present and future bariatric patients. However, founder Susan Maria Leach has seen an increased need to focus on post-ops who have stumbled and regained part or all of what the weight surgery helped them to lose.

"Regain is a sensitive issue full of emotion and desperation," Leach said. "Most people have weight-loss surgery in a last-ditch effort to get healthy. When you regain, you feel like a failure."

Leach has set up the BariatricEating Facebook community to address those feelings of failure while also holding members accountable to their actions, regardless of whether they are customers. The group is heavily moderated by a team of administrators, many of whom have experienced regain and either have come out of it or are in the process of doing so.

"It's a tough-love approach," Leach admits. "You don't have to follow our program to be accepted into the community, but we expect you to change the habits that brought you to the point where you need our help."

According to Paul David Terry, who manages online health/wellness communities for UC Davis Integrative Medicine, BariatricEating is an example of social media support done right.

"There's a belief that good online communities are self-policing, which is true," he said. "But when it comes to using social media to create long-term lifestyle changes, users want and need a clear track to run on. They favor communities that provide consistent messaging and block users or eliminate content that promote alternative paths to success."

BE has firm rules in place for its Facebook community. Posts that promote services or products from other companies are not allowed. Trolls are blocked, as are users who bully, flame or criticize other members.

"It's one thing to point out to someone that their flawed thinking or bad habits are what led them to become obese in the first place, but there is no tolerance for meanness or maliciousness," Leach said, adding that the group focuses on those willing to change. "You can have differing opinions, but we won't tolerate users who just want to argue. So if you don't like the advice we freely offer, we may not be the group for you."

BariatricEating was created to make life after weight-loss surgery enjoyable and is known for its high-quality, great-tasting protein powders and drinks as well as its bariatric-specific vitamins and supplements.

# # #